Links To The Present: March 23, 2010
2010-03-23
“Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavaliers’ beloved center, will sign a one-year deal to return to the team this morning, sources told The Plain Dealer, and presumably will be available to play when the team travels to New Orleans for a game Wednesday.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer]
“1-year/1 season, rest of this season @patrickorrDoes “one year” for Z mean he is signed for 2010-2011 season?” [Brian Windhorst Twitter]
“Doubt it, JJ likely to stay starter & Z comes off bench RT @simmsythekid15 Now JJ can go back to bench and make a dangerous combo w/ Andy” [Brian Windhorst Twitter]
“He is the guy who could have limped off with $60 million after several foot operations, but decided to have one more surgery — an experimental procedure where they rebreak and reshape the foot.” [Terry Pluto on Big Z]
Five of the Cavs’ top six lineups in terms of point differential per minute are with Big Z at center!  Think about this for a second, once he gets back in rhythm, the Cavs can play a lineup (thanks to the Jamison trade) where every single player on the court is a legitimate 3-point threat.
I’m lucky enough to be going to the game this Sunday (I’m already working on my lung capacity for the 3 minute long “ZEEEEEEE” I’m going to be belting), and I might have to show up wearing this.
“James said that the fact he and his teammates have been able to take care of business against weaker opponents shows a lot about the team.” [George M. Thomas]
The Cavs have taken care of business against the best teams too.  Against the other top 9 teams in the NBA(by record), the Cavs are 13-7, only Denver has a better record (14-6) against the top competition.
“You go through all the physical rehab, but so much of recovering from an injury like that is mental. You’re carrying that knee. That’s just the nature of a significant injury like that. It’s so important to have confidence in that knee, so you won’t drag it. In Leon’s mind, he’ll start to say: ‘It’s normal now.’ And now, instead of dragging that knee along, he’ll pick it up and bring it with him!” [Austin Carr on Leon Powe]
Fun Tweets:
“Cavs to sign Zydrunas Ilgauskas today, per multiple reports. In equally shocking news, when I close my eyes, it gets dark” [InsideHoops]
“Z might not start games but if JJ goes into his Drew Gooden mode Z will finish games.” [RealCavsFans]
“I think it would be cool of the Cavs wore throwback jerseys from the first year Z played for the team. I realize they are terrible.” [WayneEmbrysKids]
“Yo my moms on Twitter @Real_Shaqs_Momfollow her! & check out da new site 4 her book!www.lucilleoneal.com. Proud of u mom!” [Shaq]
Let’s get real, Amare is a contract year player..next year, after he gets signed to a max deal by some stupid team he’ll go right back to getting 20 and 8.
Amare’s a false choice. We offered JJ along with Z and it wasn’t enough. Suns said no, so the Cavs moved on.
That said, JJ + Jamison (JJJam?) in March: 26 & 14. Pretty comparable to Amare’s 30 & 10 and without the headaches/question marks Tom raises above. I don’t think Tom’s being “upbeat”, I think all 5 are genuine issues individually … in combination they could’ve sunk this team. After a small hiccup following the trade, this team is chugging along again. Who knows if that would’ve been the case with Amare.
I’m not real keen on purely subjective conjecture regarding player production(The Kobe Fan’s Manifesto) but I will say this. When Terry Pluto pointed out that Amare is young and is playing for a max contract and that Jamison is playing for nothing but a championship, I had to agree. Regardless of numbers, I like Jamison more because he’s “hungrier” (makes me cringe even using a word like that) and is going to “to whatever it takes”.
Wow now I really sound like a Kobe fan. Ok, back to work….
my buddy texts me every day with Amare’s line and I really don’t care if he’s putting up 90/12 on 100% shooting. They made the right decision, we got Jamison for a number 30 draft pick, and he’ll be here next year. It wasn’t even a month ago that lots of people were worried about our depth in the front court next year. Next year we are guaranteed to have Varejao, Jamison, Hickson, and Powe. If we made the Amare move, subtract Jamison, Hickson, and Amare (unless he resigned) and You’re left with Andy and Powe? Of course either way… Read more »
Oh tom you’re so relentlessly upbeat. I love it : )
I’m not upset about it.
1.) No guarantee Amare would be here next year.
2.) It would have taken him longer to fit in than Jamison.
3.) Huge Ego
4.) Jamison can play off the ball on the weak side.
5.) With Powe back, how many guys can we possibly play on the block? Amare doesn’t really spread the floor. Jamison can post up and such but he’s just as comfortable being a 6’9″ wing player which bodes well when we play big.
Speaking of the amare possibility, isnt everyone just a Liiitttle pissed about that now? I mean, jamisons been great and all, but 30 points and 10 rebounds throughout march? Damn…
Jacob, I think this is the key problem with your proposed trade: Come playoff time, when Lebron and Iguodala would both 40+ minutes in the critical games… Haven’t we spent the last 7 year learning that LBJ needs good shooters around the perimeter to be effective? Look at AI’s stats and he’s clearly below league average in everything but shots at the rim (league averages in parenthesis): FG%: 42.7 (46.2) 3%: 28.5 (35.4) eFG%: 46.5 (50.1) TS%: 51.8 (54.3) 16-23ft%: 39 (39.6) 10-15ff%: 29.2 (39.8) <10ft%: 34.1 (44) Rim%: 66.4 (61) If we get AI he's not going to be… Read more »
The 76ers would throw Danny Ferry a parade if he gave them not only expiring contracts but *talented* expiring contracts for AI’s ridiculously bad contract. I’m also a little surprised that people balked at trading JJ for Amare but are now willing to turn around and trade him for AI? Plus, this trade does nothing to address the logjam in the frontcourt but makes our backcourt dangerously thin.
For now the only thing that matters about next year is will LeBron stay? That, and will the Cavs be the defending NBA champions, of course.
It would be terrifically hard to turn down. On a purely personal level, the only person of that group I would feel sad about is Delonte. I feel like with all his problems, the Cavaliers are perhaps the only team in the league that can cope with him and are willing to make exceptions for him. Obviously the leagues a business and all, but I would hate to see an unstable guy with bipolar disorder who seems to be on the mend a little get traded to a team with no experience and history with him.
Mat is reading my mind with his point about depth in my hypothetical Iguodala trade. At this point, I’d argue the Cavs are the deepest team in the league. So much so that, as others have pointed out, they could field two quality starting lineups. That depth is vital for the regular season. In the playoffs, however, it would be nice to have that strength consolidated a little bit. Let’s say the 4-for-1 Iguodala proposal above goes down (excluding Powe). Your roster for the stretch run of next season looks like this: Mo Iguodala LeBron Jamison Shaq (let’s assume a… Read more »
West, Hickson, and Powe more than outplay their $7 million cap value. With their current contracts, I would consider all three quality keepers. Not sure that AP’s contributions and his fit in a Bron-centric team necessarily exclude him from being in that group, either. Not to say that we should expect that the Cavs can trade for a player of Iggy’s caliber without giving up some quality keepers, but they should be viewed as more than just ECs. I think the trade that kept getting batted around was Hickson, Parker, Boobie, and some others, as well as perhaps a pick,… Read more »
On a side note, I almost guarantee the trade-buyout-resign thing is going to absolutely be changed if the casvs win a title this year. To much crying about it this time around for David Stern to do nothing.
I think Iguodala is kind of redundant for the Cavs every minute LeBron is on the floor, which doesn’t make me think he’s worth the $12M a year. If he was cheaper, I’d be interested. But with the Cavs personnel I think he’s a 6th man at best and not worth losing 3-4 quality guys for.
I’m not sure I’d trade all those pieces for Iguodala – though I am a huge Iguodala fan – I wanted the Cavs to get him badly this year. That’s a lot of players for one guy. We certainly wouldn’t have the “depth” we have this year. However, a starting lineup with Iguodala, LeBron, and Jamison would terrorize teams offensively. I would venture to guess that D West would get another contract similar to the last one from the Cavs after this season. Hickson also has too much upside to use 1 and a half mil as an expiring. Great… Read more »
Hi guys, longtime lurker, first-time poster. Here’s a blog post for discussion, I’d love to get some feedback from John and the all the respected regulars: Z was this year’s coveted expiring contract. The Cavs clearly had a hypothetical plan in place to use his contract as an asset in a deal all season long, as evidenced by the fact that they a.) braced Z for a possible trade in the pre-season, and b.) smartly saved their bi-annual exception in order to eventually re-sign him after dealing him away. The other significance to today is that the Cavs made the… Read more »
and the z was happy…
Pumped to have Z back.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
As far as the Cavs being 13-7 against the other top 9 teams in the NBA, according to the link provided they are actually 13-6. Denver is 14-7, and if I did my math correctly, means we actually have the highest winning percentage against the top 10 teams in the NBA.
Again…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYHXmPZK7w
Welcome Back, Big Z!
I am blessed enough to be going to the game on sunday, and i honestly get a little choked up just thinking about what that moment is going to be like… im so excited i literally want to fastforward to sunday afternoon.. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!
I don’t want to put his return to the Q on a pedestal or anything, but when he receives the standing ovation that he absolutely deserves, I’m going to get extremely choked up — as will every other true Cavaliers fan.
He’s only 34, so I don’t know if he would retire this early, maybe he’s thinking that if he does well this playoff season – he can negotiate a better contract for next year.
I wonder what the thinking was behind Z signing a one year deal, since it’s my understanding that the Cavs also gave him the option for another year? Might retirement be in the cards (especially if the Cavs win a title), or is he just keeping his options open?
I want to echo another line from Terry Pluto’s piece on Z. From someone named Kristen Carrick:
“Our children need more decent athletes and role models to look up to in this world, and we have been blessed to know him even just a little bit.”
Amen.