What we really need is TIME.
While you may be right, I think time is the one thing you simply can't get more of. Time is working against us, not for us. What I mean by that is if it takes several dozen games to realize what our strengths and weaknesses are, when we should've known that last year, or the year before for that matter, we may be missing opportunities that otherwise would have been self-evident.
We need time to let our current roster work itself out and reveal where our real weaknesses are once the season has progressed.
Perhaps with Mo/Bron, but West, Pavs, and Wally are known commodities. For instance:
(1) If Pavs returns to his level of play the year we went to the finals, then all of a sudden we don't need a SG as much.
I've seen absolutely no evidence of that happening, first off. Secondly, we got swept in the Finals and many thought the simple fact of us being in the Finals was a fluke. We can't rest our hopes on LeBron James having another double overtime God-like performance 4 out of 7 games in a series... It's just not going to happen. Nobody on our team is a quality SG. We need a SG, period.
His defense/athleticism are good enough for him to start, if he tightens up his offense and takes better care of the ball he should get the job.
Start in Europe, perhaps; but not when you claim to be #1 contenders for the NBA championship. C'mon. Pavs as the starting SG in the Finals against the Lakers.. Hell, against the Celtics... Too much pressure on Bron and Mo to make up the difference. This is what happened last year and the year before and the year before and....
(2) Our bigs didn't look as weak as everyone thought. Z looked fine -- a little rusty, but fine. Wallace is Wallace. AV looks awesome. And Hickson will get his chance eventually.
You're right about Z and Wallace, but think about what you're saying: "Wallace is Wallce?" What does that mean? That Wallace = non-threat, do not guard me under any circumstances because I can't jump the remaining foot to dunk this ball? That Wallace?
AV=zone defense... Meaning we're left with a front-court for 30 minutes a game that can be left unguarded. That's a serious problem, especially combined with the lack of a meaningful threat at the 2 considering Brown has resigned himself (so far, at least) to turning Boobie into a point-guard.
And Hickson? He's really a non-factor this year. He's just not ready for prime-time minutes, at least according to Mike Brown - and that's fine, he's only 19 years old. In a few years, he'll develop into a great asset but not this year. We're fooling ourselves to think otherwise.
Wright...well -- hopefully IF we continue to use Wright he will look like he did his first couple posessions...and not the way he looked the rest of the time.
(3) Our second unit is a big ??? right now.
So is our first if you ask me...
If we make any moves that reduce our current depth, just to land one player at PF/SG -- I think we're shaking up a roster that has potential to be REALLY good if given time to gel and play well together. We're just now starting to test small-ball at full speed with our starters, and we have a lot of new options that we're trying out. Any moves too early will keep us from knowing the potential of our current squad, and we have guys who can fill our so-called "holes" if given the opportunity.
I think we know the potential of many of the components of our current roster as I've illustrated above. The Cavaliers biggest priority is spreading the opposing teams defense to allow our primary asset, LeBron James, lanes to drive the ball. We also need a consistent threat in the low-post with a decent ability to get boards and who can dunk more than once a game. We NEED trades, THIS year, and perhaps the next. Our team, as a whole, is not championship quality as it's currently constructed; especially considering the extremely vital role LeBron James plays in our offense. We need a more rounded offense that isn't so predictable. The Celtics proved this point last night by stopping LeBron with basic zone defense and guarding Mo Williams. Everyone else was pretty much left alone. Doc's coaching last night embarrassed the Cavaliers' lesser players, particularly Wally Sczerbiak, and that's not Wally's fault btw - it's Mike Brown's for assuming the Celtics wouldn't take advantage of the obvious mismatch. That's bad coaching on his part, and is systemic of a larger problem in our lack of quality players, even in our starting lineup.
Unless we can get past the optimism bias, we can't appreciate the disparity in the quality of players between the Celtics and the Cavaliers. There's a big difference. We must close that gap to assure ourselves victory this year. The best way, imho, of assessing the Cavs' strength is to ask ourselves hypothetically, if we remove LeBron James from the equation, what are we left with? Take Pierce and James out of the game - could the Cavs beat the Celtics?
That's the problem that needs to be fixed.
