Trading deadline breakdown
Posted February 23rd, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
Here’s some stuff to chew on over the trades the Cavs made today:
–The Cavs got a total steal in getting Flip Murray for Mike Wilks. Flip is an inconsistent player who isn’t a great shooter, but he can get to the basket and can create his own shot. He can also play a little point guard. He’s been on the trading block for weeks and his value is a great deal higher than Mike Wilks. Danny Ferry gets an A for this deal because he was able to grab him when everything else the Sonics were working on fell through. A few weeks ago, this guy was going to be the principal in a trade for Earl Watson and the Cavs got him for Wilks. I like Mike and he worked hard, but honestly, there’s no comparison.
--The reason this deal is different than last season’s deadline pickup of Jiri Welsch is that there’s low risk and high reward. Unlike Welsch, Murray really didn’t cost the Cavs any assets and he’s a free agent at the end of the season. That means he’s highly motivated and the Cavs are under no obligation to him. Welsch cost a 2007 first round pick and also cost them when the had to give up their lottery protection on the first-round pick they owed to the Charlotte Bobcats. He was also under contract for another year.
--The Lee Nailon pickup is totally about saving money for the 76ers. Ferry and 76ers GM Billy King are the best of friends and this was friendly deal. I got to know Lee a little bit a few years ago when he was with the Cavs and I like him and his game, he will be able to score when he’s 50. I respected how he kept having to prove himself over and over. But Lee’s had numerous run-ins with the law and was charged with hitting his wife last month. The 76ers needed to get rid of him and were looking to save all the luxury tax money they could. Ferry accommodate them and still was able to turn it into an advantage to the Cavs. When Danny got the job, the Cavs had no 2005 picks, a 2006 first round pick, no 2007 first round pick and no second round pick until something like 2009. He got a pick in 2005 (Martynas Andriuskevicius), now has two 2006 second-round picks and counting.
–Dan GIlbert’s willingness to spend made both these deals possible. The man has high demands but he never lets money stand in the way in his businesses. He was willing to write the check to the Sonics to get Murray, because really the Cavs just bought him for the rest of the season.
–Getting Murray should be considered a challenge for Damon Jones and Sasha Pavlovic. I think Jones’ minutes are more in danger because Murray might wind up on the floor a lot as a the point guard with James with the second unit because he’s got much of the same skill set as Larry Hughes. In some ways Murray is like Sasha in that he’s inconsistent, but he’s much more athletic and much more proven. It is not unreasonable to think that if he plays well he could challenge for Sasha’s job. To qualify that, though, we all thought the same thing about Welsch last season. As for Ira Newble, I’m not sure there’s space for him once he is healthy now.
–Getting technical here, but just in case you are thinking ahead and care about the collective bargaining agreement rules, the Cavs will not have Bird rights on Murray. If they want to re-sign him to more than a minimum contract this summer they will have to use money from their mid-level exception.
–The Cavs still have some serious issues with their team, especially the inability to bring it every night. But they are better in the short term and perhaps slightly better in the long term after this deadline day. All in all, any objective observer would have to give them high marks.
February 23rd, 2006 at 6:54 pm
You must not be an avid reader of the site tradeflipmurray.com - - Seriously, that’s a real site. But I agree, it’s a good deal. Wilks is a zero, and Murray has a little something to his game, even if it often comes in spurts. He had some good games when Allen got hurt. At the very least, Murray can create things to do with a ball, and Damon Jones can’t. Which obviously is not saying much, as I could easily say the same thing about my Siberian Husky, Igor.
Come to think of it, Igor is superior than just his simple ability to create with a ball. Whenever Igor holds up three toes and mugs for his audience, it’s damn cute. Whenever Jones holds up three toes and mugs for his audience, I fantasize about taking him to the pound in the trunk of my car to get him neutered. Preferably with a dull Swiss army knife and no anesthesia.
But should Gilbert really be given any credit for “spending money?” What money? It was my recollection that Murray had signed and is now nearing the end of his minimum one-year deal for minimum money. Which in NBA circles, is cookie crumb dough and not much more than Wilks is now making, especially when you’re only talking about a little more than two months. If I am wrong about my dollar figures with respect to the difference in Murray’s and Wilks’ salaries, let me know.
By the way, I’m sorry your picture has been removed from the Beacon Journal’s home page. I kind of liked it, as it always put a smile on my face. How many sports reporters are lucky enough to have a byline photo taken while they’re getting a serious buzz on at a Kent State tailgating party? Just an educated guess, but I am assuming the last words the photographer heard before he snapped the photo was, “Hey, Bob, can you hold my beer hat? There’s still two or three cans left in there, so try not to spill it. Oh, and please be careful not to drop the straw, it’s my last one.”
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Oh, and I’m not all that impressed about obtaining useless second-round picks when you’ve just completed packing the roster with bad long-term contracts that puts the total kibosh on future trade potential. I realize the underlying intent of the signings wasn’t as much about creating a legitimate winner as it was to pretend to say, “Look, LeBron, we’re spending lots of money for you! Plus we’ll keep kissing you and your posse! Does Maverick like the vintage KISS pinball machine?” Regardless, other than getting Murray for nothing, from where I sit, not one prop is deserved during Ferry’s tenure to date. Of course, if he somehow finds a Tony Parker-like gem during the upcoming draft, then I’ll need to revise my performance evaluation. But if I had to grade him now, his total performance evaluation from a fan’s perspective lies somewhere between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From Gilbert’s perspective, which is a perspective of a businessman that doesn’t care if there’s no championship if he can get still get an overall handsome return on his investment, no doubt Ferry gets an “A.”
That friendship with Billy King thing also bothers me. It’s why I believe Ilgauskas and his contract will never be dealt by Ferry. It may not mean much now, but it definitely will when Ilgauskas is just another role player two years from now. In a perfect world where fans are not used like toilet paper and then thrown out with the rest of the trash, I believe Ferry has as much an obligation to the season ticket holders as he does to creating franchise value and a profit for Gilbert.
And after reading your entry again, this Nailon deal further bothers me in that Ferry may have once again screwed up the ability to improve future rosters. Brian, I believe you may have completely overlooked the technical aspects of this transaction. Specifically, doesn’t the most recent NBA collective bargaining agreement provide for an automatic minimum two-year extension to the back end of a contract if you beat your wife during the term of that original contract?
February 24th, 2006 at 6:45 am
Brian, a small correction here.
We have actually have “non-bird rights” for Murry, not “no bird rights” “Non-bird rights” are actually a form of bird rights that allow us to get an instant exception to give him a 25% raise. So we could offer about $1.1 Mil using the non-bird rights without using any other exception, which is about 20% above min salary for Flip.
But it idesn’t really mater since Flip has turned down larger contracts than that last summer.
February 24th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Alan Tucker, you are annoying, and make these comments unreadable. Will you stop crying about everything? I also thought I remember a two post limit on each blog….
February 24th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Kidd, ordinarily I wouldn’t bother responding, but I believe it’s incumbent here that I do respond, as you are not the first person to say what you just said. So, if you never read another one of my posts, please bear with me enough to read just one more post, and then you and every other “Cavaliers Blog with Brian Windhorst” loyalist will never have to read me ever again - -
Theoretically, I could sit down and get all of my Cleveland Cavaliers thoughts together at one single moment in time. That way, every single matter on my mind could be packed into one single solitary post. It may read like “War and Peace,” but it will still be one post. Which is the important thing. Thus, I technically could appease all the other readers like you that find me “annoying” enough to sit for 36 consecutive hours with a pot of coffee, a calculator, a protractor, a compass and a Chinese abacus to calculate the physical numbers of my posts.
But unfortunately, my mind is a completely scattershot animal. Much like a drunk Dick Cheney trying to shoot a bird and instead shooting a 78-year-old attorney in the face, I never know when or where it’s going to fire something out. It’s a thought here, another thought there. To put it into a tangible framework that you can understand, my brain is a Jewish Pez dispenser.
So with that being said, I am nothing if not flexible. Accordingly, I will make it very easy for you and every other person overcome by a compelling urge to repeatedly clog Brian’s personal e-mail box with absurdist complaints that drive the poor guy crazy: Whenever you see a post, immediately take a valuable quarter-second of your time and glance at the bottom of it. If you see my name, then skip over that post. This way, you will no longer find an entire blog’s comments section “unreadably annoying.” Problem solved.
February 24th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Brian can you or someone clarify the status of the 2nd rounder we “sent” to Philly for their second rounder and the rights to Nailon? The AP story http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2342228 says we get it back if we aren’t one of the top 3 records at the end of the season, but you and Branson seem to indicate its only if we aren’t one of the top 5. I suspect we are safe either way, but given that we currently have the 5th best record in the NBA it might be significant.
February 24th, 2006 at 9:45 am
I think it’s time to rename this blog “Cavaliers Blog with Alan Tucker …. and Brian Windhorst too”, or all the readers of this site should chip in and purchase hosting so Alan can have his own site. It’s obvious that’s what he really needs and wants. Most of his comments are longer than Brian’s posts!
February 24th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Jon, I have an e-mail address. Unlike most of the people who take potshots at me, it is a 100% real address. I have nothing to hide, I’m a friendly guy, I openly welcome everybody’s communication assuming it’s not infantile or idiotic. At any time, please feel free to e-mail me instead of taking it here. If it is written in the manner of a sane and thoughtful human being, then I always write back. It’s moronic enough that people e-mail death threats to Brian because he says James won’t be MVP or because he writes that shrimp tastes better than chili. If you sincerely have a problem with my comment(s) and you’re not just writing for yucks, then why do so many people post bogus e-mail addresses and hassle a reporter?
February 24th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Alantucker.blogspot.com exists, he just won’t use it. Use the blog, Alan, use the blog!
February 24th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Gee, thanks for the unsolicited assist. A guy who sets up a blog for me. Twice.
One would think Brian Windhorst is a sportswriter able to produce a wide range of intelligent reactions from his reading audience, whether they be pro, con or neutral. Prime example of a cerebral well-written Windhorst entry here. And yet, an amazingly few people have the ability to intelligently write a comment about the entry. But everybody and their mother have the ability to unintelligently write a comment about Alan Tucker.
Pal, I’d say this all to you directly and personally in a private e-mail, but “shockingly,” no real address is to be found.
With a few notable exceptions, people writing here give a whole new meaning to the word “Flip.”
February 24th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Most of the time you don’t comment on the entry either, you comment on whatever you feel like, in excruciatingly long detail. So don’t throw stones.
February 24th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Tucker you make reading these post bearable … why you ask. Because without you it would a bunch of yes men. YEs the cavs are great. Yes Damon Jones is shooting well. Yes LeBron will get the MVP.
Now, I have always used a real e=mail and ALan sends me love notes!!
I don’t know what I think about the Nailon thing…. I don’t think I want him. And I like the Flip deal.
February 24th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
It’s tough to know if the commentary here is an accurate microcosm of Brian’s newspaper audience in general, or if it is simply the rancid meat byproduct of slackers with access to a computer. Yea, you failed to write any comment relating to the Windhorst blog entry, instead posted a comment about Alan Tucker, and then topped if off by posting a bogus e-mail address. Windhorst’s Cavaliers Blog trifecta! I haven’t been to Northfield or Thistledown in nearly 30 years. What did it pay?
February 26th, 2006 at 4:46 am
just wondering.. will there be another 2nd half falter by the cavs this season??
February 27th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Yes. I predicted they would lose to Philly, Wash, and both Detroit games, kick-starting a 10-game losing streak. So far, sadly, I’m right on the money.
February 27th, 2006 at 10:05 am
Bron’ will not lose 2 nite at home against the Pistons.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:41 am
For all those freaking out because the Cavs didn’t get all gangster on the Pistons consider this: Detroit is an awesome team, so it doesn’t matter if the Cavs become the Broad Street Bullies, reincarnated, they ain’t going to beat them. Ben Wallace was very impressive in the two games against the Cavs. The guy should get MVP consideration. All those blocks, rebounds and steals. It’s rare to see a guy dominate an NBA game with that skill set. The Pistons also have Sh’weed, Rip, Prince, Billups, the list goes on. We have Z, Flip Murray (wasn’t Lamond available), and a bunch of rubbish.
The Cavs do need to get tougher. They should go after Reggie Evans from Seattle. Marshall and Jones were bad signs. Marshall’s legs are going south in front of our very eyes. He looked about as fast as Austin Carr is these days while trying to run down an errant pass in Sunday’s loss. And what about when he bumbled the ball on a wide open lay up in the same game?
Jones is a freaking head case. Did they sit down with him before they signed him or do any reference checks? Does Ferry have the eye for talent we need? I’d hate to think we get burned twice by the same guy. Bron’s not going to stay around forever the franchise is not a legitimate contender (insert chill down your spine here).
Tucker. Get a job, or set some parental controls to keep yourself off the site.
“WHAM WITH THE RIGHT HAND.”
February 28th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Chones, given the fact Reggie Evans’ contract is now owned by Denver, it will be a major coup if Ferry gets Evans from Seattle at the end of this season. Thus, this blog’s readership has to be perplexed by your statement. Regardless, given the man’s track record to date, it is very likely Ferry is under the impression Evans got traded to the New Orleans Jazz. Disregard Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom. Disregard LeBron James and Larry Hughes. The Reggie Evans-Pete Maravich dynamic duo is the new force to be reckoned with.
March 1st, 2006 at 6:11 am
It’s obvious the Cavs can’t match a team like the Pistons in toughness or skill. Signing Marshall and Jones was foolish, not because they can’t be valuable role players but because the Cavs aren’t at the point of needing valuable role players–they first have to develop a style of play that makes sense for LeBron. That would be a running, open court style. His combination of size, vision, athleticism and skill is unprecedented.
Signing Illgauskus was also foolish. He tries hard and can be valuable, but not as valuable as his cap figure suggests he should be. You can count on 17 pts. and 8 rebs., but that’s it. He’s paid like a superstar. Hughes was a good signing but Ferry felt pressure to produce right away and otherwise blew it during free agency.
Right now the Cavs are betwixt and between, supposedly a defensive team but without good defenders. They should have held onto their money and re-signed Diop and another athletic big man who runs, rebounds and plays defense. With cap space, or through a sign-and-trade with Illgauskus, they might have landed another big man or another scorer–the Wilcox guy with Seattle would have fit nicely and, believe it or not, Steve Francis might have played well alongside Hughes and LeBron. Once Hughes was out and until Flip Murray arrived, the Cav’s were getting about 10 pts. a game combined from the team’s top three guards.
The Cavs have no chance at winning a championship as they stand now because Ferry tried to find “pieces” instead of players. Ultimately, LeBron’s place in league history will hinge on championships, something he surely knows. It’s a shame he’ll have to leave.
March 1st, 2006 at 8:17 am
Bullseye.
March 1st, 2006 at 12:32 pm
A steal uh, well check out this independent blog that actually backs up comments with relevant stats;
http://mistakesports.blogspot.com/
Main point of the blog is that Flip is taking quality looks away from the team, including Lebron! His new nickname should be Chuck Murray.
March 1st, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I personally would have opted for a Flip Wilson reference as opposed to Lamond Murray or Chuck Murray, but I’m pretty sure 90-95% of this blog’s readership has no idea who Flip Wilson was.
March 1st, 2006 at 1:16 pm
I personally would have opted for a Flip Wilson reference as opposed to Lamond Murray or Chuck Murray, but I’m pretty sure 90-95% of this blog’s readership has no idea who Flip Wilson was.
March 1st, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Sorry I got Reggie Evans’ team wrong. I really don’t have time for all this NBA crap. I’m just trying to meet hot chicks.
That was a real impressive performance against the Sonics. The AP reported that Artest shut down the Chosen One. Should Iverson be on Team USA?
“Dips, flips, got a a pair.”
Joe Tait
March 2nd, 2006 at 7:31 am
Well, are you ready? You need to be. LBJ will not be here very much longer, not at all. UNLESS we, or Ferry, pulls a miracle out of his rear and I doubt that will happen.
I would like to thank all of the fans that boo’d LBJ and the Cavs. Way to show your your apprieciation, thanks. You showed him how happy we are to have him. It is because of you Gloria started packing up her supply of Colt 45 into the back of her Escalade.
But anyway. What the hell is happening on the court at the “Q”. Is Larry Hugh’s that big of a part to this team? Is Brown meant to be a head coach? Is Z a good fit for this team? What is the problem?
It seems like the energy level of the Cavs has dissipated, or “gone away” for those who can’t handle a word with more than 1 or 2 syllables. Yes, we did drop 2 to the Pistons, that is cool with me. But there is no reason, none at all, why we should have lost too anyone else.
Yes, I am glad AI did not get the invite it just left more room for people coach K wants, like JJ Redick.
Go Cavs.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:46 am
As for the CAVS splintered bench, this year is too late, but didn’t the Wiz have an interest in Marshall last year and Thomas of the Knicks seems to like gunning guards who don’t play defense with big contracts. Maybe Jones could be a nice fit in New York ? Or, Luke Jackson to Seattle to team up with his college buddie for Wilkins or for whatever you can get.