When LeBron James left Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer to join the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavs announced that they still expect to make the playoffs and be a good basketball team. But things look different after their first 15 games in the NBA since the Cavaliers are the worst team in the NBA at the moment with a 2-13 record. According to their guard JR Smith, this was the plan all along.

“I don’t think the goal is to win. The goal isn’t to go out there and try to get as many wins as you can,” – Smith told The Athletic after the 102-113 loss to Detroit Pistons on Monday night. “I think the goal is to develop and lose to get lottery picks. I think that was always the plan.”

Cavaliers gave the impression that they will chase the playoff spot when they resigned their All-Star forward Kevin Love to four-year, $120 million, extension. But Love managed to play only four games before going down with an injury, which caused Cavs to go on a losing streak. In order to shake thing up, the organization fired coach Tyronn Lue. This didn’t lead to better results, and the team started giving more chance to their younger players while veterans like JR Smith saw their playing time being cut down.

Smith is playing only 20.2 minutes per game this season, averaging career-low 6.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

This caused Smith to publicly say that he wants to be traded in the past. The33-year-old repeated on Monday that he doesn’t want to be a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers if the team intends to “tank” this season.

“Not if the goal isn’t to compete, to win,” – he said according to The Athletic.

The post JR Smith Says Cavs Never Planned to Win This Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

When LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland Cavaliers this summer, the team’s fans began preparing for the upcoming period of struggles to make the playoffs. But Cavaliers players are entering this season with a different mentality.

According to Cavs’ center Tristan Thompson, they are still ready contenders in the Eastern Conference despite not having the best basketball player in the world anymore.

“We’re still four-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say,” – said Thompson on Thursday. “Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto — we already know that story. So until someone takes us down, there’s not much they can really say.”

Tristan Thompson: “We’re still 4-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say. Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto – we know that story” pic.twitter.com/gnGqd4mGeM

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) September 27, 2018

Confident Tristan Thompson would definitely be of use for the Cleveland Cavaliers since the 27-year-old is coming off his worst season since he entered the NBA in 2014. Thompson averaged a career-low 5.8 points per game while being modest in other statistical categories.

Unfortunately, confidence might not do much for the Cavaliers this upcoming season since most analysts predict them to be outside playoff contention. Maybe the Cavs will end up surprising us all, but that is hard to see since they just don’t have enough to compete with other top teams in the East.

The post Tristan Thompson Believes Cavaliers Are Still Contenders in the East appeared first on SportzBonanza.

When LeBron James left Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer to join the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavs announced that they still expect to make the playoffs and be a good basketball team. But things look different after their first 15 games in the NBA since the Cavaliers are the worst team in the NBA at the moment with a 2-13 record. According to their guard JR Smith, this was the plan all along.

“I don’t think the goal is to win. The goal isn’t to go out there and try to get as many wins as you can,” – Smith told The Athletic after the 102-113 loss to Detroit Pistons on Monday night. “I think the goal is to develop and lose to get lottery picks. I think that was always the plan.”

Cavaliers gave the impression that they will chase the playoff spot when they resigned their All-Star forward Kevin Love to four-year, $120 million, extension. But Love managed to play only four games before going down with an injury, which caused Cavs to go on a losing streak. In order to shake thing up, the organization fired coach Tyronn Lue. This didn’t lead to better results, and the team started giving more chance to their younger players while veterans like JR Smith saw their playing time being cut down.

Smith is playing only 20.2 minutes per game this season, averaging career-low 6.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

This caused Smith to publicly say that he wants to be traded in the past. The33-year-old repeated on Monday that he doesn’t want to be a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers if the team intends to “tank” this season.

“Not if the goal isn’t to compete, to win,” – he said according to The Athletic.

The post JR Smith Says Cavs Never Planned to Win This Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

When LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland Cavaliers this summer, the team’s fans began preparing for the upcoming period of struggles to make the playoffs. But Cavaliers players are entering this season with a different mentality.

According to Cavs’ center Tristan Thompson, they are still ready contenders in the Eastern Conference despite not having the best basketball player in the world anymore.

“We’re still four-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say,” – said Thompson on Thursday. “Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto — we already know that story. So until someone takes us down, there’s not much they can really say.”

Tristan Thompson: “We’re still 4-time Eastern Conference champions, so until you take us down from that, teams ain’t got much to say. Boston, Philly, they ain’t got much to say. Boston had homecourt Game 7 and lost. Philly, you guys almost got swept. Toronto – we know that story” pic.twitter.com/gnGqd4mGeM

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) September 27, 2018

Confident Tristan Thompson would definitely be of use for the Cleveland Cavaliers since the 27-year-old is coming off his worst season since he entered the NBA in 2014. Thompson averaged a career-low 5.8 points per game while being modest in other statistical categories.

Unfortunately, confidence might not do much for the Cavaliers this upcoming season since most analysts predict them to be outside playoff contention. Maybe the Cavs will end up surprising us all, but that is hard to see since they just don’t have enough to compete with other top teams in the East.

The post Tristan Thompson Believes Cavaliers Are Still Contenders in the East appeared first on SportzBonanza.