Cavs and Wizards Epic Fail Fest is Almost Upon Us

If things remain true to form, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards will play in one of the most historically awful NBA games ever. The Cavs set the record for most losses in one season a couple days ago, and just lost their 25^th straight game overall. Cleveland broke the 28 year old record held by of course, the Cavaliers. On Sunday, they host the Wizards, which have lost all 25 of their road games, four losses away from the NBA record. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

As mentioned earlier, I was prepared for the Cavaliers to struggle, but one win since November 27^th is unfathomable. I know they have had injuries, but how can you have Christian Eyenga, JJ Hickson, Ramon Sessions, and Anthony Parker in your starting five and expect to compete. Two more losses and it will be the longest losing streak in any professional sport. They are even four and a half games behind the second worst team in the league.

Meanwhile in the nation’s capital, the Wizards have lost eight straight overall on top of their road game futility. In contrast to their struggles away from home, they have a winning record at the Verizon Center, which seven teams cannot claim. Luckily, John Wall has not missed a game since Christmas and Nick Young’s fro is summoning its Samson-like powers with 23 points a game in his last 15. Also, center JaVale McGee will be the first Wizard to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest. Maybe they need to change their airplane, wake-up calls, and room service in order to change their course, since they actually have hope.

In the meantime, Cleveland has two home games before NBA’s version of the Toilet Bowl, against the struggling Detroit Pistons and Blake Griffin’s LA Clippers. If they predictably lose those games, maybe the tickets going for two dollars will go through the roof, and TNT and ESPN will clear their schedules so more viewers than the record-breaking Super Bowl can view this historic debacle.

Cleveland Cavs hit rock bottom without LeBron

After last night’s 108-100 loss to the Suns, the Cavaliers have officially hit rock bottom. At 8-29, Cleveland now has the worst record in the NBA. They have lost 10 straight and 20 of 21 overall. That is only one win since November 28th! Now one of their best players, Anderson Varejao, tore a tendon and is out for the year. Even their team statistics are awful. Out of 30 teams, they are 26th in offense scoring, 23rd in defense, 29th in shooting percentage, 27th in defensive %, 24th in three point %, and 30th in defensive 3pt %. Meanwhile the attendance numbers are second highest in the league, reflecting all the disappointed fans who already bought tickets during the offseason. The team was going to predictably struggle after Lebron left, but no one imagined it would be this bad so soon. Owner Dan Gilbert might as well start trading away what’s left, since this season is done.

My second favorite team, Wizards, are not faring much better either. At 9-26, they are the second worst team in the Eastern Conference and are 0-18 on the road. Luckily Washington has their superstar already in John Wall, who unfortunately has missed 12 games due to injury contributing to their poor start.

Maybe the Cavs can draft Ohio State’s superstar freshman Jared Sullinger in next year’s draft, since taking the home town hero worked out so well last time.

Building a New “Wall” in Washington

“Mr. Prokhorov, you can’t tear down this wall”

There is a new era in Washington as the Wizards won the draft lottery for only the second time in franchise history in DC. Even though they had the sixth best chance of earning the top spot, they lucked out over several teams to draft first overall in June 24ths’s draft. The New Jersey Nets had the best chance, who, with new Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov at the helm, were trying to entice Lebron James to come to Brooklyn with the #1 pick and Jay-Z.

The consensus best player in the draft is Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, followed by Ohio State’s Evan Turner. Luckily this gives the Wizards the perfect opportunity to part ways with Gilbert Arenas and usher in a new era for the franchise. After jettisoning Jamison, Butler and Haywood, Washington can now ship out the gun-toting Arenas and the rest of his $100 million contract to make room for Wall.

Another part of the new era of the franchise is the arrival of new owner Ted Leonsis, taking over for the late Abe Pollin. Hopefully he follows his model with the Capitals, which includes drafting Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, Semin and Varlamov, and not the Wizards’ formula. The Wizards either draft well, but trade the players before they reach their potential, like Devin Harris, Steve Blake, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace, or makes a colossal bust. At least Jordan isn’t around anymore to work out the players before hand and botch the only other time they had a #1 overall pick with Kwame Brown.

This will be the fourth #1 overall pick since 2004 for DC area sports teams, which isn’t surprising for the city with the longest 4-team title drought. While Strasburg has yet to pitch a game, and the Nats have not even drafted their #1 pick this year yet, the Wizards can only hope that Wall will pan out as well as Ovechkin has for the Caps. They could easily trade down and draft more players to fit their many needs, but the Wizards desperately need a new face of the franchise.