May 20, 2013

While We’re Waiting… Matt Barnes to Orlando, Ferry’s Mindset, and Overrating QB Arm Strength

July 21, 2009 by 18 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.

barnesblog_050407_250Remember that bench we thought was weak post-Carter trade? “Despite advancing all the way to the NBA Finals last season, the Orlando Magic have been one of the most active teams of the summer, staring the luxury tax in the face while pulling off a blockbuster trade (Vince Carter) and fearlessly investing in youth (Brandon Bass and Marcin Gortat). On Monday, the team solidified its depth, coming to terms on a two-year deal with the versatile Matt Barnes, who’s coming off a career season with the Phoenix Suns. [...] It’s not yet clear how much Barnes will make, but the Magic did have roughly $1.9 million of their midlevel exception remaining.” [Matt Watson/NBA FanHouse]

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The land of Grinders: “[Danny] Ferry’s moves seem to be based on a philosophy that actively strives for the opposite of giving a rookie a 10-year guaranteed contract. The lessons Ferry learned being a grinder in the league instead of a superstar were tough, but might be the ones that ultimately guide him to building a championship team.  Meanwhile, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, and Kevin McHale have all failed.” [John Krolik/Cavs the Blog]

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Finally, the Cavaliers say “so long” to Ticketmaster. [Peter Krouse/Cleveland.com]

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My car’s speedometer goes up to 160 MPH! “Whenever someone remarks about a quarterback’s arm strength, I’m reminded of former NFL QB Drew Bledsoe’s comments, where he astutely pointed out that it is rare for a QB to actually throw the ball more than 30 yards on a given play. Of course, this is assuming the QB is not receiving owner’s box directives from Al Davis. If you adhere to this theory, ask yourself: how strong an arm does an NFL quarterback actually need? Certainly, the ability to throw an effective 15 yard out route is more important than having the physical strength to heave a ball 60 yards downfield.” [Cleveland Reboot]

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And finally, AL Central Roundtable from Jay/Let’s Go Tribe and Company [Let's Go Tribe]

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  • DK

    matt barnes going to the magic is gonna hurt a bit…I still like the moves we made in the offseason, but I think they solidified their own spot in the ECF with their moves as well…Barnes is a small, but essential piece to that team…theyve effectively filled their needs in a sense, although losing lee and alston will hurt down the road, theyre still not is such a horrible situation as they appeared to be before…

    but I still like the Cavs winning the East…

  • BisonDeleSightings

    Orlando, Boston, and Cleveland are juggernaughts, especially now that each has improved immensely this offseason. We might see each division in the East clinched by mid-March.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    The top five teams in the league are all stacked. LA (especially if they get Odom back), San Antonio (that RJ trade was dy-no-mite!), Orlando (plus VC, Gortat, and Barnes), Cleveland (assuming Moon goes through), Boston (plus Sheed) are all going to be really, really, ridiculously good at basketball. It’s gonna make for a fun but nerve-wracking season.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig

    Has Boston really improved that much? KG is still a giant question mark, isn’t he? For that matter, Sheed and Ray Allen aren’t exactly lock tight bets at this stage of their careers. I still maintain that Doc Rivers is a horrendous coach. They haven’t re-signed Big Baby yet, have they? We are talking about a team that relied on Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore for depth last year and they haven’t made a splash in free agency yet.

    So they signed Sheed and Eddie House picked up his option. Not exactly comparable to what the Magic have done this off-season, is it?

  • adam

    well now if the cavs win it all we can say we really deserved it. the top 5 teams in the NBA are just stacked… plus the second level in the west is very good too. shaping up to be a great year in the nba

  • AMC

    You have to admire the Magic’s willingness to spend to do what it takes to win. I agree that the top 3 teams in the East are going to be beasts this year. I’m not sure how much Sheed has left and whether he’ll play smart enough to really help the Celtics. If they C’s don’t resign Big Baby, they’re a pretty thin team with a rapidly aging core. I think it will be the Cavs and Magic dueling it out for the #1 seed with Boston in third. Should be a great season.

  • Isis

    I liked Barnes…….sorta hoped/wished he was coming to the Cavs. I’m indifferent towards Moon, open to seeing him do his thing. All I can hope is that this all works out………I do know Barnes flat out is an offensive threat off the bench.

  • http://cursedcleveland.com cursedclevelanddotcom

    Craig, I love their Marquis Daniels pickup though. That’s big for Boston’s bench. I think the Spurs/Lakers and Celts have better starting lineups than the Cavs right now.

    Should be real interesting. I actually felt better about our situation going into going into the playoffs than I do now. But we’ve obviously got a whole season to figure things out and pray Shaq stays healthy (is the guy working on basketball this off-season? Seems like he’s busy doing other things).

  • JNeids

    Am I the only one who was really hoping to see Barnes in a Cav uni next season? I think he would have been a nice fit, and obviously has experience playing with Shaq. I couldn’t be more upset that he went to Orlando. I’m trying to have faith in Ferry’s decisions, as I’m sure he could have landed Barnes if he wanted to, but I’d love to hear/read some reasons supporting Moon over Barnes…

  • ben

    How can you not be excited as a Magic fan right now. They really did a great job this offseason. I believe we did too, but wow.

    I absolutely agree QB arm strength is way overvalued. Give me a Drew Brees or Chad Pennington over JaMarcus Russel or Derek Anderson any day.

    Also, how did BQ suddenly get a rep for having a “weak” arm? Perhaps it is weak in comparison to someone like DA (whose arm strength is well above average), but when I was at ND while he was there, his arm strength was always heralded.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    “when I was at ND while he was there, his arm strength was always heralded.”

    So was everything else he did. Except when he was getting sacked 3x by his brother-in-law.

  • ben

    @ Denny: ND-hate blah blah blah. But seriously, where did they myth that BQ is some sort of noodle-arm come from?

  • http://serandez.blogspot.com Ezzie

    I would think arm strength usually means the zip on the ball, not the distance.

  • bobby

    I disagree about that arm strength. Sure, the long ball is rarely thrown, but the threat of it helps more then anything. I read something (in Pluto’s articles) from an exec in the AFCN about the browns QB situation:

    3. More from the executive: “Derek Anderson can throw down field, but his touch on short passes isn’t good. He will stretch the defense, but does he bring the intangibles that you want from the position? Quinn has those intangibles, but if we play him, we’re putting eight guys [in the box] and daring him to throw down field. That takes away their running game, unless Brady can make the throws. I’m not sure who is the best bet for them.

    So with DA, there will be more open field for the offense as a whole to operate (helps the running game esp.), and as you read with BQ, 8 guys in the box. Now, maybe Mangini releases BQ on the AFCN this year, and good ol’ RAC was just too scared to use him to his full potential, but until Brady starts at least making it look like he can throw down field then the offense will struggle under him (other then getting little dinks and dunks)

  • http://vittoriodezen.wordpress.com Vittorio De Zen

    It seemed like fans of many, many teams around the league were hoping for Matt Barnes this summer. Rightfully so, I think – he’s not going to cost a ton of money and he’s proven he can be a productive player. On Orlando? Fantastic fit. They are stacked. They can put a wide variety of lineups out there.

    The thing is, Cleveland can do the same thing. These AP and Moon signings should really help them next year, in terms of versatility. I think the Magic probably have the upper hand, but as has already been pointed out, the top five teams in the league have the potential for GREAT seasons.

  • BisonDeleSightings

    #8 – With all the recent signings, Marquis Daniels really flew under the radar. I think he will do very well for Boston…he should provide a nice scoring punch for them off the bench and could step into the starting lineup if Allen or Pierce go down.

    Although he’s a different type of player, I think he is a little better than Anthony Parker. Now, character could be an issue…wasn’t he involved with all those Jamaal Tinsley strip club/gun charges?

  • Scotty

    @Ezzie – It doesn’t matter how much zip Anderson puts on the ball when he throws the should-be-easy passes at our receivers feet.

  • ELOCK

    As Ezzie said, Arm strength doesn’t relate to how far a QB can throw the ball, but getting the ball from a to b quickly, before defenseive backs and linebackers close openings.

    Brady might have all the intangibles in the world — leadership, charisma, smarts, everything else everyone in CLE seems to be falling all over themselves about — but he does not have an NFL arm. He CANNOT make the throws that are required of an NFL QB. Sorry, folks. You’ll see soon enough.

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