They acquired Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon, two wings that just played for the toronto Raptors, whom were weakest in the wing position. And now they are looking at Joey Graham, a third wing player from the Raptors. Haven't the Cavs wondered why Toronto let Parker, Moon and Graham walk away without any extension offers? Colangalo shed that dead weight to acquire real contributers i.e. Hedo Turkoglu, Jarret Jack,Marco Bellinelli. I live in Toronto and there is a reason the Raptors only won 33 games, and it is Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon. Everyone else helped get the 49 losses. They are also now interested in Hakim Warrick, a guy who didn't stand out from a weak Grizzlies team. Do they think that they are actually making good moves, or do they think that making any moves will help bring a title to Cleveland? whats with all the crap...?
The Cavs are attempting to bring in guards and small forwards with size to help them deal with Orlando's pick and roll offense that help beat (upset) the Cavs last year.
Jamario Moon didn't get an extension from the Raptors because he was with the Miami Heat at the end of last season. Hedo is a excellent player (though overpaid at his age with that contract). We'll have to see about Jack and Bellinelli. What evidence do we really have of either of them being "contributors" significantly more than what the Raptors had before? And I don't get how you can (1) argue that Colangelo is smart that he knows who are the deadweight to shed and who are contributors to acquire, (2) saying that everyone but Bosh and Calderon were deadweight that lost 49 games, when Colangelo just signed one of the "deadweight" Bargnani to a huge extension. We'll see about Warrick. He's probably being pursued for cheap. At a cheap price, he's not a bad option to have because you ain't gonna get anyone better anyhow. He doesn't rebound, he's too skinny, but he can score pretty efficiently and he is atheletic. Who else are they gonna pursue with limited $ at this point? I also don't get how a guy is a scrub simply because he didn't get to play too much for the Grizz. Yeah, that puts doubts in your mind. I'd rather have a contributor on a championship team (Ariza!) but it's not like we did badly with the last limited contributor we got from the Grizz (you know, the little chubby-looking one).
Why do you think Moon, Parker, Graham and Warrick are crap? Is it because they don't score a bunch of points? Because they don't have big names? Cavs don't need to add any significant players in terms of scoring a lot of points. They need to find the right pieces to compliment Lebron. Shaq for one was a nice start. Mo Williams has show he has good chemistry. Lebron/Shaq/Williams is a nice core. I'd look to add a good rebounding PF and call it good. Parker and Moon are solid veterans that each bring different elements (Parker is solid overall/brings a bit of everything and Moon brings length, athleticism, defense). Lebron's gonna make both of them look good and they're gonna relieve pressure from Bron. Those are nice moves for the Cavs. Hardly crap IMO.
Cavaliers GM makes bad moves --> LeBron still carries the team to the #1 seed --> Cavaliers GM gets Executive of the Year --> Cavs lose in 2nd round
I still don't think they got substantially better with any of their moves. Moon, Parker, and Warrik are assets, but I wouldn't say they are significant pieces. Also, we don't know how long Shaq can keep this up. I'm not saying they are worse than last year, but I'd rather be rebuilding than borderline contention every year. I don't think they will get pass Orlando, even without Turk.
Orlando got better with the addition of VC but I think the Cavs got much better with the addition of Shaq. The reason why Orlando got past the Cavs this past season is because of the matchup problems Dwight posed. He created holes and opportunities for Shard and Turk. With Shaq on the Cavs that means the paint is going to be protected first and foremost. Second, Shaq can cover Dwight by himself... that means less open opportunities for Shard, VC, etc. Third, this means more rebounds for Cavs and less for opponent. The only way I see the Cavs not making it out of the East is if Boston is fully healthy or the Cavs beat themselves by missing key FT's down the stretch. Shaq and Lebron are liabilities at the line in crunch time.
I'm not that impressed with the Cavs offseason moves either. They better hope either Shaq or Big Z has some gas left in the tank during the playoffs or it will be another 2nd round exit after a great regular season. I wonder how Shaq and Mike Brown will get along.
I do not think their off season moves are crap. Shaq, Parker and Moon ( ? ) would all be rotation players. They do not need an impact player ( except Shaq ) but players that would know their roles and come off the bench and contribute. Aside from Shaq, The rest of the additions are role players that would benefit from the play of LBJ.
I still don't see Shaq doing much other than clogging the lane and making it tougher for LeBron to operate. At least Z can hang out in the high post and be a shooting threat and set high screens. This a team that would have been a good fit for Gortat - they need mobile bigs. We'll see what happens, but I'll be stunned if LeBron re-ups with this roster. If I were GM of this team, I would have entered the offseason looking for: a decent SG with size that can drill 3s and play at least fair defense a mobile PF that can at least force Varejo to come off the bench a mobile center that can help reduce Z's minutes No way do I make that Shaq trade. Maybe focus that trade on someone like Boozer. Use the full MLE to go after Gortat. Try and swing a trade with Charlotte for Raja Bell. Sending the pieces of the Shaq trade for Okafor and Bell would almost certainly work out better for Cleveland on the court. Evan
I like the roster changes. They needed a better Center who can play in the post, a taller SG, and an athletic backup SF during James's bench time. They got all three. For the Cavs to truly be good next season, they need a new coach. Mike Brown was a bad coach against the Magic. He couldn't draw up decent plays for the team, making Lebron drive 1-on-5 and kick out (sometimes) to a teammate, none of whom moved without the ball in the Magic series. They had such a stagnating offense, that it was ugly to watch. Mike Brown is the problem for Cleveland. He can motivate his guys to play the run, run, run game and play good defense as well, but when the fast-break opportunities were reduced by the Magic, he had no reply. He resorted to giving James the ball at the top of the key and letting him come up with a miracle play. Get Lebron a new coach and that team will be so much better and scarier
I don't know much about Moon but Anthony Parker is a pretty good player. IMO, the Cavs needed perimeter defense (that was one thing the Orlando series greatly exposed) and he brings that. He is solid, not an allstar caliber guy but knows his role.
I think the Moon move pretty underrated. Great athelete, great size for the position, good defender, good rebounder for a perimeter player, can finish around the basket with his hops, shoots the 3 point shot at an acceptable level. Basically, they are getting an older version of (a poor man's) Trevor Ariza for half the MLE.
