Nice little Kyrie interview from Brendan Bowers. He says all the right things about his injury and Tristan Thompson, but doesn’t sound too enthused about our playoff chances. Here’s the link.
Tags: Kyrie Irving, Links to the Present
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Wondering what peoples’ thoughts are on missing out on Andrew Bynum, who seemed to be a real possibility a few weeks ago. Now that he’s gone, do we go after him next year? The plan seems to be one more season of suck to build the core, or acquire pieces for a blockbuster, and then try to shift into contender mode with two more years on Kyrie and TT’s rookie deals. So if that’s the case, what star(s) do you all see us chasing in the near future? Do you think that a trade deadline deal could be part of that plan? What’s the timeline? Just curious, and needing Cavs talk to tide me over for a couple months.
Well it looks like it’s going to be very hard to go after Bynum this offseason since he appears pretty committed to Philly, but I’m ok with the fact that we missed out on him. He was a risk, with injuries and attitude problems, that I didn’t want the Cavs to have to deal with. Talking about stars to look at in the future; I’m very curious to see how Dion Waiters plays this season. I still have my doubts that Dion is going to be able to live up to the hype that comes with the #4 pick. If he can’t, do we chase James Harden? Do we sign a veteran such Ginobili or K-Mart? Also, I’m getting tired of this Alonzo Gee thing, I wish he would just sign.
You’ve probably heard me talk on this topic enough already, but I can’t help going off one more time.
For the coming season, I really like Andy for his ability to mentor Tristan defensively, and his ability to cover defensive mistakes from our young guards. He’s 30, which is old compared to the Cav’s young core, but there’s at least a couple of years to go until we’ll really need a replacement. Plus, people forget the raw production he brings:
3rd in the league in rebounds per minute behind Dwight and Camby
2nd in the league in offensive rebounds per minute, behind Pekovic
1st among centers in steals per minute
He earns the following praise from Hollinger:
“Few big men are as nimble laterally as Varejao, and even fewer are as passionate about defense. He’s the best big man in the league defending the pick-and-roll and, despite lacking overwhelming strength, is a darned good post defender too.”
He’s not an elite center on offense by any stretch, but he shoots over 50% from the field, and a respectable 68% from the line as well, so he’s not a liability either.
Virtually all big men who are as good or better than Andy have max contracts, or close to it, which is the biggest reason of all to hold on to Andy. With the money it would take to upgrade Andy to a true star center like Bynum or Howard, the Cavs could instead fill in an actual weakness. Next year, Center should be the strongest position on the Cavs roster, and should be among the strongest center rotations in the league for years to come if Zeller proves to be an above-average backup as expected. What sense does it make to spend millions per year trying to upgrade what is already a strength?
Nathan, until the last year or two, andy always played PF just as admirably as center, and could easily just go back there. Its not a bynum or andy thing, it was a bynum AND andy thing
That would be good and all, but couldn’t that money be spent better elsewhere? We have 4 rookie and sophomore big men…I’d rather wait until we know that we need help down low before we blow all our spending money on a center. From what I can see now, we’ll probably get more bang for our buck on the wing than at center, where we’ll probably be playing at least one or two below-average players significant minute.
HoopsDogg,
I know you (and I) have brought up James Harden before. OKC signed Serge Ibaka to a 4 year, $48 million deal yesterday. So Durant, Westbrook plus Ibaka will start costing them $50 million annually soon.
Is small-market OKC willing to become a repeat offender luxury tax payer to keep Harden? Are they moving forward with a team of those four plus all minimum and rookie contracts for the next 5 years? Is Harden potentially up for grabs, either via trade or as a restricted free agent in 2013?
It will be interesting to see what OKC’s plan is. Dallas could be a player for Harden, but for 4 years and $60 million, and with a 21 year old all-star point guard…Cleveland may be enticing, too.
I could see OKC maybe doing a sign and trade for AV and picks for Harden. Ibaka AV front court would be a pretty devasting combo against any pick and roll offense and there both effective in the pick and roll on offense as well
The other guy I think who is extremely gettable (if thats a word) is Al Jefferson. I know he’s a liability on D but he’s one of the best offensive bigs in the league i doubt Utah will resign him with Favors and Kantor waiting in the wings. I also believe that a jefferson AV front court would be the best front court in the league with TT coming off the bench.
I don’t think Jefferson is a good fit on the Cavs. With Andy, Tristan, and Z there really isn’t a need for an expensive center like him.
Guess Gee and Cavs about to agree to 3-yr deal worth 10mil according to Amico…seems about right…
I hope years 2 and 3 are partially guaranteed
@ KyrieShow After Bynum and Harden who do you like better than Jefferson. He’s 27 averages 20 points plays little D but can score on the block and from the 3. To beat the heat you need a big who can score to force them to play big (Pacers and celtics vs OKC). I think you give 80 million over 5 years and front load it so when Irving and waiters contracts come due we can pay them. Other free agents that we could get are Millsap, Josh Smith, David West, Monte Ellis, Kevin Martin, Manu, Igudala. I the only ones there I want are Manu and Igudala and I doubt we could get either.
He could come off the bench for a championship team. But with the Heat winning championships, that could be said of almost anyone…