Will Anyone Step Up?

[Karma]

As we all have discussed at length, the Cavaliers have struggled of late, with much of it stemming down to Larry Hughes injury. However Cleveland must maintain some type of form with Larry not being available for around another month. LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Eric Snow and Drew Gooden have carried along with their pre Larry injury form, however there has been nobody taking up the slack of Hughes.

New starter Damon Jones has been a disappointment in the role. Donyell Marshall cannot find any rythym and seems stuck outside the arc. Luke hustles, but is flustered against top opposition. Wilks tries but is still a 3rd string point guard. Pavlovic has been injured with Newble and both dont look comfortable. Varejao is seen as our saviour by some but even his energy wont make up for the rust he'll show. Henderson has been overlooked lately for one reason or another.

So who out of this bunch are we looking for some inspiration to assist our core to bust us out of this funk?

 

[cdt]

We are looking for anyone and I don't see anyone stepping up for us. We aren't a deep team, the guys we thought would step up said "nah" and stepped down...

 

[DawgOnKing]

It's hard to even vote at this point. I said D. Jones only because he can't play any worse.

 

[fsqp13]

no one will step up... its lebron's show like 03-04 and 04-05 all over again... which means goodbye playoffs

 

[Karma]

Kudos to Damon for showing some fire and trying. But he had multiple chances in the stretch and came up empty. Thus far nobody!

 

[Kypus]

Even though he missed the game winner tonight, I think Donyell has the tools to be the guy.

 

[Mac]

Pathetic..

Z and Bron are doing their best to carry this team, it's a lost cuase unless they make a move to bring somebody in.

 

[Glen Infante]

The guy thats going to step up is the guy we trade in some of these bums for.

 

[highplainsdrifter]

I voted for DYell...remember that sweet spinning layup he had against the Blazers? He can do it inside and out, where Damon is strictly an outside threat. Find the stroke DYell!!!

 

[aaronr]

Nice poll, Karma. Pretty discouraging isn't it? I've thought from the get-go that our bench was our Achilles heel this year, which is what your poll highlights. I'd say Marshall is more likely to step forward, but I've been real disappointed with his play so far. His shooting as everybody knows has been weaker than anticipated, but more surprising to me is his defense. He had the reputation of being a pretty good defender, but I sure haven't seen it so far. Maybe a little more acclimation to his new team is all that is required. Anyway, of all the suspects, Donyell's the most likely to step up.

 

[jimmychitwood]

My hope is in Donyell and Luke

 

[Coyote]

As I said in another post, I was totally wrong in November about this team's depth. Some it's understandable given the injuries, ie. Jones not really being a SG (esp. defensively), Varajeo forced last night to play more than he was clearly ready for. But some of it's not, like Marshall's stank funk and Jackson's two points-and-three turnovers approach. I thought Wilks, Newble, Henderson would be able to contribute a little more offensively. Thought Sasha would bring it. Mea f-in culpa.

I voted for Marshall b/c his game, when it's on, can really turn a game around.

 

[LyXo]

I voted for Damon Jones. It's not that just he needs to, being the starter in place of Hughes, but he's more than overdue to get out of his shooting slump. He showed signs of emerging last night, but not quite enough, as his 5/14 from the field last night was not the performance we're looking for, but it's a change for the better from the 1/7's he's been putting up. At least he's trying to shoot his way out of a slump, rather than sulk like his predecessors (Lucious Harris, Jiri Welsch). He's also slowly beginning to shoot from inside the arc a bit, which is a turn for the better.

I also fully believe the Marshall will be another anchor to this funk relief. His shooting slump has come at a similar time to Damon's. But he hasn't been booed/maligned because he still grabs boards and puts up some points inside. And, he's just a good game away from pretty much duplicating his performance in November and December. But I have observed that he's a better shooter when Damon Jones is also hitting his shots.

So all hope lies on Damon. Hmm....

 

[Snoopy8832]

i vote for the towel boy.

 

[NarlCavs]

Hopefully Donyell will step up. In all the criticism of Jones and even Jackson, Donyell's recent poor play seems to have been overlooked.
Marshall is also in a slump and his contributions have really fallen off. He hasn't been playing anything like he was early in the year when he showed a more versatile inside out game and was rebounding much better. Marshall also has been playing terrible defense.

Donyell does need to step up big time especially now with Gooden out. Either he or our slow to react coaching staff has to get him back to playing like he was at the start of the season.