Your Last Place Cleveland Indians
June 26, 2008E-6
June 26, 2008
Continuing our preparation for tonight’s festivities
There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on. But it’s all going on around us, instead of with us. What’s new, right?
What many have been speculating for a while now has been confirmed by the Indy Star: TJ Ford’s heading to Indiana for Jermaine O’Neal. Toronto will also send the 17th overall selection to the Pacers, who now get the point guard they have been looking for in Ford as well as two selections (ahead of us) that they can use to replenish their front court – something that many anticipated the Cavaliers to do for quite some time.
So where does that leave us?
Another deal that appears to be on the block is the Charlotte Bobcats acquiring the 20th overall pick from the Nuggets, with the ‘Cats reportedly looking in the direction of Roy Hibbert. Couple this with the fact that the Blazers and/or Kings may now look to move up to acquire a point guard (D.J. Augustin). This sounds similar to when you select first overall in your fantasy league, only to watch player after player be taken ahead of your next selection – only we do not pick first.
Draft Express now shows a huge run on big men immediately before the 19th selection. DeAndre Jordan, Robin Lopez and JaVale McGee are all anticipated to be off of the board before Danny Ferry’s selection. Kosta Koufos has shot up the board to 11th overall, as the Pacers will need to fill the whole left by O’Neal.
It appears that the decision will come down to two moves. 1) We could finish off the run and snag Hibbert right from the Bobcats’ hopes, or 2) select a swingman with length like LSU’s Anthony Randolph.
Personally, I’m hoping that Ferry tosses the Cavaliers’ name in the hat of teams that could move up to snag a top point guard now that the Pacers traded for one, but I’m thinking that that’s a pipe dream.
I’m not totally opposed to drafting Douglas-Roberts, Nicolas Batum, or Mario Chalmers; but I would hope that the team could move down (and perhaps acquire a second-round selection), while still landing one of of them later in the first.
Tonight is going to be interesting to say the least.
17 Comments
Here’s the latest from Bob Finnan:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19804844&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21848&rfi=6
Thanks, Rock. Two things that jump out at me:
1) Ray Felton is available??
2) Sounds like your pick of Lee was very thought out
Roy Hibbard 7’2″- averaged 11 pts 6 rebounds for his career (13 and 6 for his senior yr). That’s awful. If he can’t dominate college players with his size, what makes anyone think he’ll be able to withstand the beating he’ll get in the pros. We already have a slow, weak, un-athletic center. We don’t need to replace him with a clone that doesn’t even have a mid-range jump shot.
Z is one of the best centers in the league. I would be ecstatic if we could get his clone. People said Daugherty was soft, blah, blah, blah and look what happened to the cavs when he retired.
I know nothing about college ball so I’m not saying your wrong about hibbard. I just don’t understand why people feel the need to constantly rip our #2 option.
Hibbert is not a Z clone though, because he isn’t a good rebounder at all and his jump shot, while I suppose it has been developed somewhat based on the 3 pt shot he hit against UCONN to win the game, it is not even close to Z and he needs to be wide open to shoot it. Seriously, when someone is 7 ft 2 in college and only averages 6 rebounds a game and not a lot of blocks, something is wrong
And I would love to have Raymond Felton. He isn’t that great of a shooter or a finisher, but he is still young. He is very good at penetrating and his assist to turnover ratio is solid. He is also a capable defender and would be able to push the tempo. Its a shame we can’t trade them Varejao due to trading restrictions, if we combined him with a future pick or Gibson (if we gave up Gibson I’d like to have the 20th pick…) that might make the deal
I gotta say though, my expectations for anything big happening tonight are slim. I don’t even think they will be able to buy themselves a 2nd round pick.
oh, and that picture is AWESOME
Adam, I think the reason that most rip is because he IS our #2 option. On most other teams, he’d be the third or fourth look.
the 19th pick itself is not going to make or break the team. The key comes from trading wally and andy. those two expiring contracts are big chips, i just hope we get to cash them in.
ESPN reporting that Richard Jefferson was traded to Milwaukee for Yi and Bobby Simmons… this either means that the Bucks will try to keep Redd and go for the playoffs or that they will trade them and now they will want Varejao…hopefully the 2nd option because they will want more than just expiring contracts and Varejao at least has some value
I think that trade slams the door on them moving Redd. I think this makes a statement that they are going to continue to be Michael Redd’s team.
Yeah, it’s not desirable that he’s the 2nd option. But, he was still the 8th best center by PER, hurt mostly by his poor shooting % (possible because he takes more shots away from the basket?), while on the downside of his career.
/being a homer
I don’t know though, Jefferson had a really good season last year and maybe they would rather build around him, Mo Williams, and whoever they draft instead of having Redd in there…if They draft Eric Gordon or Jerryd Bayless they might look to move him yet
I think Milwaukee is drafting Joe Alexander. A lineup of Williams, Redd, Jefferson, Alexander, and Bogut could be really solid.
What I am taking out of this though is that expiring contracts can only get you so far in trade deals, you have to be able to include prospects and/or quality draft picks, not late first rounders. That is unless you are dealing with Memphis
I thought for sure they would draft Alexander, but I am not so sure anymore. Maybe they draft a PG and look to trade Williams, but he is young and good so I don’t know why they would do that
You’re onto something Ricky. All these other teams pull off these trades, but they’re not for expiring contracts. Expiring contracts just don’t get you anywhere until the trade deadline. We’re figuring this out the hard way.
As for Milwaukee, yeah, there’s about 8 different ways we can read into the Jefferson trade. I guess we won’t find out until they pick tonight. Who they take at #8 will tell us a lot about what they think of Redd’s future with the team.
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