Company

While I may still be relatively new to this whole blogging thing, one thing about that is that it’s easy to remember certain things. I remember the first Cavaliers blog I ever stumbled upon was Cavalier Attitude, a part of the MVN network. If you’re not familiar with Amar Panchmatia, one of Cavalier Attitude’s writers, you should be. The best compliment I could give Amar is that he’s like the Charles Barkley of blogging (I mean this in a good way, I promise). Amar is the fiery, outspoken blogger who says and writes the things the rest of us wish we could. Amar’s unbridled passion and enthusiasm for the Cleveland Cavaliers and basketball in general comes through in almost every single one of his posts. If you’re not a regular reader of Cavalier Attitude, check the site out from our blogroll to the right and feel free to add them to your list of daily reads.

Anyway, Amar was kind enough to invite us to participate in a reciprocal Q&A session, and we were more than happy to oblige. I posted my questions for Amar and his responses below. Be sure to check out Cavalier Attitude on Thursday when Amar will be posting the questions he asked of yours truly and my responses to those questions.

RockKing: You and I are more or less on the same page when it comes to J.J. Hickson, but for our readers who may not know where you stand, could you give us your take on the Hickson selection in the draft?

Amar Panchmatia: Selecting a guy like J.J. Hickson was absolutely crucial for the Cavs based on the makeup of their roster and their need for a solid finisher around the basket. There are three “bigs” in the rotation who are well above 30: Ilgauskas, Wallace, and Smith. The only young “big” is Anderson Varejao, and his future with the team is completely up in the air. You just can’t go on like that when you want contend for a title and games are won and lost in the paint.

That being said, J.J. Hickson was the best pick not just for the present, but for the future as well. His ceiling is extremely high compared to most of the other bigs in the draft, especially the ones that within 10 picks of him at no.19. One of the big knocks that Cavs fans had on Drew Gooden was that he was too soft in the paint and didn’t look to finish as aggressively as a power forward should. Hickson loves to crush, and he’s a very physical player who embraces contact on the low block.

Combine that with him being one of the most successful freshmen in ACC history, and you have a good young piece to add to your core moving foward. The only concern I have is how Mike Brown goes about in bringing him along. Hickson can be a contributor right away if used properly in the rotation.

RK: Free agency opens on July 1st. Pretend you’re Danny Ferry. How are you spending the next 30 days of your life? Are there any free agents you’re looking at? Are you trying to make trades? Who are you targeting?

AP: It’s tough to use free agency as a major avenue to get better when you’re cap-strapped and have one of the highest payrolls in the league. I’d have to make trades, and I’d have to look to target guys who involve the smallest risk yet have the potential for the largest reward. When I heard of Ferry making a run at Vince Carter when he heard of the Nets’ firesale, I was pleased that he is trying to get a big piece in here. Carter makes a lot of sense, because this team sorely needs another scoring option next to LeBron who can shoulder the load on some nights by himself.

The Nets turned down Szczerbiak’s expiring contract for Carter, but the fact that they thought about it is a good start. You want to build off of that initial deal and try to use the least number of assets possible. For example, throwing Sasha Pavlovic, whose contract has just two years left, into the mix might help swing things in the Cavs’ favor. And it doesn’t look like the Bucks are going to part with Michael Redd soon after taking advantage of the Nets’ firesale themselves and fleecing Richard Jefferson in the middle of the night.

RK: Obviously, a LOT can, and hopefully will, change between now and the start of the season, but knowing what you know today, how do you see the 2008-09 season shaping up for the Cavaliers?

AP: This team is about on the same level as that ‘06-07 team that made the Finals. The Varejao/Pavlovic holdouts stunted this team’s growth more than most people care to acknowledge, and the three-team, 11-player trade in February really shook up the roster in the middle of the season. Still, getting 45 wins despite having those chemistry issues working against you is feat in and of itself. This team is far better than 45-37. The Celtics will certainly tell you that.

Speaking of the Celtics, the Cavs were one P.J. Brown shot away from getting back to the Eastern Conference Finals with Detroit. The distance between them and a parade in downtown Cleveland isn’t nearly as long as some people may think.

RK: I know that you are one of the most vocal and outspoken critics of Larry (or, Laura, as you enjoy calling him) Hughes. What do you think happened with the Larry Hughes experiment and why did it fail so miserably? Were you against the signing of Hughes when it was made?

AP: I’ll never forget the night I first heard that the Cavs signed Laura. NBAdraft.net was the first to report it, and it happened within hours of Michael Redd going back to the Bucks. Since NBAdraft.net isn’t a major media outlet (and since none of them were reporting anything involving Laura and the Cavs to begin with), I thought it was some hoax.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, it wasn’t. Still, I tried to envision Laura Hughes as “The Answer” to all the Cavs’ non-LeBron related problems. The injury history was what bothered me right off the bat, and I’m telling you the truth when I say that that’s the very first thing that came to my mind. I was positive and upbeat about it, but to be honest with you, I had to talk myself into it. Usually with moves that make you better, you don’t have to talk yourself into it. Getting Michael Redd or Joe Johnson wouldn’t have required into “talking into it.” Hughes did. That should have been my red flag right there.

Those injuries were a big issue once again for Laura, and right after she shamelessly put ink to paper on that $65 million contract with jokes of team-laden incentives, she had the worst injury-riddled season of her fragile career. Laura was softer than Drew Gooden. She couldn’t get to the rim, she couldn’t finish, and the damn gimp settled for one errant 15-footer (some in transition, for crying out loud!) after another.

If only we knew about her true intentions to begin with. Laura just wanted to have fun. Laura Hughes just loved playing basketball and getting paid millions of dollars for playing the game she loves. It isn’t about winning championships with Laura: It’s about just relaxing, taking a zillion bad shots, being soft as charmin and missing games with as much as a scratched toe nail, and being looked at as this big-time local celebrity that was going to help LeBron win something.

By far the worst thing to happen to the Cavaliers outside of Carlos Boozer. By far. She couldn’t have left quicker if she tried.

RK: What’s your take on the whole Mike Brown needs an offensive coordinator talk? Obviously, we know now that it’s not going to happen, but do you think he really should bring one in, or do you think he’s capable of figuring out how to get this team to play offense on his own?

AP: The best way to look at this would be too look at the example of the team that ended the Cavs’ season last spring: The Boston Celtics. Doc Rivers didn’t just become a championship-coach overnight. And having all the talent in the world can’t help you win championships (see: pre-Phil Jackson Lakers, pre-Phil Jackson Bulls, late-90s Jazz). You’d have to be kidding me if you think that Doc Rivers is suddenly an elite coach – he’s certainly a good, solid coach, and the least that a championship ring can do is validate that. But although he’s not elite, elite coaching was what helped the C’s get to where they wanted to be, and the coach in question here is assistant Tom Thibodeau.

Kevin Garnett won DPOY honors last year, but it was for the first time in his career. KG was never looked at as an elite defender on that level before, but something about Thibodeau’s defensive structure clicked for him. Likewise, the C’s went from being one of the worst defenses in the league to the very best on all fronts. Garnett wasn’t the reason: Thibodeau was. This is the example that organizations should use when trying to gauge the value and impact of an assistant head coach.

A young offensive mastermind with innovative ideas to work with Mike Brown definitely wouldn’t hurt this franchise. The “Motion Offense” didn’t do much. Neither did the European-style, “hockey assists” offense. If this team wants to get better on offense, it’s time for them to stop shooting themselves in the foot and get a credentialed offensive assistant.

RK: Lets look at this from a different angle. Suppose the Cavaliers limp through another season, finish in the middle of the pack of the Eastern Conference and lose in the 2nd round of the playoffs once again, thanks largely to a still stagnant offense. At that point, does Mike Brown’s job become up for grabs, or are Danny Ferry’s hands tied at this point due to 2010 coming up so soon? In other words, if the Cavaliers fail again to meet expectations, can they still hire a new coach, or would that be too detrimental to keeping LeBron in town?

AP: Wow…that’s as double-edged a question as you’ll find! Damn, though – that’s a tough one.

Consistency is a big reason I’ve been supporting Brown for as long as I have. I think it’s counterproductive to blow things up every couple of years and start all over again. I wish a lot of the fans calling for Brown’s head even now understood that. The most successful organizations have stability at the top. I just talked about Boston – look at the dividends they earned by keeping Rivers around instead of blowing things up at the drop of a hat like some of the bottom-feeder teams do. Gregg Popovich has been in San Antonio for over a decade, and the team has four banners to show for it. And if only Larry Brown had stayed with the Pistons long-term (that’s like saying “If only your slutty teenage daughter just kept her pants on”), that team would have been nearly unstoppable – even now.

That said, you can’t tolerate a coach’s shortcomings as a reason for your own as an organization, especially when it’s so glaring and obvious. This would be a tough move, but you only bring down the axe if a far, FAR more qualified candidate becomes available. I just mentioned Larry Brown (aka the teenage slut). His tour around the league has been well-documented, but so has his track-record. Phil Jackson already turned the Cavs down once (if I’m accurately decoding Dan Gilbert’s cryptic response back during Mike Brown’s introductory press conference in ‘05). Gregg Popovich and Jerry Sloan aren’t leaving San Antonio and Utah, respectively.

As far as current Hall of Fame coaches go, that’s the end of the list. It wouldn’t be worth taking such a ground-breakig step at such a critical juncture unless you were absolutely sure that what you were getting was a step up. Guys like Flip Saunders, Rick Carlisle, P.J. Carlesimo, and Rick Adelman don’t have championship rings on their finger, so they’re anything but a sure “step up.” I’d still keep Brown due to the risks involved.

RK: Without getting too much into the “will he stay or leave” argument, I’d like to know what you think would happen to this franchise “IF” he leaves. Can this franchise survive losing LeBron James?

AP: Absolutely, positively not. LeBron’s the best thing to happen to Cleveland basketball – BY FAR. His departure would be the worst thing to happen to it. In fact, I think it would rival the Browns leaving back in ‘95-96. The community and region has so much invested in LeBron, and he’s such an impressive source of civic pride for the area. His presence trumps the popularity that members of those Indians’ teams in the ’90s had in Northeast Ohio, and if you lived in the area during those times, you know that that’s saying a whole hell of a lot.

I doubt the Cavs stay in Cleveland if LeBron leaves. They’d probably move, because nobody would show up for the games. Seriously, ask yourself: In light of that happening, would you? That’s why people who are so recklessly and definitively shooting their mouths off about LeBron leaving Cleveland need to take a step back and look at the ramifications from the side of an entire community, region, and maybe even state. It’s one thing to imagine LeBron going worldwide in a big market. It’s quite another when you look at just what would happen to “the other side” (I’m talking to you, Dan Shanoff, you piece of horse shit) if something like that ever happened.

RK: One topic that I love discussing with fellow bloggers is this whole idea of this “war” between newspapers and blogs, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t get your opinion on it. I’ve written that, when done properly, blogs and newspapers should work together very nicely in a healthy symbiotic relationship, where each one provides something a little bit different to the sports fans. What’s your take on this whole “battle” and all these major media icons lashing out against sports blogs?

AP: You can’t expect anything less from these “major media icons” who are seeing a new trend infiltrate what was once their own sacred land. Their views are understandable, even though they come out of fear and anxiety of what their own futures hold for them as a result of this.

The best blogs offer unique takes and opinions not just from fans, but from extremely knowledgeable fans. When I first moved from Cleveland back in ‘05, I relied on the websites of local media outlets to get me my news on the local sports teams. These days, you have blogs like your own WFNY to give fans a whole array of perspectives. Fans who have unique and interesting opinions are starting up their own blogs every day. The best ones are always the ones where the writer knows what he’s talking about and doesn’t sound like some drunk, frustrated guy named Tony at the bar who thinks he has all the answers.

And speaking of media outlets and blogs: Just look at the example of our boy Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal. His columns and articles have elevated him to being one of the elite beat writers in the country, but his blog is on another level. It gives Windhorst a more personal feeling and makes him more accessible to a fan instead of being this faceless writer trying to be politically correct all the time. Windhorst’s blog is an example of what would happen if blogs and media outlets worked in conjunction with each other instead of trying to fight for their space.

RK: Thanks again for doing this Amar. One final question, and it’s a broad one, but in general, how do you feel about the state of the Cleveland Cavaliers both right now and moving forward into the future? Are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to where this franchise is headed?

AP: Definitely an optimist. I think that as much as fans love to bash Ferry, he’s done well with what he was given to work with. Blowing all that cap space in ‘05 was his only mistake, one that he hasn’t made up for. Other than that, he made up for drafting Shannon Brown by drafting Daniel Gibson 17 spots later. His Flip Murray trade in ‘06 helped carry the team to the second round after being a playoff absentee for eight years before that. He made Varejao and Pavlovic agree to his terms and didn’t give in. His trade in February seemed like a lateral move based on the results, but there’s no way the Cavs of Laura and Drew get to seven games with the C’s if that deal isn’t made.

The sky’s the limit for this team. Leave the Brooklyn/Jay-Z bullshit for those that have the time to waste.

And we end on that note. Thanks again to Amar for the Q&A and for offering up his insights. As a reminder, be sure to check Cavalier Attitude on Thursday for the 2nd half of this installment.