Early June potpourri
Posted June 1st, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
After having a number of postseason conversations and lots of reading…
–I don’t think the Cavs will have a makeover this offseason. Even though I wrote about testing the trade market for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, I believe the Cavs will only make a move if they feel knocked over. Honestly, I doubt it’s going to happen. After my story ran I am sure some teams have called Danny Ferry to gage Z, but it will take proven players and not draft picks or prospects.
–Unless he signs a strange offer sheet (i.e. Carlos Boozer’s descending salary deal with the Jazz) I expect the Cavs to match any reasonable contract for Drew Gooden. They really like his work ethic and love their depth in the frontcourt. I think they also have a feeling that Gooden is headed for a long career and they could always trade him if they wanted to down the line. A fair sign-and-trade deal isn’t out of the question, but again it will take a legit player(s) in return not cap relief or prospects. I pretty much invented the Jamaal Magloire-Gooden trade talk going around the NBA because Milwaukee GM Larry Harris wants an athletic power forward to play next to Andrew Bogut and wants to move Mags. It just made sense to me, so I threw it out there and others have been picking it up.
–Despite my prodding, which has been followed up by several other media outlets, at this moment I don’t expect the Cavs to look to hire an offensive coordinator. I kind of thought the front office might apply some pressure after they got some goodwill by picking up Mike Brown’s contract option. Actually I hear they are going to leave it Brown to make the needed offensive changes. It has also been pointed out to me that it is easier to have a lead defensive assistant (as Brown was in Indiana) than a lead offensive assistant because there are more offensive play calls than defensive. That may or may not be true, but I still believe the Cavs need a new offensive philosophy or at least a more in-depth one.
–By the way, when I first heard about the press conference announcing something about Brown’s contract I thought he was getting a new deal. My first reaction was that would’ve been a little crazy since things change so rapidly in the NBA. So I called Brown’s agent and he told me it was just the option pickup. When I asked if he was re-doing the contract he cracked me up by saying, "Oh no, Christmas only comes once a year."
–As I’ve written before, the NBA changed the day they announced the new defensive rules before the 2004-05 season. Here’s another quality opinion of the offensive trend.
–I’m having trouble caring about this draft. I read lots of people saying there are are no super stars but it is a deep draft. I’m hearing the opposite from some league execs. With no high school players and not many gems in Europe ready for the NBA, I’m hearing this is the thinnest draft in years. Glad the Cavs have three picks in it, not that I’m saying they can’t find something. My guess is they’ll draft the best point guard available at No. 25 and take at least one Euro prospect in round two if they even keep both picks. As I’ve written here before, I’m no draftnik so don’t expect exhaustive updates on it from the Akron Beacon Journal.
June 1st, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Where would the NBA be without Brian steering it? We would have no nickname for Wild Thing and no GMs would ever get any quality work done. I am just glad he is modest and doesn’t point his great influence out to everyone:
OOPS
“I pretty much invented the Jamaal Magloire-Gooden trade talk going around the NBA because Milwaukee GM Larry Harris wants an athletic power forward to play next to Andrew Bogut and wants to move Mags. It just made sense to me, so I threw it out there and others have been picking it up.”
LOL, I love ya B-Dubs.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:04 am
The Aldridge story was interesting but I’m not sure his theories hold up as far as the playoffs go this year. Miami wins when Shaq plays inspired defense in the middle, and the same could be said of the Mavs and Diop. Detroit wins when they clamp down on defense, led by their bricklaying center. But of course, who knows what the Suns will do?
By the way, someone’s got to say it because it looks like we won’t read it in the local papers: It sure was a big mistake last summer to let go of Diop, a 7-foot, mobile youngster who wants to rebound and play defense. Coming out of high school with limited experience, he was sure to need four or five years to develop. What the hay?
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:42 am
Larry, it’s very simple. He knew he wasn’t coming back after fighting through injury and eating a few too many Big Macs. He put it upon himself to hit the gym, get in shape, drop 30 lbs, and show teams he’s “hungry” for a new opportunity. I don’t think it’s so much the Cavs letting him go as him getting the motivation and desire to earn his next big payday in a system that he can work well in.
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:10 pm
If I remember correctly, the Cavalier braintrust was aware of Diop’s improved physical condition but didn’t show much interest. Diop’s terrible press didn’t help, I’m sure.
Last summer would have been a very good time to develop a system Diop and Varejao could work well in, and at the same time save about $5 million on the salary cap.
June 2nd, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Sure, in perfect hindsight it looks like yet another in a series of dumb free-agent moves that puts the kibosh on improvement for a minimum of three to four more years. But let’s be truly honest, there is nobody here who thought Diop would ever show anything more than that girly ass wiggle when he walks, let alone beat out Erick Dampier or give a solid reason to say goodbye to Ilgauskas.
June 2nd, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Good insights…maintaining constancy in the Cavs’ line-up might not be a bad idea, because the Cavs very well could have been playing tonight against the Heat and not the Pistons. We had the team to beat the Pistons, because we were in a position to, and the potential to go the whole way…THIS season! So, be scared all other NBA teams when you face an even better Cavs team ahead…
June 2nd, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Also, to contribute to the Diop discussion…we must remember Diop is playing “well” against the interior defense-LESS Phoenix Suns, and the Suns don’t care if Diop does well, because they’re focusing their defensive pressure on the Mavs’ players who could destroy them single-handedly, not Diop.
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:19 am
The 20/20 hindsight argument is bogus when it comes something like a sports blog, I think. Front office people and coaches are paid to scout and forecast when they make personnel decisions. Fans and the media judge them on how those decisions turn out.
In this case, the Cavs had more access to Diop than anyone in the league, but blew it. Someone with the Mavs did a better job.
June 3rd, 2006 at 10:29 am
The Diop decision was obviously made long before Ferry was hired and started tripping over his own front office shadow. And even if Ferry had scouted Diop from dawn ’til dusk, what difference would it have made?
It is foolish to say anything other than Cleveland was the totally wrong situation for Diop. Ilgauskas is a complete joke as a ball distributor, but at least he possesses the capacity to stumble his own way to 15 points. Jeez, Diop’s CAREER HIGH is 10.
June 3rd, 2006 at 10:33 am
I guess that should have been dusk ’til dawn. Either way, please realistically explain how Diop would have or could have made any difference.
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:20 pm
No, wait, I think I was right the first time. Dawn ’til dusk. Unless Ferry scouted Diop at 3 AM. This Diop debate is too confusing.
June 4th, 2006 at 4:26 am
I’m just saying players with Diop’s youth, size and desire to play defense and rebound, exclusively, don’t fall off trees. The Cavs didn’t seem to seriously consider signing him to anything other than a minimum contract.
Committing to Diop and Verajao at center last summer would have been risky, but it would have changed the dynamics of the free agency period and provided a pretty solid base for the team’s future growth.
When the Cavs signed Hughes, they said he was their first choice among big guards, which seems like a dubious claim to me. I wonder if Redd and Allen would have been more apt to consider Cleveland if they didn’t think they’d have to compete with Z for shots.
Of course, it’s all water under the bridge now.
June 4th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I feel I should jump in here to explain the Diop situation. Diop could’ve been a restricted free agent last summer but the Cavs wanted to clear his cap hold so they chose not to extend him a qualifying offer and renounced his rights the morning they signed Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall.
The Cavs probably would have been willing to bring him back at the minimum, but why would he have even considered it? I don’t think anyone could be critical of the thinking on either side.
June 5th, 2006 at 3:02 am
Why wouldn’t he have considered it, with a new, defensive-minded coach and the possibility of more playing time if Z didn’t return?
Whenever the decision was made, I think it was a mistake. I get the feeling no one wants to admit it because no one saw it at the time. “No basketball instincts” was the refrain, if I remember correctly.
June 5th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Larry, he wouldn’t have considered taking the minimum because he was being offered 5 times that amount.
June 6th, 2006 at 3:01 am
You’re right and I misread that part of Brian’s post.
June 7th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Brian,
Are you feeding us Cavalier propaganda or are they serious about matching any offer for Gooden? I know that teams have to give the impression that they will match any offer sheet in order to force a sign and trade rather than losing a RFA for nothing. It sounds like you are making up trade rumors to help them move Z and find a good trade for Gooden. Then you say no big moves. Are you serious that they don’t want to make changes in the front court and drafting a point guard late in the first round and keeping Larry Hughes healthy are the keys to improvement. Is it that they are just waiting for the other LJ (Luke) to get healthy and blossom?
Diop may be making a difference in these playoffs, but Dallas isn’t planning their future around the kid. He’s a nice suprise on a team that has many options. He earned minutes away from others that were competent instead of being forced into playing. Cleveland lacks options right now with the likes of Newble, Pavlovic, Jackson, Henderson, Martynas, and Graham stuck on the bench. None of these players were fighting for minutes last year. Without Z, Diop would have had to play instead of having to earn minutes. Plus, we would have tried to run Ferry out of town if he gave a new coach a starting center with Diop’s record and Varejao coming back from surgery with much uncertainty. Hindsight isn’t always 20/20.
K
June 7th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Kevin, please. If you’ve been a reader of the Cavs beat in the Beacon Journal over the course of the past three to four years, then you’d certainly know that hell will freeze over before Brian starts any rumor designed to wave bye-bye to Z.
Aside from that burp in your comments, you do make a good point about teams manipulating the media to their benefit when all they’re really doing is posturing. Seeing how Brown hardly played the guy during the playoffs, there’s no way Gooden will be signed by Cleveland without a sign-and-trade already negotiated.
June 11th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Well who for? Forget 20/20 from last year, summer is the time for making trades.
The Knicks, the TrailBlazers, the Warriors, etc., are ready for complete makeovers. So are the Cavs. What’s Ferry going to do, and what should he do?
Also, what about Dee Brown in the draft? He’s what the pundits call a tweener, but he’s a player too.