Izzo Watch Part 2

[cavsfever]

Ignoring all the other bullshit in this thread, Finnan was just on Indians Tonight to discuss the Cavs but had nothing new to say. The only good point he brought up was why exactly is Gilbert looking to hire a coach at this moment. If LeBron stays, coaches will be falling over each other to come to Cleveland. If LeBron leaves, we will likely just hire a top assistant. It just doesn't make sense to conduct a major coaching search at this point with the uncertainty around LeBron. The more I think about it, it's almost like Gilbert is trying to lock in Izzo before LeBron leaves so he has a good coach to rebuild with.

No kidding it's weird timing. I've been wondering about exactly this question since this mess started. THe other risk you take is that you burn out coaching candidates -- say Izzo turns you down now because of the uncertainty about LBJ, but then Lebron does come back, Izzo would look like an asshole if he changed his mind and decided to come then.

Maybe what's going on is that Gilbert is trying to maximally proactive in getting Lebron back, demonstrating that he's willing to go to the wall to get the best coaches. But everybody already knows that's what Gilbert is like.

 

[chiefwahoo]

I'd ease back on the Gilbert bashing... he knows in this market it's suicide to pull a Dolan and say, "Yes, we'll cut back on spending and rebuild!"

The guy has been the one owner in town that has done everything right thus far. He deserves the benefit of the doubt here as well. He will do everything in his power to maintain the Cavs as an elite NBA franchise. Of course spending isn't the end-all-be-all, but it's in his best interest to keep the Cavs as a top attraction downtown. I expect that to hold true with or without LeBron. But that doesn't mean we automatically turn into the Sixers or Wizards. Relax.

 

[Jon]

When I say 1sts I mean 1st round picks. I know those pieces aren't going to be built around, but they could be. You never know. They are cheap players that are high reward and low risk.

The problem is that there's only one basketball, and only 5 guys can play at a time. Euro-stashing is a good way to play the pot luck game, but you've got be able to invest minutes in players you believe are going to pay off. You can't just bring in a bunch of late picks and hope some of them develop - there aren't enough minutes to go around.

Do you think the Wizards would rather have Jamison/Butler again or the chance to draft Wall? Would you rather have a team like Indiana that has no future or would you rather build though the draft with high picks like Portland, OKC, etc have all done?

Bad example. The Wizards stunk just fine with Jamison & Butler, and I wouldn't place any bets that what they've got in place now is enough to develop in to a championship. Wall may come along slowly allowing them to add more picks, but if that takes too long, some of the guys they're counting on to develop may have become free-agents and moved on - and if he comes on like gangbusters - they may improve too quickly to add more lottery picks.

The Thunder hit the jackpot with Durant and Westbrook, but they haven't won a championship. They're a 50-win team and now they're in that exact position you don't want to see us in. Will they continue to improve? Maybe. Or maybe they'll never get over the hump because their best front court player is Nenad Kristic? And even thought they do have salary cap space and a nice looking young team, is anyone actually clamoring to play for them?

My point is that I don't want to see Cleveland become an average team that is paying high salary for marginal players. I want to do a complete re-build which is the only way we win a title.

Not the only way and not necessarily the best way. Our best might have been for LeBron to get hurt and miss or play like crap for an entire season ... that method worked out well for Jordan, Robinson, and Pierce.

 

[Akron83]

Yes but you said NBA Titles are drafted, the Celtics, Lakers, Pistons all needed trades to win it all. Spurs were the only team that pretty much drafted their key pieces.

Those teams needed trades to win, but for the most part the core came from drafted players.

-Al Jefferson was drafted by Boston and resulted in Garnett
-Boston also had Pierce, Davis, Perkins and Rondo as draft picks
-A high draft pick also directly netted them Ray Allen

 

[TheISHT]

I'd rather have OKC in three years than a team featuring Jamison as it's star player today.

 

[Mdog1]

If LeBron leaves I hope Izzo is our coach even though I know that isn't exactly likely.

-Cut salary
-get as many assets as possible (1st, young players)
-draft smart
-tank

If we can get 3-4 decent lottery picks in a row in the 1-5 range and trade our cap cloggers like Mo, Jamison, Andy for expirings and maybe another first in the 16-25 range than we would be in a great position to have a team full of youth and a ton of cap space to entice someone to come here.

If we were able to get 4 picks in the 1-5 range than we would be paying approximately 20 million for those players, combined with another 4-5 million for our other first rounders (that we traded for). That would be about 25 million in salary and at minimum 30 million free to go after free agents. Nobody wants to play in Cleveland, but when Cleveland offers the msot money, and a great chance to win championships for multiple years FA will certainly come.

 

[pr26]

A source today: LeBron respects coach Izzo but continues his plan not to get involved with #Cavs coach search or speak to candidates.
2 minutes ago via web

From Windy


Looks like izzo won't be getting that call?

Lebron: Phone calls? No way. I'll just communicate with you through a beat writers tweets :chuckles:

 

[raisen]

My take: LeBron thinks Izzo is a good coach but he's not going to talk to him about #Cavs job. If Izzo accepts, will be blind on LBJ future.

less than 5 seconds ago via web

Windy's twitter

 

[Jon]

So Dan Gilbert decides to choose the one black swan out of the group to model his franchise after? Again...that's what scares the crap out of me. NBA Title winners were built on players that were drafted.

Timmy Duncan wasn't drafted on to a crappy team. They had a terrific team already, but when David Robinson got hurt, they fell in to the #1 pick.

Robinson on the other hand was drafted by a terrible team and he didn't win anything until they got Duncan. Robinson, however, did make the Spurs instantly better and they must have averaged around 55 games for Robinson's first 7 years, yet they never even made the finals.

Sound familiar?

So, who do you want to model exactly?

 

[Noonan]

Okay, this is where I call BULLSHIT on LeBron. Dude won't even take a phone call from Izzo?

We deserve better than what we're getting from LeBron. He doesn't need to commit. But at the very least he should hear what Izzo has to say.

 

[Binkster]

I'd describe Monta Ellis as an inefficient ball-hog whose team played better with him off the floor.

I can't really argue that much TBH. The only thing I can say is that in the right system and with the right surroundings, I truly believe Ellis can learn team ball and contribute nightly.

I'd have to argue that the best player on a 26 win team probably should ball hog. That gives them the best chance of stealing a win every night. Better the ball be in Ellis or Curry's hands than Maggette or the rest of those stiffs. Who else was he supposed to share the ball with?

 

[raisen]

LeBron's position makes business sense. From Izzo perspective, hard to count on LeBron if he won't talk about future. This is new normal. 1 minute ago via web

Windy's Tweet

 

[pr26]

If Izzo turns down the job after these tweets from Windy, the Lebron hate is going to be flowing on this board.

 

[Gordon Bombay]

I'd ease back on the Gilbert bashing... he knows in this market it's suicide to pull a Dolan and say, "Yes, we'll cut back on spending and rebuild!"

The guy has been the one owner in town that has done everything right thus far. He deserves the benefit of the doubt here as well. He will do everything in his power to maintain the Cavs as an elite NBA franchise. Of course spending isn't the end-all-be-all, but it's in his best interest to keep the Cavs as a top attraction downtown. I expect that to hold true with or without LeBron. But that doesn't mean we automatically turn into the Sixers or Wizards. Relax.

unlike dolan, gilbert's already proven that he will do whatever it takes to win...i don't think anyone's questioning that or will ever question that. but in this case doing whatever it takes to win is gutting the team and preparing to spend again in three years after netting multiple top five draft picks.

 

[Jon]

Those teams needed trades to win, but for the most part the core came from drafted players.

-Al Jefferson was drafted by Boston and resulted in Garnett
-Boston also had Pierce, Davis, Perkins and Rondo as draft picks
-A high draft pick also directly netted them Ray Allen

It took them, what? 10 years to finally build a contender around Pierce? And even so, they didn't do it with their picks, but with the players they could trade their picks for?!?

I don't think Dan Gilbert let alone the town of Cleveland is going to have the patience to wait 10 years to for the team not to stink again. They'll probably be in Vegas before that.

But if we do decide to go that way, we'd better get some loyal former players planted around the league so someone will gift us the next Pau Gasol or Kevin Garnett.

Think Z would like to become a GM?