Z's value up there, but there's a ceiling
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist
This is for Z, who's probably leaving.
To judge by my mail, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is special only in standing 7-foot-3. "Z is a big European stiff," one person wrote.
These critics keep thinking we're back in the days before basketball glasnost, when players from Europe had the style and grace of a science project built during a thunderstorm in a Transylvanian castle. That was then. This is an era of basketball without borders.
European players today can shoot, which covers up many weaknesses. Coaches say you can't teach height. Well, how about instruction in making the intermediate jumper?
I gave the Cavs a decent chance to win a playoff game against Miami, had they qualified, because Z's mangled right ring finger had improved enough for him to sink 18-foot jump shots in the season's last game.
If the big man could make that shot consistently, Shaquille O'Neal would have had to come out to guard him. Then LeBron James might conduct a sweeter "jam session" than Dizzy Gillespie ever managed with his funky horn.
For years, Z's feet could set off metal detectors with the hardware surgeons inserted to hold the bones together. You had to admire him for playing after all that. He wasn't a money-grubbing slug with no pride like Keith Hernandez was with the Indians.
Z's feet, which also kept him from dunking very often, wouldn't let him get out in time to harass the Knicks' jump shooters on the pick-and-roll in the Cavs' most costly loss down the stretch. He also played 29 minutes in that game, his first after missing four straight with the finger injury. He never should have been out there in the fourth quarter. He was also not alone in being unable to defend the pick-and-roll play on the team.
It was a tradeoff with him, offense for defense.
He shot 47 percent from the field. He was the top offensive rebounder in the league, ranking in the top 20 in free throws and in the top 10 in blocked shots. The latter was a result of being tall, although he had better timing than you might expect.
There was always a lot of carping about him. But LeBron James respected Z, while he did not have much regard at the end for Jeff McInnis, despite public statements designed to present a unified front by the team. Z was one of the guys who cared about making the playoffs. You had to flinch every time he dived for loose balls, endangering that gruesomely swollen finger.
If Ilgauskas wants the maximum salary as a free agent, he's gone. The Cavs can't afford that. He's probably gone anyway, because no one has been stroking his ego in the Dan Gilbert ownership group.
So just who gets points inside with Z gone? His points and rebound averages of 16.9 and 8.6 were comparable to Yao Ming's 18.3 and 8.4 in Houston. If the Cavs lose him, they could retool as a perimeter team, with James as the slasher. But they have to be smart in their personnel choices. If the price is right, it's easier with him.
Z could be mechanical and predictable on his "step-through" move in the paint. But I'll remember a layup after going behind his back (at 7-3!) on the fast break in his early days and a whirling drive in the All-Star Game this year, ending in a layup from an angle that would thwart a pool shark.
"Z the Pearl," I thought. It played off Earl Monroe's nickname, but also off the gem itself - not flashy, but valuable.
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-5754
