Other than boos and protests against Eric Mangini and the Browns’ QB derby, the loudest noise coming from Cleveland fans is directed at Mike Brown’s use of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaq on the floor at the same time. This ‘twin towers’ line-up was exposed against Toronto for its shortcomings, but has had limited success as well. Witness last night’s game against the Magic.
Both Cleveland and Orlando’s centers found themselves in foul trouble throughout the game, but were able to rotate defending each other so as to avoid getting the knock-out foul. One thing that the twin towers rotation did was force Orlando out of it’s normal offense. Gortat and Howard played together on the floor longer than they ever have in their careers. Their offense seemed fairly clueless how to operate with both centers in the game. Of course, this is multiplied when Orlando time after time fails to get Dwight the ball on the block.
But there is more to the Cavaliers big man rotation than just Z and Shaq playing together. Andy Varejao is having a very solid season, and if he can continue to come off the bench I like what Andy can do with that second unit. Varejao’s +/- is a team leading +46. Not bad for a guy who is fourth on the team in minutes played. I think that Andy has to learn again how to come off the bench though. The old Andy came in with his hair on fire diving after everything and giving the Cavs extra possessions. Andy still plays hard all the time, but there is a difference in the energy level when a player thinks he is playing 32 minutes a game as opposed to say 20. Andy will always be most effective coming off the bench, but if he has to be a starter I am behind him 100%.
That leaves us with three others. LeBron counts as a ‘big man’ in the rotation because he does play the 4 spot in the small line-up. But the wild card in all of this is JJ Hickson. The numbers don’t lie, although the sample size is small. We’ve seen two starts for JJ. I have to admit that he looked better last night than I thought he would. He was still caught out of position a few times, and doesn’t always finish as strong as he needs to, but this experiment might just work out. The Cavs held a serious rebounding edge through the first three quarters, and Hickson certainly was part of the reason. His offense will continue to be opportunistic only, but he has the athleticism to make those kinds of plays.
Here’s the last man in the rotation- Leon Powe. IF his injury heals correctly and he is able to return to form, he makes this rotation SO much better. It is possible that if the Hickson experiment goes horribly wrong that Powe and Varejao can split the time at PF fairly evenly and not miss a beat.
Now, if we can just get Zydrunas staightened out perhaps this rotation can get in full gear. Without the threat of Z’s outside shot, the twin towers will not work on a nightly basis, only against certain match-ups.
(photo- Sam Greenwood/NBAE/Getty Images)
Author: Rick
Rick is a co-founder and editor of WFNY. His love of Cleveland sports is surpassed only by his faith and love of his family. Follow him on Twitter- @rickwfny.Rick has written 743 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
Friendly reminder: it’s =”it is”, its = possessive.
There are some teams susceptible to the twin towers and some that aren’t. The coaching needs to figure it out or avoid using it.
I have to physically restrain myself whenever Mike Brown plays the Twin towers concept. Miraculously, it worked last night because SVG countered with his own idiotic version of that lineup as well.
What I didn’t like about the Twin Towers last night is that Brown went to that lineup after Howard was in trouble, allowing Howard to “guard” Z and Gortat to defend Shaq. Pull/wheel Z off the floor and force Howard to guard Shaq and pick up his 4th or even better make SVG take him off the court.
Are you guys gonna give Mike Brown more than a week to work out the rotations? The adjustments to begin the game last night speak for themselves.
That’s a good point about the 4 centers on the floor at once. However, In leaving them out there, it really appeared to keep Howard out of the mix because he was visibly trying to avoid another foul.
Isis, I agree with you.
I think Brown will figure this new roster out eventually.
It was only one game but we seem a lot deeper now. JJ brings a lot of energy and will become a consistent scorer. Andy off the bench is perfect and if Parker can continue to hit those 3’s we will be tough to defend.
This was all without West or Powe. Anyone know the timetable for Powe?
They are still saying February for Powe’s return, though it may be before the all-star break depending on how his knee responds.
Great day on WFNY because it’s been dominated by the Cavs with only one article on the Tribe and very little mentioned of the Slow Lerners (though I’m sure Jamal Lewis’s “practice, we talkin’ about practice” comments will earn a post.)
I’m excited to see what the rotation looks like when Powe comes back. By that time they (hopefully) won’t be able to take away any minutes from J.J. and of course Andy and Shaq won’t change. I’m hoping the Cavs can land a Troy Murphy or Mark West to split backup minutes with Powe and let Andy backup Shaq.
And…..I meant David West.
I’m all for spot starting. If Shaq needs to start because he’s Shaq, and we therefore need to start JJ, that’s fine. Hopefully Andy can readjust to coming off the bench, because obviously him and Z work well together, even moreso when Z is actually making shots (which for the love of Buddha he better start doing again). But this doesn’t mean that we have to use those pairs throughout the game, or that the “starters” have to play the most minutes, or the meaningful ones. As mentioned above, our lineups need to be dictated by the opponent. MB needs to realize that he is allowed to change up the rotation, not read off notecards: “8 min mark of Q1 – sub out Mo…5 min mark of Q2 – sub in LBJ.”
Byron Scott just got fired… woah… the Hornets are falling apart…
we just might be able to snag David West if they decide to go into rebuilding mode…
http://www.espn.com/nba (check out the front page)
Z’s shot has definitely been off but you got to remember this guys coming off the bench for the first time in his career. It’s a big adjustment to warm up and than go sit for the first 8-9 minutes of the game. Think of seasons past where Lebron and players would always look to get Z hot early because they know how important it was for him. I think once he figures out how to come off the bench he’ll be just fine, making our second unit just as strong.
Bring Scott in as an assistant.
I think I would die a happy man if the Cavs could somehow steal David West.
I can’t stand David West, mainly because he used to always kill Dayton when he played at Xavier. Adding him to the Cavs, however, would have to make us the favorites in the East.
Is Scott a good offensive coach? If so, then I’m all for it.
clown baby – adding mark west would be awesome!! maybe mike sanders is available too?? anybody know where randolph keys might be??
Mike-
He probably still can move better than Z!
touche!
Z is only valuable against Orlando and the Lakers do absorb fouls and attempt to slow down big centers…that’s it. That’s the only problem with only having Andy to back up Shaq.
I think part of the reason that SVG went with his own two towers lineup is because he was missing his two of his three power forwards with Lewis and Anderson both out. I’d be surprised if we see it again. The biggest difference I noticed in Z this season is that in the past when he would tip a ball up in the air that he really was only able to reach because of his monstrous size, he would usually come down with it. He had really good hands in that way. He doesn’t seem to possess the ability to corral those tips anymore.
Generally teams don’t trade their All-Star PF who loves playing with their All-Pro PG after they fire their head coach because they’re trying to right the ship. BUT, if they wanted Z’s expiring for West (not sure about the cap numbers) then DO IT.
Actually, I think if Z’s skills have diminished or he just can’t come off the bench and be effective then we HAVE to trade him. Even if it’s for S-Jax and Brandon Wright or Turiaf. Jax is going to be good for 3 more years, he’s a guard that can defend and will always be able to rack up massive assist numbers. His deal is only 3 more years at about $8M/yr. That’s not really terrible especially since he’ll probably perform for the duration of the contract.
And, it’s not like we’re going to come up on cap space after 2010. Andy, Boobie, Delonte, Mo, Parker and Moon’s deal’s all go for a couple more years. Not till those expire will we have any space. Which means we should make a move now while we have some expiring assets to bring in a piece or 2.
P@ – Right on. His hands are just slower this year. This happens. One year makes the difference; and finally time catches up.
And guys, the reason we saw Gortat and Howard was because he wanted Dwight in the game for offense and Gortat was his other big body to defend Shaq. It wasn’t stupid. It was a good thought. He was hoping Z would then guard Shaq to keep fouls off Shaq and he could still gen some offense via Dwight on the post. And at the very least, if the Cavs switched the matchup on D, Dwight could at least attempt to go at Shaq knowing (esp after the flop incident and last night’s cry baby routine) that there would be no offensive fouls. He certainly knew Z wasn’t going to draw any fouls on Dwight.
That is why he countered with the two bigs.
S-Dub:
I read that NO desperately wants to get under the cap. Firing your coach a couple of games into the season more or less signals that you aren’t going to be going the distance this year and next year is the last West is under contract.
S-Dub: agreed. They must. It’s out one big advantage remaining over the other title contenders. Their rosters are essentially set. The Magic could move Gortat but no one wants him for that money (though the offseason landscape for him might look different – and they will never trade him to the Cavs…maybe Mavs). The Celtics have ZERO roster flexibility, as do the Lakers and Celts.
Our advantages are 1) trade-worthy contracts 2) Powe Power X) Bron working miracles.
Gotta put ‘em to work for us. That’s the one thing I was pretty curious about in Broussard’s article…he said he doesn’t see where we can get that guy. Would Jax not count as another “star?” Wouldn’t Mo-Jax-Bron-Hix-Shaq and a second unit of Gibson/West (whoever we trade)-Parker-Moon-Powe-Andy look pretty good?
It’d be so sad if we traded Z though.
Jack-
Agreed. When I think about the Cavs winning the title I always think about how great it would be to see Z holding the trophy….especially with all he’s been through. Hopefully we can get him back.
when I caught the first Twin Towers sighting last night, I was yelling at the TV… but then, it worked. I was waiting for the Cavs to lose some of their lead, for the offense to slow down, but then we started fast-breaking and running and scoring. I was speechless. You broke down why this was the case very well Rick, thank you.
LOL, well, in time we’ll see how useful (and consistently useful) the TT concept really is… still not sold on it yet.
Jack/ C.Baby.. when I think of Z not getting a championship before he retires, I get a lump in my throat. He deserves one. Win a Ring for Z!
@Clown: Hey if they wanna give him to us, TAKE IT! I’d be ecstatic, and then we should have NO excuses.
@Jack: I def think that Jax would be that “super star.” That means out starting 5 would have 4 legit All-Stars, and 2 HOF players in it. Obviously, chemistry and what ever comes into play. BUT, so does Mike Brown and Jax relationship. He loves Brown so he’d play real hard for him and under the guidance of LBJ and Shaq I couldn’t see Jax acting up. I mean whose on GS to tell him to shut up or sit down? NO ONE.
Let’s not forget, if we trade Z to GS they’re gonna buy him out. What use do they have for a 7′3 center who is 35(?) slow as all hell and in the last year of his deal? They don’t, so they’d buy him out and he’d be right back here trying to get that ring. I’d much rather see Z sitting on that bench when the banner is raised than freaking Kobe Carl.
I think that is the ideal scenario. Can we simply re-sign Z after that 30 day period is up? What kind of contract can we have available (not for him to make money, but to abide by cap restrictions?)
S-Jax idea is growing on me. Imagine Lebron not having to guard VC ever and being free to guard Lewis all day…it makes me giddy. Imagine someone with length who could actually bother a Ray Allen jumper.
S-Jax it is.
Jack: We could resign him to the vet min. for the remainder of the season and it wouldn’t effect us at all. I think we need to wait till the deadline to make a deal. We have to see how Z adjusts to coming off the bench and we have to see how this team is playing. BUT, if Z become worthless to us, then we need to use his contract as an asset.
Imagine if we had traded Wally’s corpse for Shaq last year and came into this year with Shaq/Ben/Sasha’s deals expiring. Moone and Parker would still be on this team b/c they got the mid-level exception. Then we’d have $40M coming off the books, be under the cap just a bit (depending on the player we traded Wally for) and still be in a win win situation.
dgriff – i agree Z deserves to win a championship. however, with all due respect to Z, we the fans deserve one more! in a perfect world i want Z on this team, but if a trade can be had with Z to significantly improve the team to get it done, then so be it.
@#17 Boomhauer: Maybe we should instead trade for a former Flyer currently in the NBA. Oh, wait, there are none!
Signed,
a Xavier alum and fan
But, definitely, I’d be ecstatic about acquiring D-West. And, a sincere good luck to Dayton in the non-con. The A10 needs all the good pub they can get.
@Anthony – Ha Xavier this season… Good luck competing in the conference. We are bringing everyone back plus Rob Lowery is healthy for the first time since we beat Xavier at home last season. We also have two new big men to replace the one senior we had last year. Good luck, like I said earlier.
Signed,
a UD student and Flyer News writer