DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Offseason Continued Continued

Josh Cribbs tweets a pic of a new poster to replace LeBron James' 'Witness'

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I would be happy to see us play out this year with a modest addition or 2 ..... see how some of our young guys play with some of the pressure on them ..... and then look to next year with a ton of cap space.

Maybe we could even swing a trade for a premium guy if the pieces fall into place. God knows that Gilbert isn't shy about spending.

Sign the guys playing overseas ..... and let's see what we've got.

I really wish they would replace the banner with him, even though hes a cry baby too he wanted to leave.

PG: Mo Williams
SG: Anthony Parker
SF: JJ Hickson
PF: Antwan Jamison
C: Anderson Verejao

Bench:
West, Gibson, Green, Moon, Powe, Telfair

I can see this team right now, with a few additions, as a team that makes the playoffs....

How GREAT would it be, to play Miami in the playoffs? Who cares if it's #1 vs #8, that would be almost as good as winning the NBA title next year...kick the Wade Gang (nothing against DWade, i just don't wanna call them the James Gang) out of the playoffs?

Perfection.

That team isn't making the playoffs. Also JJ isn't a SF.

I'm going to call them "The Three Me Egos".


Does anyone know if this Sasha Kaun has any ability? 6'11" and 250 is decent size.

As things stand right now, I would expect Green and Moon to battle it out for the starting SF spot.

Here's an article from March.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/03/former_kansas_center_sasha_kau.html

Former Kansas center Sasha Kaun impressing in Europe: Cavaliers Insider
By Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer
March 17, 2010, 10:04PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Right now, the Cavaliers have one of the best center rotations in the NBA with Shaquille O'Neal on the roster, Zydrunas Ilgauskas set to return in a week plus the more than capable reserve crew of Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson as fill-ins.

For the long term? Well, that picture is a little more cloudy.

It isn't the biggest issue on the minds in the front office, but it is still an issue. Especially because Varejao, signed for the next five years, isn't a true center and O'Neal and Ilgauskas are in the home stretch of their careers.

One potential solution, however, may be developing overseas. The Cavs have been watching and been quite pleased with what can be called a breakthrough season former University of Kansas center Sasha Kaun is having in Russia with CSKA Moscow.

The Cavs bought Kaun's draft rights from the Seattle SuperSonics in 2008 and have been keeping tabs on him. Assistant general manager Chris Grant went to see Kaun in Europe recently.

After not getting much playing time last year as a rookie and then having a setback last summer because of a back injury, Kaun has become of the most attractive young big men in Europe after an injury opened up playing time this season.

This week in an interview with the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, Kaun said he's been thinking about the NBA and may visit the topic this summer.

"I definitely want to come back and play there," Kaun told the paper. "But a lot of variables are going into this decision so I can't say anything is concrete right now. We will see in the summer."

The 7-footer had another great game Sunday, scoring 23 points with six rebounds in a Russian Superleague contest. He's averaging 12.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and shooting 72 percent in the Superleague games. In the top-level Euroleague -- European teams usually split competitions between in-country league and the major continental league -- Kaun is averaging 12.8 points and six rebounds over his last four games and nine points and 4.2 rebounds on 60 percent shooting for the season.

He's improved his defense and close-range shooting this season, he said.

"I think I understand the game a lot better," Kaun said. "My defensive presence is better. I can help our team by guarding other good big guys and just help everyone else. And my finish around the basket got a little bit better. That's just what I hear."

Kaun, a Russian native, signed a three-year contract in 2008 with CSKA but has an out clause this summer. That has put him very much on the Cavs' radar. They may consider offering him a contract this summer.

Also possibly playing into the decision is that Kaun is planning to marry an American girl he met while at Kansas in June.

Well, I have to imagine Delonte will be... unavailable next season.

PG: Telfair/Gibson
SG: Williams/Gibson
SF: Parker/Moon
PF: Hickson/Jamison
C: Varejao

Wouldn't be shocked to see Jamison retire actually. Can't imagine Z will be back/brought back.

Backup C is.... ?

Sorry YTown... trying to make an 80s joke. But like arch pointed out in the vampire thread, I "don't understand humor."

Other than a trade, I don't think our roster will change much this season now that free agency is basically over.

Do you tank it for a lottery pick? Not the worst idea in the world.

But who knows what Gilbert can pull off w/ the messed up NBA trading system currently in place. If you are willing to spend the bucks, just about anything can happen.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if he somehow managed to trade for Chris Paul after all?

we need to just start from scratch. you're not going to get anyone to sign here, not after a hometown kid took off on us, and i think dan gilbert's letter hurt a little bit, but in the coming years you might be able to attract someone. but with the lottery, you can bring in fresh young talent, and with the bird rights, hopefully keep those guys, assuming their ego doesn't take over.

Aha.

The old Chaka Khan song .....


Got it.


Combined with my "I feel ya" comment on another thread ..... very humorous.



LOL

Just messin with you.

If we can't laugh today .... when can we laugh?

I certainly think the OKC route is best one to take moving forward, as sadly under the current system the only way to retool to really have a shot at a title is to tank it. The question is, does Gilbert feel the same way?

I think as long as we don't crown someone a 'king' or 'savior' again, we might be ok w/ future draft picks.

As much as his ego exploded, everyone here contributed to that from the fans to the owner of the team. When you get what you want, when you want it - it's hard to not get a big ego.

I'm a casual fan of the Cavs but I hope Gilbert can follow through on his word. I did like the letter he wrote and nice to see some fire from the owner.

Here ya go .....

Charles Barkley sounds off...and I agree!


http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2010/07/08/20100708_lebron_barkley.nba/

Probably because it is Eric Snow

Quote:

---

As much as his ego exploded, everyone here contributed to that from the fans to the owner of the team.

---

I'm sure the exposure from ESPN and SI while he was in high school did nothing to boost the ego......

I need to work on my sarcasm...

Good morning! (I know but it's morning here). I am a bigger Cavs fan today than I was yesterday. I'm sitting here in my Cavs warm up to, doubtlessly going to hear junk about it, and feel ok with everything. James is a quitter and we did hold his hand to much. From not shaking hands with oppenents to his childish antics to why/how/what in the world playoff series against boston.
We are all or mostly all from NE Ohio. We're a tough nut to crack, and we've been through worse. Keep you chin up, go Gilbert (*you the MAN), Go CAVS, and as always....Go Browns. (superbowl this year, mark it down.)'

Have a great day folks.

Great attitude, Bro !

Dan Gilbert is my hero.

I never cared about basketball before, but I'm a Cavs fan now. Also, I think I'm cheering for the Magic (HATED Howard before).

I still can't cheer for a Boston team, though...

I will root for any team that is up against the heat.

Celts, Lakers ... I don't care.

I, too, am I bigger Cavs fan today than I was yesterday.

I love what Gilbert said, but the main reason I'm a bigger Cavs fan today than yesterday is because we are finally rid of this crybaby punk.

His whole career he's expected things to be handed to him. Now he's going to Miami to try to get a title handed to him there.

He's a punk. He's always been a punk, and I've never hidden my feelings towards him.

Have fun in Miami, LeChoke. They call it "Wade-County" for a reason. You are officially D-Wade's bitch.

Of course not.

It's Wades team.


Hey bron....if you guys win 5 championships, guess what, Wade has you beat by one.

Wow...Great article.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlhBiiIcWdrtNaV1n8opdYI5nYcB?slug=aw-lebrondecision070910

They ended up with that split-screen of the King’s jersey burned live on his infomercial, as this sad, lost robot sat in a leafy suburban gymnasium with children as props and the world watching, those empty eyes masking a lost, dazed LeBron James(notes). This was the champagne shower for the Championship of Me, an exercise in self-aggrandizement and self-loathing that will have far-reaching implications for the NBA and James. What a spectacle, what a train wreck.

As the worst idea in the history of marketing unfolded, James looked trapped somewhere between despondence and defiance. His bumbling buddy Maverick Carter had walked him into the public execution of his legacy, his image, and there was a part of James that clearly wished he could turn back through the doors and hide. Only, it was too late. No going back now. James goes to the Miami Heat, Cleveland goes into a basketball Hades and LeBron’s legacy becomes that of a callous carpetbagger.

“His brand is [bleep] now,” one high-level NBA official said late Thursday. “He’s destroyed everything.”

The Championship of Me became the Championship of Flee, because LeBron James doesn’t believe he can be the centerpiece of a title team. He needed Dwayne Wade, a closer, far more than Wade needed him.

Yes, he’s ruined everything. What a wonderful idea: Divorce your childhood sweetheart on national television and tell her, hey, I’ll let you keep the “We are all Witnesses” billboards lording over downtown Cleveland.

“I’m taking my talents to South Beach,” James said, and it was like time stopped because – even for him – this was a moment so devoid of reality and free of concern of consequences. South Beach? He wasn’t picking a basketball team as much as a party. He’s 25 years old, and yet somehow this felt like a cloistered teenager picking a party school for college.

Yes, James will take his talent to South Beach and leave his soul in Cleveland. His hometown won’t hate him as much for leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers as for the way he left them. Leaving never would’ve been easy, but he went out of his way to humiliate them. LeBron James can never go home now. He’s the Browns leaving town, The Fumble, The Shot, all rolled into one colossal disappointment.

New York would’ve been hard, and maybe Cleveland would’ve been the hardest. With those state tax laws in Florida, he isn’t taking less money with the Heat. He’s just taking less risk and less burden in his championship chase.

“This whole idea that he makes his own decisions, that [bleep] went out the window with this,” one NBA executive said. “Someday, he’s going to look back at this and not believe that he let those kids at LRMR talk him into doing this. This idea that he’s his own man … Come on, he’s a follower. And he’s following all the way to Miami now.”

This was the train rolling down the tracks from miles and miles away, and James never saw it coming. He should lose his obsession to become the richest athlete ever, because the people surrounding LeBron James are much more likely to leave him broke than a billionaire. Someday, he will fire his business manager Maverick Carter for turning the two-time MVP’s free-agent moment into Geraldo and Al Capone’s vault. Carter used the cover of charity for a historically horrible event and completely destroyed the credibility of his client.

So now people are cheering Dan Gilbert’s manifesto tearing apart James, but no one contributed more to what the world witnessed on Thursday night than the owner’s enabling of James and his inner circle for seven years. Gilbert is the biggest con going, a man who makes his fortune peddling mortgages, and he’ll make his next on casinos in downtown Cleveland. He sells illusions for a living, and now he’s selling the biggest of all: that he’s a victim here, that James betrayed everyone. That’s a lie, and no one ought to dare buy it.

Now, Gilbert is the tough guy with James leaving the Cavs behind? Listen, Ferry and Brown always warned Gilbert that giving James everything he wanted – giving it when and where and how – wouldn’t be the way they would keep him. LeBron didn’t respect them because they never demanded it.

Gilbert always believed he should do everything James wanted – hire his buddies into jobs, throw them on summer-league rosters, allow him to do those stupid pregame choreographed dances – that James would love him, that he would never leave. Only, James is a taker, and he took and took until he had bled Gilbert and that franchise to the bone.

So now, Gilbert unleashes the most revisionist and self-serving screed that a scorned owner’s ever done. Gilbert is a bully and a baby. As much as James, Gilbert revealed himself, too. He asked for this humiliation and deserves it. Only those fans in Cleveland don’t deserve this. They were loyal, true, and ultimately they must know Gilbert lashed out to make James the villain for a most self-serving reason: to avoid the blame himself. Damn right James quit on the Cavaliers in that playoff series, but that was because Gilbert was always there to make it easy for him. All those times Ferry and Brown warned the owner they had to make stands with James, that they had to force him to have some level of respect within that organization or there would be an ultimate price to pay.

And here it came on Thursday night, in this bizarre, sad set-up that turned LeBron James into a caricature. His puppet seems more human than him. Listen, James’ people tried to leak this story to soften the blow on Cleveland, but here was the problem: He’s so insincere, and they’re so over their heads, that most of us were uneasy with believing what they were selling in the hours leading up to Jim Gray holding everyone hostage. There had to be an agenda, a bait-and-switch, and yet source after source within LeBron’s world insisted: He’s leaving. He wants out. They had been doing this for weeks, even months. So, armed with that knowledge, why would they ever stage this event to rub it in the face of James’ hometown? Lots of stars have moved on, but never one that had such a unique history with a town, a city, a franchise.

We kept writing it with qualifiers because deep down a lot of us doubted his courage to leave that cocoon. He would make Cleveland feel like it had lost him, and then swoop back into town and be celebrated all over again. Only, LeBron’s people were telling the truth. He was gone. He was always gone. He never considered staying, and that’s the most frightening part of all.

For the hand-wringing out of Gilbert and James’ apologists who protected him – and who would still be protecting him had he simply said, “Cleveland,” on Thursday night – they need to stop with this nonsense that somehow LeBron James has transformed into someone else. This is him, and it’s always been him. He’s a creation of our times, of an industry and system that wants to manufacture the next M.J. at the expense of a young man having a sense of himself.

So there was LeBron James, the MVP, the man of the hour, sitting in the middle of his own “Truman Show” on Thursday night. His personal network ran his commercials and celebrated his greatness and let him hijack a platform to build his brand and break hearts. He can never go home again now, and he can never completely rebuild what he let his cast of buddies talk him into losing that night. He’s taking his talents to South Beach, and the kid going away for the first time will have some party down there. After all these years, it was clear he had been coddled and protected and ultimately prepared to do one thing: Take the easy way out. Wherever he was going, he looked conflicted, lost and completely confused.

What a spectacle, what a train wreck.

What a shame.

Oh .... and I think that they should give #23 to the last player on the bench next season ...... and #6 to the guy next to him.

I said it on here when it happened, and I believe it more today than ever before. LeBron quit on the Cavs as soon it became clear the Celtics presented a real challenge - as soon as a little adversity came his way and the Celtics weren't going to be a cakewalk. That's when the competitive juices typically kick in for guys that really want to win. Then he has the nerve to say "All I care about is winning.". Do those actions line up with those words?

It's clear that while he is a supreme talent, there's no mental fortitude to complement the physical skill. There is a pattern here that this guy will always take the easy way out, will wilt when he's needed most, and will blame others for his failures.

While it will be tough to lose him - and make no mistake about it - from a wins perspective it's going to be a tough road to travel - this is probably going to be best in the long run.