And Then, There Were Two
January 25, 2010Cavaliers Preview Game #46: Cavs at Heat
January 25, 2010The hot topic of the day has no doubt been the news that a trade between the Cavaliers and Suns has been at least discussed in which the Cavs would get All-Star big man Amare Stoudemire. Count me in the camp that is skeptical that such a deal would be made, and also the Amare doesn’t play defense camp. The prevailing sentiment against trading for Stoudemire seems to be a preference for making the Jamison trade. In Bob Finnan’s latest piece he describes a reluctance on Washington’s part to make a deal with the Cavaliers that we have been curious about.
– The Cavs definitely want Wizards forward Antawn Jamison. One league source questions the Wizards’ willingness to help the Cavs. There are some natural competitive issues there, fueled by the playoff losses and the Larry Hughes signing in 2005. Again, things can change.
Doesn’t surprise us. I have to admit I check the scores every night to see what Washington has done. I keep thinking that the further they slip away from contention the closer they may be getting to blowing up that team regardless of who they ship the pieces off to. Washington sits at 14-29, but are amazingly only 6.5 games out of the 8 spot in the East. I can absolutely envision a scenerio in which Jamison rallies the team to an 8th place finish and then gets run again by the Cavs in the 1st round, but I digress.
Also in Finnan’s piece is an inetersting projection about Toronto’s Chris Bosh. Finnan claims that a source recently said of Bosh- “He’s done everything but send them a postcard.” We’ve mentioned Bosh several times before, and specifically this piece about the Bosh to the Lakers rumor that would deal a serious blow to Cleveland’s title hopes. You may remember that we had several visits by Raptor fans in the comment section there questioning our sanity amoung other things. Our buddy Finnan is having the same reaction.
I understand the reluctance of Toronto fans to admit that Bosh is likely moving on. Certainly there are those who claim Clevelanders are crazy for thinking that LeBron will be staying here past this season. Of course in our defense LeBron has gone on record saying that he is happy in Cleveland, and that he respects the job Danny Ferry and Dan Gilbert do in trying to put the pieces in place to make this a championship team. The same cannot be said for Bosh.
One thing is certain, the next month will be filled with these types of rumors and suggestions. Here’s hoping that the Cavs can push the right buttons, not just the most popular.
Gregory Shamus/NBAE/Getty Images
23 Comments
While i would love to see Jamison in a Cavs uniform, the thought of beating them in the playoffs AGAIN makes me smile.
what I found amusing was that in my igoogle homepage’s sports news widget.. the headline reading “Wizards’ Crittenton charged with two gun counts”, had a picture of a happy-looking Lebron and Andy. *snicker*
Is there anyone the Cavaliers shouldn’t be interested in? I’d prefer to add Antwan instead of Amare but I’d take either in a heartbeat especially now with the Cavaliers backcourt beat up. This is when some frontcourt scoring would help ease the pain the problem is between Hickson, Varejao, Shaq and Z that production isn’t Enough and Dependable.
How is their production not enough? Most nights out C position is pouring in 22 and 12. The PF position is getting about 12 and 10. I think that’s definitely enough. I’m real nervous about how Amare would fit in with us. BUT, if he’s willing to make it work. Think about how we could either A.)Sign and trade him for Bosh this summer. Or, B.) Have LBJ, Mo and Amare for years to come….
The Cavs have to make a move. They’ll be dead in the water over the cap even after Z and Shaq’s contracts expire. If they don’t trade for something now, they are pretty screwed in the offseason.
Bosh quote from this summer:
“It probably took me two or three years, but I went there when I was 19,” Bosh told the newspaper of his early years in Toronto. “I was fresh out of college. I was used to roommates and guys knocking on the door, saying where the frat party was.
“But I love Toronto. And Toronto loves me.”
I would really hate to see us get rid of Z and then win the whole thing. Even though I realize that trading him would greatly improve our chances.
“There are some natural competitive issues there, fueled by the playoff losses and the Larry Hughes signing in 2005.”
Rest assured the new owner is not feeling this “natural competition.” When a team needs to slash salary to survive in an awful market, the new owner will not get all angsty about helping a team not even in their division, or re-live supposed resentment over a head case player they were lucky not to re-sign. The bean counters are in the house in Washington.
hard not to love toronto… besides the fact that the city really is great, the team they’re building there has some great chances in the next year or so (assuming bosh stays).
a question about taxes though (and i could be WAY off on this), but don’t the highest tax bracket of canadians pay substantially more than their counterparts in the u.s.? i wonder how much money that ends up being for players on the raptors, blue jays, etc.
The Wizards should be thanking us for relieving them of Larry Hughes. When a guy is racking up DNP-CDs on the Knicks you know there are some problems.
The Amare thing is just noise. Danny Ferry is wisely talking up any available forwards just to shake the Wizards’ tree. If the Wiz get a sense that our huge expiring contract might go bailing another team out of their cap problems, it might shake Jamison loose. There will be more of this, I think the Cavs are strategically leaking a lot of trade talk to stir things up right now.
While I openly pine for Jamison (and did last year on this site as well), I’m warming to the Troy Murphy thing. It feels like Ferry could get that deal done today if he wanted to. Jamison would be an absolutely terrific fit, but Murphy would bring a lot of what the Cavs need as well without the hefty price tag. Win win either way, especially if we could sneak Z back in 30.
I don’t care what people say. Amare doesn’t play D because the Suns don’t play D.
There’s no reason a guy that athletic and long couldn’t play D if taught by the right guy. Brown coached Sasha into being a passable defender. He’s taking guys like Delonte, and turned them from good defenders to great defenders and he’s taken guys uninterested in defense (LeBron) and help mold him into a potential 1st team All Defense selection.
It’s what Brown does. Amare will learn. And with the way the Cavs play team D, he doesn’t have to be an awesome 1-on-1 guy anyways. Amare is a piece that we could have to years. Antawn is on the downslope.
Man come on. Anyone that would rather have Jamison just isn’t thinking. There is no appeal to Lebron to stay in Cleveland with Jamison being 34. Next year Jamison will be a role player, maybe put in 8-10 ppg. He is too old. If you would have gotten Jamison 5 years ago, yah, I’d be thrilled. All you guys are so focused on his NAME and not his situation. Do we really want to go into next year with Z (34) Shaq (38) Parker (30ish) and Jamison (34). Do we really want to pay jamison for the next two seasons as well? Hell no…..give me Amare if its possible, any day of the week. I would take an 80% Amare this season over a 100% Jamison, look at the future, Amare is 7 years younger, taller, and more athletic.
Stop with the Jamison crap please. If we get Jamison its because we have no chance of signing lebron this summer, and its basically a half season rental, because we are a lottery team in 2011.
Chis Bosh actually said many times that he is really happy in Toronto, and it’s obvious that the GM has tried to put pieces around him (i.e. his friend Jarret Jack, and Hedo)
^^^Jamison is solid he won’t go from averaging 22 ppg this year to 8-10 next your comment sounds like the ones I had to read last year on Cavs Fanatics from people who whined how the Cavaliers chemistry would be upset if they made a trade. That chemistry sure paid off against Orlando. Anyways be realistic about Stoudamire coming here, I seriously doubt it happens. Also Stoudamire played with Shaq last year with the Suns and the experiment didn’t exactly win Phoenix a title now did it? Amare is younger but makes the least sense from a logical standpoint. As far as what you have next year given you don’t know whether LeBron James will be here or not is by far the biggest and most important question as opposed to the ages of a “supposed” lineup.
@Natty #13- Amare is a rental. Unless the Cavs could get a guarantee he’ll resign here long term the trade is a risk for the future. Amare could just use a potential playoff run here as a springboard into a big contract with a NY team or the Heat. After this year the Cavs may end up with nothing, especially if Ferry has to give up JJ. You point out the ages of Cavs that we wouldn’t even have next year. Shaq and Z are expiring deals, remember? Our frontcourt will be dramatically different no matter what happens this year unless one or both come back at big discounts. Also, Amare’s knees are much older than the rest of him, his lateral movement is shot. So suddenly you’ve got Shaq who can’t move laterally, and Amare who can’t move laterally; that’s going to let quick guards murder us. Thanks, but no thanks.
Alternatively, knowing Amare is likely a rental, Ferry could make plans to just have that money free to sign some free agent big men (second or third tier, naturally) next off season. This is possible, but leaves too many questions about the entire frontcourt going into the Summer of LeBron. One thing LBJ does like is stability, and swapping the entire frontcourt with newcomers is the opposite of that.
But, you do make a good point, natty the dog- Amare is a winner deal if he signs an extention w/ the Cavs immediately upon being traded, because that gives you a nice future piece to run with LBJ. However, I don’t see it happening that way. Amare will chase top dollars. The only advantage the Cavs would have in that scenario (signing him as a free agent this summer) is Amare’s Bird rights would belong in Cleveland. So, he could be signed for an extra few years. But- he’s had some big injuries- you want to risk a max deal on that guy? One elbow to the head or bad landing on a hard foul in the physical Eastern Conference may end his career. I suppose you could say that about anyone, but he seems susceptible to permanent damage at this point.
Sorry for not making this all one post, there are so many possibilities involved.
@ natty – I like how you just completely discount people’s opinions as “just [not] thinking”. You prattle off Z and Shaq as though they’d be under contract at the end of the season – they won’t be. Jamison has showed no signs of slowing over the past year or so. Maybe you’re focused on Ama’re’s NAME and not his CONTRACT SITUATION.
Look at the future – specifically 5 months into the future. Amare’s contract is done-zo at the end of the season. No future is guaranteed with him.
And bitmatt beat me to it. Good use of your dome-piece sir.
@Denny I agree Z will be hanging ’em up and I can’t imagine the Cavaliers resigning Shaq so that’s two older, slower largely paid big men off the roster hence the need for a Jamison. Even with his age I’d take Jamison for the next two years over JJ Hickson who I’m sorry I don’t see ever turning into the player the Cavaliers die hards think he will besides that we can’t afford to wait on Hickson. I hope Ferry isn’t fooled like the rest of those Cavaliers die hards and repeats not doing anything like last year because this team depends completely on LeBron James every single night.
RUMORS will always be true until something else happens…
LeBron was a man tonight in an unreal performance
The difference between getting Amare and Jamison is that the Suns want talent back for Amare and the Wizards just want cap-space. We can give the wizards cap but we cant give the Suns talent.
They can’t have Andy, mo, or west. I dont want Amare for no skilled players. I’ll give Hickson and Z up for Jamison but thats about it. I think think Jamison is a better fit for the cavs than Amare but clearly Amare is better.