There are three topics for us to discuss today.
1. Andrew Bynum
In case there was any doubt in your minds, trading for Andrew Bynum is a good idea.
The arguments posed in the linked article seem lazy to me. Not all "knuckleheads" are created equal. It always frustrated me when the media put Chad Johnson, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens in the same category when they are very different people with different skills on the field and different problems off the field. Yes, Andrew Bynum as he currently stands seems to be a low-character guy. He almost killed JJ Barea at the end of an embarrassing sweep, he openly defies his coach and he doesn't seem to try his hardest all the time. He also would be the best player on the Cavs the second he steps on the floor (and secretly was the best player on the Lakers every now and again).
I'm not saying that talent trumps character every time because it doesn't. In fact, I'd like to get rid of that way of speaking about it altogether. Character is part of the overall package, just as talent is. If your character hinders your inborn "talent," that talent now becomes irrelevant and therefore does not exist. But let's look at Andrew Bynum's career for a second.
Bynum was drafted to the highest profile team in the league as a teenager. He was on a failing team with Kobe Bryant and all that Kobe Bryant is. Kobe felt it was OK to speak freely about how much Bynum sucked (who, I believe, was 19 at time) in a parking lot to a guy with a camera. The arrival of Phil Jackson as coach coincided with the team actually becoming good, mostly due to Bynum's emergence as a really good center. When L.A. acquired Pau Gasol, that duo became and still remains the best big man combination in the league by a wide margin and really, the reason the Lakers won two NBA Titles.
So why should this 24 year old who is one of the best Centers in the NBA be so grumpy?
The three years the Lakers were title contenders, Kobe Bryant, the veteran who made fun of a younger clumsier Bynum years earlier, took almost all of the credit while Bynum (who, once again, was the REASON THE TEAM WAS EVEN GOOD) took flack whenever he had a bad game. He was either not giving Kobe enough help or not able to be on the court due to injury. Even if the problem was that they weren't using him enough, he was blamed for not "demanding the ball." Nothing was blamed on the veteran and everything was blamed on the young super talent. And to further problems, this situation was nurtured by Coach Jackson, a man who is extremely well respected for handling his players' emotions well. How ironic.
Now, you might be saying, "Whatever, you're getting paid millions of dollars to play a game! Get over it!" This is the classic fan argument against any and all player complaints. These same fans are sad when players "don't care" or "do it all for the money." Pick one. Have you ever been on a team (even a pick up team) where you are unhappy with your role or your teammates? You're mad. It'd be easy to detach yourself if you were only playing for the money but these guys don't really do that. They still care at least a little bit. And it'd be easier to perhaps adjust to a situation that isn't ideal when you're just a super well-adjusted person. I can't overstate this next point: Just because these athletes are on TV, spoken of with high regard by respectable people and referred to as "professionals" does not make them well adjusted people or really even better than you or I at anything other than basketball. Even if Andrew Bynum is slightly childish or a little bit too emotional or anything like that, his immature reactions to his situation are entirely understandable...at least to me.
One thing I can take away from his reactions to these things is that he at least is perceptive enough to be frustrated by legitimately frustrating things. The man is not oblivious and I like that. If I were the Cavs, I would not hesitate to trade Anderson Varejao (one of my favorite players) and picks for the chance that Bynum signs long-term with Cleveland (which I don't think is incredibly far-fetched).
I remember hearing a rumor awhile ago that Cleveland was on the list of locations that Bynum was willing to be traded and not being very surprised. Andrew Bynum would be appreciated in a way that he might not even recognize in Cleveland which would be in stark contrast to his situation in Los Angeles where he wasn't even the consensus most valuable BIG MAN on his OWN TEAM (not to mention his name is not Shaq O'Neal or Kobe Bryant). Cleveland could also pay him more money for more years if he were traded here.
One extra note: I don't like the perception of Cleveland being a paranoid woe-is-me city and I REALLY wouldn't like it if I owned a basketball team there. Having to get a guarantee that Bynum would sign long-term there when it doesn't make any sense at all for him to do so reeks of desperation which, even if you are, it is never in your favor to act as such. Have some confidence that the tough love of Byron Scott and the unconditional love of Cleveland (and more money) are enough to keep a franchise player where he is.
2. Dion Waiters and the Cavaliers' Draft
In the 2009 NBA draft, the Memphis Grizzlies selected Hasheem Thabeet 2nd overall. Thabeet is now elsewhere and never contributed anything at all to the Grizzlies progression into a playoff team in the relentlessly competitive Western Conference. Thabeet was drafted over James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, and Stephen Curry (even DeMar DeRozen would be improved their team). The Grizzlies still compete even though they missed so badly with such a high pick in the 2009 which should be encouraging. It's not and here's why.
What if they would have drafted somebody useful? They would either have another valuable guard or the ingredients for a trade for a big man (they need a guard more anyway). If you add Stephen Curry or James Harden to the Memphis Grizzlies they're a potential title contender, but they missed their opportunity with one major fuck-up. The Lakers can overcome this sort of thing. The Grizzlies and more recently, the Cavaliers cannot.
Which brings us to the Cavs' 2012 Draft. They started with picks four, 24, 32 and 33 in a LOADED draft and ended up with picks four and 17 (with needs at every position but point guard). The Cavs filled their needs with precision, getting a shooting guard and a 7-foot center, but I can't escape the feeling that this draft will be either forgotten altogether or remembered for the wrong reasons.
I can't picture Dion Waiters contributing to an NBA Championship. I just can't. In the draft, I'm not looking for a guy who had great numbers in college necessarily, I want a guy who has an identifiable skill. Something that he does well. People rave about Waiters' ability to "get to the basket" and his athleticism and how he's "NBA ready." Let me explain something: I can get the basket. ANYONE can "get to the basket." Tell me how he does it. Does he have any deft moves? Is he an elite athlete? When he does get there, does he finish? Does he have any concept of where anyone else on the court is? If he can't get there, does he have a reliable back up plan? Does he recognize and work well with the way his teammates play? Does he play exceptional defense? Is what he's doing consistent? I would say "no" to every single one of these questions if I'm talking about Waiters.
He seems to me like a playground player whose ceiling is lower than top four player on a championship team. There are three players in the next eight picks (Harrison Barnes, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb) who I'm almost 100% sure will be better than Dion Waiters. Then they traded the rest of their picks for Tyler Zeller, a player who will more than likely be a very quality back up Center.
Though I stand by what I've said, Dion Waiters could still be a productive player in the NBA. Even if he is, I still believe the Cavaliers will regret the day they let a great draft slip by without getting a single major contributor to their dreams of an NBA Title when they had so many picks to work with.
3. The Significance of Ray Allen's Move to Miami
I thought that Ray Allen would take less money to stay in Boston. In this era, it doesn't seem as though players hate each other as much as they used to and they don't mind moving as much because it's so much easier to get around and communicate than it used to be. But the Celtics were different. Their advantage on every other team was the fact that they didn't care about being liked. They always did the extra dirty stuff to win and their dislike for their opponent seemed noticeably more genuine than other teams'.
I think Ray Allen did hate the Miami Heat and I think he loved the Boston Celtics. But taking a look at the NBA landscape...why wouldn't a 37 year old shooter want to play with LeBron James? It's supposed to be harder to convince someone to leave what is known to be good for something new, but Ray dove in for half the money and I can't totally disagree with what he did.
This, to me, puts on display what I consider a misconception about what happened with LeBron James in Cleveland and where blame is to be placed for him leaving.
The narrative today is that Cleveland failed LeBron by not surrounding him with talented enough players. I have always disagreed with this because the team he left in 2007 was the best team in the league but what nobody talks about is the reason the Cavs couldn't acquire better talent.
LeBron never committed to Cleveland. At the time, whether LeBron was in Cleveland or not changed the city from the place you want to be to the place you absolutely do not want to be. This is only speculation of course, but I have always believed that the Cavs missed out on high quality bargain free agents every year because they weren't sure they wanted to sign long-term with a team centered around a guy who their guts told them wasn't going to be around for the entirety of their contracts. Now that it's clear that LeBron is committed to Miami, Ray Allen, a guy who I really feel hated the Heat (and probably LeBron's Cavs for that matter) and loved his former team, signed for LESS money with Miami. It just looks fun to play with LeBron James.
It would have been fun in Cleveland also.
