Cavs 08-09 Season - Central Div Champs (official thread)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Scribbles from Terry Pluto's notebook on the Cavs

by Terry Pluto Sunday July 13, 2008, 5:29 PM


John Kuntz/The Plain Dealer
Daniel Gibson's sophomore season was plagued by injuries.

Wish I could report the Cavs being on the verge of a blockbuster trade or free-agent signing, but the only thing that seems likely to happen soon is the signing of restricted free-agent guard Daniel Gibson. Progress is being made, but the deal is not done. Nonetheless, this is good news, especially after ridiculous holdouts last season by restricted free agents Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao, costing both players all of training camp and perhaps leading to some injuries in the regular season.

Gibson is important to the Cavs because his outside shooting (44 percent on 3-pointers) was fifth best in the NBA last season. He averaged 10.4 points, which was more than either Pavlovic (9.0) or Varejao (6.8) in the season leading up to their contract disputes. Gibson blends well with LeBron James, much like Dru Joyce III did at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High. The key will be the 6-2, 194-pound Gibson getting strong, because he missed 24 games because of injuries last season.

Continued......

[crazybuckfan40]

The summer league for the Cavs starts tonight...It will be interesting to see how some of the guys do...

Hopefully Hickson and Green play really well...

[NJ-Buckeye]

The ironic thing is LeBron will be hoping his HS buds play great.. which is understandable being that those are still in his circle...

[exhawg]

Originally Posted by NJ-Buckeye

The ironic thing is LeBron will be hoping his HS buds play great.. which is understandable being that those are still in his circle...

I still think Romeo Travis would be better off playing for the Browns than the Cavs.

[jlb1705]

Originally Posted by crazybuckfan40

The summer league for the Cavs starts tonight...It will be interesting to see how some of the guys do...

Hopefully Hickson and Green play really well...

The game's coming on right now on NBATV. They're playing the Knicks. I'll try to post some of my impressions.

[crazybuckfan40]

Originally Posted by jlb1705

The game's coming on right now on NBATV. They're playing the Knicks. I'll try to post some of my impressions.

Thanks...Does anyone know that website that plays tv on the internet...I know I have watch the bucks when they were on the big ten network...I am thinking that the game might be on there...

[jlb1705]

For anyone else that's watching, Hickson is #21, Green is #2.

[jlb1705]

I haven't seen Hickson play before. Looks like he's aggressive with his back to the basket in the post. That's something the Cavs have been missing with the likes of Z, Varejao & Gooden on the inside. All of those guys seemed to prefer to spin and take a fallaway jumper, where Hickson looks like he wants to go right to the rack. I like it.

[jlb1705]

Traylor is now in the game...

[exhawg]

Originally Posted by jlb1705

Traylor is now in the game...

I was wondering why the ground was rumbling.

[jlb1705]

Cavs lead 26-19 at the end of the 1st. They are dominating on the inside, but have yet to make a perimeter or mid-range jumper. Hickson has looked good and so has Traylor, but I am skeptical that the fitness will be there for him to find his way to the end of the Cavs' bench for the regular season.

[jlb1705]

Well, Hickson is certainly a step up from any of their veteran bigs when it comes to putting the ball on the floor. ...Not that that's all that difficult to do.

[crazybuckfan40]

Who started and has Green played yet?

[jlb1705]

...Hickson with a thundering dunk cleaning up the offensive glass. He now has 10 pts.

[jlb1705]

Originally Posted by crazybuckfan40

Who started and has Green played yet?

Green & Hickson both started (along with some guy named Beck). I'm not sure about the other two.

Haven seen much from Green outside of the first couple of minutes. This game has been played almost entirely in the paint by the Cavs.