(To be fair, this is also the only Canada Day I can remember, period.)
Just a few here-and-there type notes for today:
From the comments, it is clear that not only am I the only person who loves Tarence Kinsey, but it is actually offensive how much I love Tarence Kinsey. I concede. I realize that I am way more excited about Tarence Kinsey than any rational person should be. Yes, he is far from complete and may very well not be in the rotation next year. But God almighty, I’m sick of people on the Cavs just standing on the weakside and waiting for LeBron to give them a three. There are other ways to be effective off-the-ball, and Tarence subcribes to that theory and does the little things. I get excited about these things.
One last clarification: I consider Delonte a “combo guard,” a guy who can play the 1 or the 2, rather than a “swingman,” a guy who can play the 2 or the 3. That’s why I neglected to mention him in discussions of prior and current Cavalier “swingmen.” Accuse me of not loving my country, my family, or my school. But do not accuse me of not loving Delonte West enough.
So Charlie Villanueva will not be a Cavalier next season. (My soon-to-be irrelevant thoughts on Mr. Villanueva can be found here.)Part of me is bummed, but part of me is definitely relieved. 40 million over 5 years is just way too much money for a guy with as many questions surrounding him as Charlie V. I was fine with giving him the mid-level, but I wasn’t ready to go all-in with an under-30 “core” going forward of LeBron, Delonte, and two guys that Bucks thought were expendable in consecutive off-seasons.
However, the downside here is that now Fegan has leverage, the Cavs don’t have a power forward, and there’s just not enough room in the paint for a center and power forward with no outside shot at all, especially not with LeBron looking to drive as much as he does. I’m waiting to see what happens with this. Even when the Cavs sweep the Pistons, they’re a pain in the ass. Although that team is still a mess.
It looks pretty much official that someone else is going to be able to woo away Jason Kidd, who was my biggest off-season pipe dream for months now. That does bum me out, although he was a long shot to begin with and pretty much an impossibility after the Shaq trade.
And the Clippers somehow find a taker for Zach Randolph. Is it a coincidence that Charlie V and Zach end up changing teams on THE SAME DAY after I revealed their freakish similarities in by-possession offensive metrics? Yes.
Keeping it short and sweet tonight, guys. Have a good one, everyone.
Is it foolish to be optimistic about the possibility of signing Trevor Ariza? We can only offer the mid-level, but is it possible to offer a contract that starts at the mid-level and then incrementally increases over the next few years? Is it worth it? I think he would fill a big hole in our roster.
Just realized I’ve been using the first person plural.
From what I understand Ariza was a little put off by LA’s offer, and I’d imagine being a big part of a Cavs championship run would sound pretty tempting, even if he ends up passing on it.
im more into artest than ariza. Imagine ron-ron @ the 3 with lebron starting @ pf?? Ach, im drooling. Easier then to pick up a solid defensive 4 to come off the bench & play with Z than getting a starting 4. Nice balance too with lbj & artest’s defensive flexibility…but can mike brown handle it?
are we ever going to talk in depth about where mo williams went during the magic series?
or is the deep end too scary to jump into with a lucid consciousness?
does mo williams performance on and off the court merit serious concerns for next year or any future high-pressure situations?
i feel like no one has really addressed what happened to (meltdown) mo.
Artest to the Lakers they are saying now. Defensively, that’s probably an upgrade. As for threes, Artest chucks up too many and isn’t particularly good at them, but guys who can make open threes at a decent rate aren’t that hard to find. This makes the Lakers seem even scarier, well, at least if Odom comes back.
ESPN says Ariza verbally agreed to sign with Houston. Well, looks like another Cavs target falls through.
Craaaap. Gortat to the Mavericks, too. Not that we’re looking for a center.
Who’s left? Any chance Sheed wants to play for his old rivals?
According to Windhorst’s twitter, the Cavs are looking at Linas Kleiza and Anthony Parker. The best I can say about them is that they are both better than Sasha Pavlovic, though I have a hard time getting too excited about either. Parker’s kind of old, too. I just glanced at their stats and I don’t know anything about their defense.
Neither is anything close to Artest or Ariza in terms of defensive ability.
Aww John, I like Kinsey too! He does good things every time I see him play. And I think he once averaged 18/game for a month as a rookie on the Grizz.
As for CV, I am not sad to lose out on him. Poor defense + mediocre efficiency on offense = losing player, in my opinion. Plus, I think he went psycho on Big Z’s throat in a game last season and got ejected. Didn’t make a good impression.
As for a Varejao-Shaq frontcourt… I really don’t hate it. I was thinking, is Andy that different from Udonis Haslem? Maybe a slightly worse jumper, but mostly I’d say that’s a good comparison, and that guy won a championship next to Shaq. Plus, we know he works well with Big Z who should still be getting at least 20 mins a night. And we absolutely have to resign him because he’s our only serviceable big man under… what, 33, 34? He’s a building block, and if things work out next year and we get an offensively talented FA big man, he should be a good complement to that guy.
I’m a BIG BIG FAN of the Cavaliers, for me CV & Rasheed are not too expensive & has a lot of questions on their speed & athleticism. Why not try to acquire a quick big PF like Brandon Bass or Chris Andersen or Linas Kleiza or Chris Wilcox if our team needs a Power Forward that will score & surely defend other PF, and this guys will surely help Varejao & Shaq defending inside. Also, try to get a big # 2 position who is now a FA- Joey Graham to defend Kobe or Ron Artest or other big shooting guard. If this will happen I’m sure Cleveland will become the 2009-2010 NBA champions because we have a players that can surely score & defend at the same time. I’M HOPING FOR THIS TO HAPPEN TO CLEVELAND THIS COMING SEASON!!!
I hope Cleveland will acquire Brandon Bass or Chris Andersen or Linas Kleiza or Chris Wilcox for a Power Forward Position because they are not only agile for a Big PF, but they are also not too expensive & they can surely help the team this coming season. And for a Big # 2 Position, hope they will also get Joey Graham because he can’t only score many points but a proven a defensive player for this position.
[...] On Charlie V signing with Detroit: “Part of me is bummed, but part of me is definitely relieved. $40 million over five years is just way too much money for a guy with as many questions surrounding him as Charlie V. I was fine with giving him the mid-level, but I wasn’t ready to go all-in with an under-30 “core” going forward of LeBron, Delonte, and two guys that Bucks thought were expendable in consecutive off-seasons.” [John Krolik/Cavs the Blog] [...]
I agree with the previous comments on acquiring a cheap PF, like in Andersen. From watching the nuggets game, Andersen can play D and O and has no problem playing along side a star, as in the Nugget’s Anthony. I personally think Andersen would be a good fit to play with our current line-up. Plus this would give the Cavs a big look option in defense, playing Mo and West will running Anderson, Andersen, and Shaq, or even Big Z. That is a defense I wouldn’t want to mess with and still allows for scoring potential in the post and perimeter. Probably just fan-boy dreamings to see that line-up. If it worked out, it could give Lebron a lost more rest and take weight off his shoulders. Unfortunately I do not think Ferry is looking at Andersen. Lastest rumor mill has him going to LA to probably talk to Artest. Maybe we should shot him some emails giving him the idea in a cheaper PF though. Still got to resign Anderson as well.
I love Mo as well but Ozward was right, Mo melted down during the Orlando series. Plus our gaurds are pretty small for a team that has swingmen who cna play both sides of the court. We do need a swingman, who will make offensive moves and play tough D in the 2 postion against gaurds. Terrance does make that offense. He is not afraid to cut and move unlike other gaurds on the team who sit outside waiting for the 3. I do not trust him enough to run an offense without Lebron in there. I would feel better with a swingman like Ariza, but he is probably going to Houston, so we cna look elsewhere for another.