Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Wild Thing Returns to Cleveland

No, I'm not talking about Ricky Vaughan. I'm talking about Anderson Varejao. He agreed to terms with the Charlotte Bobcats, but since he is a restricted free-agent the Cavs can and will match the agreement. According to ESPN Insider the Cavs already have their 15 man roster full, meaning that when they match that offer they would need to cut someone. Instead of doing that, they apparently are exploring possible trade scenario's to maintain their pay roll and roster.

I'm not sold on Varejao's happiness in C-Town. I know contract holdouts turn personal fast, but lets be honest dude you're a role player. He has said publicly that he wanted to be traded and the contract that he agreed to with Charlotte has an opt out clause after the 2nd of 3 years. But as Insider pointed out that if Varejao does opt out in 2009, that is the same year that the contracts of Drew Gooden, Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, and Eric Slow come off the books.

Varejao does provide a great spark to the team in some crucial situations, but I'm just a little curious as to whether or not that is going to continue or not. No one really knows how much of a diva Anderson really is. Who knows how excited he'll be about the Cavs matching that offer. I hope he can be a professional about it and just go out and do what he does best: grab that orange and squeeze it baby.

As I said before, he is a role player. And giving a role player a contract valued upwards of $52 million would have given the players of the NBA all the leverage they need to command outrageous and unworthy contracts. The Cavs won a great battle in free agency this off season and season. Had his original request been granted by any team, chaos would have ensued next summer in free agency. That'd be like giving Scott Pollard a 5 year $45 million contract. To quote the wise Larry the Cable Guy: "That's like wiping before you poop, it just don't make sense."

While I'm on the topic of the Cavs has anyone noticed that beastly beard that Drew Gooden has been sporting? That is a man's beard. I'm truly jealous. Apparently he has some bet going with the Wizard's DeShawn Stevenson for who can go the longest without shaving. Hasn't anyone learned yet? Drew Gooden will step up to the plate on any bet involving some sort of awkward hair growth. He did the neck beard last year, now the normal beard this year. We need a nick name for Drew Gooden. Kinda like how Deadspin dubbed Derek Anderson (quarterback for the Browns if you've been in unconscious since September) "Horse Balls". And speaking of Deadsping and Horse Balls, one of my buddies I work with happened to purchase the HORSE BALLS t-shirt.

I need to vent a little anyway about these Cavs. I know LeBron is the King and all, but how is this team that bad when he doesn't dress? They don't seem to have these problems when he gets his usual in game rests. No one seems to want to step up to the plate and lead this team. I wish someone would though. Why not someone like Damon Jones? He wants a trade, so what better way to get yourself in a good situation than turing into a locker room and on court leader for a team. If he can start to get his shot to fall again, then he has the personality to be a leader. I mean I don't care who steps up, just someone needs to. Mike Brown needs to get in the face of his team and get them to realize that they are putting way too much on the broad shoulders of LeBron James. And the addition of a role player in Varejao is not going to solve many problems. I will except no excuses for finishing .500 for the season after winning the Eastern Conference. I know a 42-42 team will make the playoffs at an 8 seed, but is that really where you are aiming Danny Ferry and Mike Brown?

The time to right the ship is now, with LeBron on the bench. If you can do that, you will get more out of your guys that you can ever have imagined. Think of the confidence that LeBron would have in his teammates when he comes back from injury if they can prove to the league that they aren't the JV team and LeBron is the Varsity team. I'm challenging Mike Brown right now to get this team headed in the right direction before LeBron comes back. Their best game without the King came on Sunday afternoon vs the new favorite out of the East in the Celtics. Step up and get the job done. I'm not asking to win every game, but just to put together a performance that you are proud of and continue to get better. Isn't that the goal anyway?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you think the Cavs are bad without Lebron playing, just think of how bad they'd be if Larry Hughes was playing.