Sep 14, 2022·edited Sep 14, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot
So I'm going to quibble a bit. If you think of the summer of 2014 when LBJ joined Minny as the start of their dynasty, which makes sense as he had just come off a streak of Finals appearances and two championships. Then you can give CLE credit for Wiggs, and that means they get credit for Love. Sure, Anthony Bennet was part of the trade, but he was largely labeled a bust after his first year. OTOH, Andre was acquired in 2013, the summer before the start of the dynasty which started during the 2014-2015 season and ended with the 'Chip.
That makes it much closer at 2650 minutes vs 2563. Furthermore, you're counting Dubs draft picks from 2015 to 2021, which is 7 years. Counting 2014-2017 for CLE is only four years. In a similar vein, CLE's dynasty only lasted four years, whereas the Dubs have been going on for eight years providing many more total playoff minutes for a draft pick to be part of. So, on a playoff minutes provided by draft capital per year of drafting could actually tilt this in CLE's favor.
Of course, CLE benefits from going from a lottery team to being instant contender by signing LBJ and getting to leverage their #1 pick in Wiggs as part of the Dynasty in this assessment.
Given all this, it's pretty impressive how well Cleveland has bounced back from their LeBron inspired gutting. Some teams never have to bounce back from such and thing and still don't manage to do anything good (cough, Sacramento, cough).
Nitpick: I think you sort of glossed over what Rakeem Christmas did for the organization. My understanding is that near the end of each year, they still have an annual company party to celebrate his achievements.
I don't think there were any doubts that Cleveland burned their draft capital to placate LeBron, but it's nice to have confirmation.
And think: with all of that, they managed to eke out one championship in 4 years, which came within a single shot of being a loss. I mean, conference champions is worth something, but, oof.
FYI Last open thread at https://dubnationhq.com/p/iconic-warriors-dunk-tournament-7/comments
So I'm going to quibble a bit. If you think of the summer of 2014 when LBJ joined Minny as the start of their dynasty, which makes sense as he had just come off a streak of Finals appearances and two championships. Then you can give CLE credit for Wiggs, and that means they get credit for Love. Sure, Anthony Bennet was part of the trade, but he was largely labeled a bust after his first year. OTOH, Andre was acquired in 2013, the summer before the start of the dynasty which started during the 2014-2015 season and ended with the 'Chip.
That makes it much closer at 2650 minutes vs 2563. Furthermore, you're counting Dubs draft picks from 2015 to 2021, which is 7 years. Counting 2014-2017 for CLE is only four years. In a similar vein, CLE's dynasty only lasted four years, whereas the Dubs have been going on for eight years providing many more total playoff minutes for a draft pick to be part of. So, on a playoff minutes provided by draft capital per year of drafting could actually tilt this in CLE's favor.
Of course, CLE benefits from going from a lottery team to being instant contender by signing LBJ and getting to leverage their #1 pick in Wiggs as part of the Dynasty in this assessment.
Given all this, it's pretty impressive how well Cleveland has bounced back from their LeBron inspired gutting. Some teams never have to bounce back from such and thing and still don't manage to do anything good (cough, Sacramento, cough).
Nitpick: I think you sort of glossed over what Rakeem Christmas did for the organization. My understanding is that near the end of each year, they still have an annual company party to celebrate his achievements.
I don't think there were any doubts that Cleveland burned their draft capital to placate LeBron, but it's nice to have confirmation.
And think: with all of that, they managed to eke out one championship in 4 years, which came within a single shot of being a loss. I mean, conference champions is worth something, but, oof.
Sir'Dominic Pointer and Rakeem Christmas...