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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 282
1st String
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OP
1st String
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 282 |
Without LeBron, are we the worst team in the NBA?
LeBron's been here for 5 years now. Five years! And he's still playing for a one-man team.
How can this happen? Five years after his arrival, we haven't managed to assemble a team that's any better than a team that was here before he came AND our cap is so messed up we can't even afford to sign talented free agents?
**Insert clever signature here attributed to some historical figure that sounds interesting but has been taken completely out of context.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,065
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Joined: Sep 2006
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He shouldn't have to carry the load much longer. The next two seasons we'll have the flexibility to dramatically change our roster.
In 2008, we'll have more then 25 million in expiring contracts. Then, in 2009, we'll have another 24 million coming off the books (Z and Hughes).
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,027
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,027 |
no, we're not the worst team in the nba...
the roster isn't as bad as people make it out to be, but when you have guys like andy, who hasn't been around all season, and hughes, while we all hate him, he plays solid defense and contributes, marshall, who contributes at least a little bit, eric snow just not being the same defender he has been over the past few years, and couple that with lebron being hurt, it's a horrible roster, no doubt...
there's not doubt in my mind that if all these guys are back on the team, we aren't 9-10...
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 14,248
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 14,248 |
Two things happened to the Cavs: Jim Paxson and the 2005 Free Agent Market.
Paxson basically squandered our draft picks, picked up a roster full of junk , signed a bunch of guys to rediculous contracts, allowed Boozer to scam his way to Utah, etc. His swan song was trading away our 1st round pick for Jeri Welsch. That pretty much sums up his tenor for us.
Along comes Ferry and the Franchise is in disarray. Fortunatly for him, a good chunk of cap space clears up during the 2005 off-season. EVERYONE is saying that this is Ferry's chance to PROVE that they want to surround LeBron with some talent. So what happens? The two best free agents on the market sign for their original teams for much higher than anyone else can offer. That left Larry Hughes as the best guy on the market, so we overpay to ensure we get SOMEBODY. We also overpay Z because he's the only halfway decent player on the team at the time and LeBron wanted him to get signed. That leaves us throwing out big contracts to the remaining "talent" left in the market ... Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall (the best 3pt% shooters on the market).
And that pretty much sums up where we are today. Brown and Gibson are our only draft picks. Most of our cao space is filled with completely worthless guys from Paxson's tenor (Snow and Newble) and the miserable 2005 free agent market.
Next year should be a lot better. We'll have Newble's contract off, and several of the bigger contracts will be "expiring" within a year, making them decent trade fodder. We'll also have a draft pick for a change.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,093
Dawg Talker
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Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
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I am just a casual fan, but I don't think the worst team in the NBA could get to the finals all on account of one man.
Also, can someone explain why Hughes is so despised?
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Dawg Talker
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Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
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His contract is huge for a guy that get's hurt all the time and doesn't contribute barely an offense at all, at-least not consistantly. We are pretty much stuck with him right now too.
On to the topic of the thread. We aren't the worst team in the league but we are pretty damn close without LeBron. This team has so much dead weight it's ridiculous.
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 553
All Pro
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All Pro
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 553 |
all that has happened to the cavs since winning the james lottery is lebron getting better and the rest of the team having no real identity. losing boozer for nothing was a terrible mistake. that guy is the new karl in utah. his eyebrows alone weigh at least 2 pounds. someday he will look like a mentat from the old dune movie. 
A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.
John Barrymore
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Dawg Talker
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Dawg Talker
Joined: Sep 2006
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I think the big contracts start coming off the books after the 2008-2009 season. The list of 2008 free agents would be who might be available after the current season...
Joe Thomas made Justin Timberlake change his name. He didn't want wusses to have the same initials...
Dawg Talker since 3/26/2005...
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Joined: Mar 2007
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All Pro
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All Pro
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I'm going to catch all sorts of flack for this but here goes... maybe just maybe it's a good thing if LeBron doesn't play that much. Why? Am I on stupid sauce? Of course not, think about this though... maybe just maybe if we're bad enough, Ferry can go out and draft that talent that King James needs to win a championship because from all implications and actions so far, he's been too cheap to get it on the F.A. market.
JMHO
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Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Joined: Apr 2007
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I think you will see Gilbert Arenas here next year.
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,882
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 13,882 |
Quote:
Without LeBron, are we the worst team in the NBA?
Well, aside from what else we have on our roster...
If you take the best player away to injury on ANY NBA team you will be left with a worse team. In the NBA, one player can make the biggest impact on a teams success than any other sport (maybe QB in the NFL but he's still 1 of 22 starters). So yes, losing Lebron will drastically hurt us...but so would losing Steve Nash, Dirk, Kobe, Yao and Arenas.
Be patient, he'll be back.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif) “...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,027
Legend
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Legend
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,027 |
Quote:
I'm going to catch all sorts of flack for this but here goes... maybe just maybe it's a good thing if LeBron doesn't play that much. Why? Am I on stupid sauce? Of course not, think about this though... maybe just maybe if we're bad enough, Ferry can go out and draft that talent that King James needs to win a championship because from all implications and actions so far, he's been too cheap to get it on the F.A. market.
JMHO
you're going to catch flack because your post is very inaccurate...
the free agent market the past few years has been weak, at best
and he certainly wasn't cheap when he gave larry hughes, and donyell marshall, and damon jones big deals...
so yes, because of those moves, he had to be cheap last year...
and as far as this year's free agent class, it was terrible...
you have to realize that good players in the nba come at a premium... you can always find good players in the nfl and in baseball, but the nba is scarce on that kind of talent, nobody wants to give it up, it's comparable to good pitching in baseball, nobody wants to part with good young pitching...
please do research before you just assume things...
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Joined: Sep 2006
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All Pro
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All Pro
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 805 |
Quote:
Without LeBron, are we the worst team in the NBA?
LeBron's been here for 5 years now. Five years! And he's still playing for a one-man team.
Not the worst.....The Cavs have just had bad luck with Hughes/Boozer and not really bringing anyone else in. I think if Gibson keeps improving he actually may be pretty good,he has a decent style of play. I can tell you this which everyone probably already knows is that the Cavs better sign someone huge in the next 1-2 years or Lebron is gone,he isn't sticking around for this 
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 309
All Pro
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All Pro
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 309 |
Quote:
Quote:
Without LeBron, are we the worst team in the NBA?
Well, aside from what else we have on our roster...
If you take the best player away to injury on ANY NBA team you will be left with a worse team. In the NBA, one player can make the biggest impact on a teams success than any other sport (maybe QB in the NFL but he's still 1 of 22 starters). So yes, losing Lebron will drastically hurt us...but so would losing Steve Nash, Dirk, Kobe, Yao and Arenas.
Be patient, he'll be back.
I agree to a point but we are really really bad without LeBron. Look at what Washington Wizards did to us with them not having Arenas and our Cavs without LeBron. At on point we were down by 20- 30 points. This teams is awful. I know we don't have Hughes or Donyell or Andy there either which hurts us worse. I think with Hughes, Donyell, and Andy in there we could beat some teams.
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Joined: Apr 2007
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if not the worst, then very close
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Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Without LeBron, are we the worst
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