Cavs Complete Sign & Trade; Heat Party Completes Transformation into America’s Most Hated Team
July 10, 2010Indians Notes: Gimenez Promoted, Redmond Designated, Phelps Streaking
July 10, 2010
The Cleveland Cavs need to take an even larger step backwards in order to jump forward in the NBA. The team will be making a dangerous mistake if they yet again go all-in for a championship in the short-term, continuing the exact same trend that potentially led LeBron James out of town.
I’ve read Dan Gilbert’s letter and I’ve seen the supposed sign-and-trade deal between the Cavs and the Miami Heat. I was on Twitter late Thursday night/early Friday morning when Mo Williams vented to the Cleveland sports world. It’s rough on this franchise and on this city, but the team’s management needs to be smarter about the way they plan to build back up this roster.
Over the past three years, the Cavs ignored the future and built around LeBron’s desires in Cleveland. The smart approach now should be to dump salary, avoid mediocrity and rebuild for the future.
Comments made recently by the upper level of the Cavs management team seem to represent that the team will continue to fight for winning right now. General manager Chris Grant and head coach Byron Scott even held a press conference Friday to illustrate the team’s commitment to staying competitive.
“Our plan is to win,” Grant said yesterday. “All decisions we’ve made have been based upon winning. We now have cap space which is a dynamic we haven’t had in the past. On top of that, we have a very good team here.”
But there is a problem with this type of philosophy although I’m not criticizing my hometown team for the desire to win. Any team in the NBA should always want to win games as soon as possible, but you have to be joking if you still consider this team a legitimate playoff contender.
Heck, look at the soon-to-be-infamous comments made by owner Dan Gilbert in his late night letter the other day:
“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”
Whether or not this is based on the four years before the doom of the free agency summer of 2014, Gilbert presented the wrong ideas with this. The Cavs as they stand right now will win probably between 30-36 games during the 2010-2011 season.
This is a team built around Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao, and J.J. Hickson. All of those players are OK role players on a playoff-caliber team, but more closely represent a squad like the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference last year.
Add in LeBron James and Chris Paul, and certainly this team is one of the top teams in the NBA. But LeBron is now gone and there is hardly any quick fix that will instantly jump this team to being one of the best anytime soon. Heck, I doubt that any player like Paul would even want to come to this mediocre team and compete in the Eastern Conference led by the superpowers in Miami, Chicago, Orlando and Boston.
So, what should the Cavaliers do with the remainder of their team now that LeBron James is gone? Blow it up. Get rid of guys left and right. Please don’t acquire more bad contracts by players that are not on the right side of their prime years in the league.
Acquiring Antawn Jamison, Shaquille O’Neal and others over the past two years were mistakes. These are players that could be decent role players on a good team, but now that the Cavs are merely mediocre, they represent nothing for the future. Jamison has another $28 million and two years left on his contract, and I seriously doubt he’ll be with the Cavs this entire year.
In order to get better, the Cavs should try to get rid of these contracts and succeed in the future through the draft. That is the way teams are starting to improve. It’s much easier to become a title contender like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Portland Trailblazers did than the previous ways of the Cavaliers franchise or the Miami Heat.
Stock up on young players for the first time in years. Outside of Hickson and Williams, the Cavaliers have no decent prospects that any team in the NBA would even really want in a trade that badly. Jamison could be worthwhile as a mid-season trade for a scorer to another contending team, but after that this team really does not have that much to be proud of.
I’m a Cavs fan and I always will be even with LeBron down in South Beach. But please Gilbert, Scott and Grant, listen to us and understand that there is no point to losing in the first round of the playoffs every single year and taking on more older players.
The quicker the rebuild occurs and the quicker the Cavs attract young players with decent upside, the quicker this team will again contend for an NBA title.
(Photo above via John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)
58 Comments
First time poster, long-time reader. While I totally agree that this team is perhaps a 7 or 8 seed, I really feel the roster of players we have now deserves one year to prove themselves. I don’t mean we should sign them all to long-term contracts, but I think we are in a unique position to gain fans, and, because I’m sure they’ll be televising Miami-CLE games nationally, I think it’s important to show our team and our city has some resiliency.
This year, it is very important to show a bit of attitude. Most people I talk to view Cleveland sports as a place to feel like a victim. This coming season is a great opportunity to play with some attitude, some fire. I’m sure the fans will be grateful. Then, after this next year, we, if we need to, should blow up the team and rebuild. But not this year.
Cavs should began talks with the Rockets and make a play for Kevin Martin. A great young player who happens to be from Ohio who can bring some of that great local pride back to the city without all of the ego…
I can tell that Jacob is a long-time Cleveland fan because what he suggests is just what the Indians, Browns, and other Cleveland teams always do……..scrap what they’ve got and start over. Of course starting over means 4, 5, 6 more years of total mediocrity and losing. I say that the Cavs should re-adjust to a mindset where they play well enough to make it into the top eight teams that go to the playoffs. Again……just make the playoffs. Once there anything can happen. They do not have to have the best record in the NBA again next year to make the playoffs. I personally think they have enough talent to do this. They still have a core group of talented players that are used to winning and playing with each other, a new coach who knows how to win, and ownership committed to winning. There is hope in Cleveland.
You guys are completely wrong when it comes to wanting to rebuild. You think rebuilding will turn us into perennial contenders? Please. If we tank a couple seasons and get a couple high draft picks that still means nothing. We then find ourselves in a 50-50 for that high pick to pan out. What if that player busts. I cannot believe cleveland fans are saying they are in favor of rebuilding when their own owner is rejuvenating the city saying we want to win now. Are you the same people rooting for the Indians and there rebuilding franchise for the past 10 years? If so, it’s too bad Larry Dolan doesn’t own the cavs too.
….unfortunately, gilbert will be trying to field a winning team for next year any way possible…season ticket sales have been strong, so it is necessary to win as many as possible, as the seats are sold, whether the fans turn out or not…..as for the roster, not much to shout about….hickson, andy, maybe powe, and moon, parker, williams, gibson, et al……jamison needs to go for sure, and probably some of the others, too…..not even counting west, as he is gone but does not yet know it……gonna be 3-5 years to get this back on track…..
Gilbert is thinking about “me” just like lebron was thinking about “me” when he wrote that letter. If the Cavs are winning they are selling tickets…Period
I am all for rebuilding. I am afraid that with all the pressure that management will be looking for that quick fix, which may help in the short term, but would have no future benefits.
I think the team needs to trade Varajao. He provides nothing for a rebuilding team, but could help a title contender. I think you could offer him up to the Spurs for James Anderson, the spurs draft pick this year. Anderson lead college basketball in scoring last year, and would provide the Cavs with a young scoring talent, because as of now, they dont poses any true scorer. The spurs might do this trade because Duncan is getting older, and Andy could be a viable option to be a back up center for him in San Antonio.
Next, strike gold in the draft next year. I would love if the Cavs could get Harrison Barnes, but the odds of them getting a top 5 pick is unlikely. Nonetheless, they should be looking for a piece that can fill either a center role, or a small forward.
It is quite possible that if the Cavs dont rush things, and make smart moves this year, that they could set themselves up to get Chris Paul. I know hes been dreaming of playing with his own “Big 3,” but im sure he wouldnt mind playing for Byron Scott again if he got the chance. Keep in mind his only successful years came with Byron Scott as his coach.
trade andy while valuable