<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>ESPN - <u>Anderson Varejao</u>'s frustration with his contract status has finally come to a head. Saying he is waiting for Cleveland General Manager <u>Danny Ferry</u> to "show me that he values my contribution to the team," Varejao said in an exclusive phone interview with ESPN.com this weekend from his home in Vitoria. "I just want to be treated fairly, and I don't think Danny's done that." Varejao expected to be helping the Cavs defend their East crown by now. "I wanted to come back," he said. "I love the fans, and I really love my teammates. But there are others there that have made it very difficult. It's gotten to the point that I don't want to play there anymore. I'm just hoping for a sign-and-trade at this point." Ferry isn't ready to give up on bringing Varejao back. "We fully understand that negotiations can be emotional," Ferry told ESPN.com. "As for Anderson's potential to remain a Cavalier and put this behind us, we value his presence in this organization on and off the court, and that has not changed." </div></p> Duhon/Khryapa, future first for Varejao would be good. Those two allow him to make 6.475 in his first year.</p> So approximately: 49 million over 6 years (8.1 per)</p> That'd give us</p> PG-Kirk Hinrich/JamesOn Curry SG-Ben Gordon/Thabo Sefolosha/Thomas Gardner SF-Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni PF-Tyrus Thomas/Joe Smith C- Ben Wallace/Anderson Varejao/Joakim Noah</p> We definitely need a boost in the frontcourt, so we should explore the possibility of getting Varejao.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Cavs' popular forward wants considerably more than the team is offering. He turned down the Cavs' one-year, $1.2 million tender offer. (To retain a restricted free agent, a team must make a tender offer.) He also refused Cleveland's opening offer of five years, $20 million, and then its latest offer of five years, $32 million, with a starting salary slightly below the midlevel exception.</p> But Varejao said media reports that he's asking for a contract averaging $10-11 million a season "just aren't true. There are a lot of things being written that are wrong. I know they aren't talking to me or my agent."</div></p> If those numbers truly reflect the Cavs' offers, they both seem low to me. 5/$32 is probably roughly correct. If I were them I'd offer more money for fewer years though. If there is a sign and trade to be had, I'd be happy to entertain it for the Bulls. We could use a big and strong defender.</p>
We'll have to win 78-75 if we continue filling our roster with defensively oriented, offensively challenged players. I don't think Varejao is what our team needs.
In case you guys missed it, Ben Wallace ran out of energy at some point shortly after signing his $60M contract last summer. Even under the best circumstances, he's 33.</p> Joe Smith is also going on 33 and is neither high energy nor defensive-minded.</p> Tyrus Thomas is a 3/4 who gets pushed around with great regularity and is teetering on the verge of bustdom.</p> It's true that Joakim Noah may develop into a better version of AV, but that looks a ways off to me. He'll need some time to build his strength and learn the pro game.</p> Wallace and Smith are short-timers, and in the sense that AV is a capable player now, he is a good fit with them. He would complement Smith and back up Wallace.</p> So if I look at this team in the long run, I figure we need 4 good bigs. Noah and AV could lock down the center position for the next ten years, while complimenting Tyrus and/or whomever finally steps up at the PF spot and provide serious scoring punch.</p> Or, if the Bulls just totally suck ass, at least he's a younger version of Wallace. My ideal circumstance to get him via sign and trade would be to send out Wallace and bring back Varejao.</p> For example, I believe Ben Wallace ($15.5M, 2 yrs after this) for Varejao (5yrs /$36M, $6M first season, making his BYC value $3M), Donyell Marshall ($5.6M, this year and next) and Eric Snow ($6.7M, this year and next) would at least be up for consideration.</p> While Wallace's contract is sucky, the Cavs would effectively be offloading deadweight in the form of Marshall and Snow. So, do you want to spend on a crappy contract who will play, or a crappy contract who won't play. Wallace's deal expires a year later, but it's declining, and putting it right in line with the expiration of the Big Z and Larry Hughes' deals, the Cavs will be able to make a huge FA push.</p> And in the short run, perhaps the Cavs are just what Wallace needs and vice versa. With a high post center like Illgauskas and a dominant scorer like Hughes, Wallace would be in an almost ideal environment to have a bit of a renaissance. I think when motivated, he's still a much better player than Varejao, and the costs for the Cavs wouldn't be any higher than signing Varejao himself to a deal.</p> From the Bulls' perspective, Varejao isn't better than a motivated Wallace, but he is better than an unmotivated Wallace. He's solid, and better yet, he's still young, so we can move forward without having one-foot in the "win now" boat and one on the "young and growing" shore. And oh yeah, it saves Uncle Jerry some money too, since Snow and Marshall come off the books a year earlier than Wallace would. We might (vainly) hope that could help our willingness to spend somewhere down the road.</p>
