First off, I would like to congratulate myself for likely being the first sports blogger to ever title a post after a Talking Heads track. I expect my “Hipster-Sports Blogger of the Year” trophy is being engraved as I type this sentence. I also expect that trophy to be shaped like guy wearing a lumberjack plaid, cut-off shorts, and an unseasonable beard.
With that out of the way…
For those of you not staying up late to track your NBA free agent news, Brian Windhorst and Yahoo! Sports are both reporting that Leon Powe will agree to a two-year deal with the Cavs this week. The contract is contingent on Powe’s surgically repaired knee checking out with team doctors.
While it’s somewhat of a gamble, I fully support this move. The down-side is that barring a near-miracle, Powe will not play a game for the Cavs before the All-Star break this season. Which means we better be able to carry the load at 4 until then. He’s also not a “stretch the floor” big and supposedly has some issues defending the pick-and-roll.
That being said…
The up-side is that we’re only paying Powe the veteran’s minimum and maintain a team option for a second year in 2010-11. My understanding is that this still leaves the Cavs’ bi-annual exception available to sign another back-up big should we want to. (Previous indications were that Joe Smith remained a strong possibility, though we’ll see how this Powe news affects Joe Beast’s camp.)
The potential WAY up-side is that when healthy, Powe can be a monster. As John Krolik of the Jose Mesa Is Dead-approved Cavs: The Blog has pointed out, adding Powe to a roster that already includes Shaq would give us 2 of the top 10 low-post scoring threats in the league…and that’s assuming LeBron doesn’t put a single hour of work into his post game this summer.
Also, if you look at his per-36 minute totals, Powe is averaging 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds for his career. For comparison’s sake, Carlos Boozer’s per-36 minute career averages are 18.7 points and 11.1 boards…and he’s making $12.6M this season.
The real crux of this post, though, was supposed to be our friends in Boston.
I’ve heard multiple sports pundits proclaim the Celtics to be the “hands-down favorites” to win the East this year. The main thrust of this argument seems to be that they’ve added a 35 year-old center who has consistently competed for the league-wide titles in technical fouls and spottiest effort since 2004. (By the way, they’re paying him the full mid-level for the next three years.)
They made news today by re-signing Glen “Big Baby” Davis to another 2 years at $5M overall, including “weight-related incentives.”
They snapped up Shelden Williams, henceforth to be known on this blog as Mr. Candace Parker, for the veteran minimum. I’m not scared of this move, but it’s probably the most defensible of any that I’ve mentioned so far. Though it’s worth noting that Williams has played ~25% fewer games each season he’s been in the NBA and that the Celtics will be his 5th team in 4 seasons.
They’re reportedly trying to work a sign-and-trade with the Pacers’ Marquis Daniels, who has a history of injuries and has only shot better than 24% from 3 twice in his career. And even then, he maxed out at 30.6%.
Their GM forever poisoned the well with Rajon Rondo, their only true young star, by dangling him as trade bait to multiple teams and ripping him publicly in the media.
They’re returning a Kevin Garnett whose knees just plain gave out from over-use in the middle of last season, a Ray Allen who couldn’t come through in the playoffs in exactly the spots they depend on him for, and a Paul Pierce who is…well, an older version of the guy whose only remaining move seems to be driving to his right and hitting a mid-range jumper from the elbow.
Meanwhile, their back-up PG from last year is making waves by eating vaseline in front of a streaming video camera. (OK, that’s not really a fair criticism because they didn’t re-sign him, but I can’t believe his demeanor has changed that much between last season and this summer.)
While all of that has been happening in Beantown…the Cavs have added Shaq, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and (for pennies on the dollar) the Celtics’ best young power forward.
I’m not naive enough to pencil us into the Finals. But which front office would you rather have right now?
-T
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