Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ atrocious 109-104 home loss to the lowly Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
1. If you watched this game and stuck with it, congratulations. You are officially an NBA fanatic.
2. The Cavs are a mess right now. It’s a lack of inspiration, a lack of talent, a lack of veteran leadership, a lack of experience, and yes, a lack of available bodies.
3. Other than that, things are great.
4. At this point, there really is no reason to win any of these games. And it’s nice to know the Cavs appear to agree with me.
5. But closing a third straight season on a lousy note rarely bodes well for those involved. It can lead to sweeping changes.
6. That’s not any inside information. It’s just a gut feeling from someone who has covered the NBA on a full-time basis for close to two decades. Losing equals changes. I didn’t decide that. It’s just the way it is.
7. And this is a team that could use some changes — and at least a few notable ones are on the way. Just don’t ask me what they are yet. Let’s revisit this column on June 1. We’ll know by then if I’m right.
8. Spoiler alert: Unless the Cavs really pick it up over these final two weeks, I will be. Injuries or not.
9. Does anyone else feel as if I’m writing the same column after every game?
10. It’s true the Cavs were missing Collin Sexton, Larry Nance Jr., Isaiah Hartenstein, Matthew Dellavedova, Taurean Prince and a couple others. But some flaws with the master plan were exposed here.
11. For starters, this team is seriously lacking any sort of buzz. When you’re in the present, but constantly talking about the future, all anyone can do is think about the past. This time, though, there’s no chance LeBron James is returning to save the day.
12. So unless you’re an absolute basketball geek like us, why would you care about what’s going on with this team? The Cavs are two games better than last year. Whoop-de-do.
13. Darius Garland (25 points, 10 assists) had a nice night statistically. Other than that, who really cares? The Cavs trailed one of the league’s three or four worst teams by 21 points entering the fourth quarter. That’s a sign of a group that’s pretty much mailed it in.
14. Kevin Love went for six points and 10 rebounds. Six points. Love’s contract is slowly turning into the worst deal in franchise history. We may already be there, I don’t really know.
15. No one is knocking Love’s effort, but something is very clearly amiss. He’s either still injured, playing tentative because he’s afraid he’ll get injured again, or just a shell of his former self because of all the injuries. Maybe there’s some truth to all of it.
16. Basically, the Cavs (21-41) just have to slog through these final 10 games and start fresh.
17. On the bright side, in basketball, it only takes one player to make a major difference. (Just look at how much fun the Washington Wizards are suddenly having with Russell Westbrook.) Hopefully, the Cavs will go find that guy this offseason and quit messing around with whatever the so-called plan is today.
