<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NBA seasons often are all about plugging holes. The Cavaliers had a whopper of a hole to plug in the aftermath of a finger injury that sidelined starting shooting guard Larry Hughes in early January. Hughes, projected to be out another four to five weeks, took more than 16.2 points a game to the sidelines. He took a decent perimeter shot, along with the ability to break down a defender off the dribble and get to the basket. Finding Hughes' replacement has not been easy. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown met various degrees of success and failure, starting Damon Jones (seven games), Ira Newble (two games) and Sasha Pavlovic (19 games) in Hughes' place alongside point guard Eric Snow. The common downside to all three: none breaks down defenders and gets to the basket -- shooting the ball, or passing it off -- like Hughes did. A late February trade for Flip Murray appears to have solved this problem. Murray, acquired from Seattle for little-used guard Mike Wilks and $500,000, does not have Hughes' perimeter game or defensive toughness. But what he does have is the sort of athleticism that allows him to create off the dribble. Murray's athleticism was on display in front of a soldout Q and national television audience in Sunday's come-from-behind 96-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Down, 85-70, with less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Murray took advantage of the attention given to LeBron James by leading the charge. Repeatedly blowing past former Cavaliers guard Smush Parker, Murray personally outscored the Lakers, 14-10, over the last 9:51 of the fourth. He did it by hitting 6 of 7 field-goal attempts. Five were hard drives to the hoop, one a 3-pointer. </div> Source With the chemistry Flip and LeBron have on the court, it's going to be interesting to see what the Cavs do in the summer. Flip will be an unrestricted free agent, but the Cavs already have Larry Hughes signed for big money. Do the Cavs re-sign Murray? Do they shop Larry Hughes? Plus the Cavs have Damon Jones stinking it up this season. They also need to make a decision on Drew Gooden. He's been their most consistent player at PF this season. Donyell Marshall got really old, really fast in Cleveland, and isn't good enough to play starter minutes anymore.
The cavs should shop larry, the guy is way to injury prone, i don't think he's ever played a full 82 games in his career. They should also drop damon, the guy was made by shaq, and he sucks when he's not playing with him.
