<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CLEVELAND -- Days after the Cleveland Cavaliers made waves with a marquee free-agent signing, Zydrunas Ilgauskas has elected to remain with the club. Zydrunas Ilgauskas Ilgauskas Ilgauskas agreed in principle to a five-year deal on Monday, his agent, Herb Rudoy, told ESPN Insider Chad Ford. According to Rudoy, Ilgauskas's contract is worth between $55 and $60 million. The agreement comes three days after the Cavaliers agreed to terms with guard Larry Hughes, one of the top prizes on the free-agent market after a stellar season with the Washington Wizards. Hughes' six-year deal is worth between $65-$70 million. Based on those numbers and a projected $49.5 million cap, the Cavs still could have as much as $6 million left under the cap to sign more free agents. According to a source inside the Cavs, the team has several other targets including Lithuanian point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and Heat power forward Udonis Haslem. The 30-year-old Ilgauskas, who has played all seven of his seasons with Cleveland, averaged 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in 78 games last season. He led the NBA with 299 offensive rebounds, ranked sixth with 165 blocks and was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the second time in three years. After suffering through myriad foot injuries early in his career, the 7-3, 260-pounder has been a constant presence in the middle for the Cavaliers. Ilgauskas has missed just six games over the last three seasons and has increased his minutes in each campaign. In 413 career games, the Lithuania native has averaged 14.9 points and 7.7 rebounds.</div> Link That's great news! And I give Z much love for signing a reasonable deal! Maybe the big man's leaving some money for Sarunas to gobble up lol.. Crossin' my fingers that that's the case..
This is really great news for Cavs fans there having a pretty good offseason now they have Hughes, Lebron, and an All star Center downlow i expect the Cavs to improve alot next season
Great news for the Cavs and the Big Z he gets 11 million a year and still goes to the team he wanted to go to.
This signing makes me a little bit nervious. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is a nice player, one of the few talented centers left in the league, however he's a 30 year old player and paying him 11 million a season for 5 more years could come back to haunt the Cavaliers. When his contract is up, Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be 35, and given his history of knee and foot problems, will he be able to hold up that long or even be productive in his final years of this new deal. I'm glad he's back, I just question deal, especially if his yearly salary is back loaded and he'll be making more money in the final couple of seasons during this 5 year deal. Nevertheless, Welcome back Big Z!
I think for the Cavs.. the future is now.. They've gotta build as good of a team as they possibly can in these next couple of years.. 'Cuz once LeBron hits free agency, the Cavs will have to be as respectable of a team as possible.. otherwise, you wouldn't blame him if it's a mess and he wants to leave.. Oh and another thing.. in that little article up there that I took from espn.com, it says that Hughes' deal is for 6 years not 5.. That's a huge diff.. Any1 got a heads up on that? I always thought it was 5 years for 65-70 mil..
Insane...5 years. He's a big with a history of foot problems. Although he hasn't been as injury prone in previous years, for a big like him, another injury to his foot, ankle or wherever, could finish his career like that. I would've given him 3 years max at around 30 million.
A 3 year deal is ideal but completely unreasonable.. That'd be insulting to Z and he woulda bailed to another team.. Plus, I'm sure they got sum sorta insurance on that 5 year deal..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting swyftdahoe:</div><div class="quote_post">A 3 year deal is ideal but completely unreasonable.. That'd be insulting to Z and he woulda bailed to another team.. Plus, I'm sure they got sum sorta insurance on that 5 year deal..</div> Who cares if its insulting to Z. A 3 year deal is better than a 5 year one for the longterm.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">Who cares if its insulting to Z. A 3 year deal is better than a 5 year one for the longterm.</div> But all of this is about the short-term.. The Cavs must put together a good team now! There's no way he would've signed a 3 year deal.. That's for journey men and such.. Not an All-Star calibre centre in the East.. Who wouldn't want to sign a good player for only 3 years? Why not 1 year??? 'Cuz no agent's dumb enough to do that.. And I think they comprimised on a 5 year deal (instead of 4 years) because Z only starts off at like 9 mil this year.. This should leave them with ample cap room for the remaining roster space they gotta fill up..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting swyftdahoe:</div><div class="quote_post">But all of this is about the short-term.. The Cavs must put together a good team now! There's no way he would've signed a 3 year deal.. That's for journey men and such.. Not an All-Star calibre centre in the East.. Who wouldn't want to sign a good player for only 3 years? Why not 1 year??? 'Cuz no agent's dumb enough to do that.. And I think they comprimised on a 5 year deal (instead of 4 years) because Z only starts off at like 9 mil this year.. This should leave them with ample cap room for the remaining roster space they gotta fill up..</div> All-Star caliber, perhaps, but he's 30 and he's had a history of injuries throughout his career. Who else was going after him? Atlanta? There wasn't a huge market for this guy's services. I don't have a problem with him earning 11 Million a season, but over the next 5 years? That's absurd. If I'm signing him to a 5 year contract than he's only getting 9 Million a season TOPS.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting swyftdahoe:</div><div class="quote_post">But all of this is about the short-term.. The Cavs must put together a good team now! There's no way he would've signed a 3 year deal.. That's for journey men and such.. Not an All-Star calibre centre in the East.. Who wouldn't want to sign a good player for only 3 years? Why not 1 year??? 'Cuz no agent's dumb enough to do that.. </div> 1 year is a huge difference from 3 years to let you know...You're just blowing your arguement out of proportion You're right agents aren't dumb enough to do that. The GM's are the dumb ones giving out these contracts.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Banks:</div><div class="quote_post">1 year is a huge difference from 3 years to let you know...You're just blowing your arguement out of proportion You're right agents aren't dumb enough to do that. The GM's are the dumb ones giving out these contracts.</div> Yeah I know.. I was just trying to emphasize my point.. But it's just as ridiculous saying that why don't the Cavs just offer 3 years instead of 5.. And the answer's because the market won't allow for that to happen.. A 3 year offer would easily be topped by some other team willing to offer more years.. You can't get everything you wish for, in the terms that you want.. Getting Z back, despite the years and the cost, should be good enough.. There are worse scenarios.. That's all I'm saying..
The Cavs took care of business but I really don't think Ilgauskas is worth the contract he has received. He is a quality player to have on your roster but you have to wonder how many good producing years he has left in him. I think that Cleveland would have been better off going after one of the young bigs such as Eddy Curry, and Samuel Dalembert.
