http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/07/zydrunas_ilgauskas_will_join_l.html sad for Cleveland to lose another loyal player, but I pleased for Z - he really deserves a ring. Shame the cost of him getting one will be LeBron getting one too.
See, they're not gonna get a D-league team..they got some good pieces now. Big Z for Minimum Haslem with a huge paycut Mike Miller Vet experience with Juwan damn.
This is getting crazy. The three superstars were supposed to gut the rest of the roster. Now it seems like they'll have a solid (not great, but decent) supporting cast around their superstars.
This team is nothing more than laundry. Wade and Haslem are the only two with any connection to this franchise. The rest are ring-chasing whores.
No big deal, not a big Z fan. In fact I would go so far as to say that gives a spot to attack that team at.
Haslem and Miller are the key. Those are very solid players. It gives them a Center that doesn't suck and a 6th man to anchor the bench. Big Z has fallen off recently, but if they can limit his minutes during the regular season by obtaining another serviceable big he can give them the size for the playoffs they so desperately need.
They have done a better job then I thought they would have at filling this roster! I assumed it would be a bunch of D-Leaguers! And the funny thing is, they just dumped the GOD DAMNED # 2 PICK from a couple years ago for nothing!
Yep he will. He will be perfectly slow so our centers can run by him and get easy buckets, and blast him physically in the post. Z has always been soft, and always will be.
He had a bad season, which is surely at least somewhat related to his age, but it also may have had to do with his role being jerked around a bit. If you project on the last few seasons, I'd say that getting a 15-16 PER (or roughly average to slightly above average production) out of him wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation. It's well short of the 18-20 PER he was good for for many years prior to last year, but doesn't assume that last year is his new, permanent level of play. At the very, very least, he should be a servicable big off the bench. At best, he could be a solid, unspectacular starter for them. I agree that Miller and Haslem were the keys. But Ilgauskas for the minimum is quite a coup for that team, IMO.
Z's best skill is a spot up jumper that can pull a defensive Big out of the paint. But on that team does he even average 5 shots a game? While adding him is a good move for them, he's not the ideal defender/rebounder they'd prefer to have... dude is massive but very slow. I definitely think this is a spot teams (with the personnel) will go at them. STOMP