Certain things in sports are sexier than others. It’s as simple as that. While Ichiro strives to make singles sexy, the saying goes, “chicks dig the longball.” In hockey, Barry Melrose’s mullet screams sexy over Ovechkin’s buzz cut. Big hits catch the eye before a 3 yard run up the middle. Lastly, slam dunks will always be more exciting than a mid-range jumper. Larry Nance finds himself in quite the unique situation. How many times since the inception of the dunk contest, has a contestant debuted their fresh new jersey on that stage? I’ll admit, I didn’t look into this at all, but man would it make a great HQ trivia question. In comes Larry Nance, I assume junior, or maybe even the third, traded from the Lakers and now sporting a Cavs uni. The same Cavs that are his favorite team, the team in which his father, Larry Nance, probably the first, played for and won the slam dunk contest with. The same Larry Nance whose number is hanging in the rafters at the Q. If that doesn’t give you goosebumps, I don’t know what will. As Kevin Costner said, it’s hard not to get emotional about baseball. Wrong sport, yes, but the man just wanted to have a damn catch with his dad, and now he can!
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Rudy has been hard at work in the lab. His latest creation? DAILY LINEUPS PAGE. So good. So smooth. So helpful. He decided to go with the Sonny Bono red tint, while I prefer the blue tint. What say you?
Well, Larry is in luck, indeed. He happens the be the only real power forward left in Cleveland that isn’t hurt, or LeBron James, because, you know, LeBron plays 1-5. The way I see things happening, Nance is the 5th option on offense, as the Cavs decide to go small. Hill, Clarkson, Hood, LeBron, Nance will be a lineup that we see somewhat often. I promise, Cedi Osman will not be playing 30 minutes the next time the Cavs play the Celtics. I can see them mixing and matching with all different shapes and sizes, but the constant is, LeBron has the ball, surrounded by shooters, with one big man on the floor. That leaves Nance with the chance at 30+ minutes, and 10+ boards a game. Blocks will come, and the man has been averaging close to 2 steals per game the last month. Couple that with great FG% and we could have a monster on our hands. If you need a PF, Larry Nance could make you dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNkQtsyXEj0
Someone I really wanted to write about, but felt was more suited for deeper leagues, is Shaq’s long lost brother, Royce O’Neale. I think the Hood trade, and dismissal of Joe Johnson and Derrick Rose (I dare you to buy and wear a Derrick Rose Jazz Shirsey), will open up playing time somewhere. Alec Burks gets chances time and time again, but seems to fizzle out quickly. Ricky Rubio and Donovan Mitchell are the back court of the present, and O’Neale will be coming off the bench to play a lot of wing time. Now here are the stats. Since Royce has gotten 20+ minutes, 15 days or so ago, he has been averaging 9.7 points, 5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 steal, 1.2 3PM on fantastic percentages. His per-36 are 13 and 7 over the year, so I think with 24+ minutes, a number he is exceeding as we speak, he should be able to crush those math based projections. Now that time is opening up for Mr. O’Neale, I think he will capitalize. The kicker? He qualifies as a small forward in Yahoo and as a power forward in ESPN. Little did you know, he’s getting a ton of run at the shooting guard position. The type of advantage of playing a shooting guard style player in your PF slot could pay dividends depending on your strategy and preference, but it is for sure something to keep in mind as that dual position eligibility could be coming soon. Happy bargain hunting, y’all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxUU-imVsIE
