The Cavaliers are looking for answers after a 19-point loss on Sunday night left the team reeling. Something needs to change, and one player thinks he has the solution.
‘Air Bud’ is NOT the answer to the Cavaliers’ troubles
Sorry, but I’m not buying into the hype.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Call me a wet blanket, but I think this a horrible idea. Here at SB Nation we have a deep appreciation for Air Bud’s body of work, but it is not the time to add him to a roster in the hopes of reversing the Cavs’ fortunes.
Signing a new player in the middle of a final series is a recipe for disaster.
You can’t spell “chemistry” without “misery,” and sometimes a team needs to experience the downs as one in order to bounce back. This has already been a tumultuous season for the Cavs, and adding Air Bud to the back court two games into a final series simply doesn’t give him the time to learn Ty Lue’s system.
The situation is bad for Cleveland, I get it, but remember what happened the last time this team was down, 3-1. They have the talent to bounce back. This needs to happen organically.
Can LeBron and Bud coexist?
Sorry, Bud, this meme does not convince me. On paper, the idea of a Bron/Bud pairing seems like a match made in heaven, but there are a couple of core elements to Air Bud’s game that makes this option untenable.
Air Bud needs to be the focal point of an offense.
Just check out one of Air Bud’s signature plays to see how he requires the offense to revolve around him:
Air Bud would spot up in the paint and get absolutely bodied by Draymond Green the first chance he got. It’s a huge problem that Bud’s memes don’t have an answer for. This kind of static play just won’t work against the Warriors.
The Cavaliers are in a spot where this has to be the LeBron show in order for them to compete. The team has been constructed (or lack thereof) in such a way that he needs to have the freedom and space to go off for 40-plus points every game. In Game 2 we saw what happened when LeBron took a backseat and concentrated on his teammates and it was ugly. Even with 13 assists it wasn’t enough, and Air Bud needs to be fed in order to get his points.
Air Bud is not a shot creator.
This is perhaps the biggest problem. The Cavaliers have lacked a second player who can make his own offense ever since the Kyrie Irving trade. Air Bud is simply incapable of shaking his defender and getting an open shot.
Air Bud’s perimeter defense is suspect.
Look, I know his defense is spot-on in the paint, as typified in Air Bud Spikes Back.
That said, it’s unclear whether Air Bud can get out to the three-point line and force Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to make tough shots. Much like his offense, Air Bud’s D is based around being very static. This makes him a liability against a small ball lineup, which Steve Kerr and the Warriors will absolutely exploit if given the chance.
Considering all these factors the timing isn’t right.
Long term, I think there could be a team build around a LeBron James/Air Bud pairing, but the time for these machinations is in the offseason, not in the middle of the NBA Finals. The stakes are too high to play with the Cavaliers’ roster at the moment without risk of marginalizing some of the current players on the roster.
It’s really not fair for Air Bud to create a distraction. It worries me that his loose tweets could have ramifications on the possibility of a future team being built around these stars. There’s a time and a place, Bud — and it’s not right now.
I’m sorry to be the contrarian. I know the idea of Air Bud joining the Cavs is intoxicating, just not right now.
