Random dribbles following the Caavaliers’ 109-105 road loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
1. Your 2020-21 Cleveland Cavaliers are like Christmas. You never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes, it may be the shiny new game system you’ve been dying for. Sometimes, it may be a lump of a coal.
2. At first, the Cavs delivered the latter — falling behind by a 32-9 count to a vastly undermanned and lottery-bound Pistons team. The Pistons aren’t very good when healthy. And the Cavs made them look like the guys from the Bad Boys of the late 1980s and early ’90s.
3. Then the Cavs came charging back. Why? Well, no one knows. Probably because so many of their key players are young. That’s just the way it goes. But coach J.B. Bickerstaff was in no mood for excuses.
4. Bickerstaff on the loss: “To me all that other stuff that happened afterwards (of falling behind) is irrelevant. It’s a conversation about approach and a maturity level that we’ve yet to reach. The thought that we wouldn’t come out tonight and play spirited basketball is disappointing.”
5. Translation: This was a bad loss.
6. Translation: Young teams don’t get nearly as fired up to play the Pistons as they do, say, the Los Angeles Lakers. And that showed. The Cavs weren’t ready to play this game.
7. That’s how a Pistons guard named Frank Jackson lights up the backcourt for 20 points. Jackson has struggled to find a role in the NBA in three seasons. He played in just two games last year (with New Orleans). The Cavs turned him into Isiah Thomas.
8. And Pistons rookie forward Seddiq Bey, drafted No. 19 overall, sure would look good on the Cavs. So would Josh Jackson, another forward who has been a misfit everywhere else.
9. For the record, when I suggested the Cavs had and should have an interest in Jackson in free agency this past offseason, they made it clear to me they did not. Too bad. The former lottery pick has turned into a really nice player. He’d fit very well in Cleveland.
10. Anyway, as for the guys who are here, there is hope. But we can stick with the philosophy that they don’t yet have that one guy with an “elite” ceiling. My pick for Most Likely To Change The Course Of The Franchise on the current roster is Darius Garland.
11. But Garland needs to get at least a little better defensively. And it’s still fair wonder if he and Collin Sexton are a long-term fit. I have my doubts about them meshing.
12. You can really like both players and still wonder if they belong next to each other. That’s where I am today.
13. Anyway, there are actually still reasons to watch these Cavs, even when they come out and drop a lump of coal. While you can’t blame Bickerstaff for being irritated, the Cavs do generally battle for at least a portion of games. They did that Monday after the first quarter.
14. Problem is, they can’t seem to stop anyone when it matters. Well, and they are fairly small on the perimeter. Opponents just shoot over them.
15. Are the Cavs any further along in their rebuild than the Pistons? I can’t answer that. They sure aren’t anywhere near the Atlanta Hawks.
16. Sexton scored 28 points, Garland had 23. The backcourt scored the Cavs’ final 20 points. Kevin Love, who won’t be on the team in two years, added 15 points.
17. Bey and Frank Jackson each 20 for the Pistons, who were started three rookies and a second-year guy making his first NBA start. See what I mean? If you’re rebuild is going swimmingly, you win these games.
18. Meanwhile, Cavs rookie Isaac Okoro had another one of those games where he was just sort of out there for 32 minutes. That’s not to pick on Okoro. He has show flashes. But nothing consistently to erase my doubts.
19. Garland erased my doubts. So me having doubts isn’t the end of a guy’s career. Don’t take it personally, Isaac.
20. Bottom line: The Cavs (20-37) still have some figuring out to do this offseason. They need to add another nice piece and perhaps trade one of the current young players. Despite what the front office says publicly (which is next to nothing), the Cavs do know that.
