Category: Latest Cavs News

Anthony Davis: ‘Frank Vogel is the most handsome coach I’ve ever had’

Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis joked in front of reporters that Frank Vogel is the most handsome coach he’s ever had.

Life is good for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, especially on the road. The Lakers are 8-0 on the road to start the season, heading into Chicago tonight to face a young, talented but inconsistent Bulls team. The game in Chicago, even in the face of a pandemic with no fans coming to the game, Saturday night’s showdown is a homecoming for Lakers star Anthony Davis. And with Davis being close to home, he felt it was the right time to flatter his coach Frank Vogel.

Following his session with the media on Friday afternoon and just before Vogel came to address the media, Davis said that Vogel is the ‘most handsome coach’ he’s ever had.

Vogel, after, joked that Davis is only doing exactly what his coach tells him. While it’s a small and unserious moment, it’s the type of thing that has become the norm for the Lakers over the last two seasons. Vogel came in as a coach many saw as a tertiary choice that would get dominated by the Lakers’ star personalities. Instead, Vogel has become an instrumental part in the team’s success and in helping craft their defensive identity while earning the trust of his two superstars.

 

 

LeBron James admits he was ‘hurt’ by Kyrie Irving’s comments about late-game situations

LeBron James told the Road Trippin podcast that he was a little hurt after reading a transcript of Kyrie Irving’s comments on a podcast.

It’s been almost two months since Kyrie Irving made comments on Kevin Durant’s podcast with Eddie Gonzales, “The Etcs,” which could have easily been taken as a slight at LeBron James, about how Durant gave him another great late-game option other than himself for the “first time.” Now we finally have an answer to how LeBron took those comments from Irving back in early October: it hurt him a little bit.

During a two-part interview on the Road Trippin’ podcast with Allie Clifton, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, in which the wine and tequila were flowing, James addressed the comments Irving made for the first time.

“I was a little like, ‘Damn.’ Once I got the whole transcript, I was like, ‘Damn,'” James said. “I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, you trippin’. I’ve hit game-winning shots my whole life.’ I was not like that. I was like, ‘Damn.’ Because … I played with Kyrie for three seasons. The whole time when I was there (in Cleveland), I only wanted to see him be a MVP of our league. I only cared about his success. And it just didn’t align. It just didn’t align. And we were able to win a championship. That’s the craziest thing. We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align. But I only cared about his well-being, both on and off the floor. And it kind of hurt me a little bit.”

James said he asked to get a full transcript of the podcast before making his judgment. In public, it has appeared that James and Irving were generally on better terms after a few years apart, but it’s clear that the recent comments from Irving did at least sting. However, Irving is with Durant now and both will be trying to beat LeBron and Anthony Davis this season.

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J.R. Smith is frontrunner to fill Lakers Avery Bradley’s opt-out spot

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Lakers are in communication with Rich Paul to sign J.R. Smith.

The stars have aligned to create an opportunity for a LeBron James-J.R. Smith reunion on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ahead of the June 24 opt-out deadline for players to decide whether they will join their teams in Orlando, Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley made the decision to opt-out out of concern for his family. This gives the Lakers the opportunity to sign someone else to replace him on their 15-man roster and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the frontrunner to take that spot is J.R. Swish.

With Bradley gone, Smith will likely be asked to take on difficult assignments on the defensive end while also being asked to hit 3-pointers as he has done throughout his career. Smith is additional insurance on the Lakers roster, along with other recent signings Markieff Morris and Dion Waiters.

The loss of Bradley will hurt the Lakers on-ball defense, but that should also open up more playing time for Alex Caruso, who has been one of their best defensive players all season, as well as veteran point guard Rajon Rondo.

 

Kevin Love wishes LeBron’s final Cavs season hadn’t been a ‘Last Dance’

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love wishes that the Cavaliers could have had one more crack at a championship together.

Kevin Love is seeing a lot of similarities to his own career with an iconic team from his time when he is watching “The Last Dance” documentary about Micahel Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls. Love has been tweeting about his observations, including a not-so innocuous question about when are we going to see more about Toni Kukoc? Even if Love himself won’t say it, he probably sees a lot of similarities in his role with the Cavaliers of the last decade and Kukoc’s role in the Bulls dynasty. But while he wouldn’t touch those specific parallels, Love did admit in an interview with The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd, that he wishes that Cavaliers could have had one more shot together.

“To even have just one more run at it, to see what we were capable of. Just one more run. I would’ve really loved to see that,” Love said. “I think we would’ve been primed for another really big run. Even if it was, for both of them, their last year in Cleveland. It would’ve been nice to see what we were capable of.”

There are a lot of similarities at the end of the Cavaliers run, but there remains a major difference: that it was a rumor for almost two years that LeBron James was looking towards the west coast and Los Angeles for the next stage of his career and family life. While Kyrie Irving requested a trade in the summer of 2017 like Scottie Pippen did early in the 1997-98 season, but there are still several reports that suggest Irving was offered in trades prior to his request and he only pushed for one once he found out. Also, there is the other unknown about how much Irving was able to discern about LeBron’s intentions for his future.

But while Love is understandably yearning for those good ol’ days of playing at the game’s highest level and he did stay behind, it’s not as if he was left behind in Ohio without reward. The 2019-20 season was the first of a 4-year, $120 million contract extension that Love signed in 2018 after LeBron signed with the Lakers in free agency earlier that summer.

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J.R. Smith talks about ‘feeling’ LeBron’s ’16 Finals message in moment

LeBron James’ former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate J.R. Smith remembers “feeling” what LeBron James said about the Warriors in 2016.

Nearly four years after it happened, the 2016 NBA Finals and the 3-1 comeback by the Cleveland Cavaliers remains one of the most remarkable moments in NBA history, either recent or in the entire 70+ year history of the league. And with all of the characters from that series still very much in our lives, there’s still plenty to talk about and perspectives to uncover.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers swingman J.R. Smith brought his perspective to the iconic series, particularly the comments from LeBron James in the middle of the series, when they were down 3-1, that he believed the Warriors looked like they no longer had control. Smith discussed LeBron’s speech and how he “felt it,” while playing Call of Duty: Warzone with Bleacher Report’s Master Tesfatsion.

LeBron’s comments in the middle of the series are marked as one of the big turning points in the series for the Cavaliers, as well as Draymond Green’s one-game suspension in Game 5 of that series for technical accumulation. Nevertheless, LeBron’s entire run in 2016, particularly the final three games of the series, is among the best the game has ever seen in a Finals series.

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LeBron James missing scheduled chance to visit Ohio, Cavaliers

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James would be playing against his former Cleveland Cavaliers squad in a non-coronavirus world.

In a non-coronavirus world, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers would be facing LeBron’s former Cleveland Cavaliers squad in just a couple of hours at the Quicken Loans Arena, where James created so many memories over his 11 years with the Cavs. But we are not in that world as the global pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world and United States health systems. The Lakers were already on their way to get to the postseason with the No. 1 seed in the West, but a trip to Cleveland where he had so many memories surely is something that LeBron James missed. So much so that he shared his feelings on Thursday afternoon via Twitter.

James and the Lakers would have been concluding their last long road trip of the season this week, with the Cavs game the fourth of a six-game road trip. After that, the Lakers had a schedule with seven of their last nine games at home, including their April 9 rescheduled game against the Clippers.

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12 years ago, LeBron James became the Cavs All-Time leading scorer

The Los Angeles Lakers legend etched his name forever in Cleveland Cavaliers lore on this day back in 2008.

Although LeBron James has won two championships with the Miami Heat and is now a member of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers franchise, he will likely be most remembered for his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Long before James would come back to Northeast Ohio to win an NBA Championship in 2016, LeBron had already set an incredible standard that is unlikely to be matched during his first stint with the Cavaliers. 12 years ago, James became the No. 1 scorer in Cavaliers history, while he was still only 23 years old.

The Cavaliers Instagram account shared the moment on Saturday while showing the 23,119 points James scored over his Cavs career.

To go back in time and read articles at the time, LeBron was happy to make his family proud.

“I think I made my mom proud,” James said, according to the Associated Press.

James had 29 points in the game he had back on March 21, 2008, to take the record.

 

 

LeBron James gives Tristan Thompson birthday shoutout

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made sure to shout out a friend on his birthday in the age of social distancing.

In the age of social distancing to prevent the rapid spread of the coronavirus, our digital ability to connect with each other appears like it will be increasingly important. With the NBA on an unprecedented hiatus, players across the league are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to help hourly arena workers who will be financially impacted most by the closure of the NBA, as well as 1/3 of the owners contributing to the cause, the social aspect of the game has been taken away. But LeBron James was trying to show love to one of his former NBA teammates and one of his Klutch Sports mates on Friday, Tristan Thompson.

via @kingjames Instagram Story

LeBron James has already communicated to the fans how much he misses them, while also recognizing that his comments from last week about playing without fans wasn’t the right way to go. Luckily for us, LeBron has left us with a wealth of moments to look over. While the league is on hiatus, we will be going over some of the biggest games of LeBron’s career. Thompson will feature in quite a few of them as we try to fill the gap left by the NBA over the next few weeks.

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Cavaliers hire ninth different head coach since LeBron entered league as John Beilein resigns

Cleveland Cavaliers hire ninth different head coach since LeBron James entered league as John Beilein officially resigns.

John Beilein officially resigned as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Beilein was first named to the position on May 13, 2019 after spending the previous 12 seasons as head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Michigan. Cavs General Manager Koby Altman announced that Beilein will be reassigned to a different role within the organization.

Replacing the Cavaliers coach who went 14-40 so far this season is J.B. Bickerstaff will now step into the head coaching role immediately. He will become the ninth different head coach since LeBron James was first drafted by Cleveland in 2003. Bickerstaff is also the Cavs fifth different coach under the ownership of Dan Gilbert since LeBron returned to the franchise for the 2014-15 campaign.

The Cavs recent run on head coaches includes Tyronn Lue who won the city’s first championship since 1964 when Cleveland secured the NBA championship in 2016. He is the only coach in franchise history to ever win a title for the Cavaliers despite only being employed by the team for less than three seasons. This is now the third time that Bickerstaff has been an interim head coach for an NBA team. He could very well be the long-term answer for Gilbert and company heading into next season depending on how the players respond to him over the final 28 games of the year.

If you remove the LeBron James years from Dan Gilbert’s ownership of the Cavaliers which began in 2005, the franchise is among the worst in the NBA on a consistent basis. During those five full seasons that Gilbert has owned the team without LeBron entering this year, the Cavs have won an average of 24 games. With less than 30 regular-season contests remaining, you can expect the Cavaliers to fall short of those 24 wins once again during Gilbert’s sixth season without James on the roster.

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LeBron James jokes Lakers ‘can’t beat teams with winning records’ after win at Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers star keeps on using doubts from earlier in the season as fuel during the regular season.

Even though it’s almost February, LeBron James still remembers everything that was said about his Los Angeles Lakers squad earlier this season when they built up their Western Conference-leading record amid a lot of early home games against teams with losing records.

After Saturday night’s win over a slumping Houston Rockets team that got the Lakers back on track, James thought it would be appropriate to remind all the people who tried to delegitimize what has been a mostly dominant first half of the season for L.A.

James was asked about if the wins against playoff teams as of recent, at Houston, at Dallas and at Oklahoma City, gave the Lakers confidence, giving James the opening he wanted.

James is clearly still motivated by doubts from earlier in the season. Although they have yet to beat their crosstown rival Los Angeles Clippers in a head-to-head match-up this season, the Lakers are still in control of the Western Conference standings with a monstrous 34-8 record through 42 games.

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