May 24, 2013

Re-Sign or Release: Damon Jones

June 16, 2008 by 9 Comments

Damon Jones

With the NBA season in the rear view mirror, we now turn to a summer full of front office decision-making. As fans, we all have our feelings on what needs to be done to improve our Cavaliers team. Rock has laid the figurative cards on the table, but this is where we turn to you – the readers of WFNY.

The premise is simple. Assume all players are restricted free agents and that they’ll likely need at least a small raise from last year’s salary. Do you re-sign? Or do you release? Of course, we’ll leave LeBron James out of this scenario.  And also, a little supporting argument always helps.  Do Enjoy.

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Thanks to the overwhelming vote of sending Sasha Pavlovic on his way, all of you GMs out there seem pretty comfortable with a backcourt of Delonte West and Daniel Gibson for next season.  But if we’re releasing Pavlovic and Devin Brown, who does this leave off of the bench? 

Enter Damon Jones.  While he’s become more of a celebrity than a “player” on this team, is it his fault?  Jones has obviously fallen out of favor with the decision-makers, evidenced by his lack of playing time during the entire post season. 

2007-08 Salary: $4,172,432

2007-08 Statistics:
68 G; 19.7 Min; 6.4 Pts; 1.9 Ast; 1.1 Reb; 0.3 Stl; 41.6 FG%; 66.7 FT% (1.7 3PM)

Not the prettiest numbers per dollar, eh?  Perhaps there is a reason that Cleveland is Jones’ ninth team in nine years?  Does it bother you that Cleveland is Jones’ longest tenured team – going on three years?  Will I ever stop asking questions? (Answer: Nope)

One thing you have to take into account is the ever-popular WDLW – What Does LeBron Want?  Jones and James are obviously good friends, but at what point do you trade some level of friendship for wins?  He’s only making $4 million per year, so it’s not like we’re dumping Wally-money on him.  Is that worth a back-up guard role?

I know that many of us were yelling Damon’s name during the postseason, as his lack of playing time was ridiculous.  However, would we want his potential for another entire season, or are we ready to move on? 

Let’s hear it in the comments.

Re-Sign or Release: Delonte West (90 percent say Re-Sign)
Re-Sign or Release: Daniel Gibson (75 percent say Re-Sign)
Re-Sign or Release: Devin Brown (54 percent say Release)
Re-Sign or Release: Sasha Pavlovic (86 percent say Release)

 

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  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com RockKing

    Well, it’s no secret where I’m going on this. Not only would I re-sign Damon, I would increase his minutes. He shot 41.7% from 3 last season, and while he may lack natural defensive ability, he at least gives effort on the defensive end. I don’t want him to start or anything like that, but I felt like when the Cavaliers were playing their best basketball last season, it was when Damon Jones was seeing some good minutes and knocking down a lot of shots. Bring DJ back!!

  • Kirk Anderson

    Letting go of Pavlovic will haunt this team for a long time. He got greedy last year. (blame the agent) But give him the ball. He’s a fine athlete. Cavs fans are letting emotion get in the way when they want to keep a self aggrandizing slouch like Jones over an actual ball player like Pavs.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com RockKing

    Um…..did you watch any Cavs games last year? Look at Sasha’s numbers. He played HORRIBLY. This has nothing to do with him holding out. He shot 36% from the field last year. THIRTY-SIX PERCENT!?!?!? He shot 29.8% from 3. And he played no defense whatsoever. I’ll take DJ’s entertaining self aggrandizing (plus 41% 3-pt shooting) any day over Sasha’s “humble” approach (plus 29% 3-pt shooting). Lets not even mention Sasha’s penchant for going up weak and getting layups blocked.

  • http://blog.crabrising.info derek

    The fact that we didn’t hear a peep out of Damon Jones this year says that he’s a team player. He got his minutes cut and he took less of a role because it’s what Coach Brown said was best for the team. He isn’t the quintessential player but he was a team player. He helped DeLonte West adjust to his new team and starting at the point. When he did play, he hoisted up less stupid shots too.

    I would keep him and, if he can help get a trade done (especially for Michael Redd), then I am for that.

    Other than the mohawk, I have nothing bad to say about DJ this year.

  • http://www.clevelandcurse.com Jay

    I loved DJ’s mohawk! I don’t think Damon Jones or Sasha Pavlovic are the answer to the question Who do the cavs need as the 3rd guard behind West and Gibson? But if that is my only choice I would take DJ in a heart beat. I agree with Rock, he played better when he was in then Sasha did. In the Boston series Sasha hit one big 3 which seemed to tell Mike Brown to reward him with more minutes. I cringed every time he took a bad shot or played no D. Just think, we basically traded Jason Kapono for Sasha Pavlovic. OUCH

  • Tim

    Sasha Pavlovic is the worst finisher in the NBA.
    Damon Jones is the best shooter in the world. (According to DJ).
    DJ did play better, but he also played a lot of garbage time, didn’t he?

  • http://www.clevelandcurse.com Jay

    Tim, do you remember the first game the cavs played after the big trade? I believe it was a friday night against the wizards. DJ started and hit big shot after big shot. He played more in that game than any other game of the year (i’d bet) and he played better than sasha has played in any game since he became a cav.

  • http://www.clevelandcurse.com Jay

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGngEHeBlDc

    listen to the arena announcer in the background of the tv announcers and tell me how you could ever want to get rid of damon jones lol

  • Ricky

    We actually did hear from DJ about his not playing…remember before the Heat game on Christmas Eve when he was singing a Christmas Carol begging to be traded? It wasn’t big news, because nobody cares about Damon Jones. But still, disruptive none the less. That said, I would rather resign him than let him go for nothing. I’d like to see him get traded this summer, but that is b/c of his expiring contract. If we keep him though, we have to give him consistent minutes even if it is only 10 minutes a game. He played his best ball this year when he was a regular part of the rotation. You can’t just throw him in a playoff game when he hasn’t played a meaningful minute in over a month. I guess the problem is though that Daniel Gibson does the same thing that DJ does, but is younger, better, and has the potential to do more than just catch and shoot. A team can only afford to have so many players that can only catch and shoot

    So I guess I just gave a bunch of reasons for both. Shit. I don’t know, I voted to have him stay, for w/e that is worth. He wouldn’t be very expensive to resign

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