Leaving home ain't easy
Departure?
On the front page of ESPN.com right now, there's a big photo of Lebron and a Scoop Jackson article accompanying it that asks if Lebron will bolt from Cleveland after 06-07. There's also a caption on the photo that says If LeBron leaves, it'll rip the heart out of Cleveland fans. Yeah, that would make sense. With all of this worrying, people are forgetting some things. First one is that Cleveland only has $26.1 million in salaries for next year... this is minus Zydrunas and McInnis, the prior of which might be available for cheaper than his current $14.625 clip and the latter of whom they don't seem to like anyway. Also, as good as Zydrunas is, they could probably proxy him with Varejao and Traylor and not lose a crippling amount of scoring (rebounding would probably be similar, though). Then, all of that free space could be used to go after Redd/Allen and decent PG that whoever winds up coaching them actually likes. Think of it... next year, the Cavs could have a lineup of Varejao, Gooden, Lebron, an allstar SG and a quality PG. Provided they can pull Redd/Allen in and find a decent PG on the market (examples would be Tyronn Lue (14.01 PER), Gary Payton (15.40 PER), Brevin Knight (might be a stretch, 18.48 PER)), they'll have a team that would be very welcoming to Lebron and talented enough to get to the playoffs and maybe win a round. So if they can make some nice personnel moves in the offseason, they'll be sitting pretty. If not, could be trouble. But that's just my suggestion.
Shaq out for Miami's last two games
They'll have him back for the playoffs at 100%, this isn't anything special.
This is the reference for the next three comments.
Wayne Embry has a new job with the Raptors -- senior basketball adviser to team president Richard Peddie.
Good, it won't be as much of a jump up to GM for Embry when they slice Peddie and Babcock during the offseason.
Lenard has returned
Which adds more firepower to the Nuggets. Granted he's been out almost all year, but if he can be in game shape, he could be a very useful piece for them.
Surgery for Odom
Have fun trying to trade him in the offseason (not that I'd trade him, personally) when he's fresh off of surgery on his shooting shoulder, Kupchak.
Stein's new power rankings
Not much of a complaint here, but I'm still wondering how the Bulls are #9 and the Wiz are #16 when the Wiz beat the Bulls the other day are just one game back of the team in red.
Jefferson clamoring to come back
We knew about that one already. More comments on this when my playoff preview goes up. Again, this will be after all of the seeds are locked in.
Any Piston news?
No word on Rasheed's hamstring. I'm sure Rip will be fine, but Rasheed is questionable. Remember, he was slightly dinged for the entire playoffs last year thanks to Plantar Fasciitis. Let's hope he heals up quickly, because this year's going to be even harder than last year.
On the front page of ESPN.com right now, there's a big photo of Lebron and a Scoop Jackson article accompanying it that asks if Lebron will bolt from Cleveland after 06-07. There's also a caption on the photo that says If LeBron leaves, it'll rip the heart out of Cleveland fans. Yeah, that would make sense. With all of this worrying, people are forgetting some things. First one is that Cleveland only has $26.1 million in salaries for next year... this is minus Zydrunas and McInnis, the prior of which might be available for cheaper than his current $14.625 clip and the latter of whom they don't seem to like anyway. Also, as good as Zydrunas is, they could probably proxy him with Varejao and Traylor and not lose a crippling amount of scoring (rebounding would probably be similar, though). Then, all of that free space could be used to go after Redd/Allen and decent PG that whoever winds up coaching them actually likes. Think of it... next year, the Cavs could have a lineup of Varejao, Gooden, Lebron, an allstar SG and a quality PG. Provided they can pull Redd/Allen in and find a decent PG on the market (examples would be Tyronn Lue (14.01 PER), Gary Payton (15.40 PER), Brevin Knight (might be a stretch, 18.48 PER)), they'll have a team that would be very welcoming to Lebron and talented enough to get to the playoffs and maybe win a round. So if they can make some nice personnel moves in the offseason, they'll be sitting pretty. If not, could be trouble. But that's just my suggestion.
Shaq out for Miami's last two games
They'll have him back for the playoffs at 100%, this isn't anything special.
This is the reference for the next three comments.
Wayne Embry has a new job with the Raptors -- senior basketball adviser to team president Richard Peddie.
Good, it won't be as much of a jump up to GM for Embry when they slice Peddie and Babcock during the offseason.
Lenard has returned
Which adds more firepower to the Nuggets. Granted he's been out almost all year, but if he can be in game shape, he could be a very useful piece for them.
Surgery for Odom
Have fun trying to trade him in the offseason (not that I'd trade him, personally) when he's fresh off of surgery on his shooting shoulder, Kupchak.
Stein's new power rankings
Not much of a complaint here, but I'm still wondering how the Bulls are #9 and the Wiz are #16 when the Wiz beat the Bulls the other day are just one game back of the team in red.
Jefferson clamoring to come back
We knew about that one already. More comments on this when my playoff preview goes up. Again, this will be after all of the seeds are locked in.
Any Piston news?
No word on Rasheed's hamstring. I'm sure Rip will be fine, but Rasheed is questionable. Remember, he was slightly dinged for the entire playoffs last year thanks to Plantar Fasciitis. Let's hope he heals up quickly, because this year's going to be even harder than last year.
posted by Corey at 5:36 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home