About the Cavs...
1. It's no secret the Cavs need a small forward. When Alonzo Gee leaves the game, the Cavs often use guards at that spot -- C.J. Miles or Wayne Ellington. Yes, they need an athletic small forward who can create his own shot. Good luck finding that guy, but the good thing is sometimes the Cavs are fine playing with three guards and two big men.
2. A bigger problem is the big men. Once again, the Cavs are talking about Anderson Varejao coming back next season and hopefully staying healthy. They seem to be more hoping for it rather than counting on it, which is a realistic approach. Varejao played 25 games this season before having leg surgery, followed by blood clots in his lung. He is out for the rest of the year.
3. In the past three seasons, Varejao has played 31-25-25 games. In other words, he'll have played in 81 of 230 games by the end of this season. He was averaging 14.1 points and leading the league in rebounding (14.4) when his latest injury struck. The blood clots and recent rash of injuries seem to make it unlikely the Cavs can get much in a trade for him.
4. The point is the Cavs have one big man who is worthy of being called a starter -- and that's the emerging Tristan Thompson. The 6-9 power forward is averaging 11.4 points and 9.3 rebounds this season. The Cavs want him to reach 10 rebounds per game by the end of the year. No one is saying he's an All-Star, but he's a viable NBA power forward.
5. But after that, there is Varejao and his injury issues. There is rookie Tyler Zeller, who will play in the league for a long time. But he may be best coming off the bench for 20 minutes as a backup up center and forward. There is Mo Speights, who has a player option of $4.5 million for next season and may decide to become a free agent.
6. Speights is only 25, and he's averaged 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds since being traded to the Cavs from Memphis. He has been a backup most of his career. The bullish 6-foot-10 Speights does give the Cavs some strength that they need inside. If the don't retain Speights, they will need to find someone like him.
7. Ideally, a team should have four decent big men to cover power forward/center. Heading into next season, they have two in Zeller and Thompson. They have Varejao, with a huge question mark next to his name. They really needed a big man who is some type of defensive presence, and this guy should also have some NBA experience.
