Matt Barnes, Shannon Brown, and Patience
2010-07-22So the Cavaliers missed out on the Matt Barnes sweepstakes. I’m completely fine with that. Matt Barnes is a very nice player, and he knows how to adopt his game to an uptempo system.
However, getting a player like Matt Barnes without a superstar or anyone who an offense can be built around is putting the horse before the cart. Matt Barnes is a nice role player, but he’s a role player. Overpaying him won’t turn him into a player he’s not. If the Cavs still had LeBron, or even had a guy capable of averaging 7-10 assists per game, then Matt Barnes would have been a nice pickup. They don’t, and he wouldn’t have been.
Paying Matt Barnes real money with the team the way it is now would have been a “statement signing” — the team would’ve overpaid Barnes to show the rest of the league that they plan on being competitive in the coming years. The problem is that statement signings don’t impress anybody, and eventually the team would’ve ended up owing real money to a player who wasn’t helping them achieve their goals.
LeBron + quality duct tape was the best plan Ferry had available to him after the Summer of 2005, but it still kept the Cavs from ever having a true core. Now that LeBron’s gone, the duct tape strategy makes no sense whatsoever. If the Cavs get a player, he better be two of the following three things: cheap, young, or good. If those opportunities aren’t there, the team has plenty of time to wait for them.
All of the above leads me to Shannon Brown. He’s young, he’s got talent, he should thrive in the full-court game, and he’s worth a lowball offer. If he wants real money, he can take a hike. He’s not a playmaker, his shot isn’t all that good, and http://www.neverletshannondunkagain.com is not an available domain. Until tomorrow.
I would have liked Matt Barnes, unfortunately he had the attitude that he needed a HUGE premium to play with the Cavs. With that attitude, the Cavs don’t need him. As of right now, the Cavs will need to play some pretty non traditional lineups next year. Jamario Moon is the starting SF with really no backup over 6′ 6″. Varejao can be an undersized center, but there is no one else tallerr than 6′ 9″. If the Cavs could have signed Matt Barnes and a reasonably low priced center to two years contracts, I thought they could be a… Read more »
I had a dream last night that I met Windy in the restroom at a the Q and we talked about how fucked the team is while we were pissing for what seemed like hours. Perhaps it was Inception.
that lineup would beat the heat’s lineup ANY DAY. if this were 2004. Actually to tell you the truth this would probably be the best lineup ever assembles (substituting Mo for someone comparable). All 4 of those guys in their prime would have been just beauty to watch. Egos though. I think that we should try to turn our prospects into real basketball players. Namely: JJ, Boobie, Eyenga, Varejao, Green. Those are all good role players in the future. And JJ might (in the best possible scenario) be a #2 option. We really need to figure out who is good… Read more »
Cavs should go old for now. Re-sign Shaq then sign T-Mac and AI all to 2 yr deals. Very interesting line-up this season with Mo, AI, T-Mac, Jamison & Shaq. Either we compete or we have an interesting line-up that would sell tickets and we rebuild.
remember when shannon brown was on the cavs? it was awful.
Getting shannon would be good if only to cheer everyone up. Awesome dunks, when not in contest situations…
Completely agree about Matt Barnes. Signing him would be oh so pointless. And about Shannon Brown. He’s still young, has hops, showed flashes. See what he can do for cheap.
And about the Miami picks: isn’t one of them at least five years away? By then the Miami trio will all be 30 and over, with Dwyane Wade around 33 (I can’t see him being effective long past 30). So who knows, it might not end up being a glorified second-rounder.
Draft pics is a way to get cheap, young and good talent – as JK mentioned in his article. Shannon Brown would be a good pick for the Cavs and would thrive in an up-tempo offense. He would also give us a bigger guard to defend other 2’s (something we haven’t really had the luxury of). Now that we’ve signed Eyenga the Cavs are even younger, and more athletic, but I’m not sure if he makes us good. I guess defensively he has the size and quickness and will to be a stopper, so we’ll have to wait and see.… Read more »
I think Tiago Splitter is going to come over here and rip the league up. I can’t wait to see what that dude can do. He was a beast over in Europe.
As opposed to Chip, the brain surgeon, who has to run because he has a patient waiting on the table.
some of you folks have way too much time on your hands.
Thanks, Ben. I just noticed too that Boozer was a second-rounder, so it is possible to get a core guy late, if you’re smart and lucky. I’m curious to see whether Chris Grant will be either one.
Connecticut, Those picks are where, if you do your homework, you can pick up key role players or pick up some steals for low money. Assuming Miami finishes somewhere in the top 5 those years, these are all guys from 2001-2008 picked in slots 26-30 (notice how many of these guys are Spurs picks, too): 2008: George Hill (26) 2007: Aaron Brooks (26); Aaron Afflalo (27); Tiago Splitter (28) [albeit not yet NBA-proven] 2006: Sergio Rodriguez (27) 2005: Linas Kleiza (27); David Lee (30) 2004: Kevin Martin (26) 2003: Kendrick Perkins (27); Leandro Barbosa (28); Josh Howard (29) 2002: John… Read more »
Can anyone address the actual value of those draft picks the Cavs got from Miami in terms of building a “true core”? If they’re Miami’s first rounders and Miami does well (which is likely), they’ll be late picks, like most of the Cavs recent draft picks, so they’re not much use to us or to any team that we might trade them to.