Browns QB Situation Is Defined (For Once)
July 12, 2010Updates on Baseball America’s Top 10 Prospects in the Cleveland Indians System
July 12, 2010The Cavaliers had been kicking the tires on a couple of players, most notably Josh Childress, but their pursuit came to a halt yesterday when Childress was traded from Atlanta to Phoenix. But would Childress have helped this team? What would help the Cavaliers in 2011? To answer that, we have to take inventory of what is left.
There are 11 players under contract currently, though Danny Green hasn’t been signed to his second year deal- which will happen. That makes 12, and the Cavs own the rights to 2 players (Christian Eyenga and Sasha Kaun) currently under contract overseas. (Not my phrase Jessie, yell at the NBA for that one.) Gone from last year’s team are LeBron James (29.7 ppg), Shaq (12.0 ppg) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (7.4 ppg). Technically, both Shaq and Z could still be listed as assets of the Cavaliers, as they could use either in a sign and trade deal. They could also re-sign either of them, but it looks like that is highly unlikely to happen.
Here are the guards: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Danny Green and Sebastian Telfair. Delonte West’s contract is not guaranteed however, and I would be surprised if he wasn’t moved before the season starts. The small forwards are: Jawad Williams and Jamario Moon. The power forwards are Anderson Varejao, JJ Hickson, Antawn Jamison and Leon Powe. There are no centers. Yes, Andy can play the 5 spot on occasion, or against certain line-ups. To go into a season with the expectation that he play center full time is just ludicrous. Sasha Kaun could certainly make the team this year, but not as a starter. They desperately need a center. Hickson just doesn’t have the size or frame to bang in the post with the top 10 centers in the league, and Powe is tough, but again too short and too slow. (Not that a certain WFNY writer wasn’t screaming for Al Jefferson instead of Jamison at the trade deadline because of this very reason…)
Our guard situation was a weakness exposed repeatedly in the playoffs, and the Cavaliers have reportedly been looking under every rock they can to find a new PG. If they are successful in finding one I’m not sure if they move Mo Williams to the 2 guard or bring him off the bench if he isn’t part of the deal. Mo Williams has more value in Byron Scott’s motion offense than he did standing around waiting for LeBron to pass him the ball, but he still has serious limitations defensively.
The free agent market is looking mighty thin. We’re officially in Brad Miller territory. If the Cavaliers are really going to try to be competitive this season, they are going to have to pull some sort of trade the likes of which we aren’t considering already. There would be no shame in the Cavs taking this season to regroup. Perhaps use some of the assets they have accumulated to get younger, and find players that fit Scott’s system.
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@46 finances, pure and simple. The NFL can go right ahead and do away with the hard cap (a mistake if it does, but it can) because it is, by far, the most lucrative of the major sports leagues. The NBA, as we’ve heard a lot during the two-year run up to the LeBrocalypse, doesn’t have the luxury of an expanding bottom line. And if you don’t think the owners (the majority of them) aren’t going to be looking to rein things in after the Summer of 2010, you would have to be a Heat fan (fan of the Heat? I hate adjective names in sports). The current NBA has real parallels to the NHL before their strike–far more than with the current NFL (check out Sam Amick’s excellent article http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/07/11/could-miamis-super-team-be-broken-up-after-one-year/ for a more thorough discussion), and hockey fans among us know how that played out. Bottom line: a league with a hard cap and increased parity, with fewer teams of condensed superstars and huge contracts. Yes, a team like Detroit has been consistently at the top, but that’s a reflection of shrewd management and player development. Now with age taking over, the Wings are coming back to the pack, and younger teams are moving up. The NBA could (and really should) move that direction is all I’m saying.
The NFL wasn’t always the top dog (insert Mike Vick joke here), and if it’s not careful, it too will suffer a fall to some degree–possibly as early as next season. The financial struggles of teams like the Jags show that it CAN happen, people can ignore pro football. The NHL thought it was too big to fail at one point as well. Baseball has become bloated with teams, only magnifying the disparity hardwired into it by the current salary structure by watering down the talent level overall and slipping from its place as national pastime. In summation, to quote the Ragin’ Cajun during the campaign of Slick Willie, “It’s the economy, stupid”*
*please note I am not actually calling anyone stupid. Blame James Carville.
Interesting take B-Bo. I’m not quite on board yet, but I got one foot off the dock reaching for the boat, so to speak. I like the NHL comparison, as hockey has certainly gotten more popular… connection? Maybe a stretch. Even major markets like Chicago had to cut salary (Byfuglien*, Versteeg, Ladd, among others), which is nice to see. Those guys were all significant contributers to this year’s Stanley Cup team, and all got traded by necessity to meet the cap.
* I can’t believe I spelled that right before I looked it up
First, JJ couldn’t guard KG if his life depended on it. KG shot over him and ‘twan (what felt like) a hundred times during the second round. Also, JJ is useless without a pg to feed him up top, and our pg defected to “that state down there.” i say pull out all the stops for darren collison.
second, we’re also in dwight howard’s conference. we don’t need dwight though, just the next kendrick perkins.
I think there is something to the correlation between growing hockey popularity and the hard cap: more teams having a legit shot to win means more people turning out to games in more hockey cities, and more people watching on tv. Now, to be fair, this hasn’t occurred in a vacuum, and there are other contributing factors at work. And there have been debates (generally regarding the NFL) about whether it is better for fan interest to have parity versus a handful of dominant teams, and these debates make good points on both sides of that issue. To me, though, it just makes sense that people will become that much more involved if they believe their team has a shot. Look at the growing attitude regarding baseball and how sour on not the game but the economics many Tribe fans (myself included) have become. Is it cynical to think “How long til Santana is playing in a Yanks/Sawx/Dodgers/Phillies jersey? Absolutely. But it reflects the attitude of a growing number of fans. We believe our owner is not committed to winning, and attendance plummets. TV ratings go down. Team income slows. Now sure, people like to root against the “superteams”, but they spend money to root for their OWN teams. So I believe the hard cap and increased parity has helped the NHL, and could do the same for the NBA’s financial situation. 2011 could be very interesting for both the NBA and NFL, though sadly not in the way most of us would prefer.