Cavs in Tough Position - Sign Varejao

With the Charlotte Bobcats and Anderson Varejao coming to terms on a 3-year deal that is reportedly in the $17MM range, I am going against my previous posts and saying it is now time for the Cavs to sign Varejao.

After watching the Cavs play the Nets tonight, it is very apparent that this team needs all the help they can get at this point. I understand that Lebron was on the bench hurt, but Vince Carter was on the bench for most of the game as well. What was the difference in the Nets embarrassing the Cavs on their home court tonight? They had Jason Kidd & Richard Jefferson to fall back on. The Cavs have no one to fall back to after Lebron, so it is going to take a collaborative effort of a group as a whole to back up Lebron this season.

Separate from the fact that they need all the help they can get, it's actually not the worst deal ever for the Cavs. As Chad Ford of ESPN puts it, if the Cavs were willing to offer Varejao 5-years at $32MM, why wouldn't they match an offer of 3-years at $17MM. That actually probably is the going rate for a 7 point - 7 rebound guy anyway. Let's hope though, that Varejao can be a 10 and 10 player for this much money.

The Cavs have one week now to match the offer and it looks like it might happen regardless of the ill will between the Cavs front office and Varejao. The Cavs are riddled with horrible contracts that don't expire for another 2-3 years anyway, making it virtually impossible to sign major free agents and impossible to trade away a lot of these average players with star-money contracts. Varejao would have an opt-out-option, which he would probably exercise, after 2 years. This means this deal would expire right about the same time they can unload some of the other dead weight they are carrying.

Coincidentally, that will be at the same time as when the Cavs will be offering Lebron James more money than Bill Gates takes home in a year. Over the next two years, this team needs to do anything possible to please one person - Lebron. Matching the Bobcats offer for Varejao may not mean 20 points or 10 rebounds a game, but strategically it shows Lebron that the team is making every effort in their current situation to improve and win a championship now, not later.

The Cavs have looked so bad lately, that it was even nice seeing Eric Snow on the court tonight. This is no different than last year's frustrations, so let's shoot for a middle seed in the playoffs and hand Lebron the ball on every play come playoff time. With Varejao flopping all over the place in the playoffs and Lebron averaging a triple-double, this team can still make a run at a title.

Suns Fans Fail to Set the Curve

With my Cavs coming into the desert only one time a year, my wife and I decided to pony up the money for some nice mid-court seats at US Airways Arena last night. From what we had heard, this is where the true sports fans of Arizona exist. Well, once again, Arizona sports fans failed to deliver.

I know I often find myself attacking Arizona fans or any fans other my teams' fans, but having been to numerous arenas around the country and having lived in six different media markets, it is just unbelievable to me the way Arizona supports it's home teams.

Being a 6:00 pm Sunday start time in Phoenix, we didn't see the normal late arriving Arizona crowd, so everything got off on a good note. But from there things simply went quiet, extremely quiet. There was no life at all in the fans or the arena.

It took until mid-way through the 3rd quarter for Phoenix fans to get off their feet and cheer. That happened to be the first time they took the lead. The fans had nothing up until that point. No cheering, chanting or even standing up the entire first half. You can still cheer if your team is losing by five points.

As a visiting fan, I even commented to my wife about how nice it is to not have to stand up after every single score or good run. That was something I wasn't used to. And other than us cheering for every nice play Cleveland would make, our section was dead silent.

What was even more disturbing was the mass exodus with four minutes left to go in the game, with the Suns only up by five. It was literally a run to the parking lot. Yes, the Suns were starting to take control, but with Lebron James on the floor at the end of a close game, why head for the gates. It would be one thing if it was for total confidence in the Suns, but this was purely for getting out of traffic, of which, there is none after downtown Phoenix games. Getting home is a breeze compared to other cities. It was only 8:30 pm.

Yes, I am bitter that the Cavs lost, but they kept it close. Much closer than the 40 points they could have lost by. Being from out of town you just can't help but be angered by fans around here. They will fight you until the death about how loyal and true they are and then turn around and not show up, leave early or completely forget to cheer their team on.

"Best fans in basketball" is what I heard the entire night. These folks must not get around to many road games.

Evidently the Cavs are Finished

I have yet to read one NBA forecast that has the Cavs returning to the NBA finals this season. In fact, some outlets have them as the 5th best team in the East. Everyone seems to be jumping on the Leprechaun train. And I mean everyone. Is the media not the most predictable industry in the world?

What gets me is that the media receives their information from themselves, the media. They don't research and get into each team's camp, the prospects, the true hearts of each NBA franchise. Yes, the Suns will be good. Yes, the Celtics will be better. Yes, the Cavs didn't go out and sign every free agent in the world this off-season. Yes, Yes, Yes! We all can see these things. But what doesn't the media see?

What they don't seem to put into their predictions is that the Cavs ran the table last year. They beat and ran over the Eastern Conference. Lebron is still young, very young and getting better. Scary better. What Jordon did to will his team to wins will soon be nothing compared to what Lebron can do as a one man show for his team. His outside shot has improved tremendously this off-season and he will only get better at driving to the basket. Something he didn't do with real determination and passion until the playoffs last season.

And believe it or not, the supporting cast actually got better. Gibson will now be a starter. He didn't develop until the very end of last season and saw little playing time early on. Hughes will be better. With the injuries and personal issues behind him, fans will see a better Larry Hughes. Gooden is still young and his continual yearly improvement will still be there. Look for Gooden to have his first double-double average year.

The Center position has been an issue with me for a couple years now, but if they made it to the finals with Big Z in there last year, then they can do it again this year. I'd like to see Pavlovic signed and with the team this year, but as for Varejao, good-bye and good luck. I'll miss the charges he takes, but that's really all he brings to the team. The hype about the emotion he brings to the team is just that, hype. He didn't do much on the boards and was of zero help on offense. What's killing the Cavs now is the salary cap and Varejao would just be a huge strike against it, now and during the years that some other contracts free up.

Now, on to the two reasons why I feel the media and predictors have really missed the boat this year - Mr. Brown & Mr. Brown. And I'm not talking about the coach Mr. Brown either.

Shannon Brown is going to be good. Real good. I was excited when they drafted him last year and from the very, very few times he was on the floor for more than five minutes last year, my excitement level was satisfied. He's fast, explosive, can shoot, can penetrate, is quick on defense and can put up 15 points a game this season. The injuries hurt his playing time last year, but he was still able to develop more.

The other Mr. Brown is the Cavs only real off-season acquisition, Devin Brown. The major and glaring flaw in the Cavs game is that they haven't had scorers other than Lebron. The guys that can hit a wide open 14 foot jump shot. Devin is one of these guys. Shannon is that guy. Larry can be that guy. Daniel is that guy. Sasha is that guy.

Lebron should be a 10 assists a game player. The best indication of how this team is performing will not be by the number of points that Lebron is averaging a game, but by the number of assists. There were and will be three guys open every time Lebron has the ball. All this supporting cast has to do is knock down the wide open shot. This group above can do that.

The world revolves around Lebron as we know, and it's that world around him that will help lead the Cavs back to the Championship series this season. But once in the playoffs, look for Lebron's killer instinct to develop more. He is extremely close to having the ability to will any team to victory.