Category: Cleveland Cavaliers (Page 68 of 88)

The undefeated New Orleans Hornets.

“I really quite honestly didn’t expect us to win,” Shinn said Tuesday night after the Hornets beat the Sacramento Kings 93-67 in their Oklahoma City debut. And who could blame him? Only one team had a worse record than the Hornets’ 18-64 mark last season, and they were opening their new season against a perennial playoff team.

I won’t feel so guilty by the Cavs beating a refugee New Orleans team now that they have their first win already.

When’s the last time you had this much confidence about a Cleveland sports team as the season began? That feeling like, you know what, this team is gonna rock. This team is gonna be really good.

For me, I think it was 1986. The Browns were coming off a mediocre year, they lost a frustrating playoff game at Miami in January, and were heading into 1986 with some expectations. I remember a PD column that pre-season which said something like, “this team is going to score a lot of points.” You could just feel that the Browns were going to be a special team that year. They ended up 12-4, and went to their first infamous AFC Championship game against Denver.

That’s the feeling about the Cavs this year. You just know this team is gonna be special. They could win 50 games, and you’d be like, yeah, that’s about right. But if they go and win 60 games, and take the second playoff seed, none of us will be all that surprised.

Cavs start the season Wednesday night. I’m gonna say they win 50 games, and get the fourth seed or higher in the playoffs. Anyone else?

Looks like we got another Z in the mix….Zendon Hamilton made the final cut over Jahidi White. But this tidbit on cutting Kelenna Azubuike was HARSH.

“The knock on him coming out of Kentucky is that he doesn’t play on every play and I experienced that with him in training camp,” Brown said. “In terms of talent and ability, he has it. He just has to come to play on every single play. . . . If he can do that, he will be a mainstay in this league.”

Ouch. Here’s the final roster, which is a good reminder that Anderson Verajao is still on the team. Yikes….when he comes back, that bench is gonna be something.