With their rematch against the Heat tonight at what is sure to be a half-filled Miami arena, its time for the Cavs to look at the big picture.
The Cavs are 27th in league scoring, 22nd in points allowed, 26th in rebounds and 22nd in assists. Combine that with their current eight game losing streak and it isn't just the weather that is pretty bleak in Cleveland. However, lets dwell on the positives, JJ looks good when he gets touches and plays 25+ minutes per game, we're getting career numbers out of Varejao (perhaps not a bad time to trade him), Manny Harris has looked promising in his limited minutes and most impressive of all is the overall versatility and drive from Boobie Gibson.
With a new CBA coming up in the NBA the Cavs are in a great position to re-build for the future. They have three quality expiring contracts (Powe, Parker and Moon) as well as Jamison's short term advantages for a playoff team in need of some help. A team like Atlanta could definetly use Jamison's scoring abilities off the bench, especially right now with a sidelined Joe Johnson and a very inconsistent Marvin Williams. If the Cavs could pull off a trade with the $15 trade exception they have, they could totally retool their roster while still gaining a lottery pick and hopefully an improved Christian Eyenga for next season.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=37snh76
A trade like this isn't as far fetched as it seems, Mayo is not fitting into Memphis' plans, Williams of the Hawks is struggling and Atlanta desperately needs scoring off the bench. The Cavs take Bibby to make this work and then buy out his contract (similar to the Wizards buying out Ilgauskas last year), they clear Parker and Jamison and give themselves a new nucleus of Mayo/Williams/Hickson. The Grizzlies get cap relief through Parker to allow themselves more off-season flexibility and if the Cavs throw in one of the Miami draft picks to help sweeten the deal. The Grizzlies also remove Demare Carrol from their roster who definetly doesn't fit and was just sent to the D-Leauge. This exact trade probaly won't happen but the Cavs have assests to pull off something similar to a team desperate to get out of long term deals or in need of an added punch for the playoffs.
Id be all for that because clearly for the cavs that's a GREAT deal. However mayo has been big in any success the grizzlies have had due to the scoring off the bench he gives them...the hawks would probably go for it however. There will be some trade after byron gets a good look at each player on the team and knows who he wants to keep
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree that they're waiting to know who fits into Scott's system and who doesn't but I think Mayo will be traded if something comes up for Memphis, they just dropped stacks on Rudy Gay to be the franchise guy and Mayo is getting career lows in points, minutes and field goal percentage
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