Thursday, February 07, 2008

Cavs could've had Marion last summer?

From Chad Ford's chat (insider):
Nick (New, York): With Lebron James telling everybody who will listen he wants a trade to happen do you think his teammates will quit on him? The cavs do have one of the best records since Jan 1 so maybe he should just play and "dissing" his teammates!

Chad Ford: The Cavs are doing well in a bad conference. I still think they're not in the same league as this year's Celtics or Pistons and I think everyone in Cleveland knows that too. The problem is that they really don't have the assets they need to pull off a big trade. Their best bet is to try to pawn off their $6.5 million in expiring contracts and perhaps Drew Gooden for a good player. But I'm not sure it will be enough. They need another star. Too bad they balked at a deal this summer that would've sent Gooden, Varejao (in a sign-and-trade) and some of their expiring contracts to Phoenix for Marion.
A week ago, I would've said "I doubt the Suns would've traded Marion for two power forwards" but they just traded him for a 36 year old Shaq (owed $40 million over the next two years!) so who knows...

That being, I'd have done the trade, even with losing both PFs (it'd have been a risk losing both guys AND Marion wants to be The Man- I mean, if Marion can't be happy with Nash, why would he be with LeBron). But James and Marion on the same team... damn, that'd be a matchup nightmare.

(And honestly, the playoffs don't worry me at all. The Celtics are old AND unproven and if the Cavs and the Pistons met in the playoffs, what possible reason could there be to pick Detroit)?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know what to think of that possible deal, but I can certainly see why Ferry rejected it...heck, I don't know, maybe they should have.

Generally speaking, I am concerned Ferry might be a bit too cautious to get this team where it needs to be, esp. after the Hughes debacle.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to know whether Marion would fit the Cavs. No doubt, he's a great player. But, as with any member of the Suns, I would have questioned how Marion could adjust from the high-flying Suns attack to one of the slowest, most vanilla offensive teams in the league. It wouldn't have surprised me to see Mike Brown utilize Marion like Donyell Marshall and have him camp out on the baseline for threes off LeBron kickouts.

What I do know is that I take anything Chad Ford says about the Cavs with a grain of salt. He's in the camp, along with Marc Stein and Ric Bucher, which thinks Danny Ferry ties Isiah Thomas for the worst GM in the NBA, so anytime he writes about the Cavs, it's usually with a negative twist, or a "LeBron is unhappy/has every right to be unhappy" twist.

The Cavs are just doing well in a weak conference? Oh, really? Is that why they beat San Antonio, Dallas and the Lakers on the road?

They're not in the same class with the Celtics and Pistons? Is that why they beat Detroit last year (LeBron's 48-point outburst only counted for one of the four wins, so you can't just say "It was LeBron"). Is that why they're 2-1 against Boston this year?

I know the Cavs have roster issues, but cripes, what more do they need to prove, short of winning a title, to get a smattering of respect from some of these guys? I am getting really sick of ESPN's relentless negative spin on the Cavs. With what they've accomplished with the roster they have, it amounts to a slander job.