I agree, the plan wasn't for your second and third best player to average 13 PER and get killed on D.
Fair enough. All valid arrangements. I don't strongly disagree with you but... Would you say the Celtics had a good enough team to win a title this year? Clearly they didn't when this year, but a few fouls go the other way in game 7 of the NBA Finals and we have a different champion. If the Celtics had won, would you say the Lakers "didn't have a good enough team to win a title"'? I think just because a team doesn't win a title, doesn't mean they don't have a good enough team to win a title.
i've gotta find my bonzi jersey. and i'd rather have KP's apbr metric based approach than ferry's "find the biggest name available" approach.
Ferry "resigned" 'cause the owner didn't offer him an extension. They did not want him around for the future. Not sure how that's soooo different from KP's situation.
The big rumor was LeBron didn't like Danny Ferry. I'd fire Ferry too if that was the case, but they let him resign. The Blazers seriously just fired the best candidate for a GM job out there right now. It's ridiculous.
Perhaps because he have five years with the best player in the League and couldn't surround him with much to help him. Without LeBron, that's a 25-30 win team. Take Roy away from us and we still probably have a winning record.
I'd rather have the GM who can turn all our expiring and young contracts into CP3 without moving Roy/Aldridge/Batum/Oden. A man can dream can't he?
If Ferry had been able to land Amare Stoudemire, which was a big rumor and supposedly a done deal at the All-Star break, I'm guessing that Ferry still has a job, and LeBron probably stays in Cleveland. He failed to close that deal, settled on Antawn Jamison, a good player who plays typically on average-to-decent teams, and his team regressed in the playoffs. Now, Cleveland is stuck with that contract, no Shaq, probably no LeBron, and Ferry quits when the heat is on him. If he can't handle Dan Gilbert, imagine what will happen with Paul Allen and the Vulcans if things go a bit sideways. They'll be lucky to win 30 games next year. Portland should win over 50. Who left their team in better shape?
He had the opportunity in 05 to go after Joe Johnson. But he went after Larry Hughes. That pretty much started the whole mess in CLE. The only reason they keep on winning is because they have LBJ. Let's look at his busts: -Hughes -Wally -Ben Wallace -Mo -Shaq -Jamison??? - a not so appealing contract on roster, especially with so much hanging in the balance with LBJ and his free agency Successes: -?
I'd take KP over potential misfits like Pfund, Ferry, Warkadouche, Griffin, etc. Just horrible timing. If you're going to fire a guy at this crucial juncture (heading into trade season and free agency period), at least make sure you already have his successor in hand. Now, we're left rudderless. If you guys think inexperienced guys like Born and Buchanan can lead trade talks to help us land stars, you are highly mistaken.
The Cavs were 61-21 last year despite cashing it in towards the end. They had the best record in the NBA and everyone was picking them to win it all this year. The roster was very clearly a championship level team. In the playoffs it didn't work out, but that time of year the blame falls on the players, most notably Lebron, and the coaches. They didn't get it done. And if you want to blame it on the GM, then you also have to blame Pritchard because his team never got out of the first round. You can't have it both ways. Ferry doesn't get me real excited, but I highly doubt we can do much better. He's at least shown he's willing to go for it. We better get use to the idea, because it'll be someone of the same caliber that ends up being GM. This is why you don't fire a top 7 GM in the NBA, especially without a backup plan.
True, but I said "they would have won the title or at least come close." The Celtics came close, so I'd say they were title-caliber. The Cavaliers really weren't all that competitive even in the series they lost, and that was still two full series short of winning a title (and it was a similar story the year before). I don't think that their playoff results suggested a true championship-caliber team that just missed.
Well, I don't know. They've certainly never done it before, but that doesn't mean they can't. Maybe they are trade savants waiting for a chance to shine. I'm not putting any money on it, however. barfo
The explanation is very simple, the supporting cast failed in the playoffs and some people are too lazy to realize it. A GM's job is to find the right components to put around the Star, he didn't do a great job of that. I wouldn't say he was atrocious but he lacked some awareness. Mo/Jamison/etc. are not even at Odom level as I stated before, that's not a great cast no matter how you slice it. Didn't Ferry also have influence on who coached the team? He certainly could have found someone to handle their playoff lineups much better.
Ferry even hired Brown. Pritchard didn't hire Nate, and I doubt he would have the authority to fire him.
Well I disagree. I think the ones who are lazy are the monday morning quarterbacks. Cleveland was the favorite heading into the playoffs for a reason. The playoffs are about the stars more than the components around the stars. Lebron, IMO, choked again in the playoffs against Boston. Whether it's because Delonte fucked his mom, or something else, the fact of the matter is he cost his team game 5 and the chemistry on the team never recovered. Anyway, I've spent more time defending Danny Ferry than I ever thought I would in my lifetime, so I'm done.
There's nothing LeBron did to get blamed for poor defense by his supporting cast, or shooting 40% between his second and third options. So that's just a poorly thought out analysis. Yes that's right, stars, as in plural form. That's pretty much the only thing that annoys me this year, hearing people cry about game 5. Guess what there was a game 6, and a games 1-4 where his teammates didn't help him. Well forgive me but the media is fucking stupid, Jordan has had worse games against the Knicks and the Bulls carried him. The playoffs are about having two all-stars performing at a high level, as the Lakers can attest to. Um no sorry James doesn't get blamed for Jamison getting raped by KG, and Mo not showing up on both sides of the ball as well. Aside from giving Paul Pierce maybe his career worst series, and averaging 27-9-7 I think you're the only one that's off here.
