“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do what you all think I’m gonna do, which is, you know, FLIP OUT!” – Jerry Maguire
Happy Tuesday WFNY!
And welcome to March! The month of Shamrock Shakes, Dropkick Murphys, Irish Pride, March Madness, and, of course, drama llamas.
That’s right, it’s time for our annual Cleveland Cavaliers freak out session. Forget the fact that in every single NBA season with the exception, perhaps, of this year’s Golden State Warriors team, every team goes through stretches. Ups and downs, ebbs and flows, win streaks and losing streaks. Every team. And yet, every single season when the Cavaliers hit their rough patches, everyone has to lose their damn minds.
This season is certainly no exception. Coach David Blatt was fired, in part, because GM David Griffin felt that this team doesn’t handle prosperity well. And how. After an extremely impressive win over the Oklahoma City Thunder last week, the Cavaliers went on to lose three of their next four games. Now suddenly J.R. Smith is making outlandish comments about how bad the Cavaliers are right now, Kevin Love is questioning why the Cavaliers don’t play hard all the time, almost everyone is lobbing criticism at Kyrie Irving for not passing more, and now like clockwork, here come the Brian Windhorst and Stephen A. Smith rumors about Kyrie wanting out of Cleveland.
Ok, so that’s a lot to take in. But why are we talking about any of this? The Cavaliers are still in first place in the East, they’re still the most likely team to reach the Finals from the East, and no matter how well or bad the Cavaliers play this season, they will be massive underdogs against the Warriors. So why do we have to freak out like this every time the Cavaliers go through a tiny little rough spell? Well, as my friend David Zavac put so well yesterday, it’s because the Cavaliers themselves are the ones freaking out.
.@RockWFNY is 100% correct. There's no reason given the Cavs roster/pedigree to worry about where they are. Except THEY are. So we have to.
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) February 29, 2016
David’s pretty much right. The Cavaliers invited scrutiny and drama when they fired their coach mid-season and replaced him with a rookie coach with no experience1. J.R. Smith’s comments about the Cavaliers felt like an overreaction to a couple bad games. J.R. probably was just trying to spark his teammates, but in this era of social media instant gratification, the quote gets passed around like wildfire and suddenly people start freaking out.
And, of course, we have LeBron’s seeming obsession with the Warriors. LeBron has made more comments and tweets about the Warriors than I can perhaps ever recall any player making toward another team. I think the Warriors are weighing heavily on LeBron’s mind. Think about it, he came home to Akron to play for the Cavaliers again and to cement his legacy by bringing a championship back to Ohio.
LeBron was in his prime, he’d gained tons of Finals and Championship experience in Miami, and he saw a young core in Cleveland he could work with along with an opportunity to bring a player like Kevin Love. It all had to seem so clear. And then, out of nowhere, the Warriors turn into this unstoppable juggernaut and start steamrolling everyone in the NBA. LeBron is one of the more self-aware professional athletes I’ve ever seen. He’s not stupid. He knows the Cavaliers chances of winning a championship are shrinking rapidly. The Warriors have no reason not to be the preeminent powerhouse in the NBA for the next five seasons. AKA, the rest of LeBron’s prime. So sure, he’s worried about the Warriors and he’s feeling the weight of pressure in figuring out how to transform this Cavaliers team into something that resembles the sum of its parts.
Finally, we have the Kyrie stuff. I don’t know where to start with this. I guess we could start with Stephen A. Smith’s comments:
“Dating back to last year, I’ve been told that Kyrie Irving ain’t too happy being in Cleveland. The situation is not ideal for him. I don’t know the particulars, I haven’t spoken to him personally. It’s something that I’ve been hearing for months, that under ideal circumstances he would prefer to be someplace other than Cleveland.”
I don’t know. I guess I’m just naive, but I find it hilarious that “dating back to last year” Kyrie has been unhappy. You know, last year…when Kyrie was a free agent and could have gone somewhere else. Even now, if Kyrie really wanted out, he could easily demand a trade and work his way out. Players do it all the time. All. The. Time.2
Then you mix that with qualifiers such as “I don’t know the particulars” and “I haven’t spoken to him personally”, and just…wow. What are we even doing? Look, Stephen A. isn’t on an island here. Brian Windhorst also stated that if Kyrie were to be traded at some point, he wouldn’t shed any tears. I don’t think these guys are making this stuff up. I believe “someone” is telling them this. I don’t think that person is Kyrie Irving, though, and Kyrie’s opinion is the only one that matters.
If I were one of Kyrie’s marketing/branding advisors, I might not love Kyrie’s current situation. He’s in a small market, playing in the shadow of the three greatest players in the league. Kyrie is a playmaker, but he’s no longer the lone primary ball handler. Some might say playing with LeBron should be a blessing, and in many ways it is. LeBron makes everyone around him better on the court. But if you’re solely concerned about the marketability of your client, Kyrie, you might not care about that. You want Kyrie to be the man.
So no, it wouldn’t surprise me if Kyrie’s “people” weren’t thrilled with his current situation. But I doubt Kyrie the basketball player is unhappy right now. Frustrated at times with LeBron? Sure. But Kyrie is winning games and in position to compete for championships for the near future. As a player, you don’t get much better situations than this. That’s the thing all these guys need to realize.
There’s no reason to freak out. You control your own destiny. No amount of worrying or public comments will change the Warriors’ position in this league. All the Cavaliers need to do is worry about themselves, stay healthy for the playoffs, and then let the chips fall where they may. The Cavaliers took the Warriors to six games last year without Love or Irving. Even with them, the Cavaliers will be underdogs. But all you have to do is give yourself the opportunity, and then play your hardest. See what happens. Upsets happen all the time, and they are the reason we love sports.
Everyone…players, fans, media. All of us. We all need to just settle down and relax. The Cavaliers are fine. There are 23 games left in the season. We’re in the stretch run and there’s just no reason to be flipping out over a bad game here or there. The Cavaliers are the best team in the Eastern Conference, and now we just wait for their chance to prove it in the playoffs. Nothing else really matters here at all. So enjoy your March. Drink a Shamrock Shake3. Listen to some Dropkick Murphys4. Drink some green beer. Fill out your March Madness brackets. Enjoy the coming spring weather. Everything is fine. The Cavaliers are who they are. They arguably have as good a chance of beating the Warriors as anyone else. They either will or they won’t. Do or Die. Freaking out about it isn’t going to help anything at all.
*****
New Music of the Week
Last Friday was a pretty solid day for new music releases. But one album in particular really grabbed my attention, and that was “Stranger Things” by the band Yuck.
For those unfamiliar with Yuck, they are a London band that made serious waves in the indie music scene in 2011 with their debut album. The band was led by an enigmatic young frontman named Daniel Blumberg. Musically, the band drew comparisons to Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, while Blumberg reminded many of Kurt Cobain with his look, demeanor, and artistic sensibilities. They released their self-titled debut album in 2011 and it was an incredible debut. I still listen to it quite frequently today.
Sometime around 2013, though, Blumberg unexpectedly left the band to focus on making music on his own. Almost everyone assumed that would just be the end of Yuck. After all, Blumberg seemed to be the primary creative force in the band. Would Nirvana have continued had Cobain left the band after “Nevermind” came out?
The answer to that question is tricky. You see, Nirvana had Dave Grohl in the band, another gifted songwriter in his own right. Unbeknown to most, Yuck also had another creative force in the band. With Blumberg gone, guitarist Max Bloom took over frontman duties and became the new primary songwriter in the band, and Yuck announced they would continue on. Later that year, they released an excellent album called “Glow & Behold”.
The band’s sound definitely shifted. Whereas before they were leaning on the Dinosaur Jr. sound more, the band was now leaning quite heavily on more of a My Bloody Valentine sound while still splitting with some songs that felt like throwbacks to their old sound. Bloom has shown an incredible knack for that lush, wobbly, guitar tone that Kevin Shields perfected with MBV.
Now they are back with a new album, and the My Bloody Valentine influence has firmly won out over the Dinosaur Jr./Sonic Youth side. And that’s a good thing. Sure, I probably wish Blumberg had never left the band, but the last thing I want is Bloom to try writing Blumberg songs. I want Bloom to be himself, and on “Stranger Things”, he is really stretching out his legs and coming into his own.
Yuck truly has such an incredible backstory. Not many bands would be able to sustain and prosper after losing such a singular force of creativity like Daniel Blumberg, but Yuck have proven to be more than a one-trick pony. “Stranger Things” starts out with a couple songs that feel like throwbacks, but from track three on, Yuck really begins to excel at finding their own comfort zone.
*****
That’s all I have for today. Have an amazing rest of your week here at WFNY!
- This is not a value judgment about whether it was the right or wrong thing to do. It’s just an expression of the fact that making a change like that is always going to create some drama and unease.
- Granted, not many players do it immediately after signing a max, long term deal. But the point is, if Kyrie wanted out, he could get out.
- Or don’t. Those things have an unreal amount of sugar in them. But they’re also so delicious.
- Do yourself a favor, though, and stick to the older stuff.