Zydrunas Illgauskas...

[gijimbo]

Man I hate to see this bc I love big Z.. and honestly.. I think the only reason you are thinking this way is because we just played a nightmare match up for Z.. in dwight howard..

Z can still be a worthy contributor.. he stretches the floor, can shoot well, and still rebounds well.. I feel like he can stay next year in a reduced role.. i hope he doesn't retire.. bc his game ages well..


on the other hand.. it's beyond me why he played so much against Dwight in this series.. other than maybe just bc we have no one else to guard dwight.

 

[Splitz]

Seriously though, without Z in game 5, game 6 never happens.

 

[Ajak0410]

I am NOT a bandwagon fan. Just because a player has worked his ass off for a team, and been with a team his whole career doesn't mean his fans cannot call him out when he is done. He is not a starter, and he looks terrible. He is not a key piece to this team anymore.

My point is that you are calling Z out and in my opinion, the only time you can call a player out is when he doesn't try or has a bad attitude. Neither of which have EVER applied to Mr. Ilgauskas. Z's playing time is not his decision and if he truly is ineffective(which I don't think he is) then MB should have him on the bench.

 

[LeBronMVP]

I expect the offseason like after we went to the Finals, Ferry will do nothing because we had 66 wins. Not looking forward to it.

LeBron is too sensitive, as much as he wants to win a title he doesn't try to put pressure on the team to get him the kind of help he needed to get the job done. LeBron is too nice, he need to be a bit more like Kobe. I'm not saying he should publicly call out Danny or his teammates, but he need to put pressure on him. You either get me some help or i'll be gone.

 

[Mevins31]

The man is a Cav from his core.... hard to say anything bad about him. Shame on the OP

 

[NarlCavs]

The Cavs needed another C before the season and they still need one now. This series changed nothing. We all know Z is near the end of his career but he still plays a valuable role here.
There's plenty of blame or reasons as to why the Cavs lost. Z was a very minor one. The Cavs have no one who is a good matchup with Howard. He dominated Varejao and Wallace too.

It may never have gotten to this point or at least would have gotten to a 7th game if Mo Williams shows up in the first 3 games of this series. The bad shooting got the attention but the poor defense and failure to come close to staying with the man he was guarding or being able to fight better through or around picks didn't get as much attention.

The bench provided little this series at both ends of the floor. It couldn't have become more obvious now that Wally and Sasha need to be replaced in their role by a quality reliable consistent wing player.

LeBron was dominant offensively but had a poor series defensively. You would think he was put on Alston and Pietrus to allow him to roam to close out on shooters or double team or rotate over and pick up Howard in the post but we rarely saw that as he stood and watched a lot of the time. Alston and Pietrus both killed the Cavs at times too.

Mike Brown was also outcoached and failed to make quality adjustments in this series. He's improved and grown as a coach but unfortunately fell into some old bad habits this series.

Sure Z wasn't great but he in no way deserves most of the blame and strangely enough the Cavs did better in this series for much of the time he was on the floor.

 

[Dirk Gently]

I don't see how poeple can say that we should keep Z...I don't care what the hell Z did in the regular season. If we didn't have him, we still would have ended with a top 3 record in the league. The Magic are not leaving our conference. What is the point of keeping Z id we cannot get passed the Magic with him as our center. Is it acceptable to be Eastern Conference runner ups to you? Because it is not to me. And with Z as our center, thats all we will be.

Completely disagree. It's a matter of Xs and Os. Z pulls bigs out of the paint as much as any big in the league (likely more). This opens up all kinds of room for LeBron and the guards to penetrate. He's got the length to alter shots and is the master of offensive rebounds.

The Cavs aren't built to beat the Magic. But they're built to beat every other team in the league. And who is the Z replacement out there just waiting to be had? Z with more strength would be the best Center in the league. I'll admit he doesn't have the size or strength to stay with Howard, but NO centers in the league do.

And building to beat Orlando isn't wise or necessary right now. There is no way they get by a healthy Boston, they barely got by a very injured Boston. They certainly aren't the best team in the league. With Z, the Cavs beat a healthy Boston in the playoffs with this years team, they likely beat a Lakers team as well. Orlando just matches up well against the Cavs, and Mike Brown's defensive system. Your call to get rid of Z shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the basic defensive system the Cavs use, as well as how the Cavs are built to beat the majority of the playoff contenders. Sure, injuries happened, and Orlando got some breaks and some luck and ended up facing Cleveland in the ECF. That's a low probability outcome. You don't build teams for low probability outcomes, you build for high probability outcomes. Getting rid of Z for someone who can force Howard out a bit further from the basket likely weakens the Cavs against most teams in favor of matching up slightly better against one team who likely won't face them again in the playoffs.

What the Cavs could use to beat Orlando is a solid backup SF. I'm sure Wally is a nice guy, and he can hit the open shot when it's needed, but defensively he just can't keep up with a guy like Hedo. For the Cave to beat Orlando in the future, they need to run Lebron at the 4, have a defensive minded backup SF play significant minutes at the 3, and let Mo and Delonte play straight up against Orlando's guards. The big mismatch is the series wasn't Howard over Z, it was Rashard over ALL of the Cavs 4's. The Cavs just don't have any peremiter defenders at the 4 spot (other than LeBron who should play the 4 against Rashard). It would be great if the Cavs had a center who could keep Howard from getting slightly closer to the basket, but slowing down Hedo and Rashard would have led the Cavs to victory. It's also much easier to find a defensive minded SF available than it is to find a big available who can keep Howard out of the paint and make mid range shots to pull defenders out of the paint. It's also much more difficult to find a defensive minded 4 available to keep up with Rashard. You have to give up too much to get one of those type of players, that it weakens what the Cavs can do against every other team.

Trading an expiring for someone like Gerald Wallace gives the Cavs an answer to Hedo (and Rashard because LeBron then can guard him). It allows the Cavs to run LeBron more at the 4 throughout the season, something the Cavs did a lot with Wally this year. It wouldn't be a lineup the Cavs would run all the time, but it would give them the flexibility to match up with Orlando, without significantly weakening what the Cavs can do against every other team.

 

[BRInQ]

Are we honestly going to bash Z for this outcome. We have no bigs that could've stopped Howard....None.

Z played Howard the best IMO. If you want to get on someone, get on AV. He's the youngest big we played. Everyone clamors AV this, AV that...He played soft as a wet pu$$Y.

If you want to blame someone, blame the COY Mike Brown for his ridiculous defensive schemes, putting Z into even worse positions, and not playing Z to his strengths on the Offensive end. Blame Mike brown for not playing Joe Smith enough, or not even attempting to see what Darnell could offer. We all knew that Howard is a a beast. We knew that they played Lewis at the 4, so blame Mike Brown for taking one mismatch and turning it into three more with his stubborness and stupidity.

Blame Mike brown for playing to the Magic strengths and giving them countless, wide open, uncontested threes. Blame Mike Brown for playing Lebron into the ground. And blame the supporting cast and bench, with the exception of West, for panicking and leaving their balls in the locker room after losing game 1.

Get the f$ck off of Z. He did the best he could.

 

[Zog]

Trade him with the understanding we will resign him after he is bought out. His contract is valuable to some teams looking to save money (*cough* Wally *cough*).

 

[rabman_gold]

Z has been a loyal Cavalier this whole time, so trading him away like this is bad business, unless Z either accepts it or gets a buyout to come back. It makes our organization look like a dirtbag, so you guys should give up on this.

He's the only center to give any offensive production the whole series, because Joe was a little too small to deal with Howard while Andy and Ben... well, you know...

The solution isn't to get rid of the only 7 footer on the team (and one that has plenty to offer despite the shortcomings). It's to upgrade the roster using the pieces that aren't going to get better or offer as much.

Wally's coming off the books, who did not offer as much. Sasha is a give-away piece to improve draft order or get something else, who mentally can't offer what we need. Ben is the main expiring piece, and he can't offer much for an 82 + playoff season.

These are the pieces we can figure out. Who knows? With more space, getting a mid-level piece can help us a lot, now that there's flexibility for Dan Gilbert's wallet. Or make a move this summer using the pieces. Shaq might be an option, and with that you can switch the center position on the fly based on what you need in a game. Plus, Shaq may be more able to fight with a guy like Dwight for limited minutes while still being a post up threat.

Or we wait and see what Ferry wants to do.

LeBron took it hard, and will force the organization to get better. Danny knows things need to be done, but don't give away Z just because it was the worst possible situation.

He'll still help us win a title, that's what matters.

 

[RogueChedder]

If anything blame our strategy of guarding Howard first, not the man who was asked to do the impossible and still gave it his best effort

 

[MoFlo]

Maybe as a bench player, but that defensive effort was pitiful.

I think you need to look up the definition of effort..

Not many people give more effort than Z..

It's not his fault that he can't guard the best Center in the game..

It's not his fault he's not quick..

In fact, we should be PRAISING this guy for coming back from MULTIPLE foot surgeries, and STILL giving it his all on EVERY play..

7'3 Center w/ multiple foot surgeries DIVING on every loose ball, manning up to the best of his ability on a freak of an athlete, and still trying to contribute on the offensive end..

He can still stretch the D, he can still rebound the ball..

Saying he should be relegated to the bench for 20 or so minutes a night? Sure

Blaming the coach for playing him on Dwight so long? OK, you got a point.

But saying that the guy gives no effort? Or that he should retire? Or that we should trade him?

Absolute blasphemy! :thumbdown

 

[RchfldCavRaised]

I feel like fighting Mike Brown right now

Z is who he is, why would we ask him to be or try to do something else?

 

[FuneralOfHearts]

Right, let's blame Z for being put in an impossible situation. Blame him for us having to ask too much of him. People have such high expectations because he is our "3rd guy". on most contending teams he is a role player, not a top 3 guy, I love Z but he's just not that guy at this point. Can't blame him for not being capable of being something he isn't.

 

[Man Called X]

I feel like fighting Mike Brown right now

Z is who he is, why would we ask him to be or try to do something else?

Pick me up?