Living without Larry
Posted January 6th, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
It is the impulse of fans, often in an extension of the media, to be reactionary following a dramatic event like Larry Hughes’ injury. No one doubts the Cavs have suffered a pretty deep blow by losing their second-best player for two months but it is too early to be suggesting breaking up the team with crazy trades.
In my opinion, last night’s loss to the Rockets displayed some potentially disturbing stuff. It wasn’t exactly like looking back to last season because the Cavs played better defense, but the way it was 
LeBron and almost no one else was troubling. As I wrote, it could’ve been a bad night or the start of something worse. Time will tell, so just wait a few games before completely passing judgment, that is what I plan to do. At this point, I think the Cavs may do well to just trend water for awhile, especially with so many road games coming up.
I do believe the Cavs will make a significant trade at some point in the next six weeks. The scope of it may vary depending on a lot of things. I don’t believe Danny Ferry will make a significant move to fill in for Hughes, though he may make a minor one. I generally believe any large deal will involve Drew Gooden, because even though he’s talented he simply doesn’t play good enough defense to suit Brown. You’ll notice his minutes have been dropping.
I have some ideas on who the trading partners could be, but I’m not going to put it out there now because I personally don’t like to rumor monger. I think there’s a good chance it could be a three-team trade, I’ll just say that. What I will say is I know Denver is anxiously looking to make a move and the Cavs could be involved. Every team seems to be stalling to see what happens with Ron Artest, though.
Also, I don’t think it was a mistake to sign Hughes, either despite his injury history. Remember, they weren’t getting Ray Allen or Michael Redd. It was an acceptable risk.
While you’re surfing, check out my latest podcast with Terry Pluto. How do we talk about Henry James, Eddie Jordan, Sasha Pavlovic and Damon Jones in the same sitting? Listen and find out.
One last thing. Some of you may remember the story I did on Wes Wesley last summer. Now, True Hoop, a good NBA blog, is conducting research on him.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Brian, evidently you overestimated Gilbert. You wrote Ziegfried Hamilton would likely get his contract guaranteed. You said Gilbert doesn’t “cut corners” when it comes to spending money. First-class all the way.
Whoops.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Yeah the loss last night troubled me in a similar manner. It’s almost to a point now where I’d love to see us win with LeBron getting minimal points and even minutes. That’s why the Indiana win earlier this season was so great, with guys like Gooden and Hughes stepping up despite LBJ only getting 14.
As far as Hughes goes, it wasn’t a matter of “if,” it was “when,” for anybody who has even glanced at his history. But if Jones and Marshall, the OTHER two signings, didn’t go like 5 for 800 last night, we wouldn’t be making a big deal out of this right now. Amon (no D) better stop bragging about himself even during a serious shooting slump and start earning that $3.5 mil or else he’s going to find out the difference between posh bandwagon South Beach fans and diehard blue collar Cleveland fans very soon.
January 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Jones is not earning $3.5 million. Jones is “earning” (a relative word if there ever was) in excess of $16 million over the life of a guaranteed four-year contract.
But don’t blame Jones, as everybody appears to be. Nobody should blame Jones. Ferry was the rube that signed a vagabond backup scrub to a contract nearly four times greater than the league minimum. Neither Jones nor Jones’ agent held a gun to Ferry’s head. Nor did anybody hold a gun to Ferry’s head when he foolishly signed Ilgauskas to another long-term contract, and then retained him as opposed to signing and trading in the manner that Phoenix and Chicago brilliantly accomplished.
January 6th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Gooden is actually one of our most consistent offensive players, extremely efficient. With Z able to play less than 30 minutes a game, both Marshall and Jones pretty streaky, and Hughes out, it would be foolish to trade Gooden. We ought to be calling more offensive plays for him.
We badly need a healthy AV back.
Signing Hughes was a mistake, I think. Have you seen the Cavs +/- rating with him on the court? But I hope I’m proved wrong.
January 20th, 2006 at 7:31 am
The Cavs need a point guart that drives the lane and isn’t afraid to shoot.(score) Like Mark Price did.
This breaks defenses down and opens Z and LeBron for shots. In my opinion they are the only consistant shooters on the team.
January 20th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I think signing hughes was a great thing. First of all without hughes the cavs are winless. now u kno the importance of hughes in the team. cavs r nothin without hughes!!