Proof that Danny Ferry Sucks, as if you needed more!

Anderson Varejao spoke with Chad Ford at ESPN for the first time (the article is linked here) and his comments are very telling!  Telling in that Danny Ferry is a HORRIBLE GM, like I’ve been saying all season!  Check out this clip from Chad’s article, then read the whole thing.  It’s great.

On each side, the frustration level has been rising the past few weeks, as Varejao is left in limbo in Brazil, and as the Cavs have struggled coming out of the gate in training camp and the regular season.

In October, Ferry made a surprise visit to see Varejao at his parents’ home in Brazil in an attempt to convince him to sign.

The move backfired. Ferry showed up without telling Fegan, and working around an agent is a no-no in the NBA. While GMs are allowed to talk with players without an agent present, it is customary that all contract talk goes through an agent.

“I was shocked,” Varejao said. “He showed up and wanted me to sign a contract. I told him he’s got to talk to my agent. He didn’t even up his offer. I guess he thought if he just showed up, I would just sign whatever he gave me.”

Ferry walked away with no deal and with an angry free agent on his hands.

He defends his decision to appeal directly to Varejao.

“From the start of free agency, we told Anderson and his agent that the ability to communicate with him directly was going to be very important to the process,” Ferry said. “The trip was done because our communication with Anderson was no longer available to us.”

Since that incident, there hasn’t been much trust or movement on either side.

Personally, I don’t think Varejao is worth anything near $10 million per year, so I would side with Ferry on that he’s closer to a $6 million per year player, but this demontrates that Ferry simply does not understand how to negotiate or deal with people on the level that a NBA GM needs too. In fact, according to Anderson’s own comments here, the reason he is demanding so much money is because of the fact that Ferry gave players like Larry Hughes, Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall (Varejao did not name them specifically) a ton of money, when they are far less valuable for this team!

Well Danny, it’s the mess you’ve created! Good luck cleaning it up. Meanwhile, poor LeBron is doing everything humanly possible to keep your franchise’s head above water!

LeBron is King

While I am on my Dwight Howard for MVP kick, I can’t deny the fact that LeBron James is doing something that hasn’t been done since the 1988-89 season; average at least 30, 8 & 8, when Michael Jordan averaged 32.5 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. LeBron is averaging:

31.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8 assists with 1.92 steals and 1.62 blocks while shooting 49%

Those are absolutely astonishing stats! He has a VERY long way to go to keep these averages up, but he has had a triple double in his last two games and looks simply unstoppable right now.

I mentioned in my Cavaliers Preview that LeBron worked on his shot mechanics during the summer and the hard work has really paid off! He is leading the league in scoring (as I predicted he would all season), his percentages are up as well; from 47.6% to 49.2% field goal and the biggest jump has been his three point percentage from 31.9% last year to 36.8% this year. The only reason the Cavs are respectable this year, is because of LeBron’s improved play. In fact, if Danny Ferry wasn’t so inept in building a team around LeBron, they would likely be the favorite to win the East again. Unfortunately the Cavs got worse this summer, while so many other eastern conference teams greatly improved.

Last year LeBron took it easy during the regular season, so he would have enough in his tank for the playoffs. Why has he turned it on so much this year? Maybe it’s because he realized how important home court advantage is (if they would have won 8 more games they would have had home court against the Spurs in the finals). It could be because he feels like he has something to prove after getting swept by the Spurs in his first finals appearance. The likely answer is that he knows he must play his best in order for his team to be competitive. It is a shame that the Cavs cannot put acceptable role players around the best, most unselfish superstar in the League. Imagine if LeBron had Jason Kapono to pass out too, or Jose Calderon manning the point? (I used two Toronto Raptors players because Bryan Colangelo has done a phenomenal job building a team around Chris Bosh) Nothing against Drew Gooden or Ilgauskas; I like both of them, but every other player on that team, aside from LeBron, should be coming off the bench in limited roles.

If LeBron can get this team in the top four of the Eastern Conference again, then he should and will get his first MVP! We’ll just have to watch and see if he can keep up this pace for 68 more games!

All that being said, I’m still pulling for Dwight! D12 for MVP!

Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers Preview

Cleveland has had a frustrating offseason in their stare down with Pavlovic and Varejao. I agree with Danny Ferry on principal, BUT this team did nothing to improve this summer, while so many other eastern teams improved dramatically. They cannot afford to lose those two guys, if winning is their biggest concern. The were the first people off the bench for this team and did so much that doesn’t show up on the stats. Look, the fact is that Danny Ferry has not done a very good job putting this team together. LeBron is one of the top 4 players in the league, but he can’t do all by himself. He’ll get tired an falter at some point, like in the NBA finals!!! Anyways, the loss of those two players opens things up for other guys. Here’s the starting lineup:

Projected starting lineup with last year’s stats:
Stats follow this format – Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, FG percentage & Minutes

PG – Daniel Gibson
4.6 – 1.5 – 1.2 – 0.4 – 0.1 – 42% & 16.5 min

SG – Larry Hughes
14.9 – 3.8 – 3.7 – 1.3 – 0.4 – 40% & 37 min

SF – LeBron James
27.3 – 6.7 – 6 – 1.6 – 0.7 – 48% & 41 min

PF – Drew Gooden
11.1 – 8.5 – 1.1 – 0.9 – 0.3 – 47% & 28 min

C – Zydrunas Ilgauskas
11.9 – 7.7 – 1.6 – 0.6 – 1.3 – 49% & 27 min

Key Bench Players

Eric Snow
Donyell Marshall
Shannon Brown
Ira Newble
Devin Brown
Dwayne Jones

LeBron is LeBron. I look for his scoring average to go up this year because it appears that he has really worked on his shooting mechanics. He is doing a much better job squaring up and keeping his body in-line when jumping. His percentages have been up all summer and in the preseason. If he shoots more consistently from the outside, he’ll easily average over 30 ppg and he’ll lead the league in scoring this year. The skies the limit with him.

Daniel Gibson is interesting. He’s fearless and has a great shot, but can he run the team for 30 plus minutes per game? They need him, so they’ll give him every chance to prove he can.

Larry Hughes is healthy and he’s looked good during the preseason. He’ll get more minutes with Pavlovic gone, so I expect all of his numbers to increase, though be it slightly.

Drew Good gets the biggest increase of fantasy value with the absence of Varejao. He almost averaged a double double with only 28 minutes. He’ll easily average that double double with 32 – 35 minutes per. He is great offensive rebounder, so I expect a big year from him.

Big Z will do the same he did last year. He simply cannot handle big minutes, so he will always be somewhat limited.

I really like Shannon Brown, but he’s still young, so give him some time. Donyell Marshall will have value with his three point shooting and rebounding ability. He should also see an increase in minutes.

The Cavs won’t get back to the finals, but they will still be one of the best teams in the east, as long as LeBron is on the court.