The Cavaliers started 0-4 – and that was with their best player, Kevin Love.
They’ve dropped a couple more since and fired coach Tyronn Lue. It might get even worse in Cleveland, too.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
The Cavs owe the Hawks a top-10-protected first round pick. It seems increasingly likely Cleveland will keep it.
But bottoming out will require enduring through a loooong year, especially for a team that just reached four straight NBA Finals. It’s probably worth the short-term pain. It’s just miserable.
What will this do for Love’s value? He just signed a four-year contract extension worth more than $120 million. On one hand, long-term injuries are a big deal for a player in his 30s. On the other hand, at least he isn’t associating his play with this losing time.
This also speaks to Larry Drew’s hesitancy to remain interim coach without more guaranteed compensation.The coach is set up to look bad in these circumstances (see Lue), and it could keep Drew from ever getting another non-interim coaching job.