Roster issues

According to Hollinger's rating system, updated daily, Gooden ranks #63. I think Z ranks fairly high there as well. Hughes is obviously a huge disappointment. He is our highest paid player, was supposed to be our #2 guy, but he is #4 at best. I don't think that Hughes has ever had a sustained stretch where he has been healthy, but given the money and production you can't deny he's been a big bust so far.

But what upsets me most is the Cavs apparent unwillingness to trade Anderson Varejao. His value will never be higher than it is now. He has no offensive game outside of 4 feet, and while I admire his defense and hustle, the reality is that he is not much more than a poor man's Tony Battie. Teams want him. If we can get some serious help in the backcourt, we should trade him now.

Regarding the Gooden, the traditional media continues to repeat the Cavs mantra that Gooden is "inconsistent" yet they refuse to give him consistent minutes. By that, I don't just mean his overall minutes per game, but sustained stretches on th court. Every time Gooden starts to warm up, Brown takes him out. I will asume that there are occassional defensive lapses, but Brown needs to look at the big picture in terms of developing chemistry and continuity that the Cavs talked about so much in the preseason. Apparently that doesn't apply to Gooden.

Z has made his own bed, to a point. His shots develop so slowly that its too easy for other teams to defend, and it forces the offense to remain in spread position for too long without anyone moving through the lane. He also doesn't pass well out of the double team, which is in fact one of the main definitions of a center. He is slow rolling off the pick and roll, and then doesn't make the interior pass when the weakside help gets there before he does. This is a deadly combination. He also compensates for his lack of speed by coming out of the pick early before forcing the defense to commit. I don't deny Z's skills, but I agree more and more with Charlie Rosen's assesment that he is a bad match for this team, and would actually be much more valuable as a bench player.

Have we ever seen the "big" athletic lineup with Lebron, Hughes, Gooden, Marshall and Varejao? That lineup would dominate on the boards without sacrificing too much on defense. That lineup could run, the middle would be much more open for slashers Lebron and Hughes to get to the rack, and yet we would still have Marshall camping out for three's. So, Lebron or Hughes would handle the rock, while Varejao would set the high screens. Gooden would essentially be the center on offense, with Varejao at the 4, Marshall at the three (your classic baseline shooting small forward). On defense, though, Varejao would be the center, with Gooden guarding the other team's 3. We could also run this offense with Gibson instead of Hughes. Tonight, we might see this with Gibson, Hughes, Gooden, Marshall and Varejao. I just think the Cavs talked so much about wanting interchangeable, athletic players to implement their defensive strategy, yet they never seem to play
those guys at the same time, even when it might help their offense as well.