Are They Improved? Miscellany and Conclusions
by Alex
In the grand Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times tradition of promising a post and then not delivering until much, much later, here comes the third and final edition of "Are They Improved?". The first time around, I looked at the starting lineup; which I followed with a look at the bench.
Mercifully, Cavaliers Overlord Dan Gilbert fired Ronnie Duncan following last season. Filling his shoes will be someone annoying, although to a lesser degree. Certainly no one could do any worse than Duncan did. Sadly Michael Reghi was shown the door as well. Due to the proximity of Reghi's departure to Duncan's, I secretly got my hopes up for Reghi to work the public address system, but it wasn't to be. He seems more than qualified for it and it would be right up his alley, what with his emphatic style of speaking and all.
Speaking of Reghi, he'll be replaced by former Piston play-by-play man Fred McLeod--thus bringing Dan Gilbert's dream of Detroit II one step closer to fruition. Sure, that's not giving McLeod a fair shake and I admittedly have not heard him work his magic yet, but this move reeks a little too much of Detroitism for my taste. Gilbert openly reveres the Pistons--he justifies basically every organizational decision by declaring that the Pistons do it too--and now he goes out and hires himself a Pistons announcer. Even though the Cavaliers had a perfectly good one who the locals are fond of. As they say on Best Week Ever: downgrade.
In "Are They Improved? The Bench", I bemoaned with a bemoaning-type tone the Cavaliers' critical dearth of point guards. I even counted Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson as possible replacements for Eric Snow, but nobody expects them to see time at point guard. So, testing the limits of "scraping the bottom of the barrel", the Cavs signed David Wesley, he of the 9.6 PER in 2006 and a projected PER of 8.2 in 2007. I shouldn't say too much though, because Eric Snow is projected to have a PER of 7.3, which makes my brain hurt. No worries though, both Wesley and Snow are chock-full of veterany goodness and wisdom, which more than accounts for the fact that they suck. I mean, it has to, right?
Last time around, I also touched on the overstock of mediocre shooting guards. My friends, overstock no more! Oft-injured argyle socks-enthusiast Luke Jackson was traded to Boston for some guy named Dwayne Jones. The team basically traded a guard who'll never play for a forward who'll never play, plus minimal salary cap space. I'll miss Luke and his crazy PAC-10 hair, but honestly, the deal sounds fine to me.
On the court, the Cavaliers are definitely a flawed team, but a team on the rise nonetheless. The starting lineup should be minimally improved by the "addition" of a healthy Larry Hughes and the progress of LeBron James. The bench also should be slightly improved by bringing in Shannon Brown and Scot Pollard. Off the court too, things are looking up. Ronnie Duncan is gone (praise LeBron), but so is Michael Reghi. That's a net improvement, but things could be better. A lot hinges on the performance of Fred McLeod.
All else equal, the Cavaliers should be an improved team (at least during the regular season), due to another year of experience: Mike Brown is a year wiser and the core players have been together a year longer. Things can shake out many different ways this season, but the Cavaliers for now are serious contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Mercifully, Cavaliers Overlord Dan Gilbert fired Ronnie Duncan following last season. Filling his shoes will be someone annoying, although to a lesser degree. Certainly no one could do any worse than Duncan did. Sadly Michael Reghi was shown the door as well. Due to the proximity of Reghi's departure to Duncan's, I secretly got my hopes up for Reghi to work the public address system, but it wasn't to be. He seems more than qualified for it and it would be right up his alley, what with his emphatic style of speaking and all.
Speaking of Reghi, he'll be replaced by former Piston play-by-play man Fred McLeod--thus bringing Dan Gilbert's dream of Detroit II one step closer to fruition. Sure, that's not giving McLeod a fair shake and I admittedly have not heard him work his magic yet, but this move reeks a little too much of Detroitism for my taste. Gilbert openly reveres the Pistons--he justifies basically every organizational decision by declaring that the Pistons do it too--and now he goes out and hires himself a Pistons announcer. Even though the Cavaliers had a perfectly good one who the locals are fond of. As they say on Best Week Ever: downgrade.
In "Are They Improved? The Bench", I bemoaned with a bemoaning-type tone the Cavaliers' critical dearth of point guards. I even counted Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson as possible replacements for Eric Snow, but nobody expects them to see time at point guard. So, testing the limits of "scraping the bottom of the barrel", the Cavs signed David Wesley, he of the 9.6 PER in 2006 and a projected PER of 8.2 in 2007. I shouldn't say too much though, because Eric Snow is projected to have a PER of 7.3, which makes my brain hurt. No worries though, both Wesley and Snow are chock-full of veterany goodness and wisdom, which more than accounts for the fact that they suck. I mean, it has to, right?
Last time around, I also touched on the overstock of mediocre shooting guards. My friends, overstock no more! Oft-injured argyle socks-enthusiast Luke Jackson was traded to Boston for some guy named Dwayne Jones. The team basically traded a guard who'll never play for a forward who'll never play, plus minimal salary cap space. I'll miss Luke and his crazy PAC-10 hair, but honestly, the deal sounds fine to me.
On the court, the Cavaliers are definitely a flawed team, but a team on the rise nonetheless. The starting lineup should be minimally improved by the "addition" of a healthy Larry Hughes and the progress of LeBron James. The bench also should be slightly improved by bringing in Shannon Brown and Scot Pollard. Off the court too, things are looking up. Ronnie Duncan is gone (praise LeBron), but so is Michael Reghi. That's a net improvement, but things could be better. A lot hinges on the performance of Fred McLeod.
All else equal, the Cavaliers should be an improved team (at least during the regular season), due to another year of experience: Mike Brown is a year wiser and the core players have been together a year longer. Things can shake out many different ways this season, but the Cavaliers for now are serious contenders in the Eastern Conference.
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