This is the best Cavs team we have ever seen
Think about this, the Cavs lost forwards Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Lorenzen Wright, and guards Sasha Pavlovic and Wally Szerbiack and replaced them with C Shaq, SG Anthony Parker, SF Jamario Moon, and SG Danny Green. As a side note, the team is on the verge of adding PG/SG Antonio Daniels. The Cavs last year won 66 games. Im not saying we are going to go 72-10, but I can see the Cavs easily winning 60 games again. Its sad to say, but out of all those guys we lost, the only one who kind of made a difference on the court was Ben Wallace, and his output was pretty minimal. We addressed the problem of size we saw last year in the Orlando series. Jamario Moon is 6'9 and can dunk over anyone, Anthony Parker is 6'6 and was one of Toronto's best defenders last year, Danny Green is 6'6, and Shaq is 7'0. Parker is a solid shooter, Green was a great shooter in college, and Moon is a great finisher at the basket. Moon can now effectively guard Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus, Ryan Barnes and Ryan Anderson. Aside from LeBron, name me one player on the Cavs last year that could guard all of those guys? This allows guys like LeBron to play PF in small ball lineups, imagine Rashard Lewis and Ryan Anderson trying to guard this guy. Also, Delonte won't have to guard 6'10 forwards anymore. Adding Daniels is a move to just bring a veteran presence in the locker room, he won't play more than 10 minutes a night, and he will just handle the ball when Mo, Delonte, and Lebron are out of the game.
The Cavs looked to find someone to contain Dwight Howard downlow, and they got themselves Shaq. Shaq is the most dominant center of our generation, and when he is motivated he is still a force to be reckoned with. The Cavs will keep a close eye on Shaq, and limit his minutes to keep him healthy. Dwight Howard will not be able to just move Shaq around downlow like he did last year. Also, this acquisition finally allows Z to move to the bench. Now teams have to deal with 2 7-footers for most of the game. Z will cause huge matchup problems because most second units in the NBA don't have someone with that much size to stop Z and his outside shooting. The only drawback to having Shaq is that he is not the best at defending the pick and roll, and this is where the Cavs must find a way to use their team defense to neutralize this disadvantage.
Delonte West's personal issues somewhat scare me
Delonte West is one of my favorite Cavs. He was arrested for possession of guns a couple months ago, and he has been dealing with depression and bipolar disorder. He came to the first day of training, but then did not show up for the next few days and had unexcused absences. Delonte finally showed up, and he has been practicing with the team for the past few weeks, but has not played in any preseason games. Im not worried about Delonte's playing condition, last year he missed 2 weeks of training camp and he was fine throughout the season. The part that worries me is the fact that his personal problems have threatened his status with the team. This is the biggest season in Cavs history, we acquired Shaq, we have the most talented roster ever, and by the way, that guy LeBron, yeah he can be a free agent next year. There is too much riding on this season. I am not trying to be selfish, I want to give Delonte as much time he needs to recover, but he needs to take responsibilities for his actions, take his medication, and make sure he becomes well. Do you find it funny that the Cavs have inquired about Golden State G Stephen Jackson?
Z's expiring contract might be the last big trade chip we have
Z has an $11 million expiring contract, and we all know how valuable expiring contracts are. With the state of the economy, NBA franchises are losing money and this can be evident in the fact that the salary cap is going to decrease next year. Revenues are down, and if teams are out of the playoff hunt early, they may look to unload some contracts. The reason why his contract is so valuable is because of the fact that Mo, Anderson, Delonte, Daniel, JJ, Jamario, Darnell are all under contract in 2010. Delonte's deal is partially guaranteed, and so is Leon Powe's. We don't have much cap space to sign anyone else in 2010, and we don't have any big expiring deals to use. I know everyone loves Z because he has been here from the start, and it would be sad to see him go, but guess what, if you can get a young, athletic, proven PF who can score, then you can't hesitate on a deal. This season is too big for the Cavs to not consider trading Z. Also, the reason why Z is so valuable is because he could accept a buyout from the team he gets traded to, wait 30 days and re-join the Cavs. I'm not 100% sure Z would do that, but if you could think of any Cavs player who would do that, it would be Z.
Another big trade chip that the Cavs could develop is that of F JJ Hickson. Already in preseason basketball, Hickson is showing considerable improvement in his game. If he could learn to cut down his defensive mistakes he could be starting. The signing of Leon Powe was genius because if Hickson is slow in development, the Cavs can plug Powe into the rotation, and dangle Hickson as trade bait to sweeten a deal. Powe is a low risk signing because he is signed for 2 years, but his 2nd year is a team option, so if he gets hurt again we can decline his option and save some cap space.
Briefly talking about the Stephen Jackson deal, if I am the Cavs I don't pull the trigger now. Jackson is 31, and he still has 3 years on his deal. His trade value is pretty low right now, as he has made it known that he doesn't wanna play for the Warriors anymore. The Cavs could probably get a player of the same caliber with a much friendlier contract for Z's expiring deal. I would love to have Jackson because he did his best when Mike Brown was an assistant for Indiana, and Jackson seems to respect Brown. Jackson has made it known that he wants to play here. Also, Jackson could defend Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Vince Carter. Jackson is an ok 3 point shooter at 34% for his career, but he turns the ball over way too much (2.5 TO's per game last year, and 3.8 TO's for his career average). If I am the Cavs, I just wait it out a little bit, and see what other opportunities arise.
Expect improvements from JJ Hickson and Daniel Gibson
Aside from Jamario Moon, Lebron hasn't played with a guy as athletic as Hickson. He is what you look for in a power forward, he can jump, block shots, rebound, and score in the post. He has size as he is 6'10, and he can jump almost as high as Lebron. He is expected to be the 4th bigman in the rotation behind Z. He will get a good 15-20 minutes of playing time. One of the ways for Hickson to improve is to continue playing, and try to correct the mistakes he makes. He is still a raw defender, but hopefully Mike Brown can fix these problems.
Daniel Gibson has been disappointing since his 31 point breakout performance in Game 6 versus the Pistons 3 years ago in the Eastern Conference Finals. He might not be the PG of the future we imagined, but I believe he is someone who can shoot very well. When Gibson is confident, he can make it rain from anywhere. He battled a toe injury last year which affected his shooting. Now that he is healthy, he has been working on his game in the offseason. With Shaq and Lebron on the floor, teams will be concentrating their efforts to try and stop these guys. This will allow guys like Gibson to become free and get lots of good looks for Gibson. If Gibson can't shoot between 37-40% from 3 this year, then I will consider Gibson a disappointment.
The Cavs will win the Eastern Conference
I will say it now, barring an injury to any of our core players, the Cavs will win the Eastern Conference. We can play the slowdown, grind it out tempo with the Celtics, and we now matchup with the size of the Magic. One facet of basketball I have come to realize in the past few years is the NBA is a game of match-ups. Last year, the Cavs could not match the size of the Magic as they looked helpless in the conference finals. Think about this, 2 years ago the Cavs almost beat the Celtics in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Our team this year is so much better than the team we had back then. For the previous 2 years, the Cavs played two teams who had better talent then they did (Celtics and Pistons), but the Cavs just matched up with them, and they won one of the series due to an amazing performance by Lebron (Pistons Game 5), and the Celtics big three were just too much for LeBron himself to beat. Both those series on paper made the Cavs look like underdogs, but the team contended and even won because of the fact that the Cavs were able to matchup well with their slow, grind it out, defense oriented gameplan. The Cavs can now matchup with most teams, and they have comparable talent as well. Lebron has so much heat taken off of him now with Shaq in town.
When Mo wasn't hitting his shots, it was all on LeBron to carry the team and this was evident in the Orlando series. Now Mo is our 3rd option, with Shaq being the main sidekick. Dwight Howard will not be able to score with as much ease as he did last year. He won't move Shaq like he moved Z and Wallace last year. If Howard is struggling, as we saw in the Lakers series, the Magic are not as effective. Also, the loss of Hedo Turkgolu by the Magic hurts the matchup problems they caused last year (He's 6'10 playing SF). He ran the pick and roll so well, as he could just shoot over Delonte because of his height. He hit huge shots last year for the Magic. Vince Carter is a great player, but the Cavs found ways to shut him down when he played for the Nets. I remember in the 2007 playoffs, both Larry Hughes and Eric Snow shut down Vince Carter to beat the Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Delonte and Parker can easily contain him. Carter doesn't strike as much fear into me as Hedo does. Yes, the Magic might have a deeper and more talented roster, but they no longer can shoot over teams with as much ease as they did last year.
The Celtics are a year older, and if any of their core players get hurt their chances are basically shot. I personally believe that Rasheed Wallace is close to being done, and his impact won't really be that big. Rajon Rondo wants a new contract and he was put on the trading block this offseason. This Celtics team isn't as deep as the team they had 2 years ago who won the championship. The fact that this teams 3 best players are all over the age of 32 just scares me. By the Magic series last year, the Celtics just looked tired out there. Pierce didn't seem to be as effective as he was in years past, and this team needs all its pieces to contend.
I just think the Cavs can play dual styles of basketball, and their team is much deeper than last year. We have the athleticism to run with Lebron, Delonte, Mo, Moon, and Hickson, but we can slow the tempo down with Shaq, Z, Delonte, and Anderson. Hickson will get more playing time, Moon has been consistent in his 2 years in the league, Parker has been a rock during his time in Toronto, Shaq can still score when motivated/healthy, who is a force to be reckoned with, and Powe was an integral part of the Celtics bench in his times with them. Shaq will be motivated for a few reasons, one, he wants to play for a couple more years. If he can prove he can play at a solid level at 37, then a team will definitely give him a contract offer. Two he wants to get his 5th ring. Both Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant have 4, and he wants to top them. I am sure he wants to tell Kobe how his ass tastes. We finally have players who have proven that they can be counted on to produce when needed. O yeah, I forgot to mention that guy LeBron, he's pretty solid.
The LA Lakers will win the NBA Championship
I know Cavs fans, this is the best Cavs team we have had, but I still don't think we can beat the Lakers. Had the team not signed Ron Artest, I would say the Cavs win it all. Artest is one of the few guys that can slow LeBron down in the NBA. This allows Kobe to guard someone else on defense, which gives him more energy on offense. Lamar Odom will cause matchup problems for us because Shaq and Z can't guard him. The only guy I can think of that can hang with him is Moon, but Odom could easily post up Moon. If Lebron tries to guard Odom, then Bryant will have a much easier time scoring because Lebron is out best perimeter defender. While Gasol might be neutralized by Shaq, Andrew Bynum didn't even produce much last year, and the Lakers still won it all. If Bynum stays healthy and produces, the Lakers will be very hard to beat. The only way the Cavs can beat the Lakers is if Mo Williams destroys Derek Fischer, because Fischer is one of the few weak links on the Lakers. Also, another way the Cavs can beat the Lakers is if Artest just implodes and goes crazy, which is possible. Artest said last year he saw a sports psychologist. During the Rockets/Lakers playoff series last year, Artest missed the first two team busses to the Staples Center for game 7. Artest came out in his boxers and got on the last bus which was for the owners, and team officials. If the Cavs make a move for a tall scoring PF, or if Hickson develops much quicker than we think, then I might change my mind.
Miscellaneous
The Cavs do have a tough stretch of games in the first part of the season. PD's Brian Windhorst wrote a great piece about our schedule this year, and you should all check it out. Don't be shocked if the Cavs start off a little slower this year than expected. The team has dealt with the Delonte issue, nagging injuries, and the flu bug. It will take some time to integrate Shaq, Moon, and Parker into the rotation. West might not even be starting for a part of the season, as he might come off the bench to play backup PG, while Parker starts at SG. We will see an expanded role from JJ Hickson and that will take some getting used to.
I expect LeBron to win the MVP award this year, finish top 3 in Defensive Player of the Year, and be all NBA First Team. I think the Cavs will end up beating the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, but I see us losing to the Lakers. I know most of you disagree, but I just think the Lakers have too much size, depth, skill, and coaching for us to overcome. Also, I think LeBron stays after this year as well, but I will write about that at a later date.
Thanks for reading, go Cleveland!
No comments:
Post a Comment