For the latest rants and raves about the Cleveland Cavaliers from Steve Michalovich
The Cavaliers Dream Team – 12-4-07
What Could Have Been for the 2007-08 Cavaliers
After sitting through the Cavaliers’ fourth straight loss, while LeBron James rides the bench due to injury, thoughts about what this everyday lineup could have been crosses your mind.
The ongoing theme with the media is this club’s lack of supporting cast to homegrown, yet possibly eventually-departed, James. This club, when healthy and complete (that includes Anderson Varejao,) is capable of winning a championship – that was proven last year. With LeBron, a championship is certainly always in the cards, but the sky’s the limit with a quality unit alongside him.
The following is “what could have been.” Try to follow.
James, Ilgauskus and Sasha Pavlovic are on this team. Last year’s rookies Daniel Gibson and Shannon Brown are key ingredients off the bench. Give Brown a try – it would be interesting to see how he would fare garnering some increased minutes. New guy Devin Brown will also grace the core of reserves.
One of the best trades in franchise history – Tony Battie and two draft picks for Varejao and Drew Gooden – was still made, and both are impact players off the bench.
Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, Eric Snow, and Larry Hughes were never brought in. With the ridiculous amount of cash that is freed up because of these overpaid players never gracing the court at Quicken Loans Arena, more moves are possible.
This includes signing Carlos Boozer and not loosing him to Utah. This is obviously a stretch, and many Cleveland fans would rather say “good riddance,” but having one of the best power forwards in the NBA still sporting the wine and gold would certainly not hurt the team.
Bring back Earl Boykins. Currently a free agent, he can score and light it up off the bench. He’s a spark that seems to fit anywhere he plays.
The “other guy” from the 2003 draft – Jason Kapono – was kept around and not picked up by the Bobcats in the expansion draft. He emerged as one of the better three-point men in the league last year – a gaping void on the Cavs. A fourth of Hughes’ salary would’ve kept Kapono in Cleveland.
Andre Miller was never traded in 2002, and is now the team captain. Miller has been one of the most reliable and underappreciated point guards in the league since making a splash with Cleveland in his first three years.
And disgruntled Varejao would return by getting a contract not quite the six years for $52 million, but Danny Ferry could afford to overpay a bit for Wild Thing’s services.
The team breaks down like this:
Starters
Andre Miller - PG, Jason Kapono - SG, LeBron James - SF, Carlos Boozer - PF, Zydrunas Ilgauskus - C
Bench
Boykins, Gibson, Pavlovic, Gooden, Varejao, Devin Brown, Shannon Brown
Obviously fans, players, coaches, and general managers everywhere have thought about the same scenarios, but nothing always works out perfectly. This is simply a version of the Cavaliers that would win plenty of games and keep the naysayers quiet.