[remy23]

Pavlovic finding training-camp woes

Columbus - Sasha Pavlovic shot so many air balls and bricks during the Cavaliers' intrasquad scrimmage on Friday night that he caught a case of amnesia. He didn't recognize himself.

"That wasn't the real me out there," said Pavlovic, who is 6-7 and 210 pounds. "That wasn't even close to me. I was a little tired out there because of the long week of practice. It will be better during [today's] scrimmage, for sure."

Pavlovic was acquired from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for a future first-round pick to shoot 3-pointers and to help the Cavs climb out of the 3-point shooting dungeon, where they were ranked last in the league last season by shooting 31.4 percent. Pavlovic only shot 19-of-70 from 3-point range (27.1 percent) in limited action with Utah last season, but the Cavs have raved about Pavlovic's potential as a deadly outside shooter.

[remy23]

<center>
LeBron James gave his hometown crowd a great show on Sunday night.</center>

Wine & Gold Scrimmage

The Cavaliers went back to school for a week of Training Camp and bookended the weekend before coming home with a pair of scrimmages. Friday night, Cleveland closed out their first week of workouts at Capital University in Columbus with an intersquad scrimmage. They did the same on Sunday in their second annual “Wine & Gold Scrimmage” at Akron U.

Two things became clear as the mini-road trip ended: One, the state of Ohio has some excellent college hoops facilities. Two, anyone ready to give up on Dajuan Wagner needs to relax.

The man Paul Silas announced to the crowd as “Daddy Wags” looked like the kid from Memphis who came out firing in his rookie season two years ago. As he did Friday night, Wagner broke out his entire arsenal, scoring 14 points from all over the Zips’ home court.

[remy23]

Guard pairings appear strong

He wasn't wearing a white coat or hovering over bubbling concoctions, but considering he was at a university, perhaps Paul Silas did feel like a professor Sunday night.

The intrasquad scrimmage at Rhodes Arena was part homecoming for LeBron James and part marketing, but on the floor it was a chance for the Cavaliers head coach to make some adjustments.

The most noticeable was a flip-flop at shooting guard during the second half, when Silas played Lucious Harris with Jeff McInnis with the first unit. On the opposite side, starter Eric Snow switched to point guard next to Dajuan Wagner on the second unit.

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Scrimmage helps Silas, Cavs find their options

Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said not to read anything into the lineup switches he made in the second half of Sunday night's scrimmage at the University of Akron's James A. Rhodes Arena.

Guard Eric Snow and forward Drew Gooden started on the Wine team, along with guards LeBron James and Jeff McInnis, and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. But Snow and Gooden played on the Gold team in the second half, while guards Lucious Harris and Dajuan Wagner, and forward Robert "Tractor" Traylor moved to the Wine team.

"I haven't played those guys together at all," Silas said after the Wine team theoretically won, 75-63. "I just wanted to see how it was going to go. I liked a lot of the combinations we put together."

[remy23]

Harris getting a look

AKRON - There could be a changing of the guard with the Cavaliers.

In the second half of Sunday's intrasquad scrimmage at the University of Akron, Coach Paul Silas inserted Lucious Harris at shooting guard with the first unit and paired him with point guard Jeff McInnis.

The offense seemed to click, largely because of Harris' outside shooting. If that's the direction Silas decides to go, Eric Snow will run the point on the second unit and join shooting guard Dajuan Wagner.

[futuristxen]

Mcinnis-Harris
Snow-Wagner

SMART

Mcinnis-Snow
Wagner-Harris

RETARDED

Let's hope Silas is figuring this out.

Looks like Wagner might just be a key contributor this year after all. That would be huge to have him and Snow coming off the bench.

Also, sounds like Verejao is impressing. It's going to be hard to keep him down.

The Cavs are sounding really good. Gonna sneak up on people this year.

[RP McMurphy]

I'd amend that to

RETARDED: DaJuan Wagner touches the floor.

We know LeBron is going to get his 40 minutes per game, and the remaining 104 minutes at the three backcourt positions will be split between Eric Snow, Jeff McInnis, Luke Jackson, and Lucious Harris. If one of these guys gets hurt, Sasha Pavlovic will step in. There's no room for DaJuan Wagner barring multiple injuries.

This DaJuan Wagner hype is just a ploy by Jim Paxson to pump up Wagner's trade value. He wants to trade Wagner right now. Otherwise, once the season starts, Wagner will be getting no playing time, and you can't get much in a trade for a guy who is getting no playing time. Paxson's ploy probably won't work, because most NBA teams are too smart to trade for a bust just because there's an article in the Akron Beacon-Journal about how he played well in a scrimmage, but it's worth a shot anyway.

[remy23]

Originally posted by <b>RP McMurphy</b>!
I'd amend that to

RETARDED: DaJuan Wagner touches the floor.

We know LeBron is going to get his 40 minutes per game, and the remaining 104 minutes at the three backcourt positions will be split between Eric Snow, Jeff McInnis, Luke Jackson, and Lucious Harris. If one of these guys gets hurt, Sasha Pavlovic will step in. There's no room for DaJuan Wagner barring multiple injuries.

As of right now, with Sasha coming into camp out of shape and tossing up countless airballs in practice, he is not ahead of anyone. Sasha might be on the IR to begin the year. As of right now, Silas is not going to play LJ33 from the jump more than Wagner. As it stands, things are equal or Wagner has the green light for now and if he messes up, the window closes.

This DaJuan Wagner hype is just a ploy by Jim Paxson to pump up Wagner's trade value. He wants to trade Wagner right now. Otherwise, once the season starts, Wagner will be getting no playing time, and you can't get much in a trade for a guy who is getting no playing time. Paxson's ploy probably won't work, because most NBA teams are too smart to trade for a bust just because there's an article in the Akron Beacon-Journal about how he played well in a scrimmage, but it's worth a shot anyway.

Paxson does want to trade Wagner. But the Cavalier with the biggest concern should be Diop. People say he looks terrible, from every eye witness account on several sites. As least Wagner played decent, while it's only a scrimmage, at least he had the crowds buzzing. Preseason stuff does not mean much but they say he is quicker and even played James chest-to-chest in both games. So even if you are going to dump the guy, at least with him looking decent now, you can get something. With Diop, he is not looking good, so that is harder.

[remy23]

ESPN Motion Clip of James

I am putting a "YouSendIt" link up in case you missed James on ESPN tonight. The clip is very short and perhaps even cut short a second earlier than it should be. But it's a teaster for any Cavaliers or James fan.

[remy23]

<center>
Two of the newest Cavaliers -- Eric Snow and Sasha Pavlovic -- warm up before Friday night's scrimmage.

Cavaliers Break Camp, Prep for Preseason

It's great to be back in Cleveland. Last week, the Brass sent me to Capital University in Columbus to cover Cavaliers Training Camp. The university staff was accomodating, the campus was beautiful and the facilities were state-of-the-art. Still, it's good to be back.

The Cavaliers closed out the first week of training camp with a pair of intersquad scrimmages -- the first right on the floor they trained on at Capital and the second, about an hour south of C-town in Akron -- LeBron James Country. Several Cavaliers have looked strong and there have been some surprises going into the preseason opener. But we'll get to that in a minute.

[remy23]

Knee giving Wagner problems again

CLEVELAND - Just when things were going along merrily, Dajuan Wagner's knee is bothering him again.

Wagner sat out Wednesday's practice with a sore right knee, the same one he's had two surgeries on to repair a torn meniscus ligament. He missed large chunks of his first two seasons because of the knee.

The Cavaliers don't believe it is serious at this point, listing him as probable for tonight's preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.

[Mongolmike]

thanks for the video link Remy... three things I noticed in the clip...

#1- James is STILL falling back on his outside jumper (bad...bad)

#2- Ira Newble was covering James some of the time, which has gotta help make him even a better defender

#3- DaJaun Wagner cannot stay with James... LeBron shot over Wags like I shoot over the 3rd graders I hoop it up with down... oh wait, I mean, he school Wagner like me slamming on the local JUCO team down the street.....

[remy23]

<center>
Drew Gooden returns to the scene of his rookie season on Thursday.</center>

Preseason Preview

After a week and a half of Training Camp and beating up on one another, the Cavaliers finally face their first foe of the 2004-05 season when they take on the Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum in Memphis on Thursday night.

Tonight is the first of eight preseason games before the Wine and Gold tips off the campaign against Indiana at the Gund on Wednesday, November 3. The Cavaliers only play one preseason game at the Gund this preseason – Monday night’s matchup with the New Jersey Nets.

The next two weeks will tell Coach Silas about what his rotation to the start the season will resemble. With only five returning players from last year, the Cavaliers are a work in progress. Silas has a potent blend of young lions and cagey veterans to work with and in eight games, he’ll have a better grasp on how all the moving parts operate.

[remy23]

Cavaliers Waive Hunter and Jackson

CLEVELAND, Oct. 18 The Cavaliers have waived guards Jimmie "Snap" Hunter and David Jackson, Cavaliers President and General Manager of Basketball Operations Jim Paxson announced today.

Hunter played nine minutes at Memphis and scored one point while Jackson scored two points in six minutes of play against Chicago.

[Starks]

Talking Baseball with Luke Jackson