Insomnia is underrated
Posted September 6th, 2006 by Brian Windhorst
Hopelessly jet-lagged and unable to sleep at 3 a.m., let me toss out a few thoughts.
–People in Houston tell me that David Wesley has nothing left and looked bad at the end of last season. I don’t believe that’s 100 percent true, everyone in Houston looked bad at the end of last season. If you look at his stats, he’s been a steady performer even as he’s aged. If you start him and expect 33 minutes a game, as the Rockets did due to mass injuries, I can see why you’d think he’s done. Now I’m a once bitten by Lucious Harris, twice shy kind of guy, so I’m leery of signing another "shooter" who is about to be 36. But the Cavs didn’t give him much money and there a good chance he’ll contribute significantly in at least 20-25 games.
UPDATE: After reading the blog, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy wanted to get his thoughts out on Wesley. He wrote: "David was injured
at the end of last year as he came back prematurely from a rib injury to try
and help us win even as most veterans who were on the last year of their
contract would have worried more about their upcoming free agency than their
team. That is who David is. Team first type of guy. He
can still shoot, he can defend points or 2’s and even though he may have
lost a step here or there, he is bull strong, smart and competitive. He came off a knee surgery to start last year and It took a
bit for him to get rolling. But after the first month of the year he played
very well and only the rib injury prevented him from finishing strong. The Cavs
got a good player and a hall of fame type of guy and competitor."
I thank Jeff for sharing his thoughts, he obviously respects Wesley. I think the perception that Wesley struggled at times last season plus the fact that the Rockets decided to go look for younger shooters this offseason contributed to the feelings I got from Houston.
Also, I want to answer a couple questions in the comment section. The Cavs have signed Wesley to a two-year deal but the second year is not fully guaranteed, only a small part of it is. This protects the Cavs and enables them to trade him next summer to a team that could just waive him and not pay his salary (like an expiring contract, it makes him an asset to a team looking to dump a player or cut salary). For his willingness to take on a second year, Wesley probably got a few hundred thousand guaranteed to him. This is a standard practice now in the NBA. Also, as Van Gundy mentioned, the Cavs believe Wesley can be a physical defender and feel that matches up with Scot Pollard, another physical guy they signed who can guard multiple positions.
–I’m very tired of answering e-mails, many of them from Kobe fans apparently wearing blinders, who insist the U.S. needed better shooters to win the worlds. I know the games were on in the middle of the night, but did any of you actually watch the games? You think the U.S. had offensive problems? Are you kidding me?
Look at these stats, the U.S averaged 104 points a game and shot more than 50 percent from the field. They shot 37 percent from 3-point range, which is the same as champion Spain and better than Greece and Argentina. Yes, sometimes they settled for too many 3’s but it wasn’t like they weren’t making them. In the game they lost they scored 95 points in just 40 minutes.
All in all, the defense was respectable. They held their opponents to 83 points a game and 46 percent shooting. They had a few bad periods of defense, which cost them the game against Greece. They were slow to make fixes and didn’t seem to be properly prepared for that game and it cost them. Now, I wrote all about their flaws after every game, but I can’t believe some of the stuff I’m reading.
If you don’t believe me, read Truehoop, which if you are a fan you should be reading regularly anyway.
–I saw Donyell Marshall today at the Wesley press conference and he looks like he’s in great shape. It appears he’s lost at least 10 pounds, perhaps more. Danny Ferry told me Marshall has been working out hard all summer. Last season as ‘Yell’s 3-point shooting dropped significantly after a hot start, some scouts suggested to me that it appeared as if he legs were going. I have no idea if that’s true, but it appears he felt he needed to get in better shape.
–After Gooden finally signs his deal in the next day or so, the Cavs will be right up against the luxury tax threshold of $65.4 million. That is counting about $3 million in bonuses Larry Hughes and Marshall can get if the team reaches certain milestones, which they did last year making them so-called "likely bonuses." I know there are rumors out there about trades and whatnot, but before you consider any of them realize the Cavs won’t be taking on an additional salary this season. They do, however, have about $1.2 million in wiggle room in money for Eddie Basden and Stephen Graham, deals that are not fully guaranteed.
September 6th, 2006 at 3:06 am
“I’m looking forward to being out there, spotting up and waving my arms waiting to catch and shoot,” Wesley said.
Wesley’s going to fit in great with the Cavs’ stand-around-and-watch-LeBron offense.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:19 am
I’m surprised that more people don’t bring up the fact that it’s a single-elimination tournament being part of the reason for an early exit. Does anyone really think there’s a team out there that could beat the US in a 5 or 7-game series? That’s no disrespect to teams like Spain or even Greece who deserved their wins, but a simple talent assessment. With a “March Madness” type format and a much closer talent gap between the US and everyone else, we’re going to have to accept the fact that no matter what adjustments are made, we’re probably not going to ever be a consistently dominating winner every time like the early Dream Team years.
On the Wesley signing–can he at least play defense? Or did we just sign another Damon Jones?
September 6th, 2006 at 9:29 am
Brian, your column said that Wesley had a ‘partial guarantee’ for the 2nd year on his contract. What does that mean?
September 6th, 2006 at 10:21 am
By acquiring David Wesley, the Cavaliers were able to find a player with the strengths of both Eric Snow and Damon Jones. He’s older and may be a step slower, but he shoots the 3 almost as good as Jones and defends almost as well as Snow. This trade makes Snow and Jones expandable. Assuming the Knicks are still interested in Snow and considering the Cavaliers glut at the guard position, why not try to package Snow, Jones, Sasha and Luke Jackson for Jalen Rose and his beautiful $16.9 million expiring contract. If the Knicks bite, Danny Ferry the Cavalier’s General Manager will be picking up the Executive of the Year Award before pre season..
September 6th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
good point, charles. in fact you could draw an analogy with the dream team as wooden’s ucla basketball squads. they dominated the ncaa tournament for years then, hey, the other teams got better and there has been no real dominating program since. yes, duke has made PLENTY of final fours but only a couple of titles.
single elimination means ANYONE can beat AN YONE in 40 minutes. that’s just how it is. get used to it…
oh
September 6th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
The Knicks are going to have zero interest in acquiring Snow now that Larry Brown is gone so you can toss that idea out the window.
September 6th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
yeah, not having larry b. around means the “eric snow fan club” currently has exactly zero members…BUT i feel like something must be brewing somewhere what with all these guards we currently have on the roster…but i wouldn’t guess that any deal would involve snow with his contract.
September 7th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Thanks for the update Brian. Jeff Van Gundy reads your blog? That seems amazing to me. Maybe he’s got old Stan surreptitiously doing his film work and scouting this summer.
Wesley has had a good career but isn’t injury usually pretty much part of the package when you sign guards who are over 35?
September 7th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Hi all… Jordan FoReVeR… I like this game ))
September 8th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Brian, your posted assertion that, effective with the end of last season, things would never be the same and good free agents would be making a beeline to play with LeBron….well, it doesn’t appear to have any semblance of reality this summer, nor with the long-term cap problems, does it seem to be anywhere near reality anytime between now and Brooklyn.
David “Satellite Dish Ears” Wesley and Scot “Hairdo of the Week” Pollard? Please. What’s next, Ferry busting Ralph Sampson out of federal prison? Maybe Ralph will take the mid-halfway house exception.
September 8th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
nice try, tucker. it’s over, man. give it up…
September 8th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
I agree with Tucker on this one. Man, I’ve been doing a lot more of that lately.
Unless these signings are the best guys available, I’m disappointed.
September 8th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Also, the Satellite Ears and Sampson lines were hilarious! Gotta give credit where credit is due.
September 9th, 2006 at 4:10 am
Wesley and Pollard probably were the best available players the Cavs could sign late this summer but that’s exactly what’s wrong with the way Ferry handles his job.
Building a roster according to the players who just happen to be free agents in a particular year is a terrible way to go. It results in overpaid players, overlong contracts and a dysfunctional mix of talent.
Last year, Ferry probably had to sign some guys because of the messy ownership change, the stretch run collapse, etc. This year, he’s shown he doesn’t seem to have any vision. Poor Mike Brown.
September 9th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
The Beacon lays off a bunch of staffers and you get sent to Japan for three weeks to do nothing more than game stories and a few blog entries. Makes sense.
Hey Windbag, how many jobs could have been saved if you said “hey, why don’t you pull the same boring-ass game stories off the wire that I intend to write?” Way to do anything that mattered while you were there and waste money. You suck.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Hey, “?” Are you a former BJ staffer, or what? I agree that coldly laying off staff by the truckloads and giving those people (including you?) one month of severance for every six months of past employment really blows, but that seems kinda harsh. If somebody offered me three weeks in Japan, with all expenses paid and full pay in my paycheck for a semi-working very long vacation, I’d happily do it, too. It ain’t his fault that anything involving James is deemed worthy by local sports editors and that the new owner of the Beacon Journal is a douchebag.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Or is it one week of severance for every six months…I can’t recall. Either way, I agree that it stinks.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Just looked it up, and it’s one week of severance pay for every six months of service. Yep, it stinks.
September 10th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
One week? Damn, I’m glad I didn’t get an internship there!