The Cockiness.....

[nasty daddy]

-= original quote snipped =-



Why lock it? its not that bad.

Obviously the guy that started this thread, to start trouble and get a reaction out of us all.

[L&H_05]

That being said, the Cavs front office is pathetic. How can you have the best (or one of the best) players in the game and not surround him with quality players. Ferry totally overspent on marginal players and has painted himself into a corner. LeBron needs help if he wants to win it all.

I just want to touch on this a bit if I may..

It's very easy for you to say the following: "How can you have the best (or one of the best) players in the game and not surround him with quality players"

Yet, if you looked into the situation at all, you would understand it a bit better..

Ferry came from San Antonio in the summer of '05 after the Spurs and Pistons went to the furthest point you could possibly go (game 7 of the finals)

He was immediately ushered into a situation here in Cleveland where the Cavs were coming off back to back situations where they missed out on the playoffs by 1 game...

At that point, LBJ was two years in with no playoff games under his belt... Ferry had limited time coming from San Antonio to really get a good feel for what was going on here...

The goal (at that time) was to get enough surrounding talent around LBJ, to get him to the playoffs in the 05-06 season, and to show him that they were making a commitment to getting him a roster to compete, so he would re-sign in the summer of 06...

Ferry knew the basics... He knew LBJ's game, and he knew he needed a couple shooters, and another guy that could slash, score, and handle the ball..

Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall were 2 of the top 5 three point shooters that season... And Larry Hughes was coming off an all star caliber year as well...22pts, 4 or 5 boards and 4 or 5 assists.

The Cavs had no chance at Ray Allen, Michael Redd or Joe Johnson, so their hand was forced to overspend for Hughes..All the moves didn't pan out, and it hurt the cap space...

Keep in mind, the moves at the time were to get into the playoffs... Since we've gotten into the playoffs, we've had some success which has speeded up the growing process, and the goal has now changed from just getting to the playoffs, to now winning a championship..

Ferry has been quiet since then, and even though I and most Cavs fans hate it, it's pretty much by design... He's not going to compromise this team's cap space for the summer of '09 (the year before LBJ's deal is up), and the summer of '10 when LBJ and the other guys come off the books... The Cavs will have some money to spend the year before LBJ is up, and then will have a ton more the year he is up (and hopefully re-signed of course)--but should have more than enough to surround him with a significant piece or two..

But if Ferry pulls some knee-jerk deal right now, it just compounds the problem he created in 2005 by not having any cap flexibility in critical years, and he knows it...

Now that he's fully in-tune with this teams needs, and the players LBJ needs around him to win, I think he'll be more successful when he gets to use his mulligan, and will look to improve the roster when he has the means to do so...

[B Mac]

I've missed you guys.

One thing we can agree on, it will be a fun couple months, especially with our teams playing each other so much.

[Champs04bigshot]

I agree with this assesment. Billups and other players on the pistons will tell you they treat all regular season games the same because they have played in game 7 of the finals. This to me is a bad way to think because we have seen it the last two years that if its not the finals or a close out game the pistons are to over confident.

They believe by showing up its handed to them. I think that Billups mindset is key to our success. Every game in the playoffs has to matter to them because not all games are the finals and by the time its a close out game it is to late for him to come focused. We saw that last year with the Cavs. We need him to be more serious with the first and second round games so his mindset it right for the big series.

[theBigLip]

Ferry didn't have to spend as much as he did. He needed to get some players, but didn't have to overspend. And I don't know if he's not spending now to save money, or the fact that the Cavs are up against the Lux Tax and he has no more room. Either way, LBJ is not getting much help anytime soon and that's all right with me.

[Manocad]

But I can't see how Pistons fans didn't take notice to Billups and Rasheed commenting how Cleveland isn't any good, even though they had just closed out the Pistons.

That was last year. The Pistons have a more developed bench this year, not to mention that the Cavs are nothing more than LeBron short of being a disaster. The better question is what will the Cavs do to overcome being exposed as a one-dimensional team that many called undeserving of being in the Finals in the first place?

And if I were a Cavs fan I'd be writing nasty letters to the Cavs management every chance I got. Nothing like having one of the top talents in the league and consistently screwing the team eight ways to Sunday.

[Bamboozled]

It does seem like the Pistons placed a larger emphasis on developing their bench during training camp. It doesn't seem that long ago that Detriot would only go 7 deep in their rotation. Now it looks like there's a few more gamers on your bench like Stucky and Affalo, as well as Maxiell, who's gonna be a really good center for a while.

I do think that a little slack should be given on the Hughes/Marshall/Jones/Big Z signings of 2005 for 2 reasons. 1. Hughes was played us all for fools during his contract year by giving off the impression that he could play basketball, while Marshall and Jones are just role players. But the second reason i'm inclined to hold off on tying the noose around Ferry's neck (and a far less racist-seeming way of getting rid of Brown) is that there will always be a bit of paranoia surrounding Lebron's career in Cleveland. It's pretty clear that the guy's star is much larger than the entire Cavs organization, so there's always going to be a bit of pressure to make a quick fix in order to keep Lebron in position to contend for a championship while wearing a Cavs uniform.

That said, Ferry has made a few mistakes since then that he should admit to, such as not signing Beno Udrich when he had the chance as well as not picking up Shannon Brown's contract, making him a lame duck this season. Also, since this is a Michigan-based chat, does anyone have an opinion on Shannon Brown from when he was at MSU?

[theBigLip]

I do think that a little slack should be given on the Hughes/Marshall/Jones/Big Z signings of 2005 for 2 reasons. 1. Hughes was played us all for fools during his contract year by giving off the impression that he could play basketball, while Marshall and Jones are just role players. But the second reason i'm inclined to hold off on tying the noose around Ferry's neck (and a far less racist-seeming way of getting rid of Brown) is that there will always be a bit of paranoia surrounding Lebron's career in Cleveland. It's pretty clear that the guy's star is much larger than the entire Cavs organization, so there's always going to be a bit of pressure to make a quick fix in order to keep Lebron in position to contend for a championship while wearing a Cavs uniform.

I agree that any Cavs GM has to suck up to LeBron but share with him your long term plan rather than making bad short term choices. Hughes did tank and has been injured, but they still paid too much for him.

I agree