Cleavland and Atlanta talking

[mrmsix6]

There is no chance that the Cavs give up any combination of Varejao/Tristan Thompson/1st round pick for Josh Smith/Marvin Williams, let alone anyone else on the Hawks roster.

Someone seriously considered "Josh and Marvin for Jamison, Sessions, an unprotected pick, and Tristan Thompson" as something the Cavs wouldn't laugh at? Think about what you're proposing: 2 lottery picks, a huge expiring contract in Jamison (who is still a capable scorer this year), and a decent PG in Sessions for a 0-time all star PF with a low BBIQ and a lousy contract in Marvin Williams. Yup, that would be laughed at by the Cavs.

[Superiorblogman]

Cavs have nothing the Hawks should be interested in other than expirings and lotto picks. Josh Smith should not even be in the equation for a expiring or a late lotto pick. Cavs are the ones that should be getting laughed at here.

[Rip2137]

How is Anderson Varajo any more a center than Al Horford? A inch and 5 lbs is the difference between a CLEAR PF in Horford and a Center in Anderson?

[ATL Boy]

There is no chance that the Cavs give up any combination of Varejao/Tristan Thompson/1st round pick for Josh Smith/Marvin Williams, let alone anyone else on the Hawks roster.

Someone seriously considered "Josh and Marvin for Jamison, Sessions, an unprotected pick, and Tristan Thompson" as something the Cavs wouldn't laugh at? Think about what you're proposing: 2 lottery picks, a huge expiring contract in Jamison (who is still a capable scorer this year), and a decent PG in Sessions for a 0-time all star PF with a low BBIQ and a lousy contract in Marvin Williams. Yup, that would be laughed at by the Cavs.

The Cavs wouldn't be in the lotto if they got Josh Smith, they'd probably get the number 8 spot the way the bottom of the east is. And btw Smith>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Thompson. Also the Cavs writers and reporters should GTFO with these Bull **** Smith/Marvin for Jamison rumors. That's something even Sund would laugh at. Like Blogman said the Cavs have nothing of interest to us other than expirings/lotto picks

[evildallas]

How is Anderson Varajo any more a center than Al Horford? A inch and 5 lbs is the difference between a CLEAR PF in Horford and a Center in Anderson?

He's more willing to play C than Horford and from watching the two play each other AV plays with a lot more length judging from the rebounding. Also for me the key is the draft picks this year to hopefully land Centers to groom. If we added a late lottery (or middle of the round pick) to our own, I'd say we go for Fab Melo (if you're not going to eligible then declare for the draft) and Festus Ezeli. That's 2 shots at a real NBA C to learn behind Varejao. If Cleveland's pick is high enough I consider Tyler Zeller (or Cody if he declares, but I don't think he will) as the big because he's more ready than Fab Melo.

If I draft a big the first thing I do is contact Clifford Ray and see if he'd like to come to Atlanta to work with my new project(s).

[evildallas]

As for Cleveland laughing, I'd point out that I didn't even include Thompson in my trade scenario. Also the horrible contract of Marvin Williams isn't actually that horrible. He has 2 more years at 16M on it. His PER is considerably higher than any SF that Cleveland has. Furthermore he plays good defense. His contract hurts us because we have 3 other guys in the lineup adding up to 50M dollars and only 1 player on a rookie scale deal. Cleveland is under the cap and have Irving and Thompson on rookie deals for many years to come. They can easily afford Marvin Williams at SF and improve their roster.

How about Marvin Williams for Omri Casspi:

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=8yg8au9

Saves us a lot a cap space and probably pushes the Cavs over the top into the playoffs because it doesn't cost them Sessions or Jamison and upgrades one of the 2 weak spots in their lineup.

[johnny878]

How is Anderson Varajo any more a center than Al Horford? A inch and 5 lbs is the difference between a CLEAR PF in Horford and a Center in Anderson?

He's more willing to play C than Horford and from watching the two play each other AV plays with a lot more length judging from the rebounding. Also for me the key is the draft picks this year to hopefully land Centers to groom. If we added a late lottery (or middle of the round pick) to our own, I'd say we go for Fab Melo (if you're not going to eligible then declare for the draft) and Festus Ezeli. That's 2 shots at a real NBA C to learn behind Varejao. If Cleveland's pick is high enough I consider Tyler Zeller (or Cody if he declares, but I don't think he will) as the big because he's more ready than Fab Melo.

If I draft a big the first thing I do is contact Clifford Ray and see if he'd like to come to Atlanta to work with my new project(s).

The reason Varajo is thought of more of a center than AL is because Al is soft as hell. Whereas Varajo plays hard.

It doesnt matter the guys height or length, if he plays soft, people always will say he is a natural powerforward

[Ruhiel]

The reason Varajo is thought of more of a center than AL is because Al is soft as hell. Whereas Varajo plays hard.

It doesnt matter the guys height or length, if he plays soft, people always will say he is a natural powerforward

Agenda

Horford disagrees with this bolded part. “I'm fine with [center] but my natural position is obviously the four,” he said.

[parson]

The reason Varajo is thought of more of a center than AL is because Al is soft as hell. Whereas Varajo plays hard.

It doesnt matter the guys height or length, if he plays soft, people always will say he is a natural powerforward

That wasn't true until the end of last year. Up till then, he'd been a pretty tough player. I wonder if the back injury (Griffin throw-down) and the hamstring problems contributed. Still, he has a record of production at Center that merits a little more respect, I think. A career 9.4 rebound/game Center, giving up size and weight almost every game and playing good defense is not soft. Horford also has more than 50% more blocks/game than Varajao.

Varajao is a career 7.2 reb/game player, and only in the last 2 years has he done any strong rebounding. He's only rebounding well now at 29 years old - his prime. His most effective feature on defense is flopping. CLE would take Horford for Varajao every time and laugh at us.

[TheOUTLAW]

Varajao is a career 7.2 reb/game player, and only in the last 2 years has he done any strong rebounding. He's only rebounding well now at 29 years old - his prime. His most effective feature on defense is flopping. CLE would take Horford for Varajao every time and laugh at us.

None of this is true. Varejao has always been a good offensive rebounder, but his minutes have been up the last 2 years. Not to mention, his job description changed significantly the last 2 years over when we had Z, LeBron and various other bigs who were also good rebounders (this was why the Cavs were always among the best rebounding teams in the NBA). You view on his defense is not only wrong but laughable.

[parson]

Varajao is a career 7.2 reb/game player, and only in the last 2 years has he done any strong rebounding. He's only rebounding well now at 29 years old - his prime. His most effective feature on defense is flopping. CLE would take Horford for Varajao every time and laugh at us.

None of this is true. Varejao has always been a good offensive rebounder, but his minutes have been up the last 2 years. Not to mention, his job description changed significantly the last 2 years over when we had Z, LeBron and various other bigs who were also good rebounders (this was why the Cavs were always among the best rebounding teams in the NBA). You view on his defense is not only wrong but laughable.

Everything I posted was true.
His career average is 7.2/game.
He has averaged 23.9 or more min/game since his 3rd NBA season (23.9 - 27.5 - 28.5 - 28.5 - 32.1 - 31.4). In that span, only in the last 2 seasons has he averaged more than 8.3 reb/game - a strong 9.7 and 11.5 in those last 2 years.

I think you really meant to post that you disagreed with the thrust of my statement, not that "None of this is true." But, unless you re-interpret "strong rebounding" to mean "decent rebounding", unless you discount Varajao's fame as a flopper, unless you grossly undervalue Al Horford's worth in relation to Varajao's .... you have to at least admit I have some good points.

[HMFFL]

Alex Kennedy: The Lakers weren't the only team pursuing Ramon Sessions. The Hawks expressed interest as well. Lucky for LA, those talks didn't progress. Twitter