Wednesday, June 01, 2005

If I was in charge of the Cavs...

I think it's time I take some questions from the fans.

Dear Gutsy,
If you were in charge of the Cavs, what would you do?
D. Diop, Senegal

Thanks for your question, this is an excellent question for me to answer in the blog. The constant headline-grabbing moves of new owner Dan Gilbert, have only increased the exposure to the limelight for better and for worse (the focus is on the worse of late).

This offseason has been just a strange media circus and yet there still is no GM hired! Here’s where I stand on things, and what I would do if I was in charge:
1) The first priority should have been to hire a GM.
-If you want to add a layer of bureaucracy, then hire a president, but do it quickly! I guess Dan Gilbert doesn’t realize how the free agency period is just a few weeks away and the free agency period is what will determine whether Lebron stays in Cleveland. It's important to note that there's no need to worry about the draft since the Cavs’ old GM already traded those draft picks away. And next year’s 1st round pick as well!
2) This offseason will have the largest impact on LeBron staying here long-term
-The Cavs have approximately $20 million in cap space this offseason. First, I give Zydrunas whatever he asks for (maybe $14 mill?) and spend the rest on a POINT GUARD. If Z leaves, I have no idea what they will do for a big-man. Of course, a sign-and-trade with Z is optimal (for a big-man and a guard) but it depends on who it is, and what the contract situation is of the new players.
3) Signing Redd makes no sense.
All of these rumors about the Cavs going after former Buckeye Michael Redd are ridiculous, because there’s no way in hell they can use Eric Snow as a starting point guard for a whole season. It’s just hard for me to see how this would make any sense, especially with 3 first round picks invested in 3 other SGs on the roster (Luke Jackson, Jiri Welsch, and Sasha Pavlovic. Yes, 3 1st round picks were spent on these guys!)
4) Point guard possibility
-So, I took the liberty to look at free agent point guards this summer. Here’s what one site’s top 5 point guards are: Marko Jaric, some European guy, Antonio Daniels, Gary Payton, and Brevin Knight.
-Well, I would just save the money and sign Brevin Knight! Brevin is a former Cavalier point guard. He can’t score at all, but if you let him play 30 minutes, he will get you 10 assists, and only 2 turnovers, as well as 2 steals every night. This is exactly what the Cavs need (assists & defense), because there will be enough scoring from LeBron, Z, Drew Gooden, and…
5) Luke Jackson, who only played 10 games last year.
-Luke Jackson is a sharpshooter from Oregon. He was the third super guy from Oregon’s Elite 8 team of Luke Ridnour and Fred Jones. He can shoot! I’m penciling in Luke as a starter, and I’m penciling in SportsCenter to make Star Wars jokes about his name. If I’m GM, I would just bank the whole season on Luke. He will restore balance to the force.

So, I’m under the impression that the playoffs can be reached once my GM HIRES a coach who can drill these guys, using a core 9-man rotation of:
LeBron, Z, Gooden, Luke Jackson, Brevin Knight, PF Varejao, defensive stopper Ira Newble, old-man Eric Snow, and local fat-man Robert Traylor.

Am I too optimistic?

3 comments:

Mighty Mike said...

Yes. The Cavs always find a way to screw things up. Gilbert is no exception. The Cavs are far more cursed than the Cubbies.

MJ said...

You Clevelanders may disagree but my biggest problem with the Cavs right now is how they rushed out to sign a head coach without having a GM in place. If a GM doesn't pick "his guy" then a coach will always have someone looking over his shoulder.

Furthermore, if a GM is hired after a coach, that indicates that power doesn't flow from the GM, which is where all basketball-related matters should begin and end. It's organizational behavior 101 -- simple business school stuff. Create a flowchart that shows where power resides. Have middle management directly responsible for production and leave the other stuff to the senior management. You'd never hire factory workers before hiring a plant manager. You've got to let the plant manager state his vision for the team (hopefully winning, for a change) and then implement his vision through his hiring of labor. Dan Gilbert is a complete dipshit on all levels.

Gutsy Goldberg said...

I agree completely about hiring the GM first... that's why i put "GM HIRES" in quotes. It makes absolutely no sense that the coach got hired first. You're just asking for philisophical differences!