The next phase of the Cleveland Cavaliers officially got underway last night.  An argument can be made that it began when LeBron James said “I’m taking my talents to South Beach,” but last year was a necessary portion of the rebuilding process.  As fate would have it, the Cavs were fortunate enough to land the first overall pick and we can hopefully look ahead at the future of the team.

Kyrie Irving made his NBA and Cavs debut against the Detroit Pistons and he played better than expected.  His first shot was wide-left and left a lot to be desired.  Luckily for him, a free-pass was given due to the delayed start of the NBA season and the fact that he only played in eleven games at Duke.  Additionally, he got over his butterflies and proceeded to play relatively well.

Tristan Thompson, the other Cavaliers rookie did not impress until the fourth quarter.  He picked up four fouls in approximately one quarter and he ended the half with zero points, two rebounds and four fouls.  Thompson appeared to play much better in the fourth quarter when he notched eight points, two rebounds, a steal and two blocks.  It will be interesting to see if he can carry some of the fourth quarter momentum into the next preseason game against Detroit on Tuesday.

The main attraction of the matchup was between rookie Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight.  Both point guards had moments where it was evident that they were rookies playing in their first NBA game.  They both also had moments that justified where they were selected in the lottery.  Both teams appear to have some very nice players.

Very little is known about what to expect from Kyrie Irving this season due to the small amount of basketball that he has played.  The best aspect of Kyrie Irving’s performance was his driving ability and the amount of times he got to the free throw line.  He looked fairly comfortable handling the ball and he had an impressive first step.  He finished the game with twenty-one points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.  The areas that he should look to improve on in the next game are his shots that were blocked and turnovers.  

Anderson Varejao played his first game Since January 5th and he performed as-expected.  He hit on all four of his shots and pulled down 4 rebounds.  Assuming he doesn’t get traded, one thing to look out for this season is how well Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao can run the pick-and-roll.      

Making snap-judgements after a preseason game is something that I am usually against.  Having said that, Antawn Jamison put forth very little effort.  An argument could be made that the lockout did not affect him and that he was in mid-season form.  Jamison got off to a rousing start and shot 14% in the first quarter and mailed in his defensive effort.  In the case with Jamison, he has a history of taking off defensive plays and attempting bad shots.  Hopefully he turns up his effort or he can be traded.  This is not the kind of leadership and effort that the rookies should be exposed to.

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Few people have as much knowledge and as many memories about the NBA as Joe Tait.  Having been around the league since 1970 and with the Cavaliers for all but two years of their existence, he has a vast knowledge base.  In addition to his long-tenured relationship with the NBA, Tait has a photographic memory and can even recite final scores and the names of players from his days in high school.  

Joe Tait was always interested in sports.  The issue was that sports weren’t always interested in Tait.  As a child, Tait would do play-by-play for imaginary games that he was acting out in his head.  Sports were an obsession for Joe Tait.  Despite the fact that he was never athletically gifted, Tait managed to leave his mark on Cleveland sports forever.  

Joe Tait’s history with the Cavaliers is as old as the team.  Think about that for a minute.  With the exception of two years during the Ted Stepien era, Joe Tait was working play-by-play for as long as the NBA has existed in Cleveland.

The reason that I am repeatedly reiterating how long Joe Tait’s history is with the Cavaliers and Cleveland is to emphasize how much he has meant to the city.  In Terry Pluto’s biography “Joe Tait: It’s Been a Real Ball,” fans were given an opportunity to offer their thoughts on what Tait has meant to the city, their careers and their lives.  The result is what is one of the biggest strengths of the biography.  The personal anecdotes which result borrow upon Tait’s long and storied career and how he has touched the lives of millions.  When preparing for this book, Terry Pluto reached out to Cleveland fans through social media to have them share their personal experiences involving Tait.  As a result, Interjected in-between the regular chapters of the book are stories where fans reminisce about Tait’s career.

The reach of WTAM is advertised as being “38 states and half of Canada.”  The personal anecdotes from fans were touching and made the WTAM range seem miniscule.  A major strength of the book was reading personal details of how Joe Tait inspired people from Cleveland.  Over eighty different fan submissions made it into the book and most of them are interesting.  Although every young Cavs fan at one point in their life fell asleep to the sound of Joe Tait calling a west coast game, Terry Pluto did a great job of including the archetypal anecdotes and more unique stories.

The most interesting chapter outlined the years that Ted Stepien owned the team..  Best known for being the cause of the Stepien Rule, he should also go down in history as being the man who forced a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Tait to leave for two years.  Tait is candid with his opinions regarding the former Cavaliers owner.  A major point of contention between The two was that Stepien viewed the play-by-play as an extension of the PR department.  Forever being a man who took pride in literally calling it like he saw it, this was somewhat of an impasse between Stepien and Tait.  Ted Stepien even went as far as telling the Plain Dealer that “white people have to have white heroes” and that “the Cavs have too many blacks.”  Ted Stepien has a very strong reputation and Terry Pluto and Joe Tait effectively outlined exactly what the issues were.  Folklore paints Ted Stepien as an eccentric man that made brash personnel decisions and "It's Been a Real Ball" explain in great detail where his negative reputation comes from.

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I had the opportunity to interview recently retired Cavaliers radio play-by-play announcer Joe Tait on Thursday.  We talked about the state of the NBA, Cavaliers day of lore, the future of broadcasting and trains.  Joe Tait is the subject of the book “Joe Tait: It’s Been a Real Ball” by Terry Pluto.

Demetri: Which Cavs team had the tightest bond amongst teammates?

JT: “There were two teams.  The Miracle of Richfield ball club thanks to Nate Thurmond for the way he brought that team together.   The Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Mark Price, “Hot Rod” Williams team was a whole bunch of guys who liked each other a lot and Lenny Wilkens as their head coach was their final bit of adhesiveness.  Those two were the best.”

Demetri: Do you think the Cavs will consider retiring Lenny WIlkens’ number?

JT: ““Probably not.  No, I don’t think so.  He didn’t play with us that long.  Granted, he played with us about as long as Nate Thurmond but his impact came in the Miracle year and was much more profound.  Lenny was the first legitimate basketball player that we had.  He was a trailblazer for the Cavaliers and he was there in a time when the Cavs were trying to get their sea legs.”

Demetri: You repeatedly made mention in “It’s Been a Real Ball” that the Cavs should retire World B. Free’s number.  Is this something you foresee in the future of the franchise?

JT: “He pulled that franchise out of the mush.  When Ted Stepien left, “World” was the one thing that the Cavs had that still attracted the fans.  I don’t know what his problems  were with other franchises, but I do know this he was the best we had to offer.  He was a fan favorite and worked hard at being a fan favorite.”

Demetri: What is the most surprising Cavs trade that you ever saw?

JT: “I can’t say that any one trade leaps right off the page.  The most disturbing trade in history was the Ron Harper with Danny Ferry trade but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances with that one.”

Demetri: Do you think the Cavs could have gotten past the Bulls had they not made that trade?

JT: “Michael Jordan would be the first guy to tell you that with Ron Harper, the Cavs would have had a very good shot at winning at least one championship.”

Demetri: How close do you think the Mike Brown and LeBron James era Cavs were to winning a championship?

JT: “Not that close. I don’t think they had enough leadership to get the job done.  LeBron was a great athlete. I should say 'is', but he did not have the leadership skills to lead the team and we didn’t have anybody else who could fill that role.”

Demetri: Would the NBA have been able to survive a year-long lockout?

JT: “Oh yeah, in fact it might have survived better than what they are going to have.  I know nothing of what the new agreement says or doesn’t say.  It could have survived a year off.  It’s nothing against the Cavs.  Byron Scott is a tremendous coach.  I’ve closed the door and will now move onto other things.”

Demetri: Is the current atmosphere in the NBA that different than it was in the past?  Do you think things are more or less the same but magnified by social media and the 24 hour news cycle?

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For the second time in four months, the NBA has officially released the 2011-2012 schedule.  The first edition of the schedule featured eighty-two games in five and a half months and had approximately a zero percent chance of happening.  The revised schedule features sixty-six games in about four months.  Because of the condensed nature of the schedule, there is an unorthodox amount of games per month.

For the first time in three years, the Cavs do not open the season against the Boston Celtics.  Instead, the season will open at home against the Raptors.  Things get more interesting after the home opener because the Cavs will play nine of their next eleven games on the road.  This road trip will find the Cavs making their way through just about every part of the country.  The next most interesting sequence for the Cavs is when they play nine straight games at the Quicken Loans Arena.  One of the last stretches of games will have a dreaded back-to-back-to-back that will also feature ten games in fourteen nights.  The Cavs will play five games in December, seventeen in January, thirteen in February and seventeen in March.  As expected, the Cavs will not be playing on ABC, ESPN or TNT.

Because of the lockout-shortened season, some teams will not make their annual trip to Cleveland.  Those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trailblazers.  The Cavs will not travel to play the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings.

One of the more fascinating aspects of sports are the storylines.  Mike Brown will not make his first appearance as an opposing head coach in Cleveland this season.  Kyrie Irving will not play against the team that originally had his draft pick.  In addition, Baron Davis is not going to make his return to Los Angeles and the Cavs will not compete against Mo Williams.  Instead of focussing on the lost storylines, here are the five most interesting games in chronological order:

December 26, 2011 against Toronto:  Kyrie Irving is going to make his NBA debut against a team that starts Jose Calderon.  Irving dodged a bullet by bypassing his first game against the defensive-minded Rajon Rondo.  This will additionally be Tristan Thompson’s debut and it is going to be against the team that drafted Jonas Valanciunas, who was the player most experts assumed Cleveland would pick fourth overall.  Because of his contract buyout issues with Lietuvos Rytas, it is highly unlikely that Valanciunas will be with the Raptors until at least the 2012-2013 season.

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