DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum June 19th 2016

It is the 3 year anniversary of when the Larry came to Cleveland.

I still get goosebumps reliving that night.

Enjoy reminiscing.

June 19th has a far more impactful meaning than that trophy.

I assume you are talking about slavery being outlawed in the US?

Or the first ever fathers day being celebrated?

This is a tailgate post. My bad bro. Shouldn’t have said anything. I’m in my feelings today.

Did you spank somebody again

No worries my man!

Just saw some post on my FB timeline from the night, and had my feelings get all warm and fuzzy inside reminiscing.

If you need to talk, PM me.

June 19 was my father's birthday.

Most importantly, it is two days before the first day of summer so there is now real hope that this infernal rain will finally end!

"It's over. It's over. Cleveland is a city of champions once again. The Cavaliers are NBA champions!"

It was a great day for me...

Father's Day
Birthday
Cavs won a ship
And I was in the beautiful Niagara Falls...

Couldn't have asked for anything else...

It was my first fathers day as a father. I will never forget the day.

Who is Larry?

Here's Larry arriving in Cleveland.

Something has occurred to me recently.

If Kawhi stays in Toronto they'll have a good chance of repeating or winning another over the next few years.

After being the Cavs red headed step child all of these years, they could have more Larry's than the Cavs.

While I was pulling for them to win this year, I'm not sure how I feel about that. While I am grateful for the one, I think 1 in 4 was ultimately a failure.

I don't see it as a failure.

I have no doubt in my mind, if not for Kyrie and Love getting hurt, we win that series.

GS knew this, that's why they went after Durant. Once Durant was in place, no team had a chance.

If not for injuries, Toronto gets swept, or loose in 5 at best. No doubt in my mind. It was nice to see them win, but to think they are even near the level of GS at full health is a joke.

Next year is wide open because of the injuries to GS (I think that's why LA went all in this year to get AD). I still think the top 3 or teams in the West are better than any team in the East.

A LOT of freak things had to happen for Tor to win this year. They took advantage and more power to them, but they didn't overcome anything. They walked into a great situation. I don't see that happening again.

I don't think you'll have to worry about Toronto going forward. I'd bet he leaves for LA. He's accomplished everything he needed in Toronto, he didn't want to be there in the first place and most of his Raptors teammates will be free agents next year. He can control the roster he plays on if he leaves, if he stays, it's up to everyone else to stay or leave.

As for the "failure" comment, there were two factors that we couldn't control. The first was Kevin and Kyrie getting hurt in 2015, not our fault and that's not a failure. The second was KD signing in GS, again, not our fault and that's not a failure. Heck, watching GS blow it without KD proves they were never that all-time great of a team we were lead to believe (still insanely good, but not Mount Rushmore great). Adding KD broke the league and that's not on us.

Had K/K not got hurt in 2015, maybe we win that one too. If KD stays in OKC, maybe we win another. However, those things didn't happen and it was a great run.

I've said this on here before, how many teams would give anything to have those four years? Milwaukee, Philly, Indiana, Brooklyn, Orlando, Charlotte, Washington, Atlanta, New York, Denver, Portland, Utah, OKC, LA (Clippers), Sacramento, Minnesota, Memphis, New Orleans and Phoenix (I left out a few of the flagship teams and/or teams that have won relatively recently). That's a lot of teams that would kill for a 4-year run like we had. If true, how could anyone define that as a failure. No way, hold you head up high and be crazy proud.

Plus, we may have one of the best season stories ever. The team avenges an injury-riddled 2015 Finals loss against a 79-win team while coming back from 3-1 down AND Lebron delivers his promise to Cleveland (yes, that city that NEVER wins in any sport). That will go down as one of the best moments in sports this decade.

Toronto's season was great, but Kawhi isn't from Toronto or even Canada. He didn't go there willingly. They were a hard luck team for sure, but Toronto had won back-to-back World Series not too long ago (to me anyway). And they got to the Finals and won with a lot of injury help (Embiid, KD & Thompson). If those injuries didn't happen, which kind of tainted the Finals, they don't win. They still earned it, but it was the easiest road since 2015.

Damn, we wrote the same post, but I used more words.

I think there's a chance Kawhi stays. Rumblings are getting louder.

Great minds think alike.

A point we both left out - If Lebron doesn't leave again, I don't think Toronto makes it to the Ship. You have no idea what the Cavs roster would have looked like to try to get another shot at it.

There are so many ifs. The only thing that is a failure IMO is on LeBron now that I think about it. He very well could have been holding a Larry again in Cleveland if he had stayed - especially if they were playing GS with those injuries to Klay and Kevin.

Sometimes the grass is not always greener.

I tend to think that Lebron made a big mistake leaving Cleveland the first time.....had he stayed, and they build up a young team around him, I think he would have more rings at this point in his career.....but by moving around and fitting puzzle pieces together through FA, he was constantly on a re-shaping roster.....

And now, he's getting to the twilight of his career....I wonder if he thinks about what he did right and what he did wrong....

Rumblings are just that, rumblings. Not saying you or the rumblings are wrong, but until there's an announcement by Kawhi or his people, it's all up in the air.

Heck, maybe Kawhi signs a 1-&-1 contract. That would get him one more year with the full group (minus Green) and he can opt out next to get that super max (35% of the cap).

Not to be rude to you, but Kawhi doesn't talk. He doesn't let his plans known, he doesn't take to Social Media and write cryptic tweets, or facebook, etc.

So when there are "rumblings" in regards to Kawhi, its purely speculative crap by that writer at best.

Again, not going at you, I have seen reports too, and I just laugh at them. Kawhi is a different dude than most are used too, and it drives the media crazy.

Have to disagree with this one. He probably did the right thing the first time around, although he went about it completely the wrong with with his TV special and leaving Cavs management in the dark about his intentions. The Cavs were a mess the first time around. John Paxson completely squandered multiple draft picks making ridiculous trades, and the picks he did make amounted to nothing (outside of Boozer, who managed to trick him into letting him out of his contract).

Several years into Lebron's career, he was already pulling us into the second round of the playoffs based on his talent alone, and we were never coming close to sniffing another Draft lottery pick again. When Danny Ferry took over as GM, there wasn't much he could do, other than try to get the best Free Agents that were willing to sign, and flip the crappy assets he had for slightly less crappy assets. By the time 2010 rolled around, the team was full of aging vets, bloated contract, and first round picks firmly entrenched in the bottom third of the draft. There really wasn't any way we were getting better at that point.

The reason it worked the second time around is because we were so terrible for the four years sans Lebron, that we amassed enough assets to be decent again. Kyrie was the first pick in the draft the year after Lebron left, we got Tristan Thompson #4 that same year, and Kevin Love was acquired by trading the top two picks we made in following years.