| One Brown Okay, Two Brown No Way Authored by Keith Berzanske - May 31, 2005 - 4:24 pm
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First of all, let's agree that Larry Brown is a great basketball coach. Let's also agree that this has nothing to do with the problem at hand.
Larry Brown has never shown great patience (note the incessant job hopping and fickleness with regards to his players) and has never shown that he is a keen evaluator of talent. So much of what a vice president of basketball operations does is long term as well as short term. How then can a man who has never been into things for the long term be put in such a position?
The job of evaluating and acquiring talent and managing the salary cap would be better trusted either to a newcomer who is levelheaded with a basketball mind, like Danny Ferry, or someone with an experienced track record, like Rick Sund. Or even Lenny Wilkens. People forget how successful Wilkens was as a general manager in both Portland and Seattle in the 70's, building championship squads in both places. Larry Brown has never done this, and in most places, he milked the max out of his team, but left the cupboard bare upon his departure.
Brown also is not fond of young players, and is likely to trade the Cavaliers young talent to acquire overpriced veterans who may have one or two good years remaining. Brown made numerous trades of this ilk while in Philadelphia, notably sacrificing Larry Hughes in the Toni Kukoc deal. I want someone in charge who is going to allow our nucleus of LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Luke Jackson, Anderson Varejao, and Aleksandar Pavlovic grow together.
You loyal readers helped once, as you read and distributed the facts about Jim Paxson which I outlined, and helped get Paxson's heinous track record brought to the light for the new ownership group. Here's your chance once again. Make Dan Gilbert aware - Larry Brown is a name, but he's the wrong name, for the wrong team, at the wrong time.
On the other hand, let Gilbert and the Cavaliers organization know that you support the hire of Mike Brown as the new coach. Brown should relate well to the players and is solid in his knowledge of the game, especially at the defensive end. He should be a success. All of you clamoring for a 'name coach', remember that before guys like Phil Jackson and George Karl were names, they were assistants waiting for an opportunity. Just like Mike Brown.
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2005 DRAFT
The Cavaliers do not have a pick. However, they should consider trading into the draft, even if it is in the second round. There is some quality talent that maybe be had at the end of round one or at the top of round two.
Here's my initial take on who will be the 30 players selected in the first round (in no particular order):
Andrew Bogut
Chris Paul
Marvin Williams
Deron Williams
Raymond Felton
Sean May
Rashad McCants
Hakim Warrick
Chris Taft
Danny Granger
Joey Graham
Tiago Splitter
Johan Petro
Fran Vasquez
Jarrett Jack
Gerald Green
Martell Webster
Ike Diogu
Charlie Villanueva
Wayne Simien
Antoine Wright
Ronny Turiaf
Monta Ellis
Channing Frye
Francisco Garcia
Rudy Fernandez
Martynas Andriuskevicius
Julius Hodge
Kennedy Winston
Roko Ukic
guys that might sneak in but if not are sure to go in Round 2:
Brandon Bass
Daniel Ewing
Salim Stoudemire
David Lee
Dee Brown
Randolph Morris
Andray Blatche
CJ Miles
Marko Thomas
Ersan Ilyasova
Nemanja Aleksandrov
Andrew Bynum
Nate Robinson
Ryan Gomes
Lawrence Roberts
Pierre Pierce
Louis Williams
Linas Kleiza
Dijon Thompson
Brandon Rush
John Gilchrist
Eddie Basden
Erazam Lorbek
Kosta Perovic
that only leaves 6 spots for all players I have not listed to be drafted. Meaning there are a lot of guys who should have stayed in school...
(Note that these are not necessarily how I rank the players in terms of talent either, just where I think they will be drafted.)
There are rumors that the 19 pick is for sale. If the Cavs can get in there without giving up too much (may cost them Pavlovic), they might land a nice player like Warrick, Jack, McCants, Frye, or Garcia. If they were to moveinto the second rond instead, they' d be best off loooking at the likes of Stoudemire, Rush, Morris, Turiaf, or Ukic. The real question is whether a specific person will be taking responsibility for this draft if we do acquire a pick, and who will that be. Whoever it si, their most important duty this summer will ne be the draft, but to figure out a way to either sign Z in a cost effective manner or let him go and use his money for something else. Also, a legitamite shooter must be acquired somehow. I still can't believe that Jim Paxson gave away so many first round picks for marginal players, when teams like Denver have been able to group first round picks to get talent like Kenyon Martin, and teams like Golden State can get players like Baron Davis without even sacrificing draft picks.
I'm confident that the Cavaliers will have LeBron James in the fold for some time. People forget that James will be eligible to sign a huge extension at the end of this season, which he'd be almost a fool not to, as it is worth such a ridiculous amount above what other teams can offer. Plus, I find it hard to believe that LeBron would find cause to screw over his hometown squad after such a short time in uniform. Certainly, he feels the challenge of making the playoffs and knows that taking the Cavaliers to playoff success woudl cement his reputation. The Cavaliers have already improved ggreatly, from 17 wins to 35 to 42, and the next step will cement LeBron's legacy. And while I love Dwyane Wade, he is no LeBron, and as soon as leBron makes a playoff appearance, fans will be reminded of the difference. |
