We Are All Witnesses To Horrible Team Play

Sorry LeBron all those dreams and hopes of championships were dashed in a myriad of match-up problems, bad coaching, bad officiating all over and horrible play from team mates. Now I know that the series isn't over and am still an advocate that it will now go seven games, cause if one player can carry a team from a 3-1 defect, it is LeBron James.

In trying to figure out the reason for this sudden collapse, there seems to be no one real answer just a bunch of bad scenarios adding up. Mike Brown is, and always was, a horrible head coach. As a defensive coordinator he would be ideal, but his substitutions and "plays" are all from the mind of a high school basketball team that loses games. Joe Smith needs more floor time covering Rashard Lewis, Delonte should be on Courtney Lee and James on Hedo. Do not double and triple Dwight every time he touches the ball! Stay on your man, every once in awhile have a man step out and double, but make Howard beat you himself without these extra freebie 3 pointers. Wally has seen far to much floor time as has Sasha who is still way too streaky night to night. The small line-up works well in short bursts, but have the big men rotate more often to keep them fresh. We all realize that Wallace is a horrible offensive option but he is the best defender on Howard and if you sub in Joe Smith with him then you get another decent to good offensive look. Also Mike Brown needs to grow a sack and set in and tell James no when he starts to take over the fourth quarter. Every game this series he has taken seemingly every shot in the fourth, while wasting as much clock as possible. I realize that your team isn't that good, but they aren't even getting shot attempts in the fourth! That is a horrendous stat. Also, what happened to that "team comradery?"

If the Cavs win this series and then win the finals nothing will be changed by Danny Ferry, which will turn out to be a mistake. If we lose I know he will try to blow it up and get whatever he can to please LeBron. Now I have had quite a few posts on what the Cavs should do so this one will be shorter and sweeter. Rip Hamilton is an unlikely possibility to get. The next best thing would have to be Iggy, and he is more attainable than one may think. Currently he plays the small forward spot and currently Andre Miller is a free agent seriously thinking about Portland this offseason. So what does it all mean? Trade Mo Williams and Delonte West to them for Iggy that way they get a starting one and two guard, considering Delonte would surely beat out Willie Green. Now they still have Lou Williams and Elton Brad is coming back so they can slide Thaddeus Young in to a more natural spot at the three and have a flexible line-up where they can go big and small. What we get is a legit proven scorer who needs a main man to take pressure off him and can create his own shot and for others. Not to mention he is young and a damn good defender. Two minor problems, would Philly really want to trade their star player and the Cavs lose both potential starting point guards. Well remember when the Celtics threw Rondo in to the starting line-up? The Cavs could easily do this with Daniel Gibson. Now I really wanted to see improvements in his play this year, but he seems to have gotten worse. Acquiring Mo and Being injured most of the year seem to me to be the main problems. I think give him the starting job and he will flourish and develop and if he doesn't then the draft and free agency are always available. Regardless Cleveland's "offense" doesn't run through the point anyways it runs through James and Iggy would also be able to help out in running the show.

Free agency has several hidden gems, that would help this new team. Re-signing Andy for cheap would be great and getting Z to use his ETO and also take less money would be amazing. If not I would not be afraid to put him and Ben Wallace on the block and at the least shed those salaries. If Andy doesn't re-sign so power forward/center free agents possibilities would be Leon Powe, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox, Marcin Gortat and possibly even Rasheed Wallace (which would be weird and may actually kill the team so I pray he stays a Piston). Don't like the idea of Boobie running the show, well if we give Mo to Philly they have no reason to re-sign Andre Miller who would be a pretty good veteran to get back in Cleveland. Or there is always Raymond Felton that we could take a chance on but he may get a bigger than expected payday from the Bobcats so I don't see that happening. A back up swing man for James that isn't named Wally would help. Marvin Williams would likely get a good payday from the Hawks, Josh Childress may be a better idea anyways, if he decides to come back. My favorite idea is still Joey Graham and trading Sasha for him is still a good idea, it would give us extra cap room or at least take us down from being in the luxury tax. Linas Klezia is another possible hidden gem that no one seems to notice.

The draft is where we could actually hit big, or not hit at all because Danny Ferry's track record is a sad, sad sight. Would really love Stephen Curry as our young developing point guard, even over Boobie, and if somehow we can trade up I would in a second. I would get players James like this year, while creating a good all around team too, and Curry is a player James likes. We would have to take either a center, power forward or point guard in case Boobie does not work out with our first pick. There are no centers worth the pick and a player that should be around that I'd really like to have is Tyler Hansbrough. Why would a team not want a proven winner, who has done a lot with a little in terms of athleticism, has a good size and hustles always on the court? He could become a starter, I won't say he will be a star, but he'll get his points cause of a nice developing jump shot and his defense will be good because he hustles. Playing with James and now Iggy will help him get open looks and he can rebound and is a smart player who will learn anything he needs quickly. With the second pick just go to trade it or look for size in a center that can learn under Z hopefully, or be a piece in a trade.

Other than that I'm sure that with the great amount of point guards in this year's draft that some will slip to free agency. Find them, sign them, develop them. Go for producers in college, like Scottie Reynolds and Dominic James who are being help back by scouts because of size and other such trivial things. Trades of Ben Wallace and potentially Z will have to happen because of how bad they hurt the team overall. Hopefully a serviceable big man can be had in return, if not Ben Wallace needs to be dumped for salary cap reasons. Maybe Chris Bosh can be had with his contract and that little switcheroo of Sasha and Joey Graham. Some current free agents like Patrick Ewing Jr, Chris Richard, Mike Sweetney and Austin Croshere are all better twelve men than Lorenzen Wright.

posted by: Jason