AV, Cavs agree to deal - 6yrs, $42.5 million

[NarlCavs]

Some of these threads dug up from the past can be dangerous. Luckily I wasn't too bad a year and a half ago. When the final numbers of Varejao's contract came out it ended up pretty close to what I thought made sense for both sides. I was looking at a 4 year $30 million deal so what he ended up with was pretty similar.
From what I remember the original numbers didn't look as great since a $50 million contract was being reported at first.

Varejao has always been an important player whose value doesn't always show up in the stat sheet. There are some holes in his game but there has been improvement and they aren't there as much anymore. Many nationally are now finally recognizing what many of us have known.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Some of these threads dug up from the past can be dangerous. Luckily I wasn't too bad a year and a half ago. When the final numbers of Varejao's contract came out it ended up pretty close to what I thought made sense for both sides. I was looking at a 4 year $30 million deal so what he ended up with was pretty similar.
From what I remember the original numbers didn't look as great since a $50 million contract was being reported at first.

Varejao has always been an important player whose value doesn't always show up in the stat sheet. There are some holes in his game but there has been improvement and they aren't there as much anymore. Many nationally are now finally recognizing what many of us have known.

Well according to hoopshype the deal is actually 6 years $48.3 mil. Is some of that money based on incentives or something?

 

[The Oi]

Well, it's pretty clear that I'm right about every single prediction I make about the Cavs. Every. Single. Time.

 

[DougHeil]

I think Andy is making 8m per year plus, but we now know over 10m per year would be just fine at this point.

This thread is good to read after the fact and looking at things in hindsight. I'm not sure why I didn't weigh in with my opinion back then. geez. After all; I always have an opinion.

 

[Silky Smooth]

Well, it's pretty clear that I'm right about every single prediction I make about the Cavs. Every. Single. Time.

You're just fuqqing awesome.

 

[oasis05]

Varejao is certainly improving, but he remains a role playing and middling talent in this league. Anderson remains a lesser version of Chris Andersen. What has happened over the last year is Ben Wallace has departed and that has created a different need on the team.

Only a year has passed since Varejao was a bench player behind Ben Wallace. I don't think anyone was thinking Ben Wallaces talent level at last years all star break represented 6-8 million a year. A player Anderson couldn't get the start ahead of.

People like to point out the absurd contracts given out over the last 5 years, and point out varejao's contract is much better. In a period of cap insanity it is a good contract. However, there is much evidence consumer spending is going to have a serious drag on the nba cap, and paying 8 million a year to varejao isn't going to look all that pretty in a period of declining cap.

What has happened is Hickson wasn't an nba player to start out the season. This lead to Varejao having a bigger impact on the team. There was a broad difference between Ben Wallace and hickson earlier in the season.

The starting line up with Shaq was a big drag earlier in the season. We couldn't get the offense moving with varejao clogging shaq's lane. When we went with hickson the Mo-Hickson-Shaq duo had problems on defense.

The team really fit together last season. Where Ben Wallace fell off offensively Mo Williams capitalized and took those possessions. This year there was more offensive talent and less possessions to go around with shaq taking in 3X the possessions of ben wallace, leading to players who don't need the ball to be effective having more value than last year.

This leads to varejao looking like a beast on this years team, and why gibson looked better than Mo Williams when Mo was injured. It's also why Jamario Moon is a capable player on this team even though his offense isn't pretty.

It's pretty clear that if Shaq is back next year we need to look for more players who don't need the ball to be effective, and why I think there's ample evidence turning guys like Mo Williams who don't do much outside of scoring into those players can turn this team from going through the roof to the moon. I think with another dynamic defensive player this team can challenge those 90's bulls.

Varejao's impact on the team is showing me another of those Varejao-types is what this team needs. What we lost when Ben Wallace left.

 

[The Oi]

Anderson remains a lesser version of Chris Andersen.

Ridiculous.

 

[Richfield Kid]

This year there was more offensive talent and less possessions to go around with shaq taking in 3X the possessions of ben wallace, leading to players who don't need the ball to be effective having more value than last year.

This leads to varejao looking like a beast on this years team.......

AV getting less offensive touches, and therefore misses or turnovers, does not fool me into thinking he's more talented than he really is or that his value is somehow "inflated." At the very least, he has stepped up exactly how we needed him to, but IMO he actually just now has the opportunity to excel. He doesn't just "look" like a beast on this years team, he's just a fuckin BEAST. Period. JMO

 

[Otsego Mar]

I have more confidence in AV's jumper right now than I do J.J.'s.....and that's sayin' something..........one way or another.

But seriously, he's definitely improved his shot.

 

[oasis05]

I look at varejao the same way I looked at Damon jones, donyell marshall and Mo Williams. When we were starting out with lebron we really lacked shooting. This lead to guys who could shoot to have value is excess of their ability.

The difference between eric snow and damon jones was gaping. Then we we replaced the jones/pavlovic-types with an even better talent that could shoot in Mo Williams.

Last year we had another defensive player that could take varejao in Ben Wallace. Defense wasn't a need. This year we don't have the defense, and consequently while our offense has shot up our defense has declined. This has lead to Varejao's defense being more important than ever.

 

[Andrew]

AV wins us games with his hustle, our last game could have been a lose without AV's hustle, not to mention him draining that 3 against the Hawks.

 

[Jon]

Varejao is certainly improving, but he remains a role playing and middling talent in this league. Anderson remains a lesser version of Chris Andersen. What has happened over the last year is Ben Wallace has departed and that has created a different need on the team.

Some good points n your post, but your underestimating Ben's value last year and overestimating Chris Anderson.

You are correct that Andy fills a gaping hole in our defense that Ben was also able to fill, but that's by no means a knock. Ben's skills have diminished but we're still talking about a guy that was a 4x DPOY, an All Star, and completely earned that $15m/yr contract - just unfortunately for Chicago he earned it in Detroit.

Heck, Ben's still contributing this year and is sporting a +9.3 net +/- (2nd on the team), and a -0.7 on-court +/- which is the highest on the team. You might think that by now Jason Maxiel could do everything for the Pistons that Ben can do, but you'd be wrong.

Opposing coaches drool over Andy, and there's a reason for it. What he does for us, would help plenty of other teams too.

 

[oasis05]

What I like about Chris Andersen more than Varejao is the shot blocking and Andersen has a similar ability to Leon Powe of finding ways to get fouled. That is the biggest difference in their games. I also prefer Andersens tough Man defense. They both have similar per, plus/minus and I think that's largely due to the nuggets and cavs both lacking that other superior defensive player.

Both aren't anything special like a Camby, who does what they do better and can defend center as well as anybody. I like both of them more at power forward than center.

Varejao's only advantage to me is his age. Chris andersens past drug issue are a cause for concern but on the court I don't think there's any question Varejao has some work to do.

 

[Pioneer10]

Re: AV, Cavs agree to deal - 6yrs, $50mill

A very reasonable deal.

Andy has holes that will likely never go away but he's also young, entering his prime, and is a true big. The deal effectively secures that he will be a Cav if healthy for the most productive years of his career and assures we won't be dependent on only 30+ year old players in the frontcourt

This is I think still a big point with the contract: we locked up a big effectively thru his entire prime years. We knew exactly what we were getting with AV (even though he's been better then expected) and a deal like this is much better then paying a 29+ yo old guy or a guy right of his rookie contract based on potential.

 

[Pioneer10]

What I like about Chris Andersen more than Varejao is the shot blocking and Andersen has a similar ability to Leon Powe of finding ways to get fouled. That is the biggest difference in their games. I also prefer Andersens tough Man defense. They both have similar per, plus/minus and I think that's largely due to the nuggets and cavs both lacking that other superior defensive player.

Both aren't anything special like a Camby, who does what they do better and can defend center as well as anybody. I like both of them more at power forward than center.

Varejao's only advantage to me is his age. Chris andersens past drug issue are a cause for concern but on the court I don't think there's any question Varejao has some work to do.

Camby is one of the most overrated defensive players I've seen in awhile. The Nuggets improved defensively after he left significantly. I'd Andy or Anderson over him in a heartbeat.

He's the type of shotblocker who will go far an ill advised block instead of boxing out or staying with his man