Larry had fun today

chiefwahoo56 said:

Gooden actually valued his time as a Cavalier, and because of that I think he'll always get a warm reception here, even if he was a bonehead:



Source

Click to expand...

Drew, it's just a shame you're sort of an idiot. I hated you on the court, but I loved your goofy demeanor.

I don't necessarily miss Drew's contributions as I feel that Joe Smith replaces him well. However, I did get the impression that he was a good guy and had a good team MENTALITY.

I get the sense that he wants to succeed and that he will do whatever he is capable of to help the team do so. Unfortunately, it seemed that he wasn't capable of grasping team defense. His memory also seemed to be overshadowed by his excitement to play, as evidenced by some dumb fouls and over-commitments, etc.

Overall, we are a better team for having replaced him with some basketball players with higher IQ's. But I do wish him well in Chicago because of his commitment.

Jigo_oi said:

I don't necessarily miss Drew's contributions as I feel that Joe Smith replaces him well. However, I did get the impression that he was a good guy and had a good team MENTALITY.

I get the sense that he wants to succeed and that he will do whatever he is capable of to help the team do so. Unfortunately, it seemed that he wasn't capable of grasping team defense. His memory also seemed to be overshadowed by his excitement to play, as evidenced by some dumb fouls and over-commitments, etc.

Overall, we are a better team for having replaced him with some basketball players with higher IQ's. But I do wish him well in Chicago because of his commitment.

Click to expand...

I'll tell you, the one thing I won't miss about Drew is when he would commit a stupid foul because he wasn't paying attention, and he would immediately walk over the stand of the hoop and punch it. Hooray for at least a dozen techs this year from it alone. I liked the passion Drew, just not the time for it.

Well you guys are going to love this one:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=146584&src=150

LeBron James didn't seem to be trying to insult his former teammate when he called Larry Hughes a "high-volume shooter" following the Cavaliers' 95-86 win over the Bulls on Sunday. "I don't know what that meant or the context around it," Hughes said with a laugh Monday at the Berto Center. "But I shot 20 times and he shot 29. And I played more minutes."
Hughes heard plenty of jeers during his return to Cleveland, particularly after missing long jumpers. He led the Bulls with 23 points, hitting 8 of 20 shots.
During Hughes' 2½ seasons with the Cavs, poor shot selection was a common complaint, and the 6-foot-5 guard didn't disagree completely with those accusations.
"I think I definitely forced some shots because I wasn't getting an opportunity to get easy shots," he said. "When there are not any plays run for you, you tend to force some things to get yourself going. I definitely think I tried to force the issue to get going and make them see that I can score."

Click to expand...

Actually, I've always said Hughes is a high volume shooter. It's really a case of stating the obvious. You just hope he finds his shot and rides it through to the end of the game. Instead we threw those plans out the window by sticking LeBron on him and he clanked everything from that point on.

Anyway, flame away for him confessing he forced up shots, I suppose he deserves it; but anyone who'd seen him play before he joined the Cavs should have seen it coming. When they were both on the Wiz, Arenas and Hughes were always flying up the court and launching - often completely and intentionally ignoring their inside guys (Brenda, Kwame, and the Poet). But I find it disturbing that he felt we didn't run plays for him (our "shooting" guard). Do we run plays for anyone? Why did LeBron have to take it in his own hands to start feeding Hughes the ball?


Is it perhaps because up until February of this year Hughes couldn't make a shot? Couldn't dunk the ball? Couldn't get past a defender? Couldn't finish at the rim?

Larry doesn't seem to realize how badly he stunk up until February.

See, I hate that mentality..."I definitely think I tried to force the issue to get going and make them see that I can score."

Larry, you got paid your millions already, why are trying "make" anybody see anything. Why don't you just stick to the team plan...oh that's right because playing as a team isn't fun. Still upsets me. This is like basic sports guidelines. You don't do what you want, you play as a team even if you have to give things up because that is how you win.

Larry wanted to prove something to everybody, that he could score...so he wasted posessions with bad shots game after game after game...and it hurt the team. Now if he could do what Lebron does and actually make most of his bad shots, fine but he couldn't.

I can't believe I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt for 3 years. How many games did Larry's personal agenda to prove he could score and have fun cost us?

You're missing the "to get going" part. As a volume shooter, he needs to find his rhythm and then once he does ... the shots often start falling. When the shots start falling, then the driving lanes open up.

LeBron often does the exact same thing, but he's just a much superior player, and when *he* gets going ... there's no comparison.

So you ask, how many games did it cost us? Well, some. But we also won several games because Larry got hot and helped us out when no one else was able to score a basket.

With our current team who other than LeBron is going to take and make a tough shot when everyone is covered well and the driving lanes are cut off? Everyone can't defer. Hopefully we'll figure out how to run a play and get a decent shot for someone else.

When I think of what Larry did here...I tend to remember a lot of hitting shots early and missing them late. That seemed to be the theme...or he just never got going and just stayed cold the whole game. Only in his final weeks do I remember him having positive offensive impact on the floor, and I made more of it than what it was because he was our guy and I wanted to keep my hopes up.

Very seldom do I recall being legitimately encouraged by Hughes play. If he had a tendency to get hot and stay hot fine...but he didn't and he continue to take garbage shots all game long. It is a terrible strategy. I believe his mindset was either "I am missing, but I just need to keep chucking to get going" or it was "I made some shots, so that gives me the green light to keep chucking".

He used to come on strong later in games, and in fact was one of the best 4th quarter guys in the league with Washington and was decent (when not taking jumpers) last year with the Cavs. It wasn't always his shooting that made a difference, but his ability to pick off a pass or force a turnover at a crucial point in the game.

He was very good in the third quarter in a number of games this season, something we desperately needed given our 3rd quarter funk.

The thing is until February, Larry was just all over the map - and generally on the wrong side of it. He had very few good games.

But regardless of the situation, Larry is at best a streak shooter. If you put him on the court you use him for quantity not quality. To have a positive impact he has to get it done in the other areas and contribute with assists, rebounds, steals, defense, etc.

JonFromVA said:

He used to come on strong later in games, and in fact was one of the best 4th quarter guys in the league with Washington and was decent (when not taking jumpers) last year with the Cavs. It wasn't always his shooting that made a difference, but his ability to pick off a pass or force a turnover at a crucial point in the game.

He was very good in the third quarter in a number of games this season, something we desperately needed given our 3rd quarter funk.

The thing is until February, Larry was just all over the map - and generally on the wrong side of it. He had very few good games.

But regardless of the situation, Larry is at best a streak shooter. If you put him on the court you use him for quantity not quality. To have a positive impact he has to get it done in the other areas and contribute with assists, rebounds, steals, defense, etc.

Click to expand...

He has his moments, but I just have such a negative view of this guy right now. Oh well, just glad the Hughes era is over.

Defend him all you want Jon, but the facts remain the guy is a loser and there is nothing at all he can do to change that fact. Anyone would rather play for a bad team and "have fun" over sacrificing his stats for the good of the team and win is not someone I want anywhere around this team.

It isn't like he was a young player who was hurting a potential pay day by sacrificing his stats. This guy got the biggest contract of his career and decided to be a problem from day 1.

I hope Larry enjoys his 20-4-4 on 40% FG as the Bulls limp to a 10th place finish in the East.

Good riddance. Never come back.

We won a lot of games with Larry in the lineup, you may feel his attitude was that of a loser, but the Cavs and the Wiz before were always a better team with him (when he was healthy) than without him. That's a winner in my book.

Now maybe the Cavs will be even better with a more efficient and more conservative shooter, but can we afford to give up Larry's D, boards, assists, steals, etc? Maybe West can provide some of that? If Delonte can give us 80+% of what Larry gave us while playing more effeciently, dishing out more assists, and not become a hole on D, I'll gladly concede your point.

We shall see.

CBBI said:

Defend him all you want Jon, but the facts remain the guy is a loser and there is nothing at all he can do to change that fact. Anyone would rather play for a bad team and "have fun" over sacrificing his stats for the good of the team and win is not someone I want anywhere around this team.

It isn't like he was a young player who was hurting a potential pay day by sacrificing his stats. This guy got the biggest contract of his career and decided to be a problem from day 1.

I hope Larry enjoys his 20-4-4 on 40% FG as the Bulls limp to a 10th place finish in the East.

Good riddance. Never come back.

Click to expand...

Approves of this message.

JonFromVA said:

We won a lot of games with Larry in the lineup, you may feel his attitude was that of a loser, but the Cavs and the Wiz before were always a better team with him (when he was healthy) than without him. That's a winner in my book.

Click to expand...

That's only because the talent on this team, other than Z, LBJ, and possibly AV was deplorable most of the time he was here. Gibson didn't show a spark until late in his rookie season, AV had injury issues. Sasha didn't "get it" until late last season. E Snow was the starting PG until Sasha started, and LH moved to point. Larry was the 2nd or 3rd best player by default. He was there chucking away because the Cavs had no one else...so the team lived with him chucking away. On the defensive end, he was great...but on the offensive end, most of the time I thought the Cavs won in spite of his wretched performance. If the Cavs were as deep then as they are now, I would have no doubt that LH would be buried on the bench, only to be brought in as a defensive specialist. The only way he was ever going to hit his rhythm on offense is if he starts throwing up Kobe attempts...then he might get 30 points on 40 shots.

Now maybe the Cavs will be even better with a more efficient and more conservative shooter, but can we afford to give up Larry's D, boards, assists, steals, etc? Maybe West can provide some of that? If Delonte can give us 80+% of what Larry gave us while playing more effeciently, dishing out more assists, and not become a hole on D, I'll gladly concede your point.

We shall see.

Click to expand...

Larry was barely visible on the boards until he got some of his hops back...and with LBJ, AV, Z, and Gooden they really weren't needed. His D will be missed, including his steals...but his steals weren't nearly as plentiful here because of the team defense concept, but West is an able defender. As for his assists, what assists? it's hard to get assists when he's throwing the ball at the basket from 20 feet every time it touches his hands. His assists are inconsequential because he rarely got any.

In essence, everything that he gave this team can be replaced except the tough perimeter D...but the fact that he is being replaced by team players who are capable, but just need to learn MB's system makes what was lost easily overshadowed by what was gained by his leaving.

LeBron James didn't seem to be trying to insult his former teammate when he called Larry Hughes a "high-volume shooter" following the Cavaliers' 95-86 win over the Bulls on Sunday.

"I don't know what that meant or the context around it," Hughes said with a laugh Monday at the Berto Center. "But I shot 20 times and he shot 29. And I played more minutes."

Hughes heard plenty of jeers during his return to Cleveland, particularly after missing long jumpers. He led the Bulls with 23 points, hitting 8 of 20 shots.

During Hughes' 2½ seasons with the Cavs, poor shot selection was a common complaint, and the 6-foot-5 guard didn't disagree completely with those accusations.

"I think I definitely forced some shots because I wasn't getting an opportunity to get easy shots," he said. "When there are not any plays run for you, you tend to force some things to get yourself going. I definitely think I tried to force the issue to get going and make them see that I can score."

Click to expand...

LOL

Is that Larry Hughes name on the PTI list on espn?