Z's future with this team

[rabman_gold]

Zydrunas is still battling Howard to the best of his abilities. I can't blame him, because if he had his feet from pre-surgery, he'd easily be able to fight Howard toe-to-toe, literally. We can't blame Z, because without his surgery, there would not be a 7 footer on our team. We'd be even worse off. And we could easily have had Z retire all these years, so you guys wouldn't want to settle for no Z.

And he's not leaving. I won't let him. We owe it to Z. It's just he's reached his limit of his abilities. Let him get a championship this year or next year.

And here's a thought:

What if Z were to restructure his contract, like Wine and Gold firmly believes? He's even more affordable for his abilities he currently possesses. What if our Chinese ownership is accepted by the majority (question: Do owners vote no to spite their competition ever, that's the only thing I'm worried about...)? We have the go ahead from Dan Gilbert to build a winner.

What if we did get a big man with star talent, size, youth, etc.? What if we actually traded for Shaq (yes, a possibly suicidal move, but that's 50-50)? Or actually won the Bosh lottery trade? Or got Amar'e (and wasn't the next Larry Hughes)?

With a guy like Shaq, you start him, bring Z off the bench, and limit each of their minutes to what they are capable of (24-27). They rest, and give us 7 foot match-up nightmares for other teams.

With a guy like Bosh, you can afford to rest Z more and give Bosh some center minutes (and a guy to lead the Cavs with LBJ resting too).

Same for Amar'e.

Etc.

Look, Z's not perfect, but he doesn't need to be. He's the only one who's been producing a near double double every game, and is a true winner who will prove that by helping us to a championship.

So take it year by year until the inevitable happens (don't ask)... whatever that may be for our favorite Lithuanian center.

 

[Primetime]

And replace him with....?

Not like Chris Bosh just dropped in our lap and can be slapped at center.

Start at the problem. Replace Danny Ferry with someone that has the capacity to understand that Z is washed up, then you'll have someone that knows how to acquire the correct center for this team. What was Ferry's brilliant plan? Joe Smith and Ben Wallace? Isn't that called washing the washed up with more wash?

Ferry needs to realize that there's a little more to his present role. It's no longer getting passes from mark price and missing 3 pointers in the corner.

And Mike Brown could use a wake up call as well.

 

[Wulfgar1224]

Z's a good player but he has limitations. Age and injuries have limited his ability to withstand physical contact. Plus, even in his youth he wasn't really a banger down low. The Cavs need someone like that has offensive skills and is willing to take and give contact. I'm content with him to play out his contract here. But, their need for a young, athletic big is obvious.

 

[LBJ_23_MVP]

Z on at the end of his road. He had a good journey and will be remembered in Cavs history forever. He is done and i dont think he should bother coming back next year. Not only is his talent diminishing but he is making bad decisions too. For example stepping out and shooting way to many threes in these crucial playoff games. Z had a good career but it has come to an end.

 

[Kiddo]

To all the guys who want Z gone. GTFO

The way Wine and Gold says it we will restructure his contract. He also said the Cavs will be able to make some moves this summer to bring in some help. He hinted at possibly putting together one of the best teams of all time.

I have alot of faith in what WandG says.

 

[PIP]

Brothers: if you read some past threads from a few months ago, you will see that Z has already verbally agreed to sign with the cavs for a few more years.

Why do you do this ??

You bump Max off as my all time favorite, and then you pull this crap...Now I have to re-shuffle the order and rank my new fave-6..

In NO particular order (although I love all you RCF members)

Max
James (Miss you, James) HOFer
Sabre
cdt
Smooth
Jigo



Keys (Is it cold out there ??)

 

[breanna]

Why do you do this ??

You bump Max off as my all time favorite, and then you pull this crap...Now I have to re-shuffle the order and rank my new fave-6..

In NO particular order (although I love all you RCF members)

Max
James (Miss you, James) HOFer
Sabre
cdt
Smooth
Jigo



Keys (Is it cold out there ??)

Keys you messed up terribly. Don't you know how much of an honor it is to be in the Pipster's top 6? You fool.

 

[Man Called X]

Why do you do this ??

You bump Max off as my all time favorite, and then you pull this crap...Now I have to re-shuffle the order and rank my new fave-6..

In NO particular order (although I love all you RCF members)

Max
James (Miss you, James) HOFer
Sabre
cdt
Smooth
Jigo



Keys (Is it cold out there ??)

The reason I wake up smiling every morning. Thanks Pipster!

 

[LeBronMVP]

Guys who can replace Z with what we need are a dime a dozen. Heck, look at Joel Przybilla for the Blazers. He's been a backup most of the time, but imagine having HIM instead of Z. He makes half as much money, but he's the kind of badass who would bang in the low post with Howard and actually flush with two hands when given the opportunity. He'd be a perfect fit for the Cavs in this series. Heck, he'd be the perfect fit, period, no matter who we play.

Or how about a guy like Nick Collison in OKC, who is on his way to becoming the next Przybilla-type player? Hell, even Kenyon Martin, who has had two microfracture surgeries? Given how KMart has played in this postseason, I'm sure Denver regrets giving him all that money far less than the Cavs do about having Z around for $10 million right now.

Or hell, even Tyson Chandler, who was nearly traded (in fact, he WAS traded) for dimes on the dollar at the trading deadline. Imagine having him on Dwight right now instead of Z. And I'll tell you one thing, Chandler sure as hell won't try to lay shit up if and when he's two inches from the basket. Dwight's ass is getting on a poster if he tries to block that shit.

That's just four guys that I could think of off the top of my head...I'm

sure there are more.

I agree with the first two guys, but you can't be serious if you think K-Mart can be a Center for our team..K-Mark is 6'9", he's one inch taller than LeBron. He's not even as strong as LeBron, what makes you think he can handle a guy like Howard? I think we should definitely go after Joel Przybilla, he's a tough SOB.

 

[Karma]

Interesting: a Z scapegoat thread after a close loss, closely followed by posts that reveal his backups were the ones who really gave up the most points. I've never seen this before.

Oh, look, a thread that claims centers who can take his job are "a dime a dozen," followed closely by the names of a bunch of players who are NEVER on the trading block. Gee, this is new.

I'm looking over the draft threads... oh, my! Hardly a single regular poster likes any centers who will be available when we pick! I am simply shocked, because we never, never, ever, never have this sort of a problem.

I'm firmly in favor of Z entering his Arvydas Sabonis stage, where he mentors young center prospects and creates mismatches for 20-25 minutes a game. Most of the biggest Z supporters are actually just well-informed hoops heads who understand the role of a center, not blind fools who cheer for foot surgery survivors.

However... don't trot out the same tired and thuroughly defeated arguments to "trade Z for anything that dunks." I've spent nearly a decade listening to that line of reasoning, and it is still pathalogically stupid.

Thanks Randolph from saving this threads from the depths of cavs.com standards. So many on this forum are style over substance. Fact is the Cavs are outscoring Orlando when Z is on the floor. Some would prefer to trade that for some lame highlights. Ilgauskas right now is guarding the most dominant big man in the NBA. The most ridiculously athletic and strong big man since Shaq. Swap Z with the overhyped Przybilla and you may get one extra stop on Dwight but a clogged lane for LeBron. I thought I heard the masses hearing calling for LeBron in the post. That'll be fun with Andy and Przybilla attracting so much detention.

God I hate ill informed threads. Z is one of our best team defenders but some just don't get it. Thanks Randolph and the other common sense posters here.

 

[KI4MVP]

Orlando started switching up the coverage. It's pretty easy to tell when we're about to run a Z post up, and then Howard and Lewis switch assignments.

we need to recognize that and exploit the switch instead of forcing this issue of Z posting up on Howard, which isn't working. Once they switch, get the ball in the hands of who Lewis switched to, pull Z away from the basket, have LeBron post up. If Howard stays, kick it to Z for the jumper, if Howard follows Z, get it to LeBron.

 

[Mdog1]

To all the guys who want Z gone. GTFO

The way Wine and Gold says it we will restructure his contract. He also said the Cavs will be able to make some moves this summer to bring in some help. He hinted at possibly putting together one of the best teams of all time.

I have alot of faith in what WandG says.

You know what IMO if Z doesn't exten then we have to trade him. I know he will not leave us obviously, but even if we trade him he never even has to play for the other team just get a nice months rest and then sign bacck with the Cavs. That is the type of unselfishness that I expect from the big fella.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Huh, Pip? I thought you switched to the light side of the force on Z?

Z said in an interview 2 or 3 months ago that he has another 2-3 years left in him, and has consistently said he has no plans on moving his family out of Cleveland.

Ironically, San Francisco has been fogged over since Pip made that comment. This Pip character is more powerful than I ever realized. Frightening, really.

 

[Jon]

we need to recognize that and exploit the switch instead of forcing this issue of Z posting up on Howard, which isn't working. Once they switch, get the ball in the hands of who Lewis switched to, pull Z away from the basket, have LeBron post up. If Howard stays, kick it to Z for the jumper, if Howard follows Z, get it to LeBron.

And if I was Orlando, I'd have Lewis cheat off of Andy and either help protect the paint or just switch back on to Z.

What's confounded me all season is that when we're playing against a team with a C who refuses to leave the paint is why we can't just kill them with jumpers. Set a good pick and get an open 3 or just come around a screen and put up a jumper in the unguarded no man's land. Mo is really good at this. Wally should be able to do it. Delonte should be able to hit a mid-range jumper. LeBron too when his shot is on. Such an easy play that we can exploit with numerous players.

It's too bad we're struggling so hard to hit even an open jumper, but that's the difference in the teams right now. Both teams are freely giving each other inside and outside opportunities. Without help Howard can't stop LeBron from getting to the rim. Without help we can't stop Howard from getting to the rim. When we do help, we give them open jumpers. While we have open jumpers there for the taking because of how far Howard stays back, but yet we don't take many of them.

But if we took those jumpers (and of course made them) Howard would have to stop camping in the paint which would open things up for our bigs. They'd then be scrambling to rotate, and we'd be the ones who could move the ball and get the open 3's.

 

[PIP]

Huh, Pip? I thought you switched to the light side of the force on Z?

Z said in an interview 2 or 3 months ago that he has another 2-3 years left in him, and has consistently said he has no plans on moving his family out of Cleveland.

Ironically, San Francisco has been fogged over since Pip made that comment. This Pip character is more powerful than I ever realized. Frightening, really.

Z off the bench is fine in some spurts.. But I swear, if that guy is the starting center for the Cavaliers in 2-3 seasons from now, the organization has failed us miserably...

I've been calling for some productive athleticism in the front court for years now, and it's just not there.. This is a must..

The baseline 3 point shooting is the final straw... The guy haunts me like no other..