futuristxen

A work in progress to be sure. The Celtics game this week will be an interesting test. I think it will be 3 weeks until everyone is on the same page, maybe more taking into account the injuries.

__________________
“Rainbowarriors are on a crusade for the kind of drug-free America where the elected officials are tranny shaman and the religious leaders are winged evangelists who speak in tongues of Happy Core. Rainbowarriors horse gallop through miles of balmy grass roads all the way to the swingset swamps. They witch water and have witches for fathers; they hear disharmonies of sadness sung by drunken glowworms. They sleep in swollen barns; they sleep through silver nights. Rainbowarriors live by the hero myth; Rainbowarriors ain’t nothin’ to **** with.” -Cocorosie

My comic book review site: http://mercurialblonde.blogspot.com

Dean the Master

Nice to see the Cavs got the win for Big Ben's debut. I like Mike Brown's Dual Center idea. Can he not start both Big Z and Big Ben? This team looks for like a team now rather than an one man's show.

__________________
The Official Monta Ellis Fan Club
(1)WTChan (founder) (2) AussieWarriorFan! (3)Drk Element (4)bruindre (5)B Dizzle (6)MrFloppy (7)lafever8 (8)heat_or_pacers_n_06 (9)rlucas4257 (10)arenas809 (11)halfbreed (12)FanOfAll8472 (13)Yoyo (14)ViciousFlogging (15)CABANGBANG (16)SHEED! (17)bruno34115 (18)bootstrenf (19)WarriorFan64 (20)bball2223 (21)Wilmatic2 (22)iNdIaNa31PaCeRs (23)Rawse (24)M3M (25)ronna_meade21 (26) JS03
(27)big furb (28) demens (29) Cormegadadon (30) edwardcyh (31) DHarris34Phan (formerly known as AJ Prus)(32) SirCharles34 (33) superdude211 (34) byrondarnell66 (35) SoCalfan21 (36) hollywood476 (37) MDIZZ(38) ChadWick (39) msladee (40) Power_Ballin(41) The One
(42)you?

Rawse

Well, the Cavs looked like they've all been playing together all season.

Granted, it was against one of the worst teams in NBA history (the Grizzlies only have five or six players who belong the NBA, led by a shell-shocked coach), so I'm not sure what kind of a barometer it is, but this team no question has drastically improved itself.

Joe Smith is an excellent role player, and I hope he gets time even when Varejao returns. He went from a No. 1 pick to complete obscurity, and as a result, he's been underrated for years. That midrange jumper is going to be very useful.

__________________
Rawse's 15 Favorite Players
Deron Williams • Greg Oden • Rudy Gay • Dwight Howard • Tim Duncan • Pau Gasol • Mike Conley • Caron Butler • Carlos Boozer • Monta Ellis • Chris Paul • Kobe Bryant • Juan Carlos Navarro • Joe Johnson • Tony Parker

Brandname

Yeah, I knew Joe Smith was a really good player, but I didn't realize how solid he is in the midrange. I don't expect him to shoot like that every night, but he's got great form and you can tell those shots are the type that he feels comfortable with. I can't believe anyone could have been lamenting us losing Drew Gooden for any of these guys.

I know that the Grizzlies aren't really competitive right now, and they're also missing their best player (I actually think Rudy Gay is the best, but I don't see them enough to know). But regardless, I liked what I saw from the guys last night. We have big men who actually rotate on defense now, and if you had visited the Cavs forum when this trade first went down, you know that we were most excited about that. Gooden is the worst help defender in the league, and just that interior defensive upgrade instantly improves the team.

I like the units of Z/Big Ben and AV/Joe Smith. In both of those units, you have a big who can step out and hit shots and another one to protect the rim. Unlike AV/Ben which would seem redundant, I think those 4 give us a solid big man rotation that will keep up with any frontcourt. Before the trade, we were the 2nd best rebounding team in the league behind Houston. Now we've given up Drew Gooden for Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. I can't see us doing anything but improving in that department.

Teams usually win the first game after a trade because everyone's amped up (I guess Chicago might have been the exception last night, lol). We'll see how we fare once everyone starts to calm down and get into their role. This week's game against Boston should be a good barometer.

__________________

Benedict_Boozer

^The thing is, we won't REALLY know how good our team is for awhile because of all the injury problems.

Boobie is one of our top 5 players, along with Varejao who is just now about to come back.

And who knows when Sasha is coming back. Fully loaded, we could have 10-11 guys capable of producing which is crazy when you consider what we had at the start of the year. Devin and Damon Jones have played great ball lately and might be seeing pine for no other reason than us being too deep.

__________________
--------------------------------------------

Futuristxen:

"This season has been one giant pile of suck. It's been just good enough to keep paying attention. But horrible enough that you were better off if you didn't."

Brandname

It's weird, I just feel that our depth has grown monumentally with this trade.

We basically traded 2 rotation players for 4 rotation players, and the extra 2 guys just make a world of difference when looking at our team on paper. I feel much more comfortable about our depth after the trade.

__________________

Larry Hughes for Retirement

Only got to see the highlights. But West coming off that screen on the block and finding Big Ben on the roll to the basket was a great pass.

With Eric Snow out their teams were leaving him wide open, well with Big Ben out there he is at least setting off the ball screens and around the basket, hard to leave him wide open when he is 2 feet from the basket. So there is a big difference between Snow and Wallace offensive "skills"...

__________________