The Point Four-ward: Brewer(y) Tour

Four points I’m thinking about the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Over the weekend, reports surfaced that the Cavs were interested in trading for Corey Brewer of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cavs have the trade exception they acquired in the Keith Bogans merry-go-round and, therefore, would not have to include a player in the trade. The Wolves are said to be looking for “future assets” in exchange for freeing up their glut on the wing and the Houston Rockets have also been listed as a potential trade partner. The Cavs roster stands at 15 right now, so if they don’t include a player in the trade, one would have to be released.

If this trade happens, Brewer likely slides right into the starting lineup, moving Shawn Marion back to the bench. At 6-9, Brewer brings tremendous length to both the shooting guard and small forward spots. Outside of being Kevin Love’s preferred touchdown target for his outlet passes, Brewer has never been known for his offense. He’s never developed into even an average three-point shooter (29% for his career), but he has a tendency to find ways to contribute across the box score.

2.) The Cavs interest in Brewer seems to come down to two things: a.) his relationship with Love and b.) the Cavs front office realizing that their defense is even worse off than they thought coming into the season.

When asked about his favorite teammates in Minnesota, Brewer is always the first name out of Love’s mouth — and, to be fair, the Cavs have been linked to Brewer basically since the moment they brought Love aboard. But, the fact that this “more serious” trade discussion for one of Love’s favorite players came out just days after the first of what will probably be weekly “Kevin Love’s going to the Lakers” rumors swirled cannot be coincidence.

Likely, the Cavs are telling Love, after their new forward watched the parade of LeBron James’s former teammates sign with the club, “hey, we’ll get someone you like too. Sit tight.” It’s just part of the tight-rope the Cavs front office will have to walk to make Love still feel like a star even on a team where he is no longer the primary focus.

3.) I’m not sure how much adding Brewer moves the needle in terms of the Cavs overall ability to be an average defensive unit. As Ben pointed out yesterday, Shawn Marion is doing a better job covering opposing wings than it looked like he’d be able to early in the year. Yes, Marion is playing slightly out of position, but it was encouraging to see him cover Kyle Korver like a beard of bees in Saturday’s blow-out win over Atlanta.

Adding Brewer to the starting lineup would allow Marion to spend more time spelling James and lets the Cavs run Dion Waiters out with Marion, Mike Miller and Tristan Thompson with some spot work from Joe Harris. This gets more complicated when Matthew Dellavedova returns as, I’d guess, head coach David Blatt isn’t going to go ten deep most nights. Right now, Miller, who still hasn’t found his stroke, would be the most likely to see his minutes cut… which would mean that the Cavs would be getting just better than zero production from the off-season signings of Miller and James Jones.

4.) But, enough about players who may not ever join this team.

This is a big week for the Cavs. They face the defending champion Spurs tonight and then travel to face the Wizards of Washington on Friday before finishing against the Eastern Conference leading Toronto Raptors back at The Q.

Yes, the Spurs haven’t exactly been world beaters in this season’s early goings, but, man, do they scare the ever-loving crap outta me when I think about them facing the Cavs tonight. It seems like a team as smart and patient as the Spurs should be able to wait for the Cavs defense to give them openings all night long.

So, I propose a distraction.

I wrote a piece for the recently released (and amazing, as always) CavsZine 5 (click for details about how to get your copy) about rewatching Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Finals. For those of you short on your Cavs history, Game 4 was, of course, the game that completed the Spurs gentle sweeping motion (with legs slightly bent, hands placed no lower than 1/3 of the way down the broom handle, smooth right-to-left motion, etc.) of a Cavs team that is popularly considered to be the worst Finals team ever. I’ll tell you this much: hindsight does little to superglue the bloom back on that rose. That team, while more competitive against the Spurs than history will have you believe, was not what you’d hope for from a contender. Remember, the Cavs started Game 4 with Boobie Gibson (due to a Larry Hughes injury), Sasha Pavlovic, Drew Gooden and the not-yet-smooth-domed Zydrunas Ilgauskas flanking a 22-year old LeBron James.

But I have not come here to pile higher on top of the little lineup that could (almost). Instead, I offer a question: what would be the equivalent of this lineup in the NBA of 2014?

The Cavs are much more talent-rich in 2014 than they were seven years ago, so I’m not suggesting that the starting lineups of 2007 and 2014 have very much in common. They don’t. What I’m asking is “Who in today’s NBA is comparable to Sasha Pavlovic for the 2007 Cavs?”

Who out there right now is a good comparison for Gooden (bearing in mind that “2014 Drew Gooden” doesn’t count)?

What is the 2014 equivalent of 2007 meh.

Now, sure, no two players are alike, but that doesn’t mean that when I look at Mike Scott of the Atlanta Hawks I sometimes think of Gooden, who probably missed his true calling coming into the league just before the stretch-four revolution. Or that when I think back to Gibson, I see visions of Brandon Knight dancing in my head. Pavlovic, to me, is still largely an enigma. And Ilgauskas is the real tricky one here.

So, come along and play with me. Who is your starting lineup for the 2014 version of the 2007 Cavs?