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What are the Cavs going to do at C?

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KeyzerSozee

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It was suggested by a few that this thread be started after it got to be a side-conversation in the Hickson trade thread. I'll probably add thoughts in an edit, but you get the point. I'd hope also that we pull some magic get an extension of the trade Asset LBJ created, parlay it into another pick, but I'd imagine eventually harder to do under Hard Cap, but perhaps not at first? as I noted in the CBA discussion only 12 teams inclusive of the CAVS are in "good" position in guaranteed contracts

I'll add some fodder- I assume it is addressed through the draft? If so looking to next year, rated as follows:

1. Andre Drummond
Experience: N/A | School: Undecided
Height: 6-10 | Weight: 275 lbs.
*Andre Drummond is the #1 prospect in the 2012 class. However, his original class is 2011, and he has the option to reclassify. He is undecided on where he will play college basketball.
Season Stats:
15.7 PPG, 0.6APG, 7.2 RPG, (55% FG)

2. Patric Young
Experience: Junior | School: Florida
Height: 6-9 | Weight: 245 lbs.


Season Stats:
3.4 PPG, 0.3 APG, 3.8 RPG, (56% FG)


3. Tyler Zeller
Experience: Senior | School: North Carolina
Height: 7-0 | Weight: 250 lbs.

Season Stats:
15.7 PPG, 0.6 APG, 7.2 RPG, (55% FG)

4. Lucas Riva Nogueira
Experience: International | Country: Brazil
Height: 7-0 | Weight: 225 lbs.
Season Stats:
N/A

5. Joshua Smith
Experience: Sophomore | School: UCLA
Height: 6-10 | Weight: 305 lbs.

Season Stats:
10.9 PPG, 0.6 APG, 6.3 RPG, (56% FG)

6. Festus Ezeli
Experience: Senior | School: Vanderbilt
Height: 6-11 | Weight: 255 lbs.
Season Stats:
13.0 PPG, 0.2 APG, 6.3 RPG, (59% FG)

7. Renardo Sidney
Experience: Junior | School: Mississippi State
Height: 6-10 | Weight: 275 lbs.
Season Stats:
14.2 PPG, 0.7 APG, 7.6 RPG, (52% FG)

8. Reggie Johnson
Experience: Junior | School: Miami
Height: 6-10 | Weight: 303 lbs.
Season Stats:
11.9 PPG, 0.9 APG, 9.6 RPG, (59% FG)

9. Fab Melo
Experience: Sophomore | School: Syracuse
Height: 7-0 | Weight: 244 lbs.
Season Stats:
2.3 PPG, 0.2 APG, 1.9 RPG. (61% FG)

10. Aaric Murray
Experience: Junior | School: La Salle
Height: 6-10 | Weight: 250 lbs.


FA's beginning this year (some order of desire-ability some are RFA's):
1) Tyson Chandler - The top option in this entire off-season recruitment process has to be Mr. Chandler. I sincerely doubt it.

2) Nene

3) DeAndre Jordan

4) Marc Gasol

5) Joel Pryzbilla

6) Samuel Dalembert

7) Kwame Brown

9) Chuck Hayes

10) Jeff Foster

11) Jason Collins

12) Dan Gadzuric

13) Kyrylo Fesenko

No Order FA's in 2012 (assuming lockout and just looking ahead)

1) Roy Hibbert

2) Koufos

3) Chris Kaman

4) Anthony Tolliver

5) Brook Lopez

6) Ronny Turriaf

7) Robin Lopez

8) Garret Siler

9) Marcus Camby

10) Tim Duncan

- Sure I am missing some, but hard to go through every team's roster. Feel free to add or edit Wuck
 
Isn't it obvious? Use the Kings 2017 first round pick...
 
Did we trade Andy?

Erden and Tristen can play in spurts too...
 
This is why I was mad we passed on Jonas. Even if TT and Jonas end up playing on the same level, Jonas is going to be more valuable since he plays Center.
 
Do we honestly even know what we have with Erden? Pencil Stache picked up his option and we still have Andy.
 
I think if we were able to draft or acquire a 6'11-ish scoring PF (i.e. Perry Jones or Anthony Davis) then TT could slide over to play the C position. I know he doesn't have ideal height but he has that kind of presence and game to play there, especially defensively. Also with Andy and TT on the court together, I could see Andy guarding 4's and TT guardng 5's, I know there wouldn't be much offense there, but still.. 4's would be shut down, 5's would be questionable until TT got a little stronger. Rebounding and hustle wouldn't suffer though.
 
Did we trade Andy?

Erden and Tristen can play in spurts too...

Yes, Andy is a good player to have (player we have under Contract (only) through 13/14), but do you want him to be your starting C as a guy who makes his money with his energy and well-timed placement in games?.

I'd assume we are building for depth, for a Champion. Erden is only contracted for this year, which could very well be locked out (and knowing what I do about him (somewhat limited) he seems very similar as a 6th man energy/minutes guy as AV). I'd love to see TT able to play even at C at the NBA level, can he idk? I would think that his selection had more to do with filling the hole for PF which Hickson was going to create.

I don't think you create depth/a serious contender with a Center position by Committee. Look at this year.
 
Byron Scott's Nets got to the 2002 finals with Todd MacCulloch and Jason Collins at center. The next year, Mutombo (at 36) shared the spot with Collins. Now, of course, they didn't win it all, but Scott has led teams where Center was not a strength.

With the game changing every year, I wonder whether a conventional (or high-production) center will be or can be a priority for the Cavs.

All that said, I wanted them to choose Jonas for this reason. But since they didn't, they are going to have to find another path.
 
I don't think you create depth/a serious contender with a Center position by Committee. Look at this year.

Well, in fairness, this year the two teams that played for the championship had Joel Anthony and Tyson Chandler as starting centers. Anthony is listed at 6'9" and Chandler was a late offseason trade addition by the Mavs. The two teams they played in the conference finals had Varejao clone Joakim Noah and Kendrick Perkins (who was traded for mid-season) at C. While I still think they made a mistake picking Thompson instead of Valanciunas, there are lots of ways to get useful centers and not every center on a good team has to be 7' tall anyway.
 
I am hoping we back the Grizzlies into the corner and give Marc Gasol a good offer. That way, if the Grizzlies cant afford him we get to take on Gay with the extended TPE, or we get to sign Gasol, whatever Chris Wallace decides to panic about.
 
Byron Scott's Nets got to the 2002 finals with Todd MacCulloch and Jason Collins at center. The next year, Mutombo (at 36) shared the spot with Collins. Now, of course, they didn't win it all, but Scott has led teams where Center was not a strength.

With the game changing every year, I wonder whether a conventional (or high-production) center will be or can be a priority for the Cavs.

All that said, I wanted them to choose Jonas for this reason. But since they didn't, they are going to have to find another path.

Good perspective. Makes the future that much more interesting. With that being said, apparently conventional C's are one of the strength's of this Super-class in 2012.

Big men are back
Led by Andre Drummond, 10 of top 15 players in new ESPNU 100 are C's or PFs

By Mitch Sherman, ESPN recruiting.


Robert Carter has faced the best and lived to talk big about it.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound power forward from Thomasville (Ga.) High School, who's No. 14 in the new ESPNU 100, battled the likes of 6-8 Shaq Goodwin (Decatur, Ga./Southwest DeKalb), 7-foot Isaiah Austin (Mansfield, Texas/Grace Preparatory) and 6-9 Tony Parker (Lithonia, Ga./Miller Grove) in the past year, and more showdowns are scheduled this summer as Carter travels with the Atlanta Xpress.

"They're big," Carter said, "but I don't really think they can guard me. You can't just be big and tall. You've got show your athleticism to go against the top bigs in the country."

This year, in particular, big men crowd the top of the rankings. Led by centers Andre Drummond (Middletown, Conn./St. Thomas More) and Austin -- who are first and second in the new rankings -- 10 of the top 15 prospects in the ESPNU 100, including five of the top six, play center or power forward.

Save for Orlando's Dwight Howard, dominant centers have nearly disappeared from the NBA. The college game appears even more depleted. ESPN.com ranked no more than three signees of 6-foot-10 or taller among the top 10 in any of the past five years -- and just seven total since 2007. The Class of 2012 promises to replenish college basketball in the frontcourt.

Five stand tall among the top nine prospects this year, including Austin and fellow 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski (Claremont, N.H./St. Mark's School), and a trio of 6-10 prospects in Drummond, DaJuan Coleman (DeWitt, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) and Mitch McGary (Wolfeboro, N.H./Brewster Academy).

"If these guys are as good as we think they are, you're going to want to have one," said Dave Telep, ESPN's senior basketball recruiting analyst. "And if you get two, you're really cooking. They're like nuclear weapons; you don't want them in the hands of the wrong people."

Of the top tier, only Austin, committed to Baylor, Texas pledge Cameron Ridley (Fort Bend, Texas/Bush) and Arizona commit Grant Jerrett (La Verne, Calif./La Verne Lutheran) have settled on schools.

The race is on for the rest.

"It's exciting on a couple fronts," Texas associate head coach Rob Lanier said. "There are very few years when you go into a recruiting class and say, 'We don't need bigs.' And what's also interesting with this class is that normally, this is the case with guards. This year, it seems almost in reverse."

But why?

"A lot of them are moving to the perimeter," said Lanier, 42, who formerly coached at Siena. "So many 6-8 guys are wing players now. That's a product of the way the game has evolved.

"All of this stuff is cyclical, and there are years when the talent pool takes on a different personality."

For their part, many of the big men appear to embrace the competition.

Carter said he'd rather belong to this group of big men than the 2011 class, which featured incoming Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis out of Chicago, but little depth in the paint.

Carter is considering scholarship offers from several Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference schools, including Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Florida State and Kentucky, but he doesn't have a favorite.

"If I was the type of person who just wanted to get by easy, I'd prefer last year," Carter said. "But this class, I like, because you have to actually work."

Centers Drummond and Tarczewski and power forward McGary reclassified early in their high school careers to each receive an additional year of eligibility before college. Perhaps no one has benefited more from the extra time and glut of talent in the paint than McGary. He added more than 30 pounds to reach nearly 260 as the AAU season nears. While he says it's all muscle, he plans to shed 15 to 20 pounds before play resumes.

McGary's stock has skyrocketed, landing McGary at No. 4 in the ESPNU 100. He's considering offers from home state Indiana, Connecticut, Florida, Pittsburgh and West Virginia, among others.

It helped to practice last season against his teammates -- notably 6-10 Villanova signee Markus Kennedy -- and face Drummond, Austin, Tarczewski and small forward Shabazz Muhammad (Las Vegas/Bishop Gorman), No. 3 in the rankings, in competition.

"It's been a great year for me," McGary said. "I'd like to play against a few more of those guys in the summer, and I probably will. We'll go from there and see who's best."

Mitch Sherman is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at mshermanespn@gmail.com. Follow Mitch Sherman on Twitter: @mitchsherman
 
I think if we were able to draft or acquire a 6'11-ish scoring PF (i.e. Perry Jones or Anthony Davis) then TT could slide over to play the C position. I know he doesn't have ideal height but he has that kind of presence and game to play there, especially defensively. Also with Andy and TT on the court together, I could see Andy guarding 4's and TT guardng 5's, I know there wouldn't be much offense there, but still.. 4's would be shut down, 5's would be questionable until TT got a little stronger. Rebounding and hustle wouldn't suffer though.

TT is about 225 soaking wet, don't think he has the strength to bang with the Big C's. He's got desire and quickness to outhustle some plodders underneath, but maybe 5-8 minutes a night max.

Andy, Erdin, Ryan "The Show" Hollins and even Samuels can handle the C spot combined for now. Our best hope for a future C is hoping one of the guys we got or committe of them can handle the spot for us going forward. 2012 draft is looking pretty deep at SG and SF prospects who project as stars and hopefully we're grabbing one of them next year and not having to grab a C unless we get a top 5 pick and there's a can't miss Center or we're able to grab a 2nd good 1st round pick and possibly grab both.

I really like the flexibility we have in having youth with potential and good assets for trades and drafting. As long as Grant is competent and Scott develops the guys right, we should look good moving forward and hopefully sooner than the 5 year window most are giving us as being competitive is more like 3. I don't mind losing seasons to get better, but they better start being competitive losing seasons to keep the faith (not talking about being just good enough to make playoffs and 1st round exit, but more of losing seasons where we may be 2 guys away from being able to make a legitimate push)
 
Well, in fairness, this year the two teams that played for the championship had Joel Anthony and Tyson Chandler as starting centers. Anthony is listed at 6'9" and Chandler was a late offseason trade addition by the Mavs. The two teams they played in the conference finals had Varejao clone Joakim Noah and Kendrick Perkins (who was traded for mid-season) at C. While I still think they made a mistake picking Thompson instead of Valanciunas, there are lots of ways to get useful centers and not every center on a good team has to be 7' tall anyway.

Agree. But I also agree with what Wuck said particularly the caution, and said that in thinking about those concerns. Yes you have that on the Mavs but then you have Dirk at PF, on the Heat you had Bosh. OKC- Ibaka played out of his mind. Chicago had Carlos Boozer. So all of those teams you name make a good point, but I guess it assumes a lot about TT's development, as to say that it seems like you need a PF who can really pick up the Paint Presence on one end or both.
 
I think if we were able to draft or acquire a 6'11-ish scoring PF (i.e. Perry Jones or Anthony Davis) then TT could slide over to play the C position. I know he doesn't have ideal height but he has that kind of presence and game to play there, especially defensively. Also with Andy and TT on the court together, I could see Andy guarding 4's and TT guardng 5's, I know there wouldn't be much offense there, but still.. 4's would be shut down, 5's would be questionable until TT got a little stronger. Rebounding and hustle wouldn't suffer though.

TT is about 225 soaking wet, don't think he has the strength to bang with the Big C's. He's got desire and quickness to outhustle some plodders underneath, but maybe 5-8 minutes a night max.

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