February 12, 2013; Gainesville, FL, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Nerlens Noel (3) reacts on the ground after hurting his knee against the Florida Gators during the second half at the Stephen C. O

Welcome to the forty-second installment of Right Down Euclid’s “Weekly Roundtable.” This Friday Trevor Magnotti and Dan Pilar sit down and discuss the latest trending topics concerning your Cleveland Cavaliers and the NBA. The combination of rotating RDE duos answer three questions regarding the hometown Wine and Gold and two questions surrounding the league.

Today the discussion revolves around drafting Kentucky center Nerlens Noel, Cleveland’s possibilities at the 19^th pick, the player who loses the most by the Cavaliers receiving the first pick, LeBron James versus Paul George and role players in the Memphis-San Antonio series.

Cavaliers Corner

First Question: Make your case: Why or why not is it a good idea for the Cavaliers to draft Nerlens?

Trevor Magnotti: It’s a great idea for the Cavs to draft Nerlens Noel. The Cavs need someone who can protect the rim, which will improve the defense while the rest of the team matures defensively. He also will create an outstanding pick-and-roll tandem with Kyrie Irving, who he compliments perfectly in that regard. I honestly believe Noel is destined to be an eventual Defensive Player of the Year because he does so many things well on that end already, and he’s only 19. Add in the fact that he’s better suited as a complimentary player than an alpha dog, and he works perfectly within the hierarchy of the Cavs’ chemistry. I’m sold on drafting Noel first overall.

Dan Pilar: Just because he’s a great shot blocker doesn’t automatically mean he’s going to be a great defensive player. He weighed in at 205 pounds at the combine, 10 pounds less than what Dion Waiters weighs. He’s going to get dominated down low at that weight. And I know at this point you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, he can work on that.” Well, he also has other things to work on, like an offensive post game and free throw shooting. These are a lot of things a guy has to work on while coming back from an ACL surgery. If you want him because of his shot blocking ability, then that’s foolish. You can pick up a shot blocker with the No.19 selection. You can laugh at this, but Jeff Withey was just as good of a shot blocker as Noel was last year – the stats will show you that. If we draft Noel then that means we have another injury-prone player to go along with Kyrie and Varejao. This team can’t afford to draft an injured player.

Second Question: With finding out that Cleveland received the No. 1 pick, what do you think they should do at 19?

TM: My ideal draft pick at No. 19 is Dennis Schroeder, the German point guard I profiled on Monday. Schroeder is an excellent defensive guard, and if paired with Kyrie Irving, who he compliments quite well, I think the two would have a “Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe” type relationship. Unfortunately, I think with Dallas, Utah and Milwaukee all needing point guards, he won’t drop past the 15th pick. Therefore, I think drafting Sergey Karasev would be a good decision. Karasev is an outstanding product out of Russia, who I will be profiling this upcoming week, and he’s as good a choice as any to hopefully develop into our future starting small forward.

DP: Schroeder would be a good pick, but I believe this team has other needs. Schroeder has good size and athleticism, but I don’t know how much of an upgrade he would be. Livingston is currently not under contract, and if we do sign him, then there is no need for Schroeder. The editor of RDE has gotten me on the Tony Mitchell bandwagon. He tested well at the combine, and he already has NBA size. He can play the three or four, but I think he would be best at the three. The downside of Mitchell is that his production went down his senior year with a coaching change, and he didn’t play up against elite talent when he was at North Texas. But I believe this guy can be one of Mike Brown’s favorite players with his ability to guard.

Third Question: Which player currently on the roster loses the most by the Wine and Gold picking first?

TM: I think Anderson Varejao does. Varejao has been involved in a lot of trade rumors over the last few days, and it seems to be a consensus that with Noel on board, once Varejao’s contract is up, he will not be returning. While I think Varejao’s talent is immense, the fact that he’s missed over 150 games to injury in the past three seasons is a good enough reason for me to think that this is justified. I thinkthe idea of having Varejao on the roster to mentor Noel and Zeller is an excellent one; however, I think that if a trade can be manufactured with Varejao involved that can deliver us an All-Star, I would have absolutely zero problems with this.

DP: Well that obviously matters who we pick at No. 3, but I’m going to go with Gee losing the most. Whether we take a small forward with our top selection or not, we are definitely going to draft one with our later picks or sign one in free agency. I don’t think Gee is a bad player, I just think he plays a better role coming off the bench. In one way or another, Gee is going to be losing minutes once the season begins.

NBA Roundup

Fourth Question: Who will come up bigger in the Heat-Pacers series: LeBron James or Paul George?

TM: After last night, this is an infinitely more difficult call. George had the game of his life last night, putting up a buzzer-beater for the ages to send it to overtime, and proving he was the best player the Pacers had with his outstanding performance. However, only one of these players is a four-time MVP. Only one of these players made two clutch drives to the basket at the end of the game to win it. And only one of these players is consistent enough for me to believe that his performance will continue for the rest of the series. Give me LeBron, every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

DP: How can you go against the best player in the NBA? It hurts me to say it, but it’s true. These two are obviously the stars of their teams and will go at it all series long like they did Wednesday night. But like he did in Game One, the better player will come out victorious. George is still an up-and-coming super star in the league and needs to take his bumps and bruises before he shines. He will definitely get bruised this series.  

Fifth Question: Which role players will be more triumphant in the Memphis-San Antonio series?

TM: I have a lot more confidence in San Antonio’s bench than I do in Memphis’s. Jerryd Bayless and Darrell Arthur are extremely erratic at best, and while Quincy Pondexter has been one of the best bench players in the playoffs, he alone isn’t enough for me to believe that San Antonio’s combination of Boris Diaw, Gary Neal, Matt Bonner and Manu Ginobili will not have a more significant impact. Bonner in particular has been impressive, and Gary Neal is one of the biggest wild cards in the playoffs, always simultaneously ice cold and red hot like Schroedinger’s cat. Plus, with the way Lionel Hollins manages his bench, I can’t see Memphis having a consistent enough contribution from the bench to really make a difference against San Antonio’s.

DP: Well, Manu Ginobili always has success coming off the bench, but I think Memphis is going to rely on their role players the most to win this series. And I believe it starts with their backup point guard, Bayless. He has the ability to get really hot and can take over a game coming off the bench. Opposed to Trevor, I have a lot of confidence in the Grizzlies’ bench. It has gotten them this far; I believe it will get them further.  

Make sure to check back next week to see what Trevor Magnotti and Zak Kolesar have to debate at the “Weekly Roundtable.”

Apr 29, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers player development coach Phil Handy works with Filippo Messina the son of coach Ettore Messina (not pictured) before game one in the Western Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Phil Handy, the player developmental coach for the Los Angeles Lakers since the 2011-12 season, has received permission to interview with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a position on head coach Mike Brown’s coaching staff according to Mark Medina of InsideSoCal.com. Handy, who spent time at St. Mary’s College training players in the offseason, was hired by Brown initially after hearing positive feedback from mutual friend Randy Bennett. He has worked with players with tremendous footwork skills such as Kobe Bryant, multiple shots in their arsenal like Pau Gasol and upper body strength like Metta World Peace. If granted the job, Handy would provide at least one day of hands-on assistance to his players throughout the course of a week and has been praised as a great worker to have on any head coach’s staff. He first got his start working with guys such as Tony Delk, Eddie House, Shawn Marion and Penny Hardaway, but would he work well with the young core that is the Cavaliers roster?

In his short time in Los Angeles, Handy has spent many sessions with NBA stars and legends. Sometimes his work will only be supplementary, such as with already established players like Kobe. But for a specimen like “The Basketball Player Formerly Known as Ron Artest,” molding techniques with a physically gifted small forward may require more hands-on work. Because of these different experiences, Handy would fit well in working with the mix of youngsters on the Wine and Gold roster. Because he studies techniques so avidly, his work doing that and operating with Kobe – a player with great foot form – would make him more than ready to take on a player like Kyrie Irving. We all know how deadly Irving’s crossover can be (someone page Brandon Knight), but think of the possibilities if it became second nature. That’s what player developmental assistants are for. More importantly, Handy could give some pointers to Irving on how to position the body when going up against opposing offences and how to properly defend a player’s weak side to shut them down. Irving could use one-on-one work with a coach that Mike Brown has trusted before, and Brown knows that Handy would put defense at the top of the list of things to work on.

Handy’s work with Pau Gasol could also be of great help to players such as Anderson Varejao. Before he clocked out for the rest of the season after only playing 25 games, Andy was developing a nice 20-foot jump shot. This added weapon helped Andy’s blazing shooting percentage to start off the season and also propelled him to 16 double-doubles and an average of 14.4 rebounds. Making Andy more comfortable with putting up shots outside of the paint will most certainly give opponents something else to fear when going up against a player with a motor like Andy. However, his help with Pau will prove more important when working with Tristan Thompson. As the season progressed, Thompson’s ability to position his body and switch his hands when banging bodies in the paint got better and better. He became a lefty just as much as a righty. Thompson was incredibly effective in the paint, shooting 63.0 percent at the rim. This percentage put him second to last (just in front of Zach Randolph) among power forwards who averaged more than 30 minutes this season, but only an elite group of 14 PFs could say that they played that much in this league. This was also by far Thompson’s best area shooting. He will only get better as time goes on, and helping Thompson seamlessly add more weapons into his arsenal is part of his mission. He helped Pau with his problem with being double-teamed, as this is something that Thompson is most of the time down low when he takes time to set up. Building his confidence and teaching him where the double team is coming from will only help the team as a whole run smoother if Handy is chosen.

Metta World Peace is a physically gifted athlete, but when Handy first joined Brown in Los Angeles the high-tempered small forward was out of shape. Helping him work on his balance was the first step in getting Metta to regain trust in his jump shot. With so many question marks at SF for the Cavaliers, Handy will have his hands full with whomever Cleveland decides to start in the three slot. That depends a lot on where the Cavs will land in the draft order. Otto Porter’s lank and length would be a great asset for Handy to morph into defensive weapons, but Alonzo Gee is a player that just doesn’t have what it takes to be a starter. Regardless, improving Gee’s form while dribbling will definitely be a task on Handy’s list if Brown chooses him to join his coaching staff.

So as we continue to look at possible candidates for Mike Brown’s staff, the third name that we have heard mentioned seems like a good fit for the situation he would be inheriting. John Kuester’s return to work with Brown would be a good pickup too, but would Jamahl Mosley coming back as a defensive assistant bode well for Brown’s game plan? Find out by coming back to Right Down Euclid later this week.

Feb. 19, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown (left) and talks with assistant coach John Kuester on the sidelines while playing Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Lakers 102-90. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports.

On Wednesday the Cleveland Cavaliers officially announced via press conference that they would be bringing Mike Brown back for a second stint as the head coach of the Wine and Gold. After coaching five seasons in Cleveland and two seasons – only getting five games into his second term before being canned – with the Los Angeles Lakers, owner Dan Gilbert and General Manager Chris Grant are now ready to give Brown a second go-around. After all, Brown did win a higher percentage of games in both the regular season (66.3 percent) and playoffs (59.2 percent) than any other coach in Cavaliers history.

Gilbert’s Sunday night dinner meeting with Brown, which was only scheduled to last an hour, quickly turned into a near seven-hour extravaganza that had the two talking basketball styles and schemes and how Brown would exactly approach a team with raw, young talent. Brown has inherited teams that have been, for the most part, established in the two head coaching situations that he has been a part of during his seven years as a head coach in the NBA. Having the opportunity to coach LeBron when his stardom was reaching MVP levels and heading Laker teams consisting of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash made him feel more comfortable upon taking control of these teams.

Despite the offensive struggles in the postseason that played a big part in Gilbert’s decision to part with him after the 2009-10 season, Brown had led his team to back-to-back 60-plus win seasons. Brown’s crowning seasons were the 2006-07 and 2008-09 campaigns, in which he led the team to its first NBA Finals appearance (were swept by the San Antonio Spurs) and won the 2009 NBA Coach of the Year Award respectively. Somewhat ironically, Byron Scott won Coach of the Year honors with the New Orleans Hornets the season prior to Brown’s achievement.

Here are some peak statistics that Brown led his Cleveland teams to:

Offensive Efficiency: 109.7 (4^th) – 2008-09

Defensive Efficiency: 99.4 (t-2^nd) – 2008-09

Rebounding Rate: 52.4 (1^st) – 2009-10

Defensive Rebounding Rate: Ranked within Top 4 in four of his five seasons

–75.7 (4^th) – 2005-06

–75.8 (2^nd) – 2006-07

–75.9 (2^nd) – 2007-08

–77.2 (2^nd) – 2009-10

True Shooting Percentage: 57.0 (3^rd) – 2009-10

Assist Ratio: 16.0 (4^th) – 2009-10

Effective Field Goal Percentage: 53.2 (3^rd) – 2008-09

Brown’s offenses (I wanted to throw defensive rebounding rate in there because I thought the numbers were interesting) seemed to flourish under offensive assistant John Kuester upon his taking over of said duties at the beginning of the 2008-09 season. There have been talks of bringing Kuester back to the Cavs, and I would be on board for this decision. I think it’s an extremely important decision for Brown to bring in someone who can let Kyrie Irving thrive in their offensive system. When Kuester first came to Cleveland, his plan was to use his big frontcourt men to free up the guard play. Using bigs on the weak side and having them be active without having the ball in this position was his plan of attack, and Anderson Varejao and Tyler Zeller are both players who would benefit from Kuster coming back to Cleveland. Varejao played two of his healthiest seasons (81 and 76 games respectively) under Kuester, as he had the two best shooting seasons of his career (53.6 and 57.2 percent). This was due to the simple lobs or dump passes that the floor general would give to Varejao if he couldn’t penetrate in the lane for a layup or if the outside shooters were trapped. Granted Varejao didn’t get the ball as much in this offense because he wasn’t a starter, but the dribble-drive motion style that Kuester uses brings the best out of his guards and would allow Varejao to exert more energy on defense. Whether it would be Irving attacking the rim or kicking it out to a player such as Dion Waiters, (hopefully) Otto Porter or a quasi-four, the Cavaliers need to do work in the offseason to find players who would fit this model if Kuester or a coach like him is brought on board. Using dribble penetration, which Irving is great at doing, is what makes this offense run fluidly. Usually you would have two players acting as point guards like how Cleveland used to use LeBron, so Waiters could potentially fill this role as well. The shooting guard’s aggressiveness toward attacking the rim would help his shooting percentage tremendously, as he wouldn’t go to shooting jumpers as a first resort. Having Varejao as your post player and putting the other two players (to be determined) in the corners to kick out to would be the plan of attack. A healthy Andy would accumulate offensive rebounds at a faster rate than he did for 25 games last season (5.5 offensive rebounds PER 36 minutes).

This offense worked for the most part because of the hodgepodge of sharp shooters that the Cavaliers had to work with in Kuester’s two seasons with the team. Of players who attempted more than 100 three-pointers during the 2008-09 campaign, only LeBron James converted on less than 38 percent of his long-range shots (shot 34.4 percent). The team finished second in the league that season in three-point shooting percentage, converting on 39.3 percent of their shots. Mo Williams (43.6 percent), Wally Szczerbiak (41.1 percent) and Sasha Pavlovic (41.0 percent) all shot over 40 percent from long range in 2008-09. Cleveland also finished second in the league in three-point shooting in Kuester’s second year with the team, shooting 38.1 percent as a team. Before that season the Cavaliers, under Mike Brown, had not ranked in the top half in three-point shooting, as this system proved well for players like Daniel Gibson and Williams. During the 2009-10 season, out of players who attempted more than 100 three-pointers, only LeBron James shot under 41 percent. Gibson (47.7 percent), Williams (42.9 percent) and Anthony Parker (41.4 percent) all thrived during the regular season, but went cold, especially in Brown’s final season before being fired, once the playoffs got underway. That’s when discipline comes in.

It hasn’t been officially announced, but it’s been reported by FOX Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico that Kuester and Jamahl Mosley (we will talk about his strategy in a later post), who has on Scott’s staff last season, would join his side as assistants. This is most likely certain at this point, and I’m glad that this is happening. Cleveland has had a hard time roping in top-tier free agents, but with the money they have to spend this offseason, they can find the necessary niche role players who fit into Kuester’s offensive plan. A lot of pieces are already there to mold.