Possible Centers

[NarlCavs]

Is it just me, or is it the teams that have post presense (Miami, Spurs, Suns, Detroit) the ones finding their way to the conference finals whilst the donut teams (Bulls, Nets, Sonics, Kings) are fading away. Hmmm what to do, what to do. We need a big who can make a difference, hmmmm, I think I may know one who's very very close to home.

Exactly. You need quality size and a big presence in the post in order to be successful and compete for championships which is the only goal every team should have.
Z provides a frontcourt player who teams have to doubleteam and focus on each night. If he goes there's no inside presence for the Cavs.
I would think any new GM brought in would advise Gilbert to make a full effort to resign Z.

Hopefully a contract that works for both sides can be negotiated. Ideally it would be best to have the 1st year of Z's new contract starting at under $10 million. That allows the Cavs more money to spend this offseason to make improvements. Z could stil get close to $44 million over 4 years with a new contract starting at $9 million when the yearly allowed increases are factored in.

 

[Ginrai]

I'm not sure about a starting center, but I do have a backup in mind. Does anyone remember Lonnie Jones? After he had a good summer last year he was signed by Milwaukee then released a short time after. He finished his season with the Gary Steelheads of the CBA with averages of 12.2ppg, 8.7rpg, 3.2bpg, .579fg pct. Just thought I would throw that out there.

http://www.hoopshype.com/players/lonnie_jones.htm

 

[The Disector]

Is it just me, or is it the teams that have post presense (Miami, Spurs, Suns, Detroit) the ones finding their way to the conference finals whilst the donut teams (Bulls, Nets, Sonics, Kings) are fading away. Hmmm what to do, what to do. We need a big who can make a difference, hmmmm, I think I may know one who's very very close to home.

There is a huge huge huge difference between the big men left in the playoffs and Z.

All the bigs left in the playoffs are known to be good defenders!

Z's defense couldn't touch any of the guys left in the playoffs with a 1000 ft pole.

Shaq, Duncan, Ben Wallace, and Amare are all better then Z on the side of the ball that matters the most on a Championship contender--DEFENSE!

On top of that 3 of those 4 names are more dominate offensively then Z.

Z wants more then 10 million then I say goodbye and go play your inconsistent offense and atrocious defensive self elsewhere.

 

[Karma]

LOL Disector. What those 4 teams have is a presense in the paint. Replace Z with all those mediocre alternatives you have mentioned previously like Jerome James, and we lose total presense. We wont get into too much again, but your views on Ilgauskas's defense are false.

 

[The Disector]

Find me a source--ANY Source that says Z is a defensive presence in any kind of way Karma.
Here's the 1st profile of Z I looked at http://www.hoopshype.com/players/zydrunas_ilgauskas.htm

Again no defense!
You are right about 1 thing.
You need "a presence" but it's defensive presence that makes the difference.

The best 2 defensive teams in the league are ahead in thier respective series and probably going to win them!

Defense wins championships not inconsistent offensive players who can't play any defense and is probably the slowest player in the league.

 

[Karma]

I dont believe defensive influence in the paint has been 1 single factor in the Spurs / Suns series, whilst the other series sees the best defensive post player vs the very best post player. The Suns are not there because of their defensive presense inside. The Spurs play good defense all over the court, the Pistons are again all round defensive team, and the Heat are solid all over the floor too. You notice those teams have good perimeter defense as well. This is where it all begins, and the pathetic defense of McInnis and James lead to the easy baskets, and not Ilgauskas like you wish it to be.

Disector, I have really lost patience with your obvious bias. You refuse to be objective when it comes to Ilgauskas, so there is little point debating with you.

 

[Pioneer10]

I'm curious Karma if Z is only willing to come back for say 14 million for 4 years would you resign him?

 

[Karma]

14 million is too much. I am a massive fan of Ilgauskas, as most of you know, but I am a Cavaliers fan foremost. I am willing to spend up to around 11 million first year, for a maximum of 4 seasons (throw in a team option). Any more then 11 million, I believe we are damaging our chances of building other quality pieces to surround LeBron with. I am open to sign and trades, but we need to get something back in our front court. WE will sink deeper with a Jerome James type at center.

 

[Pioneer10]

14 million is too much. I am a massive fan of Ilgauskas, as most of you know, but I am a Cavaliers fan foremost. I am willing to spend up to around 11 million first year, for a maximum of 4 seasons (throw in a team option). Any more then 11 million, I believe we are damaging our chances of building other quality pieces to surround LeBron with. I am open to sign and trades, but we need to get something back in our front court. WE will sink deeper with a Jerome James type at center.

This appears to be a reasonable consensus. Our frontcourt was clearly not the problem and resigning Z to a fair contract like that would go along way in assuring our competitiveness even if we miss out on a big name FA guard.

 

[The Disector]

I dont believe defensive influence in the paint has been 1 single factor in the Spurs / Suns series, whilst the other series sees the best defensive post player vs the very best post player. The Suns are not there because of their defensive presense inside. The Spurs play good defense all over the court, the Pistons are again all round defensive team, and the Heat are solid all over the floor too. You notice those teams have good perimeter defense as well.

The main reason the defense is so good on the perimeter for those teams is because they have big men who let the perimeter defenders play aggressively so when they get beat the bigs are there.

Also the Suns aren't going anywhere like I figured because the Spurs are the 1st defensive team they have played in the playoffs and that is the only reason they made it to the finals because the other teams they have played don't play defense.

Nobody is going to stop the Suns from scoring because that is the whole mantra of thier team which is why they can't win a championship.
You can't play championship caliber basketball without good defense and if your bigs play good D then your overall team defense is much better.

Z doesn't play D plus his offense is inconsistent and that's the reason I'm not going to be as heart-broken as and some other fans and you, Karma when the Cavs don't resign Z for his rediculous asking price of 14 million.

 

[Pioneer10]

^ did you not read his other post? He clearly stated that he thinks Z is not worth 14 million. Z is not Shaq and will never will be but he was clearly not the problem with the Cavaliers last year. His +/- was huge in his favor last year. For strecthes his +/- was better then even Lebron. The Cavs need to concentrate on their real needs: the backcourt instead of trying to create holes where there isn't any

 

[Cleveland56]

Would you guys be against front-loading (if need be) a contract for Samuel Dalembert? He just turned 24 and he has showed progress every year...According to HoopsHype, the Sixers are already well over the cap for next year. I am no salary cap expert by any means, but he would be a center that would better suit the team. He is restricted though, so they might be able to match anyways..i'm not sure how that works exactly when a team is over the cap.

 

[The Disector]

I like Dalembert. He's young and a solid interior defender. He has also shown some improvement offensively. He would be a nice anchor for our defense.

 

[Karma]

Dalembert would be a solid addition if we were to lose Ilgauskas. The price tag does worry me, as he has that "potential" tag. This generally means around the 10 million dollar mark, which is a lot for a guy who has yet to show any consistency. The fact he fell out of favour with a defensive minded coach is a worry. He has all the physical attributes of a great defender, but his basketball IQ leaves a little to be desired. He is young though, so improvement would be likely in all facets.

 

[The Disector]

I see we can agree on something Karma as long as it doesn't involve Z.(I was going to say a non defensive center who is inconsistent offensively and probably the slowest player in the league but I think I might be beating a dead horse so to speak and being an arguement starter)--lol :chuckles: