Saturday, January 2, 2010
Shaq Effect
I love the Shaq trade for the Cavs. All they gave up was a rusty Ben Wallace and Sascha Pavlovic, who is not really even a rotation player. Shaq makes the Cavs bigs so much better by being the starter. He allows Varejao and Ilgauskas to come off the bench, which is great because they are both starting caliber players. Shaq doesn't need to do much because the bench players are actually better. Shaq gets the other team's bigs in foul trouble because you still almost have to foul him when he catches it deep. We all know Lebron can get him the ball with deep position and that equals fouls. Getting in the bonus is extremely important and Z doesn't draw fouls like Shaq does as he is more of a jump shooter. I can't even imagine what it's gone be like when Leon Powe gets healthy. Remeber, Powe was Kevin Garnett's back up in Boston and he was a dog man. He had great per minute stats for the Celtics. Granted he didn't play that many minutes, but who would backing up KG?
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i dunno, man. varejao and z = starting caliber?
ReplyDeletevarejao is alright as a hustle man coming off the bench (and you best believe i never thought i'd say even that much), but z looks completely washed up. that jump shot is gone, and there's nothing there inside. while i agree they didn't really give anything up to get shaq, he looks pretty much anonymous whenever i see them play. he is only nominally a starter since he plays such limited minutes, and on top of that, which of their problems did shaq really solve? it wasn't dwight that beat them in the playoffs, it was those bigs shooting threes outside. AP and jamario give them some length out there, but i really think they shoulda gone after ron ron for some lock down harrying-ass defense on the perimiter. all that being said, powe was the only celtic i could actually get behind, no homo. i hope he isn't one of those perpetually injured players.
they'll stay a good regular season team, but if they make it out of the east. i find it hard to picture them beating the lakers in a series.
not hating or anything, but i just don't see it. i'll eat my words if i have to.
well, the lakers are stacked. i agree, i dont see anyone being the favorite against them for sure. especially with ron, he is hard as nails, like big friggin carpentry nails, you know. id love to see that series though
ReplyDeleteEven though I can't stand Varejao, he is a quality player. Despite being an offensive liability when trying to create for himself (which he seems to have come to terms with), he is a great rebounder (especially on offense which is more important), a solid defender, and a pretty good passer, too. He just annoys the hell out of me, though.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Shaq is concerned, there have been games that made the trade look pretty smart in retrospect and games that have exposed his defensive weaknesses. The Christmas day game against the Lakers is one of the games that made the Shaq trade seem better than many expected, myself included. The Cavs blew the Lakers out, finally having the height inside to compete with the Lakers' front court. However, there have also been games like the loss to the Grizzlies. In the final moments, Shaq came out to help on the pick and roll and a simple hesitation dribble was enough for Mike Conley to blow by Shaq and hit the game winning layup.
I'm still doubtful they can go all the way this year, and I even have trouble imagining them winning the East.