I'm still not sure how I feel about this trade for Bibby. At first glance, the Cavs are getting a quality point guard with playoff experience for Drew Gooden. This I like.A version of the deal was close to happening Thursday, sources said, in a three-way move with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Cavs were believed to be after the rights to Argentine center Luis Scola as well, which the Spurs own. When the talks broke down, the Spurs dealt Scola and reserve forward Jackie Butler to the Houston Rockets.
In exchange, the Spurs received point guard Vassilis Spanoulis and a future second-round pick.
There are expectations the Kings and Cavs will continue to have discussions directly and with other teams.
The Kings, looking to add more scoring to their front line, have been interested in Drew Gooden. According to a source, Damon Jones also might have been included in the potential deal.
But he's coming off a terrible season, filled with nagging injuries and he gets paid $13.5 million next year. That worries me just a tad.
Plus, with Bibby, Hughes, Z and LeBron's contract now kicking in, the Cavs would be paying four guys eight figures, with only one of 'em being an all-star.
And finally, if this trade does happen, I'd like to hope that some other deals would be in the works. The Cavs will have a backcourt of Bibby, Hughes, Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, Shannon Brown and Ira Newble and something will have to give.
Would Pavlovic be let go? Would Gibson and Brown be the sole guards off the bench (I like 'em both, a lot actually, but two second year guys, neither of whom is very tall...)? How would the shot selection break down between LeBron, Bibby and Hughes (nevermind Zydrunas)?
I wasn't expecting a Bibby deal to happen (and it still hasn't), so this is somewhat of a shock to me. Again, I'm not sure a guard 30 year old guard, making $13.5 million, coming off an injury plagued season is the best fit.
But part of me feels, after two seasons with practically the identical roster, that this team just needs some kind of shakeup. At this point, any move is a welcome move (apparently, they are also battling three other teams for James Posey).
Though I'm still waiting for them to hire a Tex Winter/Pete Carril type coach to whisper plays into Mike Brown's ears....
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From Marc Stein:
"The Cavs, sources say, would have to send Drew Gooden to Sacramento in any deal for Bibby, which would make re-signing restricted free agent Anderson Varejao even more of a priority for Cleveland than it was a week ago. Yet Varejao is said to be strongly weighing the prospect of calling off negotiations this summer and invoking Cleveland's $1.3 million qualifying offer for next season, because the sides are so far apart in negotiations. If he chooses that option, Varejao would become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2008.
"A trade involving Gooden would restore a good bit of the leverage Varejao appeared to lose when Memphis decided to use its salary-cap space on Darko Milicic as opposed to the Big Brazilian."
Trading Gooden for Bibby would seem to be closing a hole by opening another one. Basically, Andy would be your starting PF next year and he would have the Cavs by the you-know-whats with regard to getting big money. The Cavs would have to pay Andy what he wants or have absolutely nothing at PF in 2008-09.
Plus you'd be shifting Hughes back over to SG where he doesn't like playing in Mike Brown's so-called "offense." And your entire starting backcourt would be due about $26 million next year, for (if you're lucky) about 30 combined points per game.
I don't know. Seems like an awful lot of risk.
balls.....
Plus, Gooden is athletic AND polished in the low post. Z is polished, Andy is somewhat athletic.
I dunno... I can't fathom a backcourt that combines to shoot %40 and is coached by Mike Brown (and owed $30 million).
I hope something else would give if this deal goes through (I would say try to trade Z and just go small. If you have Bibby, Hughes and Bron making all that money, they're going to need shots. Just run and get more shots. Plus, Brown can't use Z right anways.)
We all know Ferry won't trade Z. They're buds, and anyway Ferry always has the back-pocket excuse of "skilled 7'-3" centers like Z don't grow on trees."
I like Z and I do think you need size to compete with Detroit, Chicago and Miami, but with LeBron here, I'm starting to value athleticism in a supporting cast more and more. Not Darius Miles "run fast/jump high/no idea how to play basketball" athleticism, but shooting, ball handling and an ability to get to the hoop.
From that standpoint, I'm halfway to believing that the Cavs should just re-sign Andy and Pavs and keep the status quo, maybe fill in around the edges with a James Posey-type. I mean, you can certainly do a heck of a lot worse than stand pat with a team that beat Detroit, right?
Looks like the Bibby deal won't happen, at least not at this point with the Kings signing Mikki Moore. I'm not big on Bibby, but his contract was only 2 years, so you could say after one year it would then be an expiring contract.
I just think Ferry has to build for the future, and by future I mean the time when LeBron has to decide on whether to stay or head elsewhere. This is not a "build for the future" type of move because it would put the team in a period of change right about the same time when LeBron has to decide. LBJ's gone through enough change so far, and I doubt it would be comforting to him if have to rely on one year of FA to "reload" the roster, if you will.
Ferry is in a tough position of having to win now, and make sure he's got a very good, stable roster when LeBron has to re-up.
As for Hughes, this guy just doesn't fit anywere. He's not meant to play the point or distribute the ball, he can't shoot, and he slash to the cup with any strength/confidence/effectiveness any longer. So now we're paying a guy tons of cash who can't shoot, can't pass, and can't drive, and on top of that is very injury prone. He plays some good D and that's pretty much all he is worth. We've got a major problem with him no matter what.
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