The supporting cast isn't nearly as bad as people make them out to be. You don't win 66 games and get all those blowouts simply because of the brilliance of one player, I don't care how good he is. The Cavs could use more scoring punch off the bench, and a PF who can match up better against small-ball teams (a low-post scoring threat, outside LeBron, was sorely missed in this series). I wouldn't shake things too much, because this group clearly had a ton of chemistry, and they happened to run into a team that was a terrible matchup for them.
They should target a guy like Tyson Chandler who is young and athletic and can rebound and run the court. That is if he's healthy. I also think they should resign Ilgauskus for cheap to use him off the bench. He can score at times and is still decent down low, but he has become a liability on defense in today's NBA. They should try to get rid of Ben Wallace. Keep Joe Smith for cheap because he has a nice jumper that can spead out a defense. Lets also not forget Shaq is available. Get him 10 shots per game, he'll still get you about 12-15 ppg, draw double teams, and can give LBJ a break on creating/scoring for the team. He's also a great presence at the basket on defense. Leon Powe is a free agent, bring them some toughness inside. Jaison Maxiell is a guy who has always been very effective on Dwight Howard by doing the same thing Chuck Hayes does: Using their lower body to keep bigs away from the basket. Kurt Thomas is another guy who isn't the biggest guy out there, but he is a very effective defender in the post. No disrespect to Dwight Howard, but Ilgauskus, Wallace, and Varajao made D12 look like a prime Shaq this series. It was frustrating because we in Houston have seen Yao throughout their careers simply dominate D12. All you really have to do is box him out, make him work down low and keep your hands up. I'll admit he did get better as the playoffs went along with his post moves and decision making, but he's still not polished like Yao, he's more on the raw side still. The Cav's bigs just looked too old, too weak, and too slow to guard D12. Also, they need size in their backcourt. This hurt the Rockets in 2005 when we had a very tall wing in Tmac at a long 6'8 but had a back court with a 6'3 point guard and a 6'2 shooting guard. Pavlovic is a bench player, Wally is old and they shouldn't resign him, and West would be a great option off the bench because he can create for himself and defend well. He could still be a starter, but I think at his size he should be off the bench. Even if they decide to keep West as a starter, when they have a matchup like Orlando, a big wing could help to where they could bring him in for the matchup, and they wouldn't lose too much on rebounding and they could actually contest a big wing player's jumpshot. I think the most important thing is for Lebron to get a multidimensional 2nd option. Mo Williams is an okay player who can score, but he's so one dimensional. He's a glorified B.J. Armstrong. If his shot is not falling, he doesn't create for others, he isn't a great floor general, and he's not a great defender. If he's in a shooting slump, he's basically ineffective, this series showed that. To win a title, you need a better 2nd option no matter how great your best player is. If they can't get a real 2nd option, they should get a guy like Shawn Marion who can play defense on good perimeter players, rebound, run the break, and is big enough to allow Lebron to play shooting guard. Either one of them will be guarded by a much smaller player. Thats kind of what the Rockets had planned with Tmac and Artest. One of them would have a huge size advantage. At worst, Marion could be his Trevor Ariza, but with a little more scoring ability. Whatever the Cavs do, they better do enough to win by next year or else Lebron will bolt for NYC. I would be PISSED OFF right now if I was him, because he couldn't have done more than he did this series. It just isn't humanly possible. I think the team did overachieve a little bit after watching this series. Lebron basically carried the team this entire season at a very high level to win 66 games. He's going to be in his 7th season next year. He's been doing EVERYTHING for the Cavs his entire career, and has almost won a title with very little help, but he knows he can't win that way. NYC will have the $ to sign another star player with him, and he'll be coached by D'antoni, who will allow LBJ to play in an uptempo game and break all kinds of records. Its honestly inexcusable for the Cavs to not bring in sufficient help for the best player in the NBA. All Kobe had to do was demand a trade and they got Gasol. The Cavs should learn a lesson from Shaq and Orlando. They didn't take him leaving serious, but when they got swept 3 straight years in the playoffs, and didn't change their team's players or coaches, he bolted for a bigger market and a much more talented team. That was 13 years ago. It took them 13 years to recover from that one mistake.
Why are those the only options? If anything it shows that he really DID deserve COY after seeing how pathetic most of the players on that team are. Z, Varejao, and West are just not good basketball players, nor are Ben Wallace, Wally, or Gibson. Having the best record in the league with all that trash is looking like quite the accomplishment.
ESPN says Wallace is thinking of retirement. And Varejao, who holded out for like half the season this year, will be looking for a deal paying $10 million a year. Wallace has nice trade value then for a team looking for cap space for 2010. I do not think Varejao is worthy of $10 million though. A guy like him, only good for hustle, does not deserve that pay. Get a guy with some post game. Making the finals two years ago and then following it by losing in the conference finals both years following is hard to follow up. Especially when you were MVP this season. I doubt lebron keeps his numbers up next season. The guy did everything for the team, but he isnt that great of a closer. No way you can really practice that, but you would expect better from him.
Come again? ESPN reported this? Meaning Varejao really said this? Meaning Varejao really thinks this? Meaning we're supposed to take this seriously?
I kinda agree with this. Lebron usually does make his teammates better, but in this series he lost all confidence in them and tried to do everything himself. Everyone gave the supporting cast a hard time, but Lebron just went ahead and tried to do everything rather than trust them to help make plays. Lebron needs to learn to keep everyone involved in the offense more. Similar with the Lakers - the Lakers actually do better when Kobe doesn't score as much.
They should probably first stop taking those "family photos" before each game...it was funny the first and second time but started to get really old the third time, not to mention the 57th time they did it...
They don't have a player who can score from the post. 1. They need to get a good scoring pf/c 2. They need to get younger 3. they need to get bigger.
does anyone else feel really bad for cleveland fans? they are a good sports town with good fans and they get screwed once again. this year really seemed like a near sure thing.
The Cavs need better supporting cast. I don't blame Lebron for giving up on his teammates in this series. Mo Wiliams and Z. are not elite players in this league. If they had someone in the caliber of Paul Gasol they would win the championship this year.
LeBron should decide that there's more money to be made from winning championships, and the best way to do that is to play some gamesmanship with the salary cap. In other words, LeBron should re-up for the minimum, and let the Cavs give a max contract to a supporting player who will stay with them for years. If he did that, he could be looking at 6-9 championships in a row, and would make more money in the end than if he simply gets his max contract and the team remains him and a bunch of role-players. The first great player who figures this out will go down as better than Jordan, and will likely end up making more money than anyone in NBA history.
flame away, but Mike Brown could atleast return Rudy's isomotion playbook now that the season has finished
