Report: Zydrunas Ilgauskas Agrees to Buyout with Wizards
February 25, 2010Reviewing Z’s Options
February 25, 2010
It was little more than a blip on the news wire. The Cavs have assigned Darnell Jackson and Danny Green to the Erie BayHawks of the Developmental League. I’m pretty sure you won’t see anything about this on Sportscenter today. One day after Mike Brown shortened his bench figuratively, he went ahead and shortened it literally. Does this move mean anything more than a little extra space next to Daniel Gibson and Jawad Williams ?
We know this for certain- if Zydrunas Ilgauskas chooses to come back to Cleveland, the Cavs will have to release a player from the 15 man roster. While most of Cleveland would rather see Sebastian Telfair go (Remember him? He’s the other player in the Jamison trade.) his contract will not allow that to happen. (He has a guaranteed deal for next year.) He is still injured, but counts against the roster total.
The obvious choice all along has been Jackson. He simply hasn’t found anytime on the floor this season. He is not a dynamic player in any aspect of the game. He’s a solid guy. Knows the game, and has some fundamentals but has no chance of cracking this rotation. Cleveland has all of it’s power forwards returning next season as well, which means Jackson likely would spend the entire next year on the bench as well.
It is possible, though less likely that Danny Green could be the odd man out. The most likely reason for Green to be sent down is so that he can get some playing time. With Mo and Delonte returning from injury, and Daniel Gibson’s performance in their absence, it seems unlikely that Green would see anything but garbage time from here out. Jawad Williams can play the role of emergency ‘tall’ 2 guard. Delonte’s legal situation also makes it more likely the Cavs would keep a guard over another PF.
I would be surprised if Jackson was signed by another team for the remainder of the season. He could possibly still be available should the Cavs decide to sign him again next year.
14 Comments
If we’re cutting anyone not named Telfair, I want it to be Jackson. You got it right, we have too many PFs to keep him around. Green has a sweet shot and has a lot more upside than DJ. Let’s keep him around and see what he can become.
And I’m surprised this hasn’t been done earlier. We all know DJ and Green hardly ever play. Why not let them get some game action in the D League.
Darnell and Danny were in street clothes on Tuesday night for the game. Darnell looked dejected, like he knew the end was near. I’ve liked the little we have seen from Green this year. Hopefully they keep him around.
I think Green has the potential to be a solid rotation player at some point in the next year or two and the Cavs don’t have a lot of depth at guard unless you count Jamario and or Jawad as a guard. D-Block has contributed at times, but he is a player with a pretty limited ceiling. Given the talent at forward on this team, he seems like the logical choice.
Would the cool thing to do be to release Darnell now so he has a chance to play in the NBA somewhere else?
Gotta keep Green. We have a good problem in that we don’t have enough minutes to spread around at the PF/C position. JJ is going to struggle to get the amount of minutes he was getting earlier in the year, so no way that Jackson even sees the floor.
Like AMC mentioned, we don’t have as much depth at the SG/SF position, plus he could be a valuable member of the rotation in a few years. He has shown signs of good things to come when he’s played, so hopefully he can keep progressing and be an asset to this team in the coming years.
I thought they were brining in that phenom Christian Eyenga! 😉
@2 I agree but better late then never of course if Brown has already gone to a playoff type lineup you might as well send a couple of other guys too! Kidding of course.
If the Cavaliers guards continue to play like they are Sebastian Telfair just might have a place on this team that is of course if he can recuperate from his ruptured groin (cringes every time) and can actually drive to the basket.
I definitely want to see more of Danny Green. He shows promise.
D-Block is solid, but as touched on, simply on the wrong team at the wrong time with all of our front court depth. He’s also a really nice guy – met him one time at Barley House and he couldn’t have been genuinely nicer. Stopped and chatted for 5 minutes and everything, not just a case of merely saying Hi or doing so while being annoyed. So, I hope he finds somewhere he can fit in and contribute.
In looking towards next year’s roster – what are we going to do at Center?! Wouldn’t “D-Block” be able to play a little Center? If not, i say keep Green…but if he can play some Center, i think that makes the decision much tougher.
“If the Cavaliers guards continue to play like they are Sebastian Telfair”
Boogey, you threw me for a minute there. That sentence was running faster than a young guard through the Cavs defense.
@Josh just because the Cavaliers sent Green and Jackson to Erie doesn’t mean they’ve lost them so next year both will still be Cavaliers. I agree the center position will be the biggest question area, that is of course if LeBron James resigns, then any other. And no I do not think D-Block is an option at the center position, not in the least.
LoL @ 10 Tim what can I say I love to penetrate I just wish more of the Cavaliers other then #23 did too!!! 😉
@11 – boogey: The point of the post is that they’ll *still* have to cut somebody if they sign Z. Sending them down to the D-League is not the same thing as cutting them. If they release one, they’d then have to come to terms on a new contract in the summer and would have the option to sign with any team.
@13 – thanks. that was my point…signing Z would require they drop someone.