Mailing It In: Rounding Out the Roster…
2014-09-23
Greetings all! Our long summer is winding down, and we’ve got a ton of great content in store for you in the next couple weeks as the Cavs and the Cavs the Bloggers return from their summer sojourns. But for now, we’re not quite up to where we should be productivity wise. So we’d like to hear from you. One question I’ve had on my mind lately: “Is the Cavs roster that we see now, the same one that we’re going to see by midseason? The end of the season?” To me, it seems the Cavs have one or two roster moves up their sleeves. “But the Cavs just added Sweet Lou Amundson!” you say? Color me unimpressed.
Amundson is 31 years old, posted a 9.1 PER last year, and is a career .436% free throw shooter. Top that off with wretched RAPM numbers of -3.0 in ’13-’14, and -4.32 in ’12-’13; it’s safe to say that if the Amundson plays any sort of meaningful minutes, the Cavs are in trouble. It’s odd because with his terrible shooting, he seems like a player that David Griffin would avoid like the plague. Meanwhile, my boy, Josh Harrellson struck out in the NBA and returned to China. Harrellson’s 6’10, 280 pound frame, his .547 TS% (including 39% from three), and his 1.7 blocks per 36 minutes seemed like a much better fit on the Cavs than Amundscrub. Maybe David Griffin wants to corner the market on old guys with pony tails. If that’s the case, then he’d better go get Walter Herrmann to go with Amundson and Mike Miller.
China… The “White Bear” is coming back!! #chongquing #flydragons #cba pic.twitter.com/o9Mslc5WSE
— Josh Harrellson (@BigJorts55) September 18, 2014
Regardless… the Cavs still seem a guard short (maybe Ray Allen will fix that), and short a big man with the size to check the Lopezes, Gortats, Gasols, and Hibberts of the East. Hopefully, the Cavs can pick up that guy as the season goes on. (Maybe when Josh gets back from China!?) But that’s just my opinion. What’s yours?
I’m also pretty unimpressed by Amundson, but he does help to potentially fill a void, especially if Haywood can’t produce. He plays with energy and attacks shooters. His 2 blocks per 36 minutes over his career is actually very respectable, though he doesn’t have a whole lot else going for him apart from some fierce offensive rebounding. But when the entire world is screaming “RIM PROTECTION!” I get it. Hopefully Griffin is just giving Blatt as many rim protection options as possible to choose from out of training camp. But I’d agree that Harrellson would have been a great invite.… Read more »
Totally agree with Excl. I would put money on Ray sitting out until the ASB and then choosing his team (hopefully Cavs). Amundsen, Kirk, Powell, etc are just filler for training camp and practices. You don’t have the kind of summer the Cavs just did and then say “okay fellas, job done. Go win the championship.” Guaranteed Griff has more moves up his sleeve, and Gilbert will continue to be all in to win regardless of cost. There are always interesting back up big men and guards to be had at the trade deadline, and the Cavs still have plenty… Read more »
I think some of these recent signings are nothing more than seat warmers for guys like Ray Allen and Okafor. I get the feeling both of those guys will wait it out until mid-season, save the grind of half a regular season, and then carpet-bag it over to the team that has the best chance of winning a Championship. We also need some bodies for camp, so a lot of these guys we’re signing now likely won’t be on the roster come next April.