A View from Cleveland

[CT34]

  Leon Powe get's most of his point off of broken plays and dribble drives by the guards.

  I don't agree with this. Powe has a good post game.

same, this is incorrect. leon has a very good post game.

Don't get me wrong I like Powe and for most of last season I was calling for him to be in the starting 5 in place of Perk.  However Powe does get most of his points off of dribble drives, offensives rebounds and broken plays. 10% of this offensive scores come from the low block.  You can disagree with me all you want it's the truth. 

why should i bother disagreeing with you when you say your right and i'm wrong on a blanket statement with no facts?

seems like a waste of time to me.

 and leon has a very good post game. you can disagree with me all you want but its the truth.


There! now we both left no room for discussion! lock thread!

but, kidding aside, leon does have a very good post game. he gets points off being a hard worker and catching passes because we share the ball and he works hard, but he's shown a solid post game throughut last year and this preseason.

I agree with you that Leon does have a solid low post game when giving the chance.  However, all I've said was that Leon gets most of his points off dribble drives, offensive rebounds and off double teams.  I'm not knocking Leon but my point was the Cavs can get that same type of production from Wallace and Varejao.

[crownsy]

ahhh i see. that is more inline with my assesment of him.

as to them being able to do the same with those two, i dont know.

wallace is just so ham handed and unathletic. he can dunk, but he's soooooooo sllloooowwww to get any rebounds or put backs.

V is a scrapper, but he's liek davis in that he needs a run up to play above the rim, leon and perk can standing dunk.

now, if you could combine the two of them into like, anderson wallace, that i would be scared of. 

[MMacOH]

Wallace was actually rejected by the rim several times last year.  He has a bad back, no lift.  Again, this is where Hickson is going to help the team.

[CT34]

In the end it's all going to come down to the Cavs big 1. vs the Celtics big 3.5 (I think Rondo is due to have a break-out season.)  By that math I'm going to take the Celtics over the Cavs if we meet again in the play-offs. 

[BballTim]

  Leon Powe get's most of his point off of broken plays and dribble drives by the guards.

  I don't agree with this. Powe has a good post game.

same, this is incorrect. leon has a very good post game.

Don't get me wrong I like Powe and for most of last season I was calling for him to be in the starting 5 in place of Perk.

  Not to be contrary, but I disagree with this also. Perk's defense easily trumps Powe's offense.

[Eeyore III]

The ECF semifinal matchup between the Cavs and Detroit is going to be a war!    This year even more than last, having the best regular-season record will be key. 

I expect Boobie to really come on this year; he's healthy and Delonte has been setting him up great in the limited minutes they've been on the court together.  Mo Williams is just the kind of complimentary scorer LBJ needed: great pick up.

What's the matter with Sasha?  He's looked awful.

The Cavs will be even more of a test than last year for the Cs, if only because they will have jelled by the playoffs, which last season they hadn't.  All they have to do is stay close, and see if LBJ can do his magic at the end of the game. 

Agree that trading Wally's contract for a low-post big would help the Cavs enormously.

[nickagneta]

Hey MMac, welcome back. How's everybody's Cavs fan doing? How's things going down at my alma mater on Euclid Avenue? Does their(CWRU) football team still stink?

Regarding the Cavs offseason, color me impressed with the draft. I loved the Hickson pickup and think he might show some dividends late in the year. I still kinda like the Darnell Jackson selection. The kid is a bonehead and I've read he may have to go get his GED() but I watched him a bunch at Kansas and though he had definite NBA talent. Hope he's not one of those guys with the $2 million body and 2 cent brain.

I like the Mo Williams addition, don't love it but I liked it. He, Gibson and West should make for a good backcourt rotation where they can pretty much all pass the ball and keep teams honest with the outside shot.

Please, tell me though, what the heck happened to Andy Varejao?? He appears to be abot 15 pounds lighter, maybe more. Considering that Wallace is a shadow of his former self, Z is usually out of position to offensive rebound and Joe Smith is gone, I thought AV might be your only real offensive rebounding threat. Now he looks like he'll be pretty easily moved around down there.

Cavs will be a real good team this year. See you in the ECFs.

[cordobes]

  Leon Powe get's most of his point off of broken plays and dribble drives by the guards.

  I don't agree with this. Powe has a good post game.

same, this is incorrect. leon has a very good post game.

Don't get me wrong I like Powe and for most of last season I was calling for him to be in the starting 5 in place of Perk.

  Not to be contrary, but I disagree with this also. Perk's defense easily trumps Powe's offense.

And it's not even close. Re Powe's offense, I used to agree with CT34 view, but Powe has displayed, in the later stages of last season and, more impressively, during this pre-season, the ability to create his own shot in the low post. If he can keep that going consistently, it's anyones guess, but I'd say that, at least when matched up with lesser players, he'll be fine.

Good post, MMacOH. The Cavs worry me as they are presently constructed; I suspect that by the trade deadline, I'll start to get scared. I also like the Mo Williams acquisition: not a great pg by any means, but a good fit to play alongside a ball dominant forward. I'm hoping (although not fully confident) he can hurt Cleveland's perimeter defense more than advertised though. As Eeyore III has asked, what's going on with Pavlovic? I was underwhelmed by his performances.

[Donoghus]

Good to hear from you again, MMacOH.

[JBcat]

I think the Cavs would be wise to give Lebron some burn at the 4 spot this year.   In this lineup you can play Wally or Sasha at the 3 and and between the 2 and 1 spot Williams, West, or Gibson.  I say this because their frontcourt is fragile.  Wallace is a shadow of his former self, Hickson is only a rookie, Varejao doesn't bring much to the offensive side, and you have to wonder how much left in the tank big Z has at 33.  Big Z always seems to play well against the Celtics so if he is injured or his game starts sliding I think Cavs will be in trouble.  With the small ball lineup I mentioned it will cut down minutes for the big older guys and save them for a playoff run, and maybe not expose the rook too much is his first season.  Lebron would be a nightmare matchup at the 4 spot against any team. 

As far as trading Wally for a PF later in the season.  You have too look around and see what salaries matchup and even then you might have throw in a young player or 2 or draft pick.  It's not a given they will be able to do this.

[MMacOH]

Hey MMac, welcome back. How's everybody's Cavs fan doing? How's things going down at my alma mater on Euclid Avenue? Does their(CWRU) football team still stink?

Regarding the Cavs offseason, color me impressed with the draft. I loved the Hickson pickup and think he might show some dividends late in the year. I still kinda like the Darnell Jackson selection. The kid is a bonehead and I've read he may have to go get his GED() but I watched him a bunch at Kansas and though he had definite NBA talent. Hope he's not one of those guys with the $2 million body and 2 cent brain.

I like the Mo Williams addition, don't love it but I liked it. He, Gibson and West should make for a good backcourt rotation where they can pretty much all pass the ball and keep teams honest with the outside shot.

Please, tell me though, what the heck happened to Andy Varejao?? He appears to be abot 15 pounds lighter, maybe more. Considering that Wallace is a shadow of his former self, Z is usually out of position to offensive rebound and Joe Smith is gone, I thought AV might be your only real offensive rebounding threat. Now he looks like he'll be pretty easily moved around down there.

Cavs will be a real good team this year. See you in the ECFs.

Things in cleveland are bleak right now due to the sale of NCB.  Not great news for the city.  CWRU is still going strong though.

excellent review of the Cavs here, I agree with everything you are throwing out there.

The Andy explanation is easy....he is a free agent after this year and he needs a contract

[MMacOH]

I think the Cavs would be wise to give Lebron some burn at the 4 spot this year.   In this lineup you can play Wally or Sasha at the 3 and and between the 2 and 1 spot Williams, West, or Gibson.  I say this because their frontcourt is fragile.  Wallace is a shadow of his former self, Hickson is only a rookie, Varejao doesn't bring much to the offensive side, and you have to wonder how much left in the tank big Z has at 33.  Big Z always seems to play well against the Celtics so if he is injured or his game starts sliding I think Cavs will be in trouble.  With the small ball lineup I mentioned it will cut down minutes for the big older guys and save them for a playoff run, and maybe not expose the rook too much is his first season.  Lebron would be a nightmare matchup at the 4 spot against any team. 

As far as trading Wally for a PF later in the season.  You have too look around and see what salaries matchup and even then you might have throw in a young player or 2 or draft pick.  It's not a given they will be able to do this.

I think this happens with LBJ at the 4.  They tried it late last year and it worked rather well. 

Wally's contract is 13 million....plenty of PFs out there that are under that number.  I could see the Cavs throwing in a draft pick, but I think they will be lloking for a team looking for a salary dump