The NBA targets the grand flop masters
Posted May 29th, 2008 by Brian Windhorst
ESPN’s Marc Stein tells us that the NBA has decided that it will start fining players for flopping next season. There are a lot of people who I know that hate, hate, hate flopping. One of them is the Plain Dealer’s Branson Wright, who fancies himself a bit of a purest. We’ve sat next to each other for hundreds of games over the years and each time he sees one he’ll let out a prolonged moan. I am not in this camp, I think it is part of the game just like other gamesmanship plays are. But the league is obviously trying to reign some things in.
In the 2006-07 season there was a play when Anderson Varejao — king of the timed response to defensive contact, oh, OK, the flop — hit the deck on a jump ball. And he was doing the jumping! And he got the call! I felt this was one of the greatest moments of the season, a signature move by a maestro. Branson literally got up from the table and walked away.
Actually, Andy’s great play from that season was taking a charge from Rasheed Wallace in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Sheed had just been called for a bad loose ball foul at the other end and was steaming. He pushed and shoved Varejao up the court, he must’ve hit him five times before he got the ball. Then setting up in the post he hit him twice more. Andy took them all. Then, at just the correct moment when Sheed was making his move, Andy went to the deck. Sheed was hit with the charge and then he freaked out, tackled LeBron and was ejected. To me, that was sheer mastery. And, as Andy’s often criticized yet not incorrect agent Dan Fegan once said to me: “A charge is just as good as a block.” Actually, it’s better because you get the ball and a foul on the other guy.
I think the key phrase in Stein’s story is fines will only come on the “most egregious type of flops.” Or as some in the NBA would call them: Ginobilis. I certainly recognize that this will change the way the game is played and there’s no doubt Andy is a target and will probably feel this rule at some point next season. More than likely, the league will pass out a bunch early on and announce them all with the hope that it will stem the tide, then will let it go in the late season and playoffs.
When there were first rumors of this sort of action last year I asked Andy about it. He pretty much shrugged and told me that it is easier to get a charge called in the NBA than any other league in the world because of the no-charge zone. “Easier to get charges because of the no-charge zone?” I repeated. “Yes, because if you set up outside of it and there is contact the officials have to make the call. In international games, they can let it go. The line makes them blow the whistle,” Andy told me. And, you know what, he’s right.
So these fines may not be great news for Andy, but I suspect it won’t change the way he plays the game at all.
–One more thing more I go, people are still asking me about why I didn’t address Carmelo Anthony rumors in my previous blog. I mean, I was giving you guys some credit. Why would the Nuggets trade their franchise player for any reason? I don’t care what rumors have come out of New Jersey or anywhere else, this is crazy. And you sure don’t trade him for expiring contracts. C’mon folks. Now, if Denver gets off to a bad start next season I could see them looking to trade Allen Iverson (heading into the last year of his deal) and maybe start a bit of a rebuilding because they have a sky-high payroll and have yet to win a playoff series with this group. But you don’t trade Melo, you build around him.
–Also, on the Jermaine O’Neal rumors. When Chad Ford wrote it he said he checked it out and it wasn’t true. You never say never, but I don’t see Danny Ferry trading Zydrunas Ilgauskas and I don’t see the Pacers moving O’Neal for a guy in his 30s. How does that make sense for the Pacers. He’s their franchise player, even if he’s been hurt for the last couple of years.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Please … fines for the most egregious flops? As if this will really dissuade folks from flopping. Seems like more of the NBA’s public relations crap to me, image is everything. Guys get relatively piddly fines for technical fouls, it never seems to dissuade anybody from throwing up their arms and saying “Motherf*cker” under their breath. So, Varejao will receive a few piddly fines here and there. For the floppers of the world, and there’s a bunch, it will still be business as usual. Whoopie.
May 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
If you want to get rid of flopping (which is probably impossible) then you have to drastically change the way fouls are dispersed. The player with the ball is given the benefit of the doubt to an unbelievable degree. Short of dribbling up to the defender and punching him in the face, the ball handler can initiate whatever contact he wants with no penalty. What’s a defender to do? At best, you can block one or two shots a game, but the only way to force the official to make the CORRECT call is to sell the contact.
Seriously, how many times have you seen a charge called where the defender DIDN’T fall to the ground? It’s the only way they make the call. I don’t mind this anti-flop sentiment, it’s just that the officials basically enable its importance by not calling offensive fouls when the defender is obviously slammed into but stays on his feet.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
fining the flopper is taking the pressure off the refs , the refs should be held accountable as well . i say forget the fine , just don’t give the flopper the offensive foul call . once the flopper goes down and his man scores on him because he’s on the floor flopping and he notices that he’s not getting the call,the flopping will stop . the flopper will not only allow his man to score with his theatrics , but he’s breaking down his team’s defense if someone has to come and cover his man because said flopper is on the floor . another thing they need to get rid of ASAP is when a person drives to the hole after beating his man and has already committed to the air , a secondary defender see this and plants himself in the path and draws a charge. this is not a basketball play at all ,you’re not defending anything and there is no play on the ball . plus this could lead to someone getting hurt as they already committed to the air .
May 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Anderson, what is your favorite curse word?
May 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I’ve never had a problem with flopping. And besides, isn’t it really the same thing as a guy who drives into the lane and yells as if he’s gotten hit when he hasn’t? Should we fine players who do that also?
May 29th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Thank you for addressing the absurdness of the Carmelo Anthony “rumors”. Anyone who actually thought that that was even a remote possibility needs to get their head checked
May 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’m very much in favor of this idea, and not just because I hate Manu Ginobli.. I don’t suspect it will change the game drastically, but I also don’t think they’re TRYING to change the game. I feel like this will be very similar to how they cracked down on calling technical fouls 2 seasons ago - it kept the biggest offenders in check (AKA, Rasheed Wallace), and reminded the entire league who’s really in charge on the floor. It will be interesting to see how this is carried out…
May 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I know that the rumors are just rumors, but is there anyone who the cavs do have a chance of getting that would actually help the team? Or is it still too early to tell since a lot of that stuff needs to wait until after the season begins and things play out a little bit. Also, I think that with a full preseason and training camp, I think the Cavs could win at least 50 games next year, 55 or so if the hire an offensive minded assistant coach. How realistic is it for the Cavs to a) win 50+ games next year, and b) hire an offensive assistant coach that can help give the cavs an offensive identity. Is there any coaches like that out there? Who are they? Finally, does anyone think that if we had a healthy Gibson and had Devin Brown playing most of Sasha’s minutes, we would have won game 7? I do…
May 29th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Windy recalled a classic Varejao flop. I think my favorite was during last year’s playoffs, when Z stumbled into Andy, whose head happened to be turned away from the play at that instant.
Feeling the contact, Varejao instinctively hit the deck, only to scramble to his feet a second later when he realized he just tried to draw a charge on his own player.
May 29th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
The NBA targets the grand flop masters…
Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!…
May 29th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
The rumors may be absurd but let’s hope our esteemed GM gives it the ol’ college try.
May 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Is anyone else concerned that we have a blog host who enjoys the flopping aspect of the game and whose favorite childhood Cavs hero was Danny Ferry?
May 29th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
We have (small) chance at a lot of players, like Redd, Baron Davis, Mike Miller, etc., just not any superstars that everyone wants. It will take a lot to get these deals done, and maybe it is more realistic that we get quality role players that we have been lacking for a couple years. For instance, Monta Ellis is a restricted free agent and might command more money than the Warriors care to afford, so maybe we could make a run at him. I haven’t heard any rumors or anything, but I am just using that as an example. He is a player that wouldn’t make it to an all-star game but he is young, talented, and would easily be the best guard on our team. There might be like a dozen players of that caliber that might be available, who knows. Dealing for that caliber of a player is a lot easier than trying to get an all-star, and it still makes the team better (although I am not gonna sit here and say that getting Monta Ellis would make us better than getting Redd). What would everyone hear prefer, getting 1 quasi all-star or getting a couple good players who are better than what we have? I guess it depends on who we get and who we gave up, I don’t even have an answer
And Larry, why do you read this blog then, if you don’t like the guy that writes it?
May 29th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
players flop because refs won’t call the charge without them falling down. If you want to stop flopping, call the charge when it is one, and don’t pay attention to what happens to the defense player afterward.
Also, is it a good idea to give NBA refs more subjective power than they already have? They’re by far the worst officials in professional sports. It’s simply awful.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I like him fine, Ricky. I also like Monta Ellis fine and think he would make the Cavs better than Redd would. Especially if he could learn to flop.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Current Cavs roster + 1st round pick - Wally + Larry Hughes = NBA Champion
May 29th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
The Cavs need to start building an uptempo roster. I dont think Roy Hibbert fits that mold, so that’s probably who we’ll take in the draft, but I would start looking at speed, and lots of it. Much of the Cavs’ offensive woes stem from the pace of the game. I realize defense still needs to be the focus of the team, but if the Cavs ran more and pushed the tempo, they’d be very difficult to defend. Not to mention they have a player who was created by God to run a fast break and finish it. LeBron is unguardable in the open court.
Andy can run the floor (at least until he destroyed his ankle), but we need more athletic bigs who can run, and a point guard to run the show would be real nice. That’s the direction this roster needs to go, especially once Z begins the decline.
NBA officials really are terrible. Maybe the WWE has a few guys they can loan, if they havent already? I bet that’s where Joey Crawford came from. That would explain a lot. He must have mistaken Tim Duncan for “The Rock” last year when he tossed him from the bench. Makes perfect sense.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Can we get some love for Ira Newble here? He’s liable to win an championship ring before too long, which is more than we can say more any current Cavalier..
May 30th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I got your Ira love right here.
Are these conference finals games depressing or what? This Piston team is so beatable. Factor in that they’re terrified of Lebron and I think the Cavs win in 5 or 6. And I like our chances against the Lakers. When you have the best player in the league, there are no rebuilding years. Every season is an opportunity to bring a title to this godforsaken town. And this year was especially ripe for the taking….
May 30th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Yeah Doc, the conference finals have been depressing. I’ve come to a few conclusions:
1) The Pistons defense is not near as good as the Cavs playoff defense.
2) The Pistons offense is better than the Cavs offense, but mainly because they’ve been playing together for 5 + years.
3) I agree that we would have beaten the Pistons if we played them, even though it would have been another tough series.
4) I think the Celtics will beat the Lakers because the Lakers defense will feel like swiss cheese to them after playing the Cavs and the Pistons. And, the Celtics defense is good enough to slow the Lakers down.
5) I also think that we would have been capable of beating the Lakers because of the same reason as # 4 above - the Lakers D is not near as good as the Celtics D. Washington’s D was average, and we looked much better on offense against them than the Celtics. Also, if we continued to play D against the Lakers like we did against the Wiz and Celts, the Lakers wouldn’t know what hit them.
Oh well, what ifs don’t mean much now. I’ll get off the Larry Hughes thing since I’m irritating everyone. But I seriously think we’re close as we’re constructed now. I just hope we draft someone this year that will become an immediate rotation player that will help us next year.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Being FINED for FLOPPING?
Have they watched ANY part of these playoff games?
NBA Officials don’t call fouls!
They call the REACTION of a play, NOT the ACTION; therefore a player has to SELL the contact. Offensive players need to exaggerate being fouled and likewise defenders need to over emphasis the fact they’ve just been hit.
So I ask, at the end of the Lakers and Spurs game when Brent Barry was fouled by Fisher and NO CALL was made even though the NBA has now stated it was a FOUL —
How was Brent Barry supposed to get that call?
He tried exaggerating, but according to the NBA Media Experts he needed to sell the contact and play off of it… ISN’T THAT AN ACT OF FLOPPING?
It was ruled a FOUL by the almighty NBA, but not ONE Official blew his whistle!
May 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Actually, that *is* pretty funny about Newble. Is it humanly possible for anybody to have done a more botched, more cruel number on the Cavaliers and on Cavaliers fans than Daniel John Willard Ferry? I don’t see how. Is Newble even on the Lakers’ current active roster? I know they’d give him a ring either way if they win the championship, and likely give him a full playoff share, but I haven’t been paying attention to see if he’s on a chair in uniform, or he’s sitting there wearing one of his funky street outfits.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Why not fine the refs for calling flops a charge?! Doesn’t that make more sense? It’s not about flopping, it’s about getting the foul called for a flop…and that’s not the players’ fault that’s all the refs. Bullshoy!
May 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
HEY TIM; how could you say the lakers defense sucks, when they just beat the defending champs.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
hey imposter, sometimes ira is in uniform, but the last couple of games he have been in a funky fresh outfit. and who cares that he is getting a ring, he did not earn it. ask ferry about that.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I believe that the Lakers are the team to beat. Boston should be, but they are just not showing it. The Spurs played Kobe and the rest of the Lakers as good as you can play them on defense, Kobe barely made it to the line and yet the Lakers still won in 5 games. Phil Jackson is a great coach, whose team took care of the defending champs pretty easily, whereas Doc Rivers has his team played game 7’s in every series, and they are supposed to be the number 1 team over all and the best road team in the NBA. The Lakers are just too talented on offense because of Kobe, Pau, and Lamar, plus a bevy of three point shooters, and it seemed to me that their defense was pretty shut down at times.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
The Lakers will DESTROY the Celtics, 5 games, maybe 6 if the officiating is not only awful but biased as well. You’ve gotta be kidding me, Tim. The Cavs nearly beat the Celtics with one superstar and a merry band of role players, some of whom were injured. The Lakers have 3 allstar caliber players in their starting 5, and a bench full of guys who actually MAKE open shots. Not to mention Kobe has been unstoppable since Gasol got there. Lakers in 5, and maybe one tight game out of the bunch.
Good holy God, doc is absolutely right. The Cavs need a 2nd fiddle for LeBron and we’re right back in the finals. They give Kobe an allstar to play with, and they’re steamrolling people. Imagine if LeBron had a guy like that?
May 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Branson Wright also considers himself a beat writer, but what he thinks does not make it so.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Sorry Brian, but trading Melo is not nearly as ‘crazy’ as you might think. He’s pretty much leveled out as a player. He’s not a team leader, and Denver won’t be able to build around him due to their payroll. Plus he and Karl don’t get along. The Cavs may not have the resources to pull it off, but he’s not untradable.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Sorry Brian, but trading Melo is not nearly as ‘crazy’ as you might think. He’s pretty much leveled out as a player. He’s also not the most popular person on the roster after his ‘we quit’ comments. He doesn’t get along with Karl. They won’t be able to build around him due to the payroll and long contracts. It may take more than Cleveland has to get him, but he’s not untradable.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I never said that the Lakers defense sucked. I just said that it’s not as good as the Cavs or Pistons defense and the Celtics will have more room to operate to make shots. I think the Celtics will win in 6 or 7. In my opinion, there’s no way the Lakers steamroll the Celtics in the Finals. I think most people are underestimating the quality of the top 4 Eastern Conference teams and they think that since the West was the better conference overall, then the Lakers must kill the East team in the Finals.
Josh, I’ll guess we’ll just have to see how it plays out in the Finals to see who’s right.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Good call, W.E.
Branson Wright calls himself a beat writer, yet he needs two (sometimes 3) writers to help him. Part of his salary should go to Mary Schmitt Boyer and Jodie Valade.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:20 am
Now that the Pistons have been dumped three straight years in the conference finals, isn’t it time to break up that aging team? Rip Hamilton would look mighty nice finishing out his career as our shooting guard…
May 31st, 2008 at 10:50 am
How good is Kobe Bryant? I can’t imagine the game being played any better than he’s playing right now. The guy isn’t even getting calls (11 free throws in 5 games against the most physical defender in the league), and can still dominate the game with a jumper. Beautiful to see. I’m a witness to Kobe’s greatness.
May 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pm
one more “could of, should of”, darn that should be us again in the finals, i really believe if we would of left the team alone at the dead line we would of went back to the finals. and further more the celtics suck, they are not as good as there record, the east is weak and with one more player we will rule it for the next two years. i think the lakers will win in 6… get ready for the aging players of yester year to be at the games from the celtics and lakers, and get ready to hear day in and day out that red is lighting up a cigar in heaven…
May 31st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
So much for Rasheed being focused this year…
May 31st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I dont want anyone from the Pistons’ roster not named Prince or Maxiell.
Tim, head on over to espn.com/page 2 and look up Bill Simmons’ latest article on the NBA Finals. And keep in mind, Simmons is a COMPLETE Boston homer. Enjoy.
The Nuggets arent trading Carmelo Anthony. Allen Iverson, perhaps, but they’ll strip that entire team down to nothing before they trade ‘Melo. Also, a power struggle between Anthony and George Karl would mean Karl gets the ax. Stars trump coaches in the NBA, if you havent noticed.
Had the Cavs not made the trade, Larry would have shot us out of the Boston series in 5 or 6 with a rapid succession of 4-19’s, Drew would have gotten dismantled by Garnett and sat in the 4th quarter, and Marshall and Newble would have watched it happen, most likely while wearing bad suits. The trade nearly got us past a 66 win team. Be serious.
Branson Wright is a tool.
Yeah, I think that’s all I have today. I feel better.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Josh, good post. Although, I don’t think Larry would have shot us out of the series in 5 or 6. Most likely he would’ve been injured— my guess would be a nostril infection, a la Ira “15th man” Newble.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Baloney. The team lives by James, dies by James. Same results, whether a trade happens or not. The ultra-fabulous Hawks almost beat that very same 66-win team in a seven-game series, too. So what?
The Cavs acquired bad shooters, lousy scorers, defensive stiffs who move like they’re stuck in concrete, a tweener who’s a turnover machine, and a skinny 20-minute a game dude who’s falling apart after playing 35 seasons in 15 different cities. The PR spin was that Ferry acquired players that would make the Cavs win NOW. Didn’t happen. So how can the trade be deemed a success? How are they “better?” They were just as lousy during the regular season with them as they were without them. Does anybody seriously believe that 82 games together with this sorry squad would have made one iota of difference?
Bottom line, the trade didn’t do anything but play musical chairs with bags of crap. Hughes and Gooden wouldn’t have helped, but they wouldn’t have hurt any more than the players they acquired. And let’s be honest, they ain’t bad players, just not too good. And who knows, maybe Bongyell, who now appears in those wonderful WNBA ads with other lovely ladies, would have shot more accurately than anybody else the Cavs stuck on the floor during the playoffs. Which, come to think of it, really wouldn’t have presented that much of a challenge.
By the way, Devin Brown pretty much sucks, but Mike Brown sticking in Dracula and all the rest of Ferry’s garbage as opposed to playing Devin Brown … I don’t get it. It’s like Glenn Rivers losing his marbles. Mike Brown and Glenn Rivers, peas in a pod. Suddenly, out of the clear blue, there’s Rivers changing his rotation from what got him there. Wallace and Cassell share the exact same fork that’s stuck in their respective backs, but there Rivers is, sitting Eddie House and playing Cassell, no matter how ultra-crappy Cassell plays, no matter how many points on the scoreboard they lose while Cassell is out there. Why? It doesn’t matter how much “playoff experience” Cassell has, it doesn’t matter if he won a couple of championship rings on teams close to 15 years ago. Today is today, and he’s been hurting them in a major way.
June 1st, 2008 at 3:14 am
Reasons why I think the Celtics will beat the Lakers in 6 or 7 games:
1) Celtics have had the best defense in the league all year (except for the Cavs in the playoffs, which was the best defensive display of any team this playoff season). The Pistons have a very good, efficient offense and the Celtics did a great job of disrupting them.
2) Kevin Garnett will DOMINATE Pau Gasol down low. Pau may be a very skilled offensive player, but there’s no way he has the strength to guard Garnett.
3) The Celtics will dominate the Lakers on the boards.
4) Rondo is too quick for Derek Fisher.
5) Paul Pierce will contain (not stop) Kobe.
6) The Lakers defense is decent, but it’s not even close to the Cavs or Pistons defense. Kobe is a great perimeter defender, but the interior defense of the Lakers is weak. Also, there’s no way they will swarm and rotate to stop Ray Allen like the Cavs did. He’ll have room to shoot and I predict he’ll have a big series. The Celtics have been playing against two rough, physical defenses the last 2 series and the Lakers defense will seem like a relief to them.
7) The Celtics just beat in 6 games (2 on the road) a 59-win Detroit team that easily handled the very talented Majic in 5 games the series before.
I think the toughest defensive matchup for the Celtics is Odom, but they rotate well on defense and can also use Posey on him if needed. Of course, Kobe is playing great now and is always a tough matchup, but Pierce is big, strong and quick enough to give him problems. Of course, if Kobe shoots lights-out the entire series, then the Lakers will most likely win. Should be a great series. We’ll see what happens.
June 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am
If there is someone to be fined it should be the NBA refs because they are not consistent with their calls, David Stern must do something about this, flopping is not the problem the real problem in this league is that the NBA referee’s are always too blind to see if its a flop or not and there’s so many times you will see on NBA games that the refs will not call a foul offensive or defensive even if it is an obious foul, does David Stern and Stu Jackson also too blind to see what is happening right now about the refs bad calls in this league, well right now so many international NBA fans thinks that the NBA games were FIXED and maybe its true.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
the lakers just beat the utah jazz and the spurs, do you actually think they will lose to the boston bake beans, you got to be kidding me. the lakers will win this series in 6 games.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Douglar-Yeah, it must be nice to see single teaming (with some doubles thrown in a round the block) all day long as opposed to constant double, and sometimes, triple teaming. Kobe is indeed a lucky man, right now. Twice in his career, he has been very lucky. But, he is arguably the best. And he is fun to watch.
You like to cut on James, but you have to be honest. James has to do far more for his team than Kobe has to do for his team. It’s not even close. Kobe’s teammates are light years better than Lebron’s. Not to mention, his coach. There is no argument, there. I think if you see, just one other, competent scorer on this team, James will suddenly “get” that much better. Of course, he won’t “get” better, but unbelievably, he will become even more productive. It’s a team game and when comparing players, that is forgotten about all too often.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
I want to perform fellatio on Kobe Bryant!
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hey Alan, old AND homo-suspect? I havent heard the term “ultra fabulous” since I watched a South Park with Big Gay Al in it. HEY, wait a minute!
“Big Gay Al” it is… now it all makes sense. The complete and utter fixation on LeBron James and Jay Z’s relationship and hugging rituals, constant mention of Danny Ferry’s appearance and especially his shoe size, and dozens of other examples of man crush-itis. Sam Cassell is ugly, Sasha looks like a Dracula, and on and on… I always wondered why there was virtually no mention of basketball in your posts. I never considered that you might just view the NBA as a giant meat market!?
Perhaps you and Douglar could hook up. It looks like he has the skills you’re looking for!
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The Lakers just destroyed 2 teams that are just as good if not better than the Celtics. Pau did a serviceable job guarding Tim Duncan, who is every bit as good as Garnett. Fisher has done a good job guarding guards who are way better than Rondo in Deron Williams and Tony Parker, so staying in front of Rondo when he will give him 3 feet to shoot won’t be a problem either. Pierce will not contain Kobe, they won’t be able to play him the way the play Lebron because Kobe will knock down jumpers all day, so Pierce is going to get owned. The Lakers just have too many weapons and more quality bench players than the Celtics, this series really won’t be close. I don’t know if you have all been staying up late enough to watch LA, but they are just amazingly efficient on offense and they are a good defensive team because they have so much length. Kobe will easily shut down Ray Allen, and Odom will suffice against Pierce. Garnett will need 20/20 every game for the Celtics to have a chance. Lakers in 5, they lose game 1 on the road but then win game 2 and then all 3 at home (remember, finals are 2-3-2)
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Just a few thoughts:
- I don’t care if the Lakers won in 5, they are not leaps and bounds better than the Spurs. The Spurs had a hobbling Manu Ginobili, who was unable to hit those back-breaking shots that killed the Cavs last year, and they got abused by the officiating to end Game 4.
- The Spurs seemed to run out of gas this year. Give credit to the Lakers, they earned their #1 seed, but they also got lucky on the draw. San Antonio had to go through Phoenix and New Orleans in the first two rounds, while L.A. had to deal with the emotionally challenged Nuggets and the mentally weak Jazz. At the same time, San Antonio has been dealing with long runs through the Playoffs for the last 10 years, while L.A. was sitting at home a full month before the Spurs won the title last year. The Lakers were fresher, and that was the huge difference. It had little to do with a talent disparity between the two teams.
- Everybody wants the champion to be a great team. And the Lakers looked more like a great team than the Celtics in the playoffs. But I think we’re going to see that the Celtics brand of basketball creates problems for the Lakers, and will really create problems for guys like Odom and Gasol. The Lakers are counting on some really soft guys to help Kobe out, and I’m not sure they are going to come through. Maybe Kobe is good enough to do it himself (LeBron almost did), but I wouldn’t count on Odom to pull a Robert Horry and put the dagger in down the stretch.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Corporate Whore, I agree, LeBron does need to do more. I’m not disputing that. But the last few years when Kobe has Smush and Kwame on his team, he was doing amazing things for a team that could not win games. They had to take on the Suns both years.. and peope cut on Kobe for not getting out of the first round. The Cavs would have lost both years in the first round, not LeBron’s fault mind you..
They’re both great players. I prefer Kobe right now, in a few years, probably LeBron. No shame in that.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I would say Ray Allen is softer than Lamar or Pau, and Pau is a beast, there were a couple of games where he had almost 20 rebounds… plus he has a beard.
The Lakers are one of the best passing teams in the NBA right now, they are getting a lot of easy shots because of their ball movement and soft or not, Lamar and Pau (along with all of LA’s 3 point specialists) are going to make easy shots more often than not.
I also think that you cannot say the Spurs are tired because they have had deep runs in the playoffs for the past ten years, it does not take that long to recover, plus if anything it makes them better prepared for long runs in the playoffs.
Rondo should be pretty ineffective which is going to give Boston a lot of difficult shots. Id take the team that gets easy shots over the team the cannot in a 7 game series.
Plus there is Kobe
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Actually, the Lakers are deeper, more talented, and have better outside shooting from multiple players, starting and off the bench. They have at least 2 bona fide all stars, and their 3rd option is one of the most physically gifted PF’s in the NBA. They have arguably the most lethal offensive weapon in the league right now, and he has 3 point shooters (Fisher, Farmar, Vujacic, etc) to dish to, and they knock down the open shot.
I’m sorry, but the Lakers ARE better than the Spurs, and they will dismantle the Celtics. I would argue that Garnett v Gasol is a push, and only if Garnett doesnt shrink in big moments. Kobe v Pierce is as big a mismatch as it sounds, and Ray Allen is playing on rollerskate ankles.
It’s gonna be a pretty boring Finals again, I’m afraid. Look for some shady officiating on Boston’s behalf to try to keep it close, but for this series to go 6 would be a stretch.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I loathe all things Boston
June 4th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Lakers in 5. The Lakers are just a better team plus they have the best player on the court.
Douglar, good points about Kobe. I never cut on him, though, so that is hard for me to understand. The people that cut on him don’t understand that it’s a team game. To me, it’s arguable about who the better play is, too. Either way, you can’t go wrong, imo.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Didn’t Windy say he was going to put up another blog/story about the year in review? How long ago was that?
June 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Waiting for BW’s year end grades…
June 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
it is incomprehensible to me how a beat writer for a nba team has had exactly ZERO stories on players the team he covers will be bringing in for workouts. just today, there were stories out of utah, toronto and minnesota about college players brought in to workout for those respective cities’ teams.
now, i don’t expect much from branson and the two ladies but windy is the best cavs writer going, right? so how in god’s name does he have NO STORIES about the draft?? is he on vacation??
June 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
It’s fun going back and reading old blog posts. Fun and funny. Many of the exact same things are now being written for the third straight late spring/summer, both by media folks and by fans. Seriously, you could take many of those same posts, simply change the date, repost them verbatim, and nobody will ever know the difference.
Why even bother with grades? Grades compared to what or whom? Everything summing up the 2005-2008 Cleveland Cavaliers, and I guess the 2005-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers, can be directly traced back to sections of a September 9, 2005 blog post typed by our esteemed blog host. He could not have been more wrong, and he could not have been more right.
Enjoy:
“Several e-mailers over the last week have suggested Danny Ferry be made president, or at least the head of FEMA. I’ll, too, tip my cap to Ferry this offseason. He had a massive responsibility: to properly spend $28 million in cap space. He added a dynamic potential superstar in Larry Hughes, re-signed an All-Star in his prime in Zydrunas Ilgauskas, added a multi-talented veteran who can shoot and play multiple positions in Donyell Marshall, and picked up probably the best shooter on the open market in Damon Jones.
As evidenced by the e-mails and some of the talk shows I’ve heard, many fans are down right giddy with the moves. I’ll say, too, that for the most part I think Ferry has done an excellent job. I think he paid fair market value for Jones and Marshall and actually got Hughes to turn down more guaranteed money from the Wizards. I think he gave Z too many years (5 for $53 million), but I guess he did what he had to do get the deal done.
With all these guys now in long-term deals and Eric Snow and Ira Newble signed for many years, the Cavs are pretty much locked into this roster. Any player can be traded and any deal can be made, but for the most part these are your Cavs. It’s Ferry’s best shot at this point in time and he knows all too well exactly what I’d say to fans: He’s worked hard, he’s spent money, but the proof will be in the win-loss record, not the preseason excitement.
Those who love Ferry today, could be ready to string him up tomorrow.”
June 4th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Oh, kj, who gives a crap about the draft? If they want to draft five more guys, then they can easily buy five more first-round picks. Low first-round picks these days are a bad joke, they’re sold like $20 hookers. Google some old stuff about Shannon Brown if you really want to read about who Ferry is fawning over. Or is that whom. Is it who or whom? That who or whom thing has always confused me.
And by the way, I forget that kid’s hyphenated name that everybody is screaming about taking so he can ferment on a plastic chair, but I don’t trust any guy that hyphenates his name. That’s just too weird.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I want to massage Kobe’s shoulders with hot oil during all the TV timeouts.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
alan, you idiot. you don’t care one lick about cavs or basketball.
and for you to be looking up old posts to show how wrong they could be is beyond freakin’ rich. why don’t you be constructive, for once, and repost some of your thousand and one incorrect predictions, eh? then we can all have a laugh…
oh, and per usual, you’re wrong about draft picks in the 20’s. here’s some of the players from just a couple of years ago who were drafted in the 20’s, dolt:
rondo, farmar, josh boone, kyle lowry.
from the ‘05 draft: jason maxiell, kleiza, nate robinson, david lee
i could go on but my point is made. you can find solid contributors and sometime starters in the 20’s.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Uhh … kj, trust me, you really don’t want me to repost my predictions from 2005 through the present date, because I’d make you look like a damn fool for saying I should repost those predictions. I ain’t Nostradamus, but my predictions have pretty much come to fruition. This team is exactly where I said they’d be. All anybody needed was common sense to be able to clearly see the future Ferry created. Hey, don’t get defensive, pal, I can’t help it if you don’t have common sense.
Like I said, who cares about the damn draft. Hell, if Ferry cared, last season he could have simply bought back the exact same first-round pick Paxson previously traded for Welsch. Since I know you’re a huge Michael Jackson fan, both on and off the proverbial stage, here’s a new Rudy Fernandez highlight video. He would have seen at least 40-45 minutes a game on the Cavs, right? Indeed, he was so ready for the NBA, he was told to stay in Europe for additional “seasoning.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzaRAZ_yNTQ
You’ve gotta be really bored, not to mention starved for Cavs “news,” for you to actually bitch and moan that Windhorst isn’t writing about a bunch of kids, none of whom will see playing time on the Cavaliers in the foreseeable future. I’m far more concerned with the forks in Wallace’s and Ilgauskas’ backs, and how Ferry intends to trade Varejao without first finding a suitable replacement for when Ilgauskas faints in Game 52.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
yeah, alan, like how you predicted the pistons would destroy the cavs in ‘07? great call!
also, your response to my “fact smackdown” (copyright pending) is classic tucker and by that i mean you essentially repeat what you said in your previous post and don’t actually address the EIGHT examples i gave of players who have made serious contributions in the last couple years after being picked in the 20’s of the draft. as i said, classic tucker…oh and then mention a player i *never* mentioned! genius!
i care about the draft and the coverage of it because, unlike you, i CARE about the cavs. i’m a FAN of the cavs. i want them to SUCCEED. you, on the other hand, neither want or are any of those things. you’re an idiot and a fraud and dyed-in-the-wool troll who i should never feed but sometimes your comments are so inane, i can’t help myself.
btw, to anyone who actually cares about the cavs, it’s a FALLACY that the cavs pick will get no PT this upcoming season. the cavs need athleticism at nearly every position. and the one thing say a young front-court player could bring is energy and athleticism, assuming we pick correctly. so really, considering this draft is very deep, we have a good opportunity this draft to augment our athleticism.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Hahaha. You two are so immature. I don’t mind arguing, but this is past an argument.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
kj, I said my predictions regarding the state of the team, not the Pistons series. I pretty much nailed it all, beginning with my prediction regarding what would happen if they hired Ferry, then my long-term prediction what would follow that horribly botched summer of 2005, and then right on through 2008. Yep, I missed it with that specific playoff series, true. Not that it matters, I didn’t say they’d destroy the Pistons, I said they’d beat them, just as most people thought would happen. And James beat the Pistons, the Cavaliers didn’t beat the Pistons, per se. But I was wrong, I underestimated James’ greatness. Regardless, I can live with one wrong prediction out of 50, not bad. Well, actually 47 out of 48 so far, I’m still waiting to see if my 2006 long-term prediction regarding Shannon Brown is going to come true and my 2006 long-term prediction regarding James is going to come true. The latter I think is a given, but the former, still up in the air. I wrote after Ferry bumped his head and drafted Brown that Brown would be playing in Europe in 2009. I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one, but right now I still feel pretty good about it.
By the way, I loved that part about this draft being a good opportunity to “augment our athleticism.” Hilarious. And then Ferry can work on augmenting the breasts on a titmouse. If he works as hard this summer as he did last summer, then there will be a lot of stacked titmouses hanging from the autumn leaves.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
KJ, you’re too intelligent and insightful to be taking on a mental midget the stature of one Alan T. Just let him hang himself. Or perhaps when LeBron re-signs with the Cavs in 2010, he’ll ’slip into a coma’ for a solid year instead of a mere few months.
I think the only person who bumped his head would be the elderly, senile guy who’s talking about “titmouses”(what on earth is that?), babbling about his amazing Cavs-bashing percentage, and re-hashing his awkward crush on Danny Ferry.
One more time, big gay Al… the Atlanta Hawks are, what did you call them? SSSSuperrrrr-fabulous?
June 4th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Oh, one other thing, kj, since you brought it up … if you weren’t so busy playing the role of crazed fan/blog dufus, then you would certainly have known that Rudy Fernandez ended up being the first-round pick that Ferry could have bought back from Steve Kerr long after Paxson gave it away to Danny Ainge.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think Windy has spent too much time hanging around Danny Ferry…..weeks go by without any results…..
June 5th, 2008 at 11:42 am
What could Brian report on the draft? Coverage will pick up once the Finals are over. In any event, the 19th pick probably won’t make an impact next year. I hope I’m wrong but knowing how Ferry drafts…
June 5th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I love revisionist history:
- Just because something didn’t work out the way you wanted doesn’t mean that you made the wrong decisions. Sometimes you can do everything right and still lose. I’m not saying that every move Ferry made was a masterstroke. But the fact that the Cavs haven’t won a title yet doesn’t mean every move was a mistake.
- Kobe single-handedly made his team worse for the last 3 seasons. And now that he has his team back in the Finals (I’m picking the Celtics in 6), everyone has forgotten the fact that he has been a terrible teammate and a terrible person for those seasons. He hasn’t apologized, he hasn’t redeemed himself. He just looks better because his team is better around him, specifically an atlethic, talented big man who was stolen from Memphis without the Lakers giving up any of their top ten players. I guess winning is the best deoderant. I’m not doubting his talent, but let’s not pretend like Kobe suffered through a Peyton Manning-like struggle to reach the top. He made his bed, and he had to lie in it until David Stern pulled the strings to save the L.A. market.
- That being said, I think that everyone in the Cavs Front Office should read the following article by Scoop Jackson. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/080603 It’s about Kobe and his “thirst” to win. I don’t doubt it, and with a good team around him, Kobe’s need to win will make the Lakers tough to beat. But that means that the stakes for all other would-be contenders are higher, and that includes the Cavaliers. The Cavs can’t be like the Indians, hoping that things will come together. They have to seize the opportunity now.
Go Cavs.
Mike C.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I think Phil Jackson’s book would be a good read for anyone who’s ready to put Kobe Bryant in the same class of person as a Peyton Manning or Tim Duncan. Polar opposites, actually.
Alan, is Rudy Fernandez “Super-fabulous”? I mean he hasnt even played a game in the NBA yet.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Since kj is bashing other people for their predictions, let’s jump in the time machine and go back to last summer.
“by any REASONABLE judgement the season was a major success. we have the best young player in the game and yes, gibson, pavs and brown WILL improve. trying watching an nba game sometime. you’ll see that it happens to a lot of guys on alot of teams.”
—-kj, 7/5/07
I didn’t see much improvement in the games of Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, and Shannon (lmao) Brown. But since you watch NBA games and no one else on planet Earth does, I’m assuming you noticed that as well.
“and btw, lewis is soft and orlando will be killing itself down the road if it signs him to a max deal, as is being reported…”
—-kj, 7/5/08
Yeah I’m sure Orlando is kicking themselves after improving dramatically and winning more games than everyone in the East except Boston and Detroit.
“we’re at the top! we’re the hunted! we’re where every team in the east wants to be!! that’s why their making crazy moves left and right because they knew ( and know ) that once LBJ got a taste of the finals he was going to shut the door on the east for may a year. period. and if you don’t think that that’s true, well, you haven’t been paying attention…”
—-kj, 7/5/08
Wait. Did Lebron slam the door on the East yet? If he did, I think we were on the wrong side of it.
“oh my gosh! i almost forgot the celtics! they got a 32-year old jump shooter who just got BOTH ankles surgically repaired! curses! the celtics dynasty is sure to rise again now! oh, the horror for us lowly clevelanders! fate has struck us the cruelest of blows again!”
—-kj, 7/5/08
Nice call, dumbass. Why don’t you head on over to the Branson Wright blog? I think you’d be more comfortable there.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Lewis’ salary is pretty scary. 17, 18, 20, 22, 23 mil over the next 5 years, 4 of which he’ll be 30+.
Orlando better get past the second round in the EAST to make that deal look better. Getting manhandled by museum-piece Detroit again won’t cut it.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Um, if LeBron gets even a LITTLE help in game 7, the Cavs are playing the Lakers right now. You can stick a fork in the Pistons…
Orlando got significantly better because Dwight Howard is the most dominant low post force in the NBA and Hedo Tubofglue had the season of his life. Rashard Lewis was the 3rd banana and he’s making max money. Not good for the future, and they got knocked out by those Pistons who just fired their coach and are officially on watch for a complete blow up of their core…
Ray Allen is killing the Celtics, no arguing that…
Gibson and Pavlovic were both injured for most of the season, so to measure their improvement would be almost impossible. Shannon Brown’s best ‘dunk’ was in a McDonald’s commercial, fair enough.
But I think it’s “Super-fabulous” that Alan wastes all this time trying to make KJ look bad, when if someone were to go back and chronicle all of his misdeeds, it would be an epic collection of garbage. I mean, how many different ways can you say “Ferry is an idiot”, anyway?
June 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Josh, are you dating kj, or what? Seriously. And I don’t waste time trying to make kj look bad (or you, for that matter), it’s typically a reaction to your moronic personal attacks. Truthfully, you and kj normally do a masterful enough job making yourselves look bad without me getting involved in any written pissing match. But I do take exception when somebody calls me a flaming homo, or something, and simulaneous posts a video of that person waving Cavaliers pom-poms, or something. Personally, I’d rather see a video of Delonte West dribble a ball off of his foot, a video of Gilbert laughing his ass off whenever his accountant shows him the ticket receipts, or a video of Ilgauskas racing Big Brown in a special challenge match. So I figure, what the hell, I don’t have to leave for work for another hour, I’ll kill a few minutes and respond to that flamimg homo remark accompanied by the waving pom-poms video.
And, in answer to your question as to how many ways can you say, “Ferry is an idiot?” Hmmm … well, several hundred thousand, at least. Although, I must admit, that my very favorite isn’t even my own, but instead is doc’s reference to Ferry’s ankle hairs. He didn’t even have to mention Ferry’s lack of a brain to convey that Ferry is an idiot. Now *that’s* true genius.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:37 am
KJ here are your precious names from BW’s story. he said earlier that the Cavs don’t release names of players unlike a lot of other teams.
“The Cavs began their private draft workouts with a group of players Tuesday. They have another set scheduled for early next week. Among the players who have worked out are Lester Hudson (Tennessee-Martin), Stanley Burrell (Xavier) and David Padgett (Louisville).”
June 6th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Hudson, Burrell and Padgett–I guess Ferry’s not looking to trade up.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Well, grampa Alan, you dropped the gay term, so I guess living with it is the price you pay?
I think the majority of readers on this board know who the idiot is, and for YOU of all people to whine about personal attacks considering that no one in the Cavaliers organization is safe when you sit down at your keyboard… well that’s just beyond hypocrisy.
But hey, wasnt Paul Pierce “Ultra-fabulous” in Game 1 last night?
The point is, if you want to come on here and rip any and all things Cavs to get some attention, you’re more than free to do so. HOWEVER, dont be whining and complaining about people disagreeing with you or making fun of the stupid things you say. That’s part of the deal, is it not?
June 6th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
As I said, Josh, the writings of the pom-pom people make incredibly easy targets. I think a fair analogy would be all the dodos who were all gung-ho about invading Afghanistan and Iraq, and were all gung-ho over the leader that invaded them. The moves were all great at the time. Everybody was all giddy. And then time goes on, and you begin to realize the moves weren’t all so great. And then, as more time goes on, you finally come to realize the moves were beyond inbecilic, and now you’re in a quagmire with no way out. It’s too late, and there is absolutely no way to come out of it with your head held high. Only naive fools and complete idiots keep cheering it on, claim victory is right around the corner, and keep applauding the boob that is responsible for creating such a gigantic mess.
Josh, LeBron won’t eventually be signing with Iran, will he? Or maybe he’ll seek asylum in China. Put down the pom-poms and answer the question.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I don’t get it, why doesn’t Ferry drop a dime about who he’s tried out? What’s the big secret? He certainly seems to have no trouble leaking misdirection whenever it serves him, like when he leaked those ridiculous lies about Varejao’s bogus $100 zillion a year demands. Especially when you’re drafting 19th, really, who cares? Precisely what is his shrewd underlying strategy here?
Good to know Windy has a Deep Throat that can feed him info that guys named “Lester” and “Stanley” have been given a looksy by our scouting maven Ferry. Has there ever been a good player in the NBA who’s had a first name of “Lester” or “Stanley?” Hey, those would be good pet’s names, by the way. The only two guys I can think of off the top of my head with the first names of “Lester” or “Stanley” were stiffs Lester Conner and Stanley Roberts. Hell, I can’t even think of any more Lesters or Stanleys who have seen a single minute of regular season playing time in the entire history of the NBA. If anybody can come up with any, please post them.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
You dont actually predict the future, though, Alan. You’re obviously the Democrat who stands ildly by and criticizes the other side every step of the way, WITHOUT ACTUALLY SAYING WHAT YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENT. That’s the difference. You criticize and rip constantly, and when things dont go well, you say “I told you so”. In other words, you’re Ted Kennedy.
The PROBLEM IS, you didnt “tell us so”. You were just the negative old coot who pointed the finger and naysayed the whole time like a giant senile raincloud over everyone’s heads. You dont offer constructive ways it could have been better, and you certainly dont have any fresh ideas of your own. You live to be a negative person, that’s just who you are.
Whether you want to admit it or not, much like the Iraq situation, you were on board with it at the time, you liked those signings, and you wanted them to succeed. Everyone did. But to participate in a revisionist history lesson and act like you were the dissenting voice who said, “NO, dont spend that salary cap space! Save it for someone else next year! These guys will be terrible!” is simply dishonest and irresponsible. If you try to pretend so, you’re a liar and a fraud, Alan.
Will LeBron leave? While it’s possible, it certainly doesnt make sense. Here’s why…
-He’s home, he can make the most money under the Collective Bargaining Agreement here. So reason #1 is money.
-The Cavs have made 3 trips to the postseason and seem to have a system in place that wins playoff games, even with mediocre talent. Keep adding talent and eventually someone will pan out, and when that happens, it’s a title.
-Cleveland is much better than New York and New Jersey at this time, in terms of record and salary cap space, and the only reason he would leave would be to go and WIN somewhere else. They’ll be even better when contracts start expiring and/or are traded for better assets.
-He was the 3rd highest money earner of any professional athlete this past year (behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson) so dont tell me he needs a big market to be a “Global Icon”, that’s horse dung.
-He has all he needs with the Cavs, an owner willing to spend, a coach who lets him play his way, and his adoring hometown fans who will come to see him play. The grass is never greener on the other side, he can ask Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Carlos Boozer… the list is endless.
I’m done rambling. I could go on all night. I dont think he goes anywhere unless something really dramatic happens, like missing the playoffs or a rift with the front office develops. I think the Cavs will be players in the trade market, the draft, and in free agency to improve this team, which will help.
Pom poms are down. LeBron will be here in 2010, and when it happens, I hope you dont disappear and make up a lame excuse. Or wait, maybe I do.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I think if the Cavs won the NBA Championship, we would all be friends again.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Shaq thought the grass was pretty green in L.A. and it turned out he was right.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Larry, he’s the only one, especially in the NBA where comfort level and chemistry are so important. LA was already a good team when he arrived, so he went there to win.
New York, and New Jersey for that matter, had better not just strip their teams to the bone and try to lure LeBron with money alone. The kid cares about winning more than just about any player in the league, and right now, the Cavs give him the best opportunity to do just that, and in his home town. Where else does he really fit?
Shaq was the exception, not the rule.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:28 am
You’re right about Shaq being an exception Josh but LeBron has always seen himself as pretty exceptional. I just hope he thinks he has a chance to win championships in Cleveland.
Unfortunately, this summer’s litany of front office spin has already started and it doesn’t bode well. First, a story two weeks ago about how wise it is to take a step back before rushing into any moves. Now we read how all the players who are going to be traded this year are in the Central.
Oh boy.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I noticed that too, larry. I think the best post I’ve ever read in that regard you wrote yourself. It was last year some time, it detailed, in all its seamy glory, the chronological history of Windhorst front office spin. Some things seem to never end. Death, taxes and Cleveland Cavaliers front office media spin. The three sure things in life.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Few more sure things in life…
Comaguy, aka alan t., never having a positive thing to say about anyone associated with the Cavaliers.
Comaguy lapsing into a coma emergency the next time the Cavs have a good run thru the playoffs.
Few more as well but these should suffice for now.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I’m waiting for this summer’s story about Boobie’s outrageous demands to be paid more than Steve Nash.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hey why don’t they just go ahead and let Z play for the Lithuanian team this summer if he wants? He’s worked pretty hard for the Cavs for a pretty long time and this is his last chance at the Olympics, probably.
Dissing the Gentle Giant this way is going to jinx the team.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I wouldn’t let Ilgauskas play, but that’s just me. Gilbert, too. That guy isn’t dumb, with no insurance coverage to pay Ilgauskas’ contract if he gets hurt, it’s not worth the risk.
And dissing the Gentle Giant will result in a Cavs jinx? Seems like a moot point. The team already got jinxed when Bob Ferry impregnated his wife in January 1966.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Actually, the Cavs jinx began in February 1966, not January. Unless Bob Ferry’s wife had one of those weird 10-month pregnancies.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Gilbert has to pay Illgauskus if he’s healthy, too. What’s the difference to him, money wise?
June 12th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Regardless of how lousily average a player Ilgauskas is, he has worth. Not worth the amount he’s being paid, but worth, nonetheless. But he’s worthless if he’s hurt, and then he’s being paid for doing nothing but petting the pet rabid Labrador of his, or whatever that thing is. At least if he’s hurt during an NBA game, Gilbert & Co. are reimbursed. No way he’ll be allowed to play, especially in light of Varejao dislocating his shoulder and Garbajosa ruining his leg. There’s a greater chance the Browns will give Kellen Winslow permission to do this for yucks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7IUKyDkDig
June 12th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
BREAKING NEWS: The worst road team in NBA finals history came back from 24 down to win on the road the day after the NBA was accused of fixing games for the home teams and arranging for series to go 7 games. I’m just shocked….never saw this one coming.
I wonder what the next episode of “NBA” will bring us. I’m sure Stern has some crazy plot twists scripted out for us.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:55 am
LOL…Biff, great comment. I was thinking along similar lines. I’m not a conspiracy nut at all, but the timing was perfect.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Considering there are a lot more franchises now than in past “NBA history,” that “worst road team team in NBA finals history” is yet another deceptive stat that can mean pretty much whatever you want it to mean. I haven’t done the research, but I’m guessing that if you lined up all the losers of past NBA finals series, and looked at their road records leading up to those finals, a decent percentage of those records would be considered to be pretty lousy, too. But a lot of those series’ didn’t go seven games, there were a lot less series’ leading up to the finals, plus NBA early series’ used to be five, now they’re seven. Apples to mangoes. And didn’t the Cavs have a pretty rotten road record, too? Or did Bongyell save the day in some hotel somewhere, I don’t recall. Or was some bastard filth ref calling one of those games.
The Celtics play with a lot of passion. Refreshing, to say the least. Teams like the Cavaliers go through the motions. And I’m glad to see Rivers reads this blog, he got Cassell out of there and is playing House instead.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Relax alan, I thought it was implied that I was using the “worst road team” tag loosely.
And p.s…. the celtics can blow me because in the non-fixed world, 24 win teams don’t win NBA titles the following year.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Biff, perhaps Ferry is heavily involved with the mob, too. I’ve noticed a lot of olive oil coming out from around the forks in Wallace’s and Z’s backs. At first I thought it was sweat, but now I’m not so sure. It’s making more sense.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
IN YOUR TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 13th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
You’re right alan…..I’m the idiot for thinking that maybe, just maybe, something isn’t quite on the up and up when a 24 win team (that just so happens to play in Boston) becomes a 66 win team overnight when it had no real valuable assets to work with. I’m the idiot for wondering why Kevin McHale just decided to give up Garnett for 10 cents on the dollar to the Celtics of all teams. I’m sure they made him the best offer and I’m also sure that David Stern was just devastated that Boston was getting on of the league’s marquee players for next to nothing.
I’m also sure that the Lakers offer of a couple pieces of poop and late first rounders was the best offer Chris Wallace was presented with for Gasol. I’m also sure that once again, David stern was infuriated that his second biggest market became relevant again overnight.
Alan, I’m not some conspiracy theorist sitting in my parents’ basement coming up with this stuff. I’m a reasonable person (actually a lawyer - insert cliche’ lawyer joke here) who just so happens to be overwhelmed by the evidence that the events of the league we follow are not as spontaneous and naturally occuring as they appear. I didn’t need Tim Donagy to tell me this but it certainly reaffirms what I already believed to be true.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
The Wolves got one of the most promising young power forwards in the league for Garnett. What more could anyone have offered outside someone like LeBron, Kobe, etc.? They got market value plus, I’d say.
I’m a little befuddled by all the Celtics denial. They’ve got two of the best players in the NBA and they usually work pretty hard on defense. That’s plenty to win in the NBA even without help from the league and refs.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Not only did they get Jefferson, but assuming they’ll still suck, they also got back an extremely high future draft pick, since they got back their own first-round pick they’d previously traded to Boston, which if the ping-pong balls fall correctly, could land them the first pick in a draft. So not exactly “10 cents on the dollar” nor “next to nothing.” There aren’t many teams that can afford to pay a guy $23 million for a season, let alone have cap room to do it.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Tim in Plantation FL and Mike C, basketball prophets:
Posted on 5/30/08 by Tim in Plantation FL:
I never said that the Lakers defense sucked. I just said that it’s not as good as the Cavs or Pistons defense and the Celtics will have more room to operate to make shots. I think the Celtics will win in 6 or 7. In my opinion, there’s no way the Lakers steamroll the Celtics in the Finals. I think most people are underestimating the quality of the top 4 Eastern Conference teams and they think that since the West was the better conference overall, then the Lakers must kill the East team in the Finals.
Josh, I’ll guess we’ll just have to see how it plays out in the Finals to see who’s right.
Posted on 6/1/08 by Tim in Plantation FL:
Reasons why I think the Celtics will beat the Lakers in 6 or 7 games:
1) Celtics have had the best defense in the league all year (except for the Cavs in the playoffs, which was the best defensive display of any team this playoff season). The Pistons have a very good, efficient offense and the Celtics did a great job of disrupting them.
2) Kevin Garnett will DOMINATE Pau Gasol down low. Pau may be a very skilled offensive player, but there’s no way he has the strength to guard Garnett.
3) The Celtics will dominate the Lakers on the boards.
4) Rondo is too quick for Derek Fisher.
5) Paul Pierce will contain (not stop) Kobe.
6) The Lakers defense is decent, but it’s not even close to the Cavs or Pistons defense. Kobe is a great perimeter defender, but the interior defense of the Lakers is weak. Also, there’s no way they will swarm and rotate to stop Ray Allen like the Cavs did. He’ll have room to shoot and I predict he’ll have a big series. The Celtics have been playing against two rough, physical defenses the last 2 series and the Lakers defense will seem like a relief to them.
7) The Celtics just beat in 6 games (2 on the road) a 59-win Detroit team that easily handled the very talented Majic in 5 games the series before.
I think the toughest defensive matchup for the Celtics is Odom, but they rotate well on defense and can also use Posey on him if needed. Of course, Kobe is playing great now and is always a tough matchup, but Pierce is big, strong and quick enough to give him problems. Of course, if Kobe shoots lights-out the entire series, then the Lakers will most likely win. Should be a great series. We’ll see what happens.
Posted on 6/3/08 by Mike C:
Just a few thoughts:
- I don’t care if the Lakers won in 5, they are not leaps and bounds better than the Spurs. The Spurs had a hobbling Manu Ginobili, who was unable to hit those back-breaking shots that killed the Cavs last year, and they got abused by the officiating to end Game 4.
- The Spurs seemed to run out of gas this year. Give credit to the Lakers, they earned their #1 seed, but they also got lucky on the draw. San Antonio had to go through Phoenix and New Orleans in the first two rounds, while L.A. had to deal with the emotionally challenged Nuggets and the mentally weak Jazz. At the same time, San Antonio has been dealing with long runs through the Playoffs for the last 10 years, while L.A. was sitting at home a full month before the Spurs won the title last year. The Lakers were fresher, and that was the huge difference. It had little to do with a talent disparity between the two teams.
- Everybody wants the champion to be a great team. And the Lakers looked more like a great team than the Celtics in the playoffs. But I think we’re going to see that the Celtics brand of basketball creates problems for the Lakers, and will really create problems for guys like Odom and Gasol. The Lakers are counting on some really soft guys to help Kobe out, and I’m not sure they are going to come through. Maybe Kobe is good enough to do it himself (LeBron almost did), but I wouldn’t count on Odom to pull a Robert Horry and put the dagger in down the stretch.
Hey Mike C, looks like you and me nailed the Finals pretty well. Maybe ESPN should fire some of their “experts” and hire us instead :). OK, the series isn’t over yet, but barring a major collapse, the Celtics should be NBA champs this year. Mabe Joe Dumars acted a little hastily when he fired Flip Saunders and is threatening to tear up the team. You know Joe, maybe its not that your Pistons didn’t play hard enough, weren’t coached well enough, etc…. maybe the Celtics are just THAT GOOD.
By the way, I got amused reading all of the Celtics fans posts on the Boston Globe during the Atlanta and Cleveland series calling for Doc Rivers head. The moves he made last night were absolutely BRILLIANT and he totally outclassed the 9-time champion zenmaster to go up 3-1.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Ooooh…. it’s just an HONOR to watch Kobe Bryant. He is so amazing. All he needed was a hot sponge bath at halftime by myself and he would have performed a miracle
June 15th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I’m dumbfounded by the WWE-style officiating in the NBA. Simply amazed. I never thought in a million years I’d see an NBA Finals more rigged than the Miami-Dallas debacle of 2006. Go figure.
Tim, you left out one of the reasons the Celtics would win… Kevin Garnett being completely whistle-proof for the better part of 6 months after having thrown on a Celtics jersey. The only thing more disgusting was the interview in which Bill Russell nearly leaned over and french kissed Garnett. Try not to tear your rotator cuff with all that back-patting, k pal?
Biff, the only conspiracy theorist on this site goes by Alan Tucker.
I wonder if the Celtics will invite Kevin McHale to the championship parade and let him touch the trophy. Perhaps they could go a step further and allow him to give a speech about loyalty, Celtic pride, and how to make a guy like Al Jefferson look like a plausible trade chip. I’d love to see it, actually.
June 15th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Oh, and Tim. Just IMAGINE if the Lakers had Larry Hughes. Wow, they’d be pretty much unstoppable, huh?
June 15th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hi Josh, I know you’re being sarcastic, but I’ll take the bait anyways. Since Larry and Kobe play the same position, he would have to play the point to start. With Larry, the Lakers would have a better perimeter D and he would fit in with their run-and-gun style. Derek Fisher is a little better perimeter shooter and ball handler, but he’s not as athletic at this point in his career. The Lakers style of offense fits Larry’s slashing skills well, so overall, I’d say the Lakers would be a little better with Larry instead of Derek Fisher, but not enough to get them past the Celtics.
I still think if the Cavs would simply trade Wally straight up to Chicago to get Larry back we’d win it all next year with our current roster, but I know I’m ticking everyone off again and opening myself up to more ridicule by saying this.
Unless someone basically gives us a gift via a trade, I’m not too high on any of the trade scenarios that I’ve heard. Since we won’t do the Larry-Wally swap, I just think we need to stay put and draft the best NBA-ready 2 guard (not combo guard - a real 2 guard) available at the 19th spot and hope he can give us significant quality minutes next year as a rookie. With a full training camp playing together and hopefully a completely healthy AV, Gibson and Sasha back, I still think we’re a championship contender next year as currently constructed.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Oh and Josh, I totally agree with you about the KG and Bill Russell interview - it’s completely nauseating and I’m sick of seeing it. I probably don’t like the Celtics any more than you do, but this year I was going to root for whoever came out of the East, even if it was the Pistons whom I despise. I’m just so sick of the national media saying how great the West is and other stupid things like ‘Leastern Conference” and “Junior Varsity conference”, etc…. Well, the West is getting a heavy dose of Eastern Conference basketball and they’re not faring too well this time. It was amazing to me how the Lakers were the lock-in favorites to beat the Celtics in the Finals even though Boston had home court advantage and they absolutely DOMINATED the West during the regular season. Well, it’s not over yet, but I think the Celtics will most likely lose tonight (especially if Perkins doesn’t play), but they’ll win game 6. I’m not counting them out tonight, though.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Josh, I’m a “conspiracy theorist?” Notwithstanding I and a precious few other realists have been absolutely correct approximately 99 times out of every 100 since this blog first started a few years ago, some rank imbeciles have called me a whole bunch of incredibly idiotic names. But a conspiracy theorist? That’s a brand new one.
Oh, and look very, very closely, why is Bob Ferry in the Zapruder film? Just wondering.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Legend in your own mind there Alan? Congrats on being right about the Cavs not winning a title yet. I mean, not that you’re getting incredibly favorable odds to be right or anything. And let’s face it, if all of us could look back and say that Ferry made a mistake signing Hughes, Marshall and Jones with that incredible hindsight that only YOU have, we’d all be right too!!! But alas, you’re batting .999, and that is pretty d@mn impressive, so I guess I have no choice but to give credit where it’s due.
Hey Tim, saying that Fisher is a “slightly” better shooter than Larry Hughes is like saying Tiger Woods is a “slightly” better golfer than Bill Murray. Good call. That being said, you’re killing me with kindness. Very thoughtful responses, calm demeanor, and other than your Larry fetish, pretty much spot-on opinions.
As opposed to Tucker’s predictable “OH come on, Ferry sucks - insert gibberish - Gilbert is a weasel - insert a few 10 cent words - Bob Ferry in a string bikini - insert self glorification - Biff is a twit” routine.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
…and by the way Alan, tons of NBA teams can afford to pay a guy 20+ million a year. It’s called revenue sharing and that’s why Garnett was making those dollars in Minneapolis for years. Also, plenty of teams have the “cap room” for a max money guy. It’s called a soft salary cap.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Uhh … hindsight? Josh, I wrote from the get-go that they were all bad moves. And I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Conspiracy theorist? Sorry, don’t get it.
And Biff, it’s called a soft salary cap to sign your OWN guy. Next to nobody could get Garnett. His old contract was grandfathered. And it was laughable when a few dingleberries raised the nonexistent possibility of Cleveland getting him. Jeez, the guy’s trade kicker alone was worth nearly $10 million.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Seriously Brian, almost 3 weeks and no update? You could give us just a LITTLE something to chew on, you’d think.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Why isn’t Al Jefferson a plausible trade chip, Josh? I wish he were on the Cavs.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Alan: Soft so you can re-sign your own guys or trade for anybody you want within 125%. Let’s just agree that its not very hard to go way over the cap and do it without a lot of the money being spent on re-signing guys (See Cavaliers, Cleveland).
larry d.: Al Jefferson is a plausible trade chip…..just not somebody the Cavs would hope to get as the feature piece in a package for Lebron some day which is essentially what the Timberwolves did. I realize the situation is considerably different but the point is that he’s a guy who might make a couple of all-star teams in his career and he was the only proven piece in a deal for a guy who is probably top 3 or 4 all-time at his position and still has a lot of years left.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:39 am
The Celtic conspiracy theorists are arguing it both ways.
The Celts can’t win it all without the refs because they don’t have an all-time great player (Garnett), yet they obtained an all-time great player (the same Garnett–as good as LeBron according to Biff) for a mere two or three time all star.
Which is it?
June 17th, 2008 at 10:35 am
The Celtics can win it all without the refs…they just couldn’t do it without an “arms-length” transaction involving one of their franchise legends over the Summer.
I wasn’t saying Garnett is as good as Lebron. I’m saying he is an elite superstar and an all-time great at his position and you don’t trade him for a marginal all-star and some draft picks.
Maybe that was McHale’s final punishment from the league for the Joe Smith signing fiasco (sit back down in your chairs larry d. and alan t. because I’m only joking).
June 17th, 2008 at 10:43 am
By the way, I love it how I’m the conspiracy theorist in all of this. Lets consider the following hypothetical:
The 2002-2003 Cavs won 17 games. Lets say, just for fun, that during the following offseason, the Spurs named Larry Nance as their new GM….and Nance decided to trade Tim Duncan to the Cavs for 2002-2003 Carlos Boozer and 2 first rounders. Then, the 2003-2004 Cavs went on to win 60 games and go to the NBA finals.
Don’t you think that might raise some eyebrows?
Now, I know this is a flawed hypothetical, mainly because Garnett is a lot older than Tim Duncan was in 02 and the Spurs would’ve been under no pressure to move him. Still, the dramatic improvement of a terrible team after giving up a marginal future talent and some picks to a former franchise great for an elite superstar….well, that’s exactly what just happened with the Celtics.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
You’re right, it is a major flawed hypothetical. MAJOR. Not even close to being on point.
Nobody thought there was a “conspiracy” when Embry moved Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles. Nobody thought there was a “conspiracy” when Chamberlain was traded by the 76ers to the Lakers. I could go on, but why bother.
And Jefferson is a “marginal” future talent? I don’t think so. And that Wolves first-round pick they got back? Marginal? I don’t think so, especially if it turns out to be the first or second pick in a draft.
Besides, there was more to that improvement in the record than just Garnett. I think Ray Allen had something to do with it, too.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Thoughts:
- C’mon, by now you guys know that you don’t worry about proving Alan wrong on the Hughes, Marshall, Z and Jones signings. Those deals didn’t work out, it happens. The important part is to point out that there weren’t better moves to be made with other players. Sure, he doesn’t like the Z signing, but even he has to admit that the only respectable big men that have changed teams in the last 4 years are Tyson Chandler and Pau Gasol.
- Al Jefferson may be a regular All-Star in his career, but it will be by default. Minnesota isn’t about to find a real star as long as Kevin McHale is the GM, so Jefferson will be their go-to guy. He’s the next Zach Randolph, a guy who puts up numbers, but doesn’t help his team win.
- Speaking of McHale, I don’t think you can ignore the fact that Boston benefited from former-Celtic Kevin McHale running the T’Wolves, and the Lakers benefited from former-Laker Jerry West running the Grizzlies, and leaving his protege in charge when he left. How come Steve Kerr isn’t sending some nice deals our way?
Mike C.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Derek Fisher career FG 40.2%
Larry Hughes career FG 40.9%
You might be thinking Fisher is a much better shooter because his playoff numbers are better- Career 45% fg and an improbable buzzer beater.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I’d love to have Amare Stoudemire… cmon Steve, send him our way.
Alan, anyone who buys into this “LeBron is headed to NY” to the point where they guarantee it’s going to happen is a conspiracy theorist. Anyone who accuses Dan Gilbert of not wanting to win and only focusing on his wallet is a conspiracy theorist. The bottom line is, you act like you KNOW all these things to be true, when in fact none of them can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. THAT, my senile friend, is why you are a conspiracy theorist.
Mike C nailed it. Kevin Garnett is a franchise player, a HOF’er, and probably one of the defining Power Forwards of our generation. Al Jefferson wont come close to that type of player. Good, but not great.
Biff’s hypothetical isnt far off at all. Boozer is good, not great. Duncan is a first-ballot HOF’er, one of/if not the best Power Forward in the league, and a top 5 player of his generation. Sprinkle in 2 first rounders, and that’s really enough for Tim Duncan? Larry Nance pulling the trigger to send him to Cleveland? NO ONE would question that? I bet the national media would be all over it, calling for Stern to intervene, ripping Nance, the whole ball of yarn…
Again, Alan and the naysayers, I would like to see a hindsight blueprint of how you would have run this team any better than Danny Ferry. Who would you have signed, traded, or drafted? How would you have handled it differently? If you have the guts, let’s have it…
June 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Mike C and Josh, I couldn’t agree more about Jefferson and the trade.
Alan t., I would say that 2003 Carlos Boozer had about as much upside as 2008 Al Jefferson…..not to mention the fact that the draft pick the Cavs would’ve given up in my hypo would have been a near certain shot to get either Lebron, Wade, Anthony, or Bosh. Even looking at the Garnett transaction when it was made, (and before the lottery) the T-Wolves knew that at best they were getting back a chance to Get Michael Beasley, Derrick Love, or OJ Mayo. Not exactly the 03 draft class.
The point is that the entire dealing was shady and one of two things happened:
1. McHale knew he couldn’t destroy the last couple of years of Garnett’s prime, that the team was dead in the water, and that he had to move him so he figured he might as well make a gift trade to his favorite team as opposed to getting substantially more value elsewhere (VERY LIKELY SCENARIO)
2. Uncle Dave Stern called and said that it was time to get Garnett into a better market where he could win and that in the wake of the Ray Allen trade, the Celtics, Garnett, and the NBA would all benefit by creating a championship calliber team in Boston. (Much less likely scenario but can anyone really rule it out?)
Either way, the whole thing makes this Celtics team a sham and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
You fellows are getting nutty.
Al Jefferson is a 23-year-old 6-10″ power player who averaged over 20 pts. and 11 rebs. last year. Considering Garnett’s age, who better could the Wolves have gotten?
To say he’d be an All-Star only “by default” is laughable considering the number of times I’ve seen posters here call Big Z a legitimate all-star at 14 pts. and 8 or 9 boards.
Garnett’s age of course makes Biff’s scenario a pretty good stretch. Last year’s Wolves were going nowhere and Garnett’s salary would keep them from doing so any time in the near future.
Not only was 2003 Duncan younger than Garnett, the Spurs were a team expected to regularly compete for championships.
As far as the silly “Who could the Cavs have gotten” instead of Hughes, Donyell, etc., question, I’d think the complicated trade Ferry pulled off this spring would show any fan that the combination of possibilities would have been nearly endless.
Hughes, Donyell and Jones were all journeymen who had quickly worn out their welcomes with every team they played for.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Who better could they have gotten? Seriously? You don’t think there were any teams out there that might have dangled some better players to get KG? You’re talking about the same league where Miami got Shawn Marion for Shaq’s corpse right? It’s the same one?
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that of the 10 or so NBA teams that might have had a legit shot of winning a title had they acquired KG last June, at least one of them could come up with a better player than Al Jefferson (Like say Amare Stoudamire).
If you want to try to tell me that Jefferson was the best young player offered, you probably also believe that a package of cap space and late first rounders was the best thing offered mid-season for Pau Gasol. The first (the Garnett deal) is unlikely. The second (the Gasol deal is patently absurd.
Unless McHale and Wallace were screening their phone calls and covering their ears, I would bet the farm that at some point, they heard a better offer and yet, chose to “go another direction.”
Tune in tonight for the season finale’ of “the 2007-2008 NBA Season” tonight on NBC! I’m predicting a surprise wedding for KG or perhaps we’ll find out that Pierce is pregnant!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Does anyone know why ESPN has us taking a big man (either Koufus from OSU or Hibbard from Georgetown) in their mock drafts? We have 4 big men now that we have in the rotation. Maybe next year would be the time to go big since we’re getting old, but I still think we need to take the best shooting guard on the board at 19 this year and hope he can shoot and create his own shot.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Josh, you obviously don’t know the definition of “conspiracy theorist.” By your wacky definition, Nostradamus was a conspiracy theorist.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Well, the Celtics are the world champs. At least it wasn’t Kobe hoisting the trophy. (What an epic, underreported choke job by him throughout the series btw.) The Celtics big three are 31,32,and 33 respectively. The Pistons and Spurs are fading, aging past champions. Is there any reason why the Cavs shouldn’t win at least 2 of the next 3 titles? If you have the best player in the world and play the sort of gritty, playoff defense the Cavs do, why would you expect anything less? The Celtics are a nice squad, a nice story. But theyre hardly the dynastic juggernaut some would have you believe. (Someone please strangle Billy Simmons before I lose my mind). The Cavs need one guy. One piece and we can start reserving playoff tickets in June for the next three years. Do something Boatshoes.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Good points, Doc. And we are in a great position. After, this series it seems obvious that James has supplanted Kobe as the best player in the league and we have a great defense (thank you Mike Brown). We just need a somewhat competent second scorer on this team and we are golden. Get it done, Danny.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Yes, doc. And the Cavaliers’ Big 2 of Ilgauskas and Wallace begin the season at 33 and 34, respectively. Two starters, two huge untradeable contracts.
As great as James is, it’s going to take more than just one reliable scorer. And while knocking Varejao seems to be the hip thing to do, and there’s no doubt he’s gone by the trade deadline, with as many gaping holes as the Cavs have, it’s going to be tough to replace him with those forks in the backs of Ilgauskas and Wallace poking everybody in the eye.
And no championship team should ever have a guy like Delonte West starting at point. Might as well sign Allen Leavell.
By the way, what’s the deal with Snow’s contract. Are they going to get a career-ending injury exemption against the cap and waive him, like the Blazers did with Darius Miles?
June 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Doc:
Here’s the only problem with your analysis: You can’t look at the NBA radar and figure out where the next storms are coming from. In June of 07, would you have ever predicted that Boston, a 27 win team, would become a factor in the near future?
The problem is that the landscape is fluid and unpredictable (cough…except that I would go out on a limb and predict that good players on bad teams will find their way to big markets and better teams).
The Cavs will have a chance but don’t fool yourself into thinking that some unforseen challengers won’t emerge.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Biff is right and it’s possible a team like Atlanta might make a jump and be pretty good next year. They’ve got enough talent to pull off a big trade if they need to.
Speaking of trades, the scenario McManaman outlined in his article today sure opens some interesting possibilities as far as the Cavs putting an even wierder looking combination of players on the court next year. It would be awesome to see Villanueva out there with Devin Brown, Pavlovic, Delonte and Big Ben with his hair out.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:03 am