Who’s Going to Run with LeBron James?
I don’t live in Cleveland, and it has even bothered me. We need to see LeBron James score some easy buckets.
I’m wholly on board with the idea that the Cavaliers’ existing system allows them to get further into the playoffs than one star and some disjointed parts should be able to take you. The Cavalier bigwigs get a ton of blame where I suspect they mainly deserve praise.
That’s because they are bad at the one thing most people are best at noticing. They do not have an exciting offense. Not at all.
You can see that as a stylistic issue. You can see it as a personnel issue. You can also see it as a national issue. Somehow this mighty country of ours created the perfect fast break and finishing machine in LeBron James, and we just about never get to see him on the break, nor finishing at the rim with a crisp pass from a teammate.
It’s like having the Statue of Liberty locked in scaffolding. Or Mount Rushmore covered in tarps.
OK, fine, for a short time we can endure that. But at some point, we need to get this thing working. It matters.
Cleveland fans feel it most acutely. They’re e-mailing, blogging, and writing about it non-stop. The Akron Beacon-Journal’s Brian Windhorst gets a lot of those e-mails, and has been fending off suggestions that the Cavaliers might be able to solve the problem with Elton Brand or Michael Redd.
But one idea in Windhorst’s list seems pretty exciting to me: Baron Davis.
He can run the break. He can find open teammates. He can keep the defense honest. He can hit shots. He has the size and strength to be a factor on defense. Alongside LeBron James, he’d make the defense wonder, just a little, who will take the big shot.
Baron Davis would make the Cavaliers eminently watchable.
And it might not be not a total pipe dream, contractually.
Reports are that, so far, the Warriors seem to not want to give the aging and injury prone Davis a fat extension. The fact that Davis’ coach benched Davis for an entire half of a crucial game has gotten some play.
Could Baron Davis — a borderline All-Star and extremely capable shooter and set-up man — really be available?
Could be.
Windhorst writes:
Baron is another player who has an opt out in his contract that no one is sure he will use. The Warriors are at a bit of a crossroads, they have numerous free agents to deal with. It appears Davis wants an extension and probably a massive one and the Bay Area media has reported early talks have not gone well. So it makes sense that his name would be floated in rumors. No one has told me the Cavs would have interest and it is questionable as to whether his style would mesh with LeBron because he is a shoot first guard. But it is a situation that could be worth watching.
The Cavaliers have some bits and pieces they could offer, but the thing everybody wants most of all is Wally Szczerbiak’s large contract that expires next summer.
It would be incredibly exciting, and I’m all for it.
Here’s my worry: In order for Baron Davis to get the extension that’ll make him happy, he’ll have to be signed and traded. (If he’s traded first, he’ll lose his Bird rights.) And assuming he gets a raise, he’ll then have a contract that will be hard for Cleveland to come close to matching, even with Szczerbiak’s big deal.
The Warriors, for their part, are something of a mystery to me. Everyone on the roster not named Stephen Jackson or Kosta Perovic will be a free agent one of the next two summers — so the Warriors could be in a time of change, gearing up to rebuild around Monta Ellis and company with some cap space. If that’s the case, you’d have to think Baron Davis for an expiring contract would be a consideration.
But on the other hand — they’re pretty good! Maybe they can re-tool on the fly, without getting miserable again, and having to say goodbye to all those fans who cheer loudly where there used to be vacant silence.
If that’s the goal, I imagine the Warriors and Baron Davis will be working out something to keep him in the Bay Area.
And if that happens, the Cavaliers and their fans will have to take their Szczerbiak contract and their dreams of an up-tempo LeBron, and shop elsewhere.
As a citizen, I hope they find something good.
London stanstead
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