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Ilgauskas's Future Raised
In terms of NBA news, the Cleveland Cavaliers matter in just about every facet in which a team can matter. They've got two of the most popular and entertaining players in the league in LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal, they are legitimate contenders for an NBA title, they're active on both the free agency and trade fronts, and everyone and their mama wants to know every little tidbit about where James might end up one year from now.
They're a virtual treasure trove of fan interest, yet somewhere in all the hoopla of the last few months the future of Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been somewhat overlooked. It may be that compared to everything else, Cavs fans just don't have the capacity to care much about what happens to their long-time aging center, but, as Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer points out, there's more to the Ilgauskas situation than just how well he plays and how healthy he is.
As an $11.5 million expiring contract, "Z" might be the best chance Cleveland will have to acquire another big piece to the championship puzzle this season. Keeping in mind that Ilgauskas has been in Cleveland for his entire 11-season career, and is by far the longest-tenured Cav on the roster (LeBron James is second with six straight seasons), moving him at a time when just about every team in the league is looking for 2010 cap flexibility could yield them a pretty solid piece.
Further aiding in the idea of a big move is the redundancy Cleveland has at the shooting guard spot this season. Many believe that new Cav Anthony Parker, with his defense and height, could eventually take the starting shooting guard role away from Delonte West, and with those two and Daniel Gibson it would appear that somebody could be on the move. Either West or Gibson could get stuck into a package with Ilgauskas to sweet the pot even further.
Keep in mind that this is essentially the same team that posted the league's top home record last season, only know they've got Shaq, Parker, Jamario Moon, and Danny Green. They're bringing back their six top scorers, too, meaning this is a very deep team with a whole lot of options.
Some may ask if trading that expiring contract means that Cleveland would have $11.5 million less in cap space to retain James, but that would only be a concern if the Cavaliers weren't already pretty well set towards paying the luxury tax for the foreseeable future (at least the way the current CBA defines it—who know how that will change in years to come). Don't forget that O'Neal's $20 million deal expires after this season, too, meaning that he could be the one to go, instead. Between Cleveland's two centers they should have well over $30 million in freed-up salary by June. There's some space to work with here.
And why not build for life for LeBron, just in case? If Toronto or Phoenix implodes and the Cavs can get a guy like Chris Bosh or Amar'e Stoudemire, it softens the blow for Cleveland fans should King James depart next summer. And if he stays, well, both those guys are complementary pieces that LeBron would surely love to play with. If anything, bringing in one of those guys gives James all the more reason to stay put.
Is Ilgauskas the big news for this team right now? No, of course not, but come February, when the Cavaliers are one of five or six teams that could seriously contend for a ring, Z's big expiring deal is going to start looking mighty tasty to space-hungry franchises looking to offload talent for financial freedom. Cavs GM Danny Ferry loves the guy, as Windhorst points out, but if it's a homerun deal and Shaq is panning out, the business side of basketball may force Ferry to move Ilgauskas along. The bottom line is that this is a very good team with quite a very good options to get even better, easily keeping Cleveland one of the league's biggest news-makers for the remainder of this season and well beyond.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13650
Ilgauskas's Future Raised
In terms of NBA news, the Cleveland Cavaliers matter in just about every facet in which a team can matter. They've got two of the most popular and entertaining players in the league in LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal, they are legitimate contenders for an NBA title, they're active on both the free agency and trade fronts, and everyone and their mama wants to know every little tidbit about where James might end up one year from now.
They're a virtual treasure trove of fan interest, yet somewhere in all the hoopla of the last few months the future of Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been somewhat overlooked. It may be that compared to everything else, Cavs fans just don't have the capacity to care much about what happens to their long-time aging center, but, as Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer points out, there's more to the Ilgauskas situation than just how well he plays and how healthy he is.
As an $11.5 million expiring contract, "Z" might be the best chance Cleveland will have to acquire another big piece to the championship puzzle this season. Keeping in mind that Ilgauskas has been in Cleveland for his entire 11-season career, and is by far the longest-tenured Cav on the roster (LeBron James is second with six straight seasons), moving him at a time when just about every team in the league is looking for 2010 cap flexibility could yield them a pretty solid piece.
Further aiding in the idea of a big move is the redundancy Cleveland has at the shooting guard spot this season. Many believe that new Cav Anthony Parker, with his defense and height, could eventually take the starting shooting guard role away from Delonte West, and with those two and Daniel Gibson it would appear that somebody could be on the move. Either West or Gibson could get stuck into a package with Ilgauskas to sweet the pot even further.
Keep in mind that this is essentially the same team that posted the league's top home record last season, only know they've got Shaq, Parker, Jamario Moon, and Danny Green. They're bringing back their six top scorers, too, meaning this is a very deep team with a whole lot of options.
Some may ask if trading that expiring contract means that Cleveland would have $11.5 million less in cap space to retain James, but that would only be a concern if the Cavaliers weren't already pretty well set towards paying the luxury tax for the foreseeable future (at least the way the current CBA defines it—who know how that will change in years to come). Don't forget that O'Neal's $20 million deal expires after this season, too, meaning that he could be the one to go, instead. Between Cleveland's two centers they should have well over $30 million in freed-up salary by June. There's some space to work with here.
And why not build for life for LeBron, just in case? If Toronto or Phoenix implodes and the Cavs can get a guy like Chris Bosh or Amar'e Stoudemire, it softens the blow for Cleveland fans should King James depart next summer. And if he stays, well, both those guys are complementary pieces that LeBron would surely love to play with. If anything, bringing in one of those guys gives James all the more reason to stay put.
Is Ilgauskas the big news for this team right now? No, of course not, but come February, when the Cavaliers are one of five or six teams that could seriously contend for a ring, Z's big expiring deal is going to start looking mighty tasty to space-hungry franchises looking to offload talent for financial freedom. Cavs GM Danny Ferry loves the guy, as Windhorst points out, but if it's a homerun deal and Shaq is panning out, the business side of basketball may force Ferry to move Ilgauskas along. The bottom line is that this is a very good team with quite a very good options to get even better, easily keeping Cleveland one of the league's biggest news-makers for the remainder of this season and well beyond.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13650
