Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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After beating Montepaschi Siena on Monday night, the Cavs sputtered out of the gate and were thoroughly dominated by the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.  The sellout crowd of 3,942 were treated to an NBA game in what is customarily the home arena for the Canton Charge of the D-League. What they were not treated to was a high-quality NBA game with the home team putting on a show for the crowd.

The Cavs finished the night with 19 assists but voided that positive with the fact that they committed 22 turnovers.  The Cavs had a fairly awful night shooting the ball.  The team combined for 38.5% shooting compared to the Bucks who shot 44.0% from the field.  Little should be made of the sloppy offense because of all of the new pieces on the roster and nature of preseason games. 

It is important to remember that the regular season does not begin until October 30.  Little should be made of who gets playing time, who struggles, who does well and rotations.  Byron Scott is experimenting and this is the perfect time to make tweaks.  The Cavs are not returning two starters from last year and they have ten new players on the training camp roster.  Byron Scott and Chris Grant have between now and the end of training camp to decide if they prefer Donald Sloan or Jeremy Pargo to backup Kyrie Irving. 

• The elephant in the room is Dion Waiters.  Things have not gotten much better on the Waiters front after he came into the Summer League out of shape and shot only 30%.  It is not time to panic and declare Waiters a bust or a future star in the making, but he needs to improve his play sooner than later if he wants to justify where he was selected. Dion Waiters finished the night with 2 points on 1-7 shooting, 3 assists and 4 turnovers.  His jump shot looks broken.  I am fine with him taking jumpers in the preseason if the intention is to tweak his shot and improve from a longer range. However, where Waiters will excel is in splitting double-teams and driving into the lane.  Hopefully Waiters plays to his strengths instead of settling for lazy jump shots. 
• Jon Leuer had a very nice first half scoring 8 points on 4-7 shooting.  Leuer showed an offensive repetoire that will surely help the Cavs second unit if he can keep it up.  He was hitting shots from mid-range and even showed the ability to put the ball on the floor and drive.  An added bonus were his 2 steals, 1 block and 1 assist.
• The highlight of the game came in the beginning of the third quarter when Tristan Thompson blocked a Samuel Dalambert shot, ran the floor and dunked off an Alonzo Gee assist.  The ensuing basket was his only made field goal in five tries.  Thompson finished the night with 2 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks. 
• After getting big minutes on Monday night, Omri Casspi, Luke Harangody, Samardo Samuels, Donald Sloan and Luke Walton did not play.  I would expect them to play on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls.
• CJ Miles had a nice performance for the Wine and Gold.  He was the high-scorer for the Cavs with 18 points.  Miles was a bit trigger-happy at times, but his shot was falling.  He had active hands and managed to record three steals.  There were times where he was playing the passing lanes a bit too aggressively and he was torched by his man, but that could be an easy fix with a little bit of coaching.
• Kyrie Irving was Kyrie Irving.  He finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  There was a great sequence where the Cavs were running on a fast break after a CJ Miles steal off of a Brandon Jennings turnover.  Irving had a great behind-the-back pass to a cutting CJ Miles who converted on an athletic layup.
• The Bucks had 6 players score in double figures and the Cavs only had two.  The Bucks undersized, but lethal back court of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis scored a combined 30 points.

It goes without saying, but it is important to remember that this was a preseason game.  It is easy to be overly-concerned over the overall performance of the team or individual players, but now is probably not the time to do so.  The Cavs are most likely not a playoff team this year.  In other words, panic should be reserved for when the team is expected to deliver and they do not.  This is still a work in progress and the most important thing is to see development from the team and for everybody to stay relatively healthy. 

The Cavs take on the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.  Tipoff is at 8:00.