Maurice Clarett is Blogging
February 28, 2009Open Thread – Cavs vs. Hawks – 2009-03-01
March 1, 2009Beat writer du jour Brian Windhorst set the Cavalier fan circles ablaze this morning with rumors of a “surprise” name in the ring for a potential buyout.
We would be fairly remiss if we didn’t at least touch on the rumored names that may or may not have the eye of Danny Ferry over the course of the next 12 hours; players must be bought out by 12 midnight EST to have a shot at being on their future teams’ playoff roster.
After the jump, check out our “who” and “why,” as we look to hopefully add some depth to the depleted front court of the our Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Joe Smith
Why: He’s been the obvious name that has been in the mix since the trade deadline. The Celtics were rumored to have been on his tail, but opted for the tandem of Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury. The Thunder have been under some pressure to cut ties with Smith, but their head coach (Scott Brooks) does not appear to be in favor of helping out another team with zero benefit to him. Understandable, yes. But as a fan of the Cavaliers, I personally don’t care what he thinks.
Why not: Dan Fegan. The agent of Smith, as well as current Cavalier Anderson Varejao. Smith would want a role on the Cavaliers as opposed to being an insurance policy of sorts. The danger of that is that it would come at the expense of Varejao’s playing time, and Andy is looking for a bit of a pay increase come the end of the season.
Drew Gooden
Why: Well, because he’s a power forward and he’s rumored to be on the way out from his current situation in Sacramento.
Why not: There is no denying the fact that Gooden and LeBron James did not exactly see eye to eye when he was previously with the Cavaliers. Also, don’t discount the fact that the Kings are three hours behind, so any negotiation would actually have to be complete by 9PM their time. Also interested in his services appear to be the San Antonio Spurs. I wouldn’t count out the Denver Nuggets as well, who continue to be in the hunt of some low post help.
Rasheed Wallace
Why: Ben Wallace and his former teammate go way back. When Ben was injured earlier this week, he briefly mentioned Rasheed’s name to a few media members. And let’s face it, while he’s on the down side of his career, he would be one heck of an addition to this Cavaliers team.
Why not: First and foremost, because he’s currently on a team that is within our division. Joe Dumars likely isn’t going to be helping out one of the city’s biggest rivals without getting something huge in return. Plus, if Detroit felt that they were not going to be competing, the would have likely tried to move him before the deadline given his salary figures.
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Of course, we could wind up in the same situation as we did on the trade deadline. A lot of rumors, a dash of speculation and a side dish of hype. But in the end, we could wind up with the same team in the playoffs as we currently see today.
Again, there is no denying that Danny Ferry is trying to get something done. Perhaps one player. Perhaps more than one. We really won’t know until midnight tonight, but hey… it never hurts to see what’s out there. Don’t count out the last resort plan of adding someone like Robert Horry or Austin Croshere if nothing else works out.
Stay tuned.
16 Comments
I’ll take any of the above EXCEPT Rasheed Wallace-he’s an absolute lazy oaf cancerous underacheiver. RW is content to throw up lazy three’s most of the time, rarely plays on the low block where he is really effective.
JS has long been rumored, and I’ve always liked DG-who could fill a definite role on the blocks.
Get to work Danny!
I’ve rethought the above……..if Rasheed is the guy, bring him on! Let him knock KG around……..along with Odom.
If Lebron, Danny Ferry and Mike Brown decide to sign someone like Rasheed, I will go along with it. Although, I tend to think like you Randy. I think between the three of them, one would veto the idea. I also doubt completely that Rasheed will get bought out.
While the Pistons are a shell of their former selves, they are still in the second to last playoff slot in the East.
Can we get Keith Van Horn’s contract out of retirement again??
If Rasheed Wallace becomes free. The Cavs need to go get him. Joe Smith would be lovely but he’s not gonna fix the main problem this team has. It’s complete and utter inability to guard anybody with size and skill in the low post. Rasheed Wallace fixes that. We’re no longer going to get abused by the Duncans, and the KGs, and the Yaos, and the Gasols and the Bynums and the Dwight Howards.
It’s not ideal but Rasheed Wallace puts us over the top.
Sheed is playing right now, as well as McDyess. Doubt it’s either of those 2
surprise name is shawn marion
Pistons just knocked off Boston, they seem to play alot better without AI (big surprise), doubt Rasheed is gonna be bought out, they looked like the old pistons knocking off Orlando and Boston, if they’ve shed the funk and realilze they’re better without AI, then I don’t want to see Detroit in the first round.
Shawn Marion is an interesting thought.
Not quite as fun as the trade deadline, but I’m hoping for something none the less.
So since I’m just sitting here killing some time on sunday afternoon I got to doing some more thinking.
Gooden – didn’t have great chemistry with Lebron, has a nagging injury, so would he even be reliable going into the play offs? on the plus side we did make it to the NBA finals with him. Probably my least favorite of the 3 guys I’m throwing out here.
Marion – definitely, if the raptors don’t want to pay out the rest of that hefty contract, and he wants to go to a contender then this could be possible. But what do we do with him? Bring him off the bench? I could see us starting Lebron at the 4 with Marion at the 3 (especially while Ben is out hurt, not sure what we do when he gets back).
Boozer – history comes full circle and the combo that we all originally hoped would bring a ring to Cleveland actually comes to be. Again there are injury concerns here, but hes supposedly rehabbed that knee, has been playing limited minutes and should be good to go come play off time. Can Cleveland fans forgive him for leaving ? I think yes.
Ricky Davis – just kidding
Everyone seems to forget that Drew Gooden is playing injured right now. He is dangerously close to shutting down for the season. The reason that he has given that he is still trying to go is that he is in a contract year. I don’t want a damaged player. How would that help us?
Marion is buy far the best player of this bunch…
He was not at warmups today due to ‘flu like symptons’
Looks like Smith is pretty much a Cav. Anyone else at this point will just be an added bonus…
The name was Sheed. I know this 100%.
The guy the Cavs are going to get is Joe Smith though. Almost positive on this…
Watching Lakers bounce off Shag like rag dolls sure made me wish we’d pulled off that trade.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Smith in the starting lineup while Wallace is out because I like Varejao coming off the bench.
[…] As Scott mentioned over the weekend, there is no love lost between Lebron James and Gooden, who is a well known good friend of […]