Alonzo Gee

has improved his footwork and shooting.

His hang time, at least where the rim is involved, still needs some work.

Gee supplied one of the few solid performances in the Cavaliers’ 104-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors at The Q on Monday. But his 15-point outing off the bench was almost overshadowed by a spectacular second-quarter spill in which his hands slipped from the rim following a dunk and he landed on his neck and shoulders.

Remarkably, Gee popped up and remained in the game. Gee said he experienced no pain or headache from a hardwood crash that made ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

The second-year pro hasn’t seen the highlight and doesn’t care to watch it. He answered numerous phone calls checking on his well being.

“I made sure I talked to everyone and let them know I was fine,” said Gee, who was whistled for traveling on the play.

The Cavaliers can only hope they bounce back as quickly as the 6-foot-6 small forward. He assured coach Byron Scott that he felt fine and he was fit for practice. The coach has put a lot of work into boosting the confidence and fine-tuning the game of Gee, who played for San Antonio and Washington before joining the Cavaliers last season from the NBA Development League.

After the season and before the lockout, Gee occasionally came into town to get coached up by Scott. They worked specifically on his footwork and shooting.

“Obviously, we couldn’t get our hands on him this summer, but before he left, before the lockout, we worked with him a few times,” Scott said. “I thought he was getting it then. It was just a matter of him getting comfortable and doing it.”

Gee played in Poland for several months during the lockout before returning in ample time for training camp. Scott said Gee was the most pleasant surprise of camp, but that he still needs reassurance from the coaching staff.

“The biggest leap with Zo is he has some confidence,” Scott said. “Even in the two preseason games [in which Gee was 1-of-9 from the field] I pulled him aside and told him, ‘You’re thinking too much – just play. You did all this work in the summer now put it to use. Just go out and play basketball like you are capable of playing.’ I thought [Monday] night he was free. He played like he was free.

“He wasn’t worried about making mistakes. I thought he did a heckuva job defensively, which I know he can do night in and night out, but on the offensive end he gave us a good boost.”

Scott said the swingman is versatile enough that he would consider using him at shooting guard. The coach was asked if Gee was this season’s pet project the way Daniel Gibson had been a year ago.

“He’s somebody I take a lot of pride in,” Scott said. “I’ve seen where this young man has come from and how hard he worked.”

Gee needs to work on his dismounts following dunks. He actually had a similar spill in high school.

“I’ve done it before a while ago,” he said. “So I knew nothing was wrong with me.”

Playing time: Gee played 28 minutes in the opener, taking some time away from starter Omri Casspi. The small forward played 20-plus minutes, but just 6:47 in the second half.

“It was a tough night for me and my team,” said Casspi, who had two points and missed all four field goal attempts. “. . . I wasn’t as focused as I wanted to be. It is what it is . . . You get slapped in the face and you have to bounce back tomorrow.”

Status quo?: Scott said he didn’t expect to make any changes to his 10-man rotation.

“It’s just one game,” he said. “We’ve got 65 more. Defensively, we have to make sure we’re on the same page. If we’re on the same page and teams beat us, than more power to them. But when we have mishaps we had last night, then it’s on us.”

 

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Alonzo Gee has improved his  footwork and shooting.

His hang time, at least where the rim is involved, still needs some work.

Gee supplied one of the few solid performances in the Cavaliers’ 104-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors at The Q on Monday. But his 15-point outing off the bench was almost overshadowed by a spectacular second-quarter spill in which his hands slipped from the rim following a dunk and he landed on his neck and shoulders.

Remarkably, Gee popped up and remained in the game. He experienced no pain or headache, Gee said, from a hardwood crash that made ESPN’s SportsCenter.

The second-year pro  hasn’t seen the highlight and doesn’t care to watch it. He answered numerous phone calls checking on his well being.

“I made sure I talked to everyone and let them know I was fine,” said Gee, who was whistled for traveling on the play.

The Cavaliers can only hope they bounce back as quickly as the 6-foot-6 small forward. He assured coach Byron Scott that he felt fine and he was fit for practice. The coach has put a lot of work into boosting the confidence and fine-tuning the game of Gee, who played for San Antonio and Washington before joining the Cavaliers last season from the NBA Development League.

After the season and prior to the lockout, Gee occasionally came into town to get coached up from Scott. They worked specifically on his footwork and shooting.

“Obviously, we couldn’t get our hands on him this summer, but before he left, before the lockout we worked with him a few times,” Scott said. “I thought he was getting it then. It was just a matter of him getting comfortable and doing it.”

Gee played in Poland for several months during the lockout before returning ample time for training camp. Scott said Gee was the most pleasant surprise of camp, but that he still needs reassurance from the coaching staff.

“The biggest leap with Zo is he has some confidence,” Scott said. “Even in the two preseason games (in which Gee was 1-of-9 from the field ) I pulled him aside and told him, ‘You’re thinking too much – just play. You did all this work in the summer now put it to use. Just go out and play basketball like you are capable of playing. I thought (Monday) night he was free. He played like he was free.

“He wasn’t worried about making mistakes. I thought he did a heckuva job defensively which I know he can do night in and night out, but on the offensive end he gave us a good boost.”

Scott said the swingman is versatile enough that he would consider using him at shooting guard. The coach was asked if Gee was this season’s pet project the way Daniel Gibson had been a year ago.

“He’s somebody I take a lot of pride in,” Scott said. “I’ve seen where this young man has come from and how hard he worked.”

Gee needs to work on his dismounts following dunks. He’s actually had similar spill in high school.

“Ive done it before a while ago,” he said “So I knew nothing was wrong
with me.”

PLAYING TIME

Gee played 28 minutes in the opener, taking some time away from starter Omri Casspi. The small forward played 20-plus minutes, but just 6:47 in the second half.

“It was a tough night for me and my team,” said Casspi, who had two points and missed all four field goal attempts. “. . . I wasn’t as focused as I wanted to be,” Casspi said. “It is what it is . . . You get slapped in the face and you have to bounce back tomorrow.”

STATUS QUO?

Scott said he didn’t expect to make any changes to his 10-man rotation.

“It’s just one game,” he said. “We’ve got 65 more. Defensively, we have to make sure we’re on the same page. If we’re on the same page and teams beat us than more power to them. But when we have mishaps we had last night then it’s on us.”

SESSION UNDERSTANDS 

Ramon Sessions said he had no problem with Scott’s decision to replace him with 5:28 remaining and the Cavs trailing by seven points. Sessions scored 18 points and contributed six assists, but was lifted in favor of rookie Kyrie Irving, who had a tough NBA debut.

“That’s what the Young Fella is here for,” Sessions said. “He started the game and he is going
to finish it. The Young Fella is really talented. You guys have
seen that. That’s his job. He’s the starting point guard. He’s going to finish
the game.”

We will have a story on Scott’s decision to play Irving down the stretch posted on cleveland.com in several hours

 

 
  

 

  
 
 

 

      

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard and top overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft Kyrie Irving started the Cavs’ season opener over veteran Ramon Sessions. Sessions started in the preseason games but this move was not a surprise. The Cavs need Irving to get all the experience he can get. Irving finished with six points (2 – 12 from the floor), three rebounds, seven assists, a steal, and a turnover in 26 minutes.

Irving was shaky for most of the game. He has a long way to go but this was his first real game since tearing a ligament in his right big toe over a year ago while playing for Duke. He played a mere 11 games in his only season there.

Playing point guard in the NBA will be a tough transition from college. It is the hardest position to play. Irving should be fine but it will take time. When he starts getting more confident in his game, we should see a big improvement.

Tristan Thompson

The Cavs’ other lottery pick in the 2011 NBA Draft was Tristan Thompson. He was picked fourth overall. Thompson fared better than Irving did but he was under less pressure. He scored 13 points and hauled in five boards in the game.

Hopefully, Thompson was not taking notes as his mentor, Antawn Jamison, was jacking up 20 shots while making only six. Jamison even launched four three point attempts. He made none of those, of course. Jamison was heaving the ball at the rim like a shooting guard. It seemed like he shot the ball every time he had it. If he could play a little defense, it would be helpful.

Thompson scored one less point than Jamison on 14 less shots. His seven free throw attempts were more than any other Cav. He did that while only playing only 17 minutes. Thompson was impressive.

One game

It is hard to judge this young team by just one game. It was a game that the Cavs could have won but, like Irving said after the game, this was just one game with 65 to go.

I live in Ohio. The Cavaliers are Ohio’s NBA team. I am also a Kentucky Wildcat fan. You can follow me on Twitter here. Still want more? Go to my blog.

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As the Cleveland Cavaliers say goodbye to Manny Harris, they welcome Mychel Thompson onto their roster. Coach Byron Scott said that the decision was not made solely based on Harris’ injury, but that he truly felt that Thompson was a better fit for the team and for the direction that the Cavs’ are currently heading.

“It has been my dream since I was a little kid to play in the NBA,” said Thompson. “Just to make the team is not my goal. I want to stay in the NBA, I want to stick. I don’t want to be here for a little bit.”

Just before preseason began, coach Scott talked about how much he liked Thompson’s passion for the game. He also said that he liked Thompson’s decision-making and size. However, Scott did not really get into too many specifics on his decision in choosing Thompson over Harris.

Thompson was playing with the NBA Developmental League team, the Erie Bayhawks, prior to the Cavs inviting him to come to their training camp. In five games with the Bayhawks, he averaged 19.8 points. Obviously, the NBA is going to be more competitive than the D-League, but seeing his stats in that league does give us a glimpse at what Thompson is capable of. Coach Scott also sees great potential in him.

“He’s doing pretty good. He’s a solid basketball player. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He just does what he knows he can do. He’s pretty good on the defensive end,” said coach Scott during training camp.

Seeing how the Cavs did in their home opener on 12/26/11 against the Toronto Raptors, it is clear that defense is something that the Cavs could use a lot more of. Also, Manny Harris was not the strongest defensively. We will have to see Thompson play more to see exactly how effective he will be long-term on the defensive end, but it is clear that if he is up to the challenge, the Cavs would not be losing much by allowing him to show us what he’s got.

So far, it seems like coach Scott has made the right choice in choosing Thompson over Harris, but of course, only time will tell.

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and still lives there. She was raised a Cavs’ fan and has remained loyal through all of the teams ups and downs. She remains confident that the Cavs will bring home a championship at some point in her life. Follow Rose on Twitter @Rose_Kitchen

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Kyrie Irving era got off to an inauspicious start Monday at The Q.

But to pin the Cavaliers’ 104-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors on a 19-year-old rookie point guard is roundly unfair, not to mention misleading. Especially on a night the club’s collective effort was bad enough to give it a running start on the No. 1 pick next season.

The Cavaliers defended poorly, shot worse and needed a strong effort from their second unit just to keep them in the game against one of the NBA’s bottom feeders.

Irving, the top selection in the June draft, managed just six points on 2-of-12 shooting and never found his rhythm before a sellout crowd of 20,562 fans. He spent a good portion of the second half on the bench as backup Ramon Sessions helped the Cavaliers stay close with a team-high 18 points and six assists.

“It’s disappointing,” said Irving, who played 26 minutes. “You want to play really well when the whole world is watching. It’s a learning process.”

The point is an unforgiving position for first-year players. Not only did Irving struggle at the offensive end, but he had difficulty keeping the Raptors’ Jose Calderon (15 points, 11 assists) in front of him.

How have other recent high-profile point guards fared in their NBA debuts? According to Stats LLC, Washington’s John Wall had 14 points, Chicago’s Derrick Rose scored 11 points and New Orleans’ Chris Paul collected 13 points.

“He looked OK for what was like his fifth game in a year,” said coach Byron Scott, who named Irving his starter on Monday morning. “He had seven assists and one turnover. The only thing he didn’t do was shoot the ball well.”

While the team won’t admit it, this rebuilding season is about developing youngsters like Irving and Tristan Thompson, who had an impressive debut with 12 points and five rebounds.

Scott subbed Irving for Sessions with 5:28 remaining and the Cavs trailing by eight points. The coach considered sticking with the more-effective player, but gave the kid a chance to play with the game on the line.

“I thought it would be good for the rookie to be out there at that time,” Scott said. “I’ve got to learn about him just like I got to learn about other guys on the team. I know what Sess can do. He did a great job.”

That’s not a sentence that fit many Cavaliers, particularly the starters. Small forward Omri Casspi was 0-of-4 with two points and one rebound in 20-plus minutes. Power forward Antawn Jamison scored 15 points, while shooting 6-of-20 from the field.

The Cavs were 41.2 percent from the floor.

Other than Sessions, Anderson Varejao (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Alonzo Gee (15 points) were the home team’s best players. They can’t be the offensive leaders if the franchise plans to make a run at respectability.

The biggest problem, however, was a familiar one. The Cavaliers were shredded on defense, allowing the Raptors to shoot 53.2 percent, including 9-of-21 from behind the 3-point arc. Scott spent an entire season bemoaning the Cavs’ lack or trust and communication on defense. They were the culprits again on opening night.

“That is the biggest thing to me,” said Scott, who made defending a priority in training camp. “We have to get better on the defensive end. That’s the bottom line.”

The Raptors placed seven players in double figures, led by 15 from Calderon and DeMar DeRozan. Toronto used a 15-2 run early in the second quarter to build a nine-point lead. The Cavs cut the deficit to two points early in the fourth quarter, but that’s as close as they would come.

The team’s best defense of the night might have come after the game in the locker room as they rallied around their rookie point guard.

“I told Young Fella, you’ve just got to be patient,” Sessions said. “You’ve got 65 more [games]. At the end of the game I showed him his assist-to-turnover ratio. The shot is gonna come. But that’s the stat you want when you run the team. He ran the team. Seven assists and one turnover? You’d take that any day of the week.”