<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">While Cavaliers coach Mike Brown has stressed that he doesn't want to make any big changes with his offense, word is that he is looking at doing some things differently. Let's hope so. The offense too often dragged to a halt, and consisted of pick-and-roll up high, pick-and-roll on the side or throw the ball to LeBron James and let him do something. Occasionally, the ball went inside to Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Drew Gooden. That's not good enough to go deep in the playoffs. ? The Cavs need to find a way to get the ball consistently near the basket when needed. Ilgauskas is a good medium-range shooter, and he likes being outside. James likes running the pick-and-roll with Ilgauskas, because Ilgauskas can make the open 15-footer. But there are times in the game when the offense needs to get the ball to someone under the basket who can score, or at least draw fouls. Ilgauskas can do that, and it helps the team that he's an outstanding 83 percent shooter from the line. ? Gooden also has some effective inside moves. Gooden won over the coaching staff and the front office with his willingness to concentrate on rebounding, to try to play some defense and to not worry about his shots. That's why the Cavs re-signed him to that three-year deal. ? Time to 'fess up: I never believed Gooden would blend in so well with Brown's accent on defense and an offense that had absolutely no plays for him to shoot. But Gooden did. And Brown was patient with him and seemed to earn the player's trust. Brown also was the first coach that Gooden had for an entire season, and after four years in the NBA, that made a real difference. ? This is not meant to say Gooden is a great player. He still has mental lapses on defense, and there are times when he seems to disappear on the court. But he just turned 25 on Sept. 24. He shot better than 50 percent from the field in the regular season and the playoffs. Give him 25 minutes a game, and he'll average about 10 points and eight rebounds. If his attitude stays positive, he will be a very good complementary player in the Cavs' system. ? The Cavs have three guys who can consistently score inside: Ilgauskas, Gooden and James. That's right, James is so big, so strong and so quick at nearly 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, he probably could play power forward. You don't want him to do that, but there are times when it makes sense to get him the ball in the low post -- rather than just throw it to him on the wing. ? James led the NBA in ``And-One,'' meaning he scored a two-point field goal and then drew a foul, allowing him to take a free throw. That's another reason to use him inside sometimes to score. ? The Cavs supposedly are putting in more plays for James and Anderson Varejao to run that high pick-and-roll that worked so well in the playoffs against the Detroit Pistons. The plan is to keep Gooden starting and bring Varejao off the bench, which makes sense. In the seven games against the Pistons, Varejao averaged 20 minutes, scoring 9.3 points with 4.3 rebounds and shooting 57 percent. The most amazing stat was his 80 percent at the foul line, compared to 52 percent for his career. ? Brown has said his goal for this season is to keep James' average minutes at 41. He said part of the reason James' minutes rose was because Larry Hughes was hurt. But the numbers don't show that -- at least, not entirely. Hughes was injured at the end of December. In the month of December (with Hughes), James averaged 43.2 minutes. In January (without Hughes), it was 41.8. But for the rest of year, it was 44.6 (February), 45.2 (March) and 39.1 (April). ? For James, the goal should be an average of 40 minutes. It doesn't matter that he wants to play more or that he's still 21. James has been second in the NBA in total minutes the past two years. ? Signing free-agent guard David Wesley is a plus. He's a better all-around player than Damon Jones. I have a feeling rookie Shannon Brown also might take some of the minutes that went to Jones. It's no secret that the Cavs have an interest in moving Jones because they have a glut of guards, but with three years and $12 million left on Jones' contract, that might not be easy.</div> Source
