Who's going to do it now that Boozer has left? LeBron can't handle the team by himself and Z can't get every rebound. Boozer used to carry their rebounding and have a huge impact in the scoring. Surely they need to try and get another PF.
First off, I'm sure we'll pick someone else up. All we really have at PF right now is Battie. No one else can really play the position except Diop, but he's already backing up Z at center. Now as I've said before, I hope we'll take a shot at Stromile Swift, who is just 24 and could probably put up numbers similar to Boozer's if given the minutes. I wish we had a little more than the MLE to offer though, since Memphis claims they will match offers at that level but aren't willing to go much higher. Swift would be a great addition. I'm not really concerned about scoring. LeBron will score more this year, Z could stand to score a little more, guys like Wags should produce more than last season, and the combination of Jackson/Pavlovic at SF should produce a lot more offense than ANYTHING we had at that position last season. Rebounding is a question mark, until we see who we pick up for PF. Luke Jackson is supposed to be a good rebounder, but we can't expect everything from a rookie all at once. Battie is a good rebounder. But we have to see who we pick up. If we get Swift I'd have no worries at all about our rebounding.
Maybe someone can help me out. I know that we've got the MLE left, and i believe about a million left under the cap. Could these be packaged together for swift or another PF?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Viscanti:</div><div class="quote_post">Maybe someone can help me out. I know that we've got the MLE left, and i believe about a million left under the cap. Could these be packaged together for swift or another PF?</div> No, the mid level exception has to be used separately. The MLE can also be split up and used on more than one player. However, say we were 4 million under the cap (we don't really know how far under the cap we are yet, but I'll get to that in a second). Don't forget we could take that $4m and sign someone, AND sign someone with our MLE. There are other exceptions too (the "$1 million exception", and the minimum salary exception) but they are much smaller than the MLE. Now, some of this has yet to be determined. We don't know how far under the cap we are because the actual salary cap is not set until July 14. It's gone up each year (although it could actually go down this year; it depends on revenue the league generates). The mid level exception amount has also not been set (it's based on the average salary, hence the name), although it's expected to be just under $5m, not changed much from last year.
I like Swift (or at least his potential) too, but West said he would match if Swift got the MLE, although it probably wouldn't hurt to make the offer. The rest of the FA's are a little lackluster. Keon Clark has had some good years, but has been injured, Udonis Haslim is interesting as I remember him tearing us up last year, and Vin Baker may have put his problems behind him, but I think our best bet may be a trade. With that in mind here are contender's: David West- Coming out of college he reminded me a lot of Loozer. I think they still have PJ Brown, but getting them to let go of a future starter may be difficult. We may have more of a chance to get PJ Brown, a Silas favorite. Drew Gooden- I've heard the Magic are shopping him now that they have Howard. Might be our best shot at getting a young power forward with some offensive potential. Chris Wilcox- The Clips have a lot of money tied up in Brand, so they may be willing to move him. I know the Cavs were interested in him coming out of college, but went with Juany instead. Assuming Kobe ends up with the Lakers, they'd have the cap room to take someone like Ollie, who's still held in good regards by a lot of teams, off our hands for him too. Considering right now Livingston is their starter and no where close to being able to play in the L, that may not be too much of a stretch. Other options: Diop- He's a center, but a perfect compliment to Z with his rebounding and shot blocking. He'll leave more shot's for Z, and considering Shaq is in the East again, starting two seven footers might not be that bad of an idea. We still need depth, but we'd have Battie playing about 20 minutes per night backing both big men up. LeBron- I see him being a small forward for us given his skills. But, he kind of reminds me of Webber with more ball skills. I know the Cavs medical staff thinks he'll end up being between 6'9 and 6'10, so I guess it's a possibility. It's probably not going to happen, but a lineup of J-Mac, Jackson, Pavlovic, LBJ, and Z could lead the league in scoring. Now if Juanny can play PG... I also saw channel five talking about our summer league power forward (Lonnie Jones), saying how much the Cavs like him. I guess we'll have to wait on that. No matter what, Boumje Boumje is probably more secure than he ever has been :>
well lebron really doesnt have much of a lowpost game so probably he wouldn't be the pf solution, but I agree with you that a lineup with both diop and z out there at the same time isn't a bad idea for certain situations.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Juice:</div><div class="quote_post">I also saw channel five talking about our summer league power forward (Lonnie Jones), saying how much the Cavs like him. I guess we'll have to wait on that. No matter what, Boumje Boumje is probably more secure than he ever has been :></div> I also heard of this Lonnie Jones, and he played pretty good in the last summer league game. He got something like 15 points and 20 boards. Bournje Bournje could be OK if he is given some game time (which he never is)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RiverspoonJones:</div><div class="quote_post">If Vin Baker replaces Carlos Boozer, I'm going to laugh. Hard.</div> Forgive my ignorance, but whose Vin Baker and why would you laugh?
Lonnie Jones had another good game. 14 points and 9 rebounds. Maybe they've found Boozers replacement already. Hope they have, because he was one of their most consistant players and they need to replace him right now.
Just remember, it's only summer league. And on that note, is anyone else concerned with Diop's plaay this summer? I was hoping he'd come in and tear up lesser competition, but as of now he seems to be middle of the pack. Hope he turns it around...
