So I am told: Gibson to start
Posted January 29th, 2007 by Brian Windhorst
This will probably make many of you happy, although I’m not 100 percent sure it will work, but I am told by a source today that Mike Brown is planning on making a change to his starting lineup for tomorrow night’s game. For the first time in 139 games, and the first time since Brown’s been the head coach, he is not planning on starting Eric Snow. Instead, he is planning to start Daniel Gibson. Although minds can change, Gibson worked out there in practice today before the media was allowed in.
Watching the last two games, you could see it coming. Gibson’s minutes have been rising, Snow’s dropping. In the last two games, Snow has played just 13 minutes each. Those are his fewest of the year. After the game, Brown indicated he wanted to give Gibson an extended look.
My only thing is, I don’t think Gibson is a point guard. I think he’s a shoot first guard at heart. So, to me, this means more point guard duties for Larry Hughes. But Gibson has earned everything he’s gotten since the preseason
In addition, as you know, I believe Snow’s defense is valuable. Over the last 10 games, they are allowing 103 points and 48 percent shooting per game. I know I’ve been harping on the offense all year, but that was with the understanding they were playing good defense. Now, I’m more worried about the defense because without it, they have nothing to stand on.
That said, knowing Mike the way I do, he didn’t come to this decision on a whim. He’s probably been thinking about it for a long time before making the decision. We’ll see how it works out. Who knows, maybe he’ll change his mind, but he’s told Eric he’s not going to start.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
It is about time…I jumped with joy.
I respect Eric but he was put in a position to lose. This is 1 step in the right direction…
January 29th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
GOOD move in the right direction. ESlow is killing us. There is no movement on offense with ESlow in. He takes it up dribbles into traffic, gets stopped, and shovels it out weakly to AV for 17 footers.
He handicaps the offense since his man never guards him. Its 4 on 5 basketball all the time.
Finally, his supposed forte, defense, is weak. The guy is washed up and I don’t think anyone will be sorry to see him sit.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
brian, i have to take exception with two things you said in this otherwise fine blogpost.
first, gibson sure looks like a point guard when he plays. take the philly game. drove and dished for pretty good shots, drove to the hoop and also hit open jumpers. now, what part of that doesn’t sound like a point guard exactly? he’s also lead the team in assists the last two games, right?
secondly, yes, the defense has been worse recently but has snow NOT been playing in those 10 games? so, if he a great defender why have the cavs been struggling with defense?
anyway, this has been brewing for awhile and i sense that brown knows SOMETHING had to change.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Ilgauskas should have been rehabbed by Barbaro’s vet. It would have saved the Cavs a lot of future problems. At the very least, they could have used the salary for Andre Miller while the 76ers tank it for Greg Oden.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Hey man, I love reading your posts. However, as a journalist, the grammar and punctuation
errors kill me. Please take a second to edit them before publishing. You have so many good insights, it hurts to see things like “My only thng is” and “he didn’t not come to this decision on a whim.”
January 30th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Finally…This move had to be made, Gibson provides the starting five w/ another scorer. Hopefully this works out as well as the Flip Murray trade from last year.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:49 am
WOOO HOO!!
Runs around the office looking for people with bald heads to kiss. Well ok not really but ….. great news.
January 30th, 2007 at 3:35 am
I’m especially happy BW got one last chance to beat the old “pure point guard” horse. Bad free throw shooting, 4 assists a game and too slow to guard anyone under 6′5″ is the formula for that, I guess.
Hopefully Gibson will stay on the floor and we’ll all stay away from his infantile nickname.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:08 am
The Cavs are a WORSE team than they were last year, and teams like Washington and Chicago are better. We won’t go far this year. We really need to try and get somebody like Kevin Garnett! Can you imagine us with that guy!! Who cares who we give up…get rid of Gibson, Snow, Z, and Hughes. Our starting team would be Wildthing at center, Lebron at Forward, Garnett at Forward, DJ at gaurd, and Sasha at the point. That team would win it all!!
January 30th, 2007 at 5:27 am
insightful comments joehoops. why dont we just trade for yao ming and kobe bryant too. why would minnesota give us garnett for garbage? idiotic pipedreams…..did your girlfriend log on under your name?
January 30th, 2007 at 7:44 am
As a University of Texas fan I have to say, Gibson will never be a “true point guard”. He will never be like the Chris Pauls and Steve Nashs. That being said, he is an excellent player that just needs the right system. With Cleveland’s ability to handle the ball through either LeBron or Larry Hughes it will allow Daniel to roam off the ball and come off screens. Perfect place for him! Frankly, Gibson was a steal at 42 and I am overjoyed to see him starting. Good luck out East.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:50 am
will work if lebron slides down low and
starts pushing people around and blocking
shots, rebounding, posting. He needs to
play small/power forward. I know you all
don,t agree but the NBA has changed. It is
a much quicker more athletic game than the
days of Gervin and Magic. The Cavs need an
enforcer and unfortunately are not in a position to trade for one. Drew and Bron
need to enforce with AV and Z being more
what you would call opportunists. Back to
Brians post this kid is quick, can shoot and
handle. He is only a rookie and will have to learn the league and the x’s and o’s. If
we can get Hughes and Bron slashing and postering instead of dribbling and jacking
then we will have progress. Snow was fine
when he had lightning AI as his sidekick.
Those days are over.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I’m not a Cavs fan; actually a MAVS fan, but also love watching Texas Longhorn basketball. That brings me to Daniel Gibson:
Snagged at #42, but he’s a great pick for the Cavs. He reminds me a lot of a cross between Jason Terry(Mavs) & Rip Hamilton(Pistons). And, Gibson’s what Mavs coach Avery Johnson said about Terry after the (failed) experiment with him playing off the ball: “He’s just a guard.” Gibson should be used as a (3-point)shooter off the screen; his movement/quickness off the ball will be tough to defend. With his speed & ability to dribble, he can facilitate some of the offense along side Larry Hughes, giving the alley-oops to LeBron! If you didn’t have the chance to watch Gibson in college, check out Texas @ Texas Tech (Wed. Jan31st-ESPN2), and watch a close carbon copy in guard A.J. Abrams! Good luck to Cavs fans!
P.S. I was really hoping you guys would beat the Suns on Sunday, but E. Snow is not what you need at this point (pun intended!)
January 30th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Its about time..Larry and LeBron will not have any additional point guard duties if Gibson starts. Snow never had the ball anyway. Everytime he “initiates the offense” he just tosses it to LeBron or Larry. If Gibson can give us 10 and 5 consistantly the Cavs are golden
January 30th, 2007 at 10:28 am
daniel g at the top of the key
daniel g good for a three
e snow not making us grow
e snow take a blow
January 30th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Hooray!!! This is from YAY Sports:
BW isn’t sure this is the right move, but he can’t fool us - he loves this enough to use a double negative.
Go Cavs
January 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
http://www.yaysports.com/nba/2007/01/daniel_gibson_is_starting.html
January 30th, 2007 at 10:45 am
THE KING SITS TONIGHT
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6423116
January 30th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Does anyone want to take a bet on LeBron playing in the ALl Star Game and Skills competition? It’s next weekend…what better way to rest an injured toe and to recuperate from a brutal first half by taking part in a meaningless weekend? Mark my words.
January 30th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Too bad they can’t invent a time machine to match Utah’s offer. In retrospect, how incredibly ironic is it that the sole guy with skills worthy of a free agent contract was the one really skilled guy they had an opportunity to actually sign?
It’s ridiculous that Gibson is being looked upon as a semi-savior. This experiment will last about as long as Ronald Murray. Sure, it’s an upgrade over Snow. But they once had the cap space to trade for at least five seasoned Daniel Gibsons. One for every weekday.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
sweet jesus, tucker, what’s it like to live in the past?? move on! jeebus, still crying over boozer and his lady macbeth is just about the most useless thing anyone could do!
i don’t know who these “seasoned” daniel gibson’s might be but the one we have now is an upgrade over what we had and that cannot be a bad thing.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:09 am
Gibson’s a huge difference and it’s funny what a quick point guard can do for a team when he hits a couple outside shots. The Cavs don’t need him to be John Stockton–the dinosaurs also said Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker and Jason Terry weren’t true point guards and they’ve done all right for their teams.
BW’s lukewarm response (oddly pointing out how Gibson “had little to do with the win”) should have been expected, I guess. He’ll get over the Snow demotion but I’m worried about his reaction when Z finally gets benched.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:21 am
Snow was benched, but Ilgauskas won’t get benched, not a snowball’s chance. No pun intended. Ferry isn’t going to make himself look bad. Ilgauskas may indeed get less minutes, but it will be spun as “saving Z for the playoffs” and/or “giving him some valuable rest for his surgically-repaired feet and tender knee.”
“Benched?” You gotta be kidding.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:56 am
5-5, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists in less than 24 minutes. Yeah, now’s a great time to sit Z down.
And while I’m quietly optimistic about Gibson, his contribution to this point seems a lot more like that of Mike Wilks or Stephen Graham in the last few years, and it will still be a few weeks before his contribution matches even Flip Murray. I haven’t really been thrilled with his ability to consistently put pressure on the opposing point guard, on either side of hte ball, but that was a problem with Snow in the first place. But the point is, let’s not go overboard crowning this kid as the team’s savior. He did have little to do with the win last night (let’s give Sasha his props too, 7-11 for 24 points with 3 and 3), and six of his twelve points came well after the game was in hand. In fact, all he did last night was hoist threes. If that’s all he’s going to do, how is he an improvement over Damon Jones? But please, don’t think I’m killing the kid, I just think it’s going to take more than wins over Golden State and Philadelphia to get me too excited.
Really looking forward to tomorrow’s game, whether or not LeBron plays, and how the team might respond against an actual Eastern contender.
Go Cavs,
Mike
January 31st, 2007 at 6:21 am
Gibson doesn’t need to be a savior, he needs to be an average NBA guard who has to be defended. I’m sure the Warriors played him differently than they would have played Snow, and I’m sure that helped open the court for Pavlovic and even Big Z.
Z will have good games from time to time and can be a valuable part of the rotation. He’s just not a go-to guy because it gets pretty ugly when teams see it coming and double team him. When he plays 20 or so minutes he usually gets 8 boards, a couple blocks and about 10 pts. When the team is determined to get him touches, he plays 30 minutes and gets the same 8 boards, maybe 14 points and 5 turnovers.
Of course the Cavs would be better off with someone more athletic defensively at center anyway. They could let Gibson, Hughes and LeBron use their quickness and gamble a bit.
Out with the old, in with the new. It would sure be exciting and most of the players seem to think so too.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:39 am
did anyone notice that without Lebron
playing the point the majority of the
shots were taken in the first 16 seconds
of the shot clock and were excellent wide
open looks. the ball moved from side to
side and didn,t hit the floor very much at all.hmm i wonder why?
January 31st, 2007 at 7:17 am
Sasha! The dude’s got game. Now it totally makes sense why he’s been rotting on the bench all year. This team is salvageable. Hopefully Lebron was paying attention last night and noticed that groundbreaking maneuvers like passing and moving the ball side to side actually make for entertaining and effective basketball. I know it’s tempting to pound the ball on the hardwood and hoist desperation threes with the shot clock going off, but hopefully last night opened his eyes. Perhaps another two or three games off will have that poor toe ready for the Skills competition in Vegas.
January 31st, 2007 at 9:33 am
theres somethin happening here
what is is aint exactly clear
theres a superstar sitting over there
with his team saying watch be aware
its time we shout hey whats that
sound everybody pass the ball around
January 31st, 2007 at 9:34 am
mike, if you did not see how gibson pushed the ball right from the get-go and COMPLETELY set the tempo for the cavs, well, i don’t know what to say. both you and windy need to look at more than the box score. hey! kinda like what people have been saying about snow all this time!
but in gibson’s case, it was true. he set the tempo and the next thing you know Z is outletting the ball and the cavs are-dare i say it?- FAST BREAKING! if you guys don’t think the new guy had anything to do with that, well, i guess it’s just coincidence that the cavs had more steals, fast break points and assists than they’ve had in a while. the kid set tempo and as an added side-benefit, baron davis concentrated on trying to school the rook on offense, hence taking GS completely out of their offense!
and mike, if all gibson’s gonna do is jack three’s that makes him the threat snow NEVER was! i fail to see how that’ a bad thing. and he is much faster than damon, come on! you’re better than that!
it was clear that the guys knew gibson was capable of pushing the ball, hence they LOOKED to run. these guys are not stupid; they now snow can’t push it so they never really did.
their body language last night was as good as it has been since the start of the season. will it continue, who knows? but i like our chances…
January 31st, 2007 at 10:49 am
Here’s an out-of-town perspective of this misfortune situations, called the Cavs.
They need Guards!!!
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/SPORTS0102/701310309/1127‘,’52′)
January 31st, 2007 at 11:24 am
misfortune situations? what does that mean?
January 31st, 2007 at 11:59 am
That’s a weird article. I think she uses all quotes from the national telecast of the Cavs-Suns game. Plus, she says Hughes has been out since Jan. 5 with a broken finger.
But Hubie and Greg Anthony are correct in their assessments. I guess it’s plain to see for any analyst who lives outside Northeast Ohio.
January 31st, 2007 at 12:52 pm
You alls hero from Salt Lake City is
hurt again. Glad we aint paying his
68 million dollars.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6428126
January 31st, 2007 at 7:49 pm
last nights game was a testament that LeBron is playing way too many minutes. The offense has looked better without him, more movement, better looks. AND THIS IS NOT HIS FAULT. It’s because Mike Brown just calls plays for LeBron and everyone else out on the floor knows that their number will not be called so they don’t move and don’t get open; and when they do get the ball, NO ONE tries to take the ball to the rack. It’s because Mike Browns is putting WAY too much responsibility on LeBron to literally carry the entire offense.
Also, you have to love that the solution to our season is by inserting our rookie, 2nd round draft pick into the starting lineup. I feel so much better now, because we all know the NBA is a place where rookies impact the game in extraordinary ways.
And kudos to the guy who had our starting lineup as Varejao, LeBron, Garnett, DJones, and Pavlovic at the point… go ahead and watch an NBA game or two and get out of your fantasy world/coma
January 31st, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Please…They’re paying the same big money to a guy for being hurt, and his name is “Larry.” The difference being Boozer has skills and was a schemer. All Hughes ever had was the scheming knowledge to play well during a contract year.
Besides, Boozer has a broken leg. Not exactly a minor injury. Hughes, on the other hand, requires a motorized wheelchair if he develops an inflamed zit.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:00 am
A Tucker are you a Cavs or a Jazz fan.
How can you idolize someone who lied to
us and bolted to a team who has no chance
of winning a title. Now they want to dump
AK47. He has been hurt every year since we
traded him. At least Hughes said he was
coming here and actually signed the contract. Not like Loozer who continually
lies about where he wants to play. Last
year it was LA. This year Monaco?
February 1st, 2007 at 9:51 am
I don’t idolize Boozer, in much the same way I don’t idolize Gibson. But the fact is, the Cavs had an opportunity to match the offer. Or even to match it, then sign and trade. The latter would have been opportune, in light of the fact Gund was trying to take care of his business by unloading as much salary to unload the franchise.
And OF COURSE Hughes said he was coming here. Because Ferry was the only guy loony enough to pay Fort Knox cash to do it.
What Boozer, Loozer’s loser wife and the agent did was lower than low. But it doesn’t change the fact that Hughes turned out to be the very worst of the Allen, Redd, Johnson and Hughes summer. But at least Hughes is under 30, so to other general managers, he has a sliver of value if they are to take on his contract. The same can’t be said for the others.
I also think it’s ridiculous that Ferry didn’t re-up with Murray in same fashion. Are you seriously telling me that he couldn’t beat the Pistons’ offer? Give the dude the same number of years, and bump up the dollars a bit. It would have been easier to unload Hughes before he got hurt again. Instead, here we are, talking about Gibson as a Christ figure to lead the way.
Sorry, I don’t get it. For a Duke guy, Ferry may have brains, but he doesn’t have much sense. Gibson will make the team play much better, but we shouldn’t even be having this discussion in the first place.
February 1st, 2007 at 9:56 am
Whoops. Missed a sentence. When I said “the same can’t be said for the others,” I was speaking of the Ilgauskas, Marshall and Jones triumvirate of doom. Not of Allen, Redd and Johnson.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:26 am
Yeah A Tucker you do have a point especially
with Redd, Allen, and Johnson. Any idiot
can recognize that Hughes cant hold a candle
to any of those three offensively. Gilbert
would have definetly matched Boozer and
him and Lebron together right now healthy
with any of those three would be dynamite.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:35 am
Oh and A Tucker I think you are going to
like Gibson. Hes quick tough and he can
shoot. And the one good thing about Hughes
is his defense. The other positive about
the Cavs is I think that they all get along.
I honestly think that right now they have
kind of a bunker mentality. I dont think
they are going to make any changes. Well
see starting tonight against Shaq and the
DWade. Next 16 days is a killer.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:59 am
jmoe, the only people who assert that Hughes has any serious defensive skills is the local media. Fact is, other than his contract year when he bloated his stats by playing passing lanes to steal the ball, Hughes never received even ONE single vote from a single coach to be on the All-Defensive Team. Not one. Never. Not one vote for anything. The coaches cast the vote for this honor, as opposed to the drooling media with the other NBA awards. You’d think even one coach in one of Hughes’ prior 38 NBA seasons would have cast one lousy vote to get Hughes an honorable mention in fine print, let alone on the first team. Never happened. Kind of like Ira Newble.
But when you think about, none of this really matters. The Eastern Conference is simply pathetic, thereby guaranteeing a playoff spot. The seed really doesn’t matter. If James plays great, they win a series or two or three. If he doesn’t play great, they don’t. All this other stuff regarding Gibson and what happens during the regular season is superfluous.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:27 am
Gibson is going to be an improvement but I wonder if Ferry is thinking about Steve Francis at all. He’ll probably get bought out after the trade deadline and might be available on the cheap.
The impression is that Francis has attitude problems but it seems like he has always been willing to sacrifice his game for other players, including Dwight Howard, Yao Ming and even Cuttino Mobley. Maybe he’s just surly around reporters.
In any case, he’s been through a pretty humbling experience in New York and might want to contribute to a winning team in a quieter atmosphere. He’s as talented as anybody.
February 1st, 2007 at 11:43 am
A Tucker I don,t think the Eastern Conference is as pathetic as you think.
Not with Shaq back and C Webb in Detroit.
Same thing with Josh Howard if he gets some
help. I know Phoenix will have a hard time
getting out of the West with Dallas and SA.
Already know Miami can beat Dallas. Detroit
hasnt lost that much off their championship
squad. Who has Miami lost from last year?
When June hits EC has a good a chance as WC.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
test comment