I didn't think Gooden's rotations were that bad. They certainly weren't his strength but they were solid enough. I thought Gooden to Wallace was a big downgrade for the Cavs. Worse rebounder, worse scorer, worse offensive player, worse man-to-man defender. The only thing he's better at is help defense but you already had a good defense and you already had Varajeo who was already a better player than Wallace. Help defense is nice but it doesn't outweigh all those other things especially when Wallace doesn't do it at the highest level anymore and when you already have someone better than him at that on the roster.
His rotations were either slow or non-existent the majority of the time. Gooden is one of those players that you can't judge by stats. He would play one good game then take a game off. Play another good game and take 4 games off. Very frustrating to watch. Couple that with the the fact that he had a knack of letting LBJ passes bounce off his face, stomach, hands, etc. and Cleveland fans were okay with letting him go.
Ben Wallace is the fourth best big man on the Cavs, he's only on the floor because of his reputation. Varajeo and Joe Smith offer more. Varajeo is better at Ben's job and Joe offers more scoring/offensive ability along with better man-to-man D and solid rebounding.
Ben Wallace's offense is simply atrocious. Kevin Garnett isn't even bothering to defend him. If Ben steps beyond the FT line he's in about 10 feet off space. There was even several times when he caught the ball at around 6-8 feet from the rim and he had clear daylight. He's really hurting the Cavs ability to create space and opportunities for LeBron.
The big men cause huge headaches for Mike Brown even though they are seemingly a position of strength for the Cavs. I think Wallace is our second or third best big man, very close with Joe Smith. He is very limited offensively, but he knows it. If you watch him he will take dunks and layups, thats about it. He stays near the hoop and waits for his guy to rotate off of him and hopes to get a bunny. He is probably rhe strongest 'paint' defender the Cavs have.
Joe Smith has a good offensive game, good rebounding skills, but he is pushed around too easily on the inside. I like seeing him on the court for offense, but I hate seeing him on the defensive end (where Garnett can overppower him in the paint as we saw Tuesday).
Andy has now become my 4th ranked big man on the Cavs. He still has a lot of energy and plays some decent defense but he has become a huge offensive liability. He thinks he is the second coming of Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett, yet he has the offensive skills of Ben Wallace. Watch when Andy gets the ball. He likes to try and drive and create shots for himself even though he is a terrible offensive player. Very frustrating to watch as a Cavs fan
