I think I do understand the concept of ‘flexibility’ but don’t see much in the Cavs present situation. The conventional wisdom says the Cavs are working the phones but can’t make a deal because of all the bad contracts and mediocre players on the team–a lack of flexibility.

A team that hopes to contend regularly should retain some flexibility every year, not every three or four years. Scola or just about any decent find over the summer would have provided that flexibility. That was my intended point.

as to your other point, ferry can re-make the roster AND the cavs as currently constructed can challenge for a title. those things ARE NOT mutually exclusive in the least because of LBJ and the experience gained last year ( and the fact that the cavs can play D, are the tallest team in the league when healthy which cause all kinds of problems for other teams, etc.). i’m not saying ferry *should* re-make the roster, rather i’m merely pointing out he can next season or this off-season. it’s called flexibility. you may want to look the term up as it seems to be beyond your grasp in this instance.

furthermore, i’m not a “ferry apologist” rather i’m a realist. unfortunately, you unhinged ferry haters cannot even give him the slightest credit in the least. no matter what you may think, he is the most successful GM in cavs history and this is the most successful run in cavs history. yes, it all hinges on LBJ but it all hinges on duncan for SA, kobe for the lakers. et al. ferry found shooters to compliment LBJ and got what was thought to be a top 3 FA in hughes at the time. brown got them to play D and they made the finals. are you denying any of this? these are facts and spending your time wondering if we could’ve signed scola and “sent a message” to a restricted FA with no bargaining power at all just illustrates the levels of ridiculousness you ferry-haters have delved into. pardon me if i’ll continue to live in the real world…

btw, i note with no real surprise the fact that all 4 sports writers said the same thing as i have said last night on les levine’s show was not mentioned by you larry d. lemme guess, they’re all “apologists” too, right? in fact, only *you* can see the real truth, right, larry d? the rest of us are just deluded, right? victims of ferry’s incredible powers of mind control!! is there anyone to stop the evil mastermind that is danny ferry??? help!

I have to correct something else in kj’s post. The Cavs do not have 25M coming off the cap. As it stands, they have about 2M coming off the cap this year, until Gibson signs his contract, which you have to think will be around 5M-6M a year. If that’s the case, the Cavs will have around 23M (assuming that Varejao declines his option, Z picks his up, and Simmons is renounced) coming off the cap the following year – but the Cavs are 20M OVER THE CAP. That would mean even if the Cavs stay with their current roster without trading for any additional cap obligations, they’d be around 8M under the cap at best (assuming the cap goes up as it usually does). We might be able to add a decent piece for that amount of money, but not an All-Star or anything. Free agency will not be the answer for this team in the Lebron era. It likely never could have been, unless the team would have been willing to sit on it’s cap space and sign players to minimum contracts during the window year Ferry signed Hughes, Marshall, and Jones. However, the large amount of expiring contracts could be used to acquire a max player – - maybe even two – if teams are still willing to make such deals. For the expiring contracts to be of any use they must be dealt before next season’s trading deadline. The Cavs may not make a major deal this week, but should be HUGE players in the trade from August through next February.

Coach Brown was hired before Ferry, and Ferry’s been around for three years now so there’s ample time to evaluate his performance.

The Scola thing is a mystery to me. The Cavs were having trouble signing Varejao and needed a similar big man. Getting Scola would have made a sign and trade with Varejao, or a Gooden trade, do-able, and it would have sent a message to Varejao.

I am left to wonder if Scola was given to an in-state division rival instead of the Cavs because the folks in San Antonio just don’t like Danny. The Spurs and Rockets are heated rivals. I can’t make sense of it.

In any case, you’re speaking from opposite directions, as Ferry apologists are wont to do: why does the team need a total roster makeover if Ferry’s put together a championship team with his wonderful signings? If he hasn’t done that, what makes you think he can do so with next year’s potential cap space, since he failed last time?

I don’t think rebuilding from scratch in his fifth or sixth year is what LeBron has in mind, anyway.

besides, the new sixers gm has said time and again he wasn’t trading miller and that certainly looks to be the case.

listen, the cavs will have almost 25 million worth of expiring contracts at the end of the season, if i remember correctly. that will allow for a TOTAL remake of this roster, if need be. is it too much to ask to be a little patient and REALISTIC and wait to judge ferry then?

meanwhile, the cavs, when healthy, most assuredly will contend for the title this year. they match up well against both boston, as we’ve seen and they’ve got the pistons number. who am i supposed to be fearing in the playoffs, exactly? maybe toronto, i guess but it’s unlikely we’ll meet them in the playoffs.

the fact is, as livingston, manaloff, shaw and levine said last night on levine’s show, ferry’s signings have produced an eastern conference championship and the cavs are right there in the mix again this year. yes, it’s mainly due to LBJ but LBJ didn’t win very much before ferry arrived, did he? the fact is that both the jones and marshall signings were pretty good signings, as both have “won” playoff games for the cavs. the hughes signing has not been worth it but EVERYONE, including LBJ, wanted him and LOVED the signing. snow and newble are paxson-era deals. gooden’s contract is a gold star on ferry’s resume as is sasha’s. he didn’t cave to andy either and now has supreme cap flexibility for next year. i’m not happy with the decision not to sign shannon but that is tempered by ferry recognizing gibson’s greatness right away and positioning the cavs to get him in the second rd.

if any of you are capable of looking at this objectively, ferry’s done a pretty good job. plus, he’s hired a coach, brown, who’s been a good coach and has shown marked improvement in his handling of his bench this year.

sorry for this dose of realism. please resume your wild rants and quoting of discredited sportswriters from other cities…