varejao averaged around 10 points and 7.5 boards as a starter... definitely not terrible, assuming he starts this year, it'll be interesting to see how he does.
why are the celtics giving up on him so quickly? Apparently they don't think he can come back from that injury. He was a good player.
It was definitely a business decision by Danny Ainge. Rivers wanted him back even with his knee injury which goes to show you Powe's character. Why pay a player when he can't play and you have the opportunity to let him go without it costing you anything. Bad luck and timing for Powe to get injured just before his contract expired.
That's hard to define. It's easier to say yea/nay about a particular player. Since Powe cannot handle, shoot, pass or create for others (or for himself), I call him unskilled. You could say his good instincts on the offensive glass are a skill. The fact he plays so hard and tough is not something I would call a skill. He's a player who produces while on the floor without much skill.
Unless a major chemistry problem develops, the Cavs will be fine in the regular season and put up a great record. It's the playoffs where Shaq must produce. I have doubts he can. If people build the Cavs up as championship favorites because they start the season 50-10 (or something like that), they will be making a mistake. I don't have good vibes about them playing their best basketball in the playoffs with Shaq and Big Z at center and a bunch of fluff players around LeBron. The wild card could be Mo Williams. If he brings his "A" game in the playoffs, the Cavs will be very hard to beat. But we saw what happened this year when Mo Will turned into Mo Won't.
Scola is not a bad mid-range shooter. And yes, while Scola can get some feed down low, he's not particularly effectively there, just got blocked left and right. He scored most of his points by posting up himself and shooting from mid-range.
The best move the Cavs made was Turkoglu going to Toronto. Orlando shouldn't be a problem for them anymore. I really like Powe. Seems like I remember him manhandling Landry in a recent matchup. The guy is tough.
Would Landry's game be a better comparison? A player that feeds off the team's big men or second chance opportunities.
Count me in. They couldnt defend the pick n roll that Orlando killed them with - no one can seriously think Shaq helps in that regard.
Unskilled? Anderson Varejao is unskilled. Joey Dorsey is unskilled. Powe has a decent low post game similar to Landry, only he has longer arms and is probably stronger. He has a nice touch around the basket in combination with some nice footwork. The only problem is he's 6'7-6'8.
Those "skills" you are referring to are guard skillsets. Not everyone is as skilled as Gasol, a lot of big men can't handle and don't have a midrange game. Powe is a skilled big man. How else can he score in the post and get his rebounds? He's undersized, and Yao or Duncan Garnett is a face up scorer so its not like he won't have a guy guarding him in the post when he gets his points. Big man skills include footwork, positional rebounding and low-post scoring and Powe is decent in all of that. He'd have to be, the Celtics have pretty good bigmen coaches. Guys like Varejao and Biedrins are the ones that don't have skills and rely purely on hustle and/or athletecism to make things happen. Powe is a skilled big man, the only problem is he's not insanely athletic and he's undersized.
Because the have more than sufficient depth at PF/C now. something they didn't have last year. Between Big Baby, KG, Perkins, Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams they have enough depth this year. Something they didn't have in hte previous playoffs and which killed them.
