Author: JEC (Page 4 of 46)

I feel guilty just writing this, considering what he and his family are going through, but throughout the playoffs it’s been painfully clear that Larry Hughes is a liability on the offensive side of the floor. He was missing jumpers — open and contested, long-range and mid-range — blowing gimmes and making all sorts of poor decisions. And while some say his defense makes up for it, I’ve seen him get burned on several occassions because he’s way too aggressive in going for the steal. In fact, while he’s one of the NBA’s best thieves, Hughes is an overrated defender who got abused by Gilbert Arenas in round 1 and didn’t do much to stop anyone in the Detroit backcourt in games 1 and 2 of this series.

So is it a coincidence that the Cavs won yesterday while Hughes was with his family, mourning the loss of his younger brother? Maybe, maybe not. I know Hughes is a very good player but it seems he came back too early from his finger injury and he hasn’t found any sort of rhythm offensively. Flip Murray saw more minutes in Hughes’ absence and, right now, Murray is easily the team’s second-best weapon offensively so the more time he sees on the floor, the better. Plus, while Damon Jones had a down year, he’s clearly a much more dangerous shooter than Hughes.

Maybe what’s best for Hughes and the Cavaliers would be for him to stay with his family through this terrible time, and then come back healthy and focused next year, because right now it seems his family needs him more than the Cavs do.

This is exactly the kind of move the Cavaliers needed to make. Flip Murray certainly isn’t a superstar, but the 6-4 guard, acquired from the Sonics Thursday, can shoot and penetrate and should be a nice offensive replacement for the injured Larry Hughes. Best of all, the Cavs only gave up Mike Wilks and cash to get Murray.

“Flip will give us speed, size, athleticism, toughness and the ability to create on the offensive end,” said Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry. “With Larry not being available, this trade gave us an opportunity to bring in some of those qualities for our team.”

The Cavs are in dire need of those qualities. Sasha Pavlovic is currently in the starting shooting guard slot, and Damon Jones comes off the bench as the backup point and shooting guard. Jones and Pavlovic have similar games. Both players are shooters. Murray, however, can break down a defender off the dribble, and he has the ability to draw in defenders to take some pressure off LeBron James.

Murray should give the Cavaliers a nice offensive boost as they eye a trip to the postseason. Danny Ferry’s first Deadline Day was a good one, in part because of the Murray acquisition but also because he didn’t make a major deal that would’ve shaken up the roster and jeopardized team chemistry.

In a separate deal, Ferry also moved up a couple slots in the upcoming draft:

In another deal, the Cavs sent their second-round draft pick in this year’s draft to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for the 76ers second-round draft pick this season. The Cavs’ second-round pick that was sent to the 76ers is protected through the 55th pick of the 2006 NBA Draft. Forward Lee Nailon also was included in the deal. However, Nailon is not expected to suit up for games or even attend games. Nailon hasn’t seen action since the end of last month when he was arrested for a domestic dispute.

Pure dump by the Sixers. I’m not really sure why the Cavs made the move, but apparently Ferry really wanted to move up in the second round.

Honestly, it still amazes me that someone this good plays for a Cleveland team. LeBron James scored 29 points and led the East’s 21-point comeback victory in Sunday’s NBA All Star Game, a performance that netted James the MVP award. He hit 12 of 21 shots but missed four of his five freebies (where have we seen that before?), and had a rather ordinary line outside of the points and a half dozen boards. Still, in an All Star Game, all that matters are points, and although Tracy McGrady outscored him (36-29), the East’s 122-120 victory secured the award for LeBron, the youngest player in league history to win an ASG MVP.

Man, this kid’s something special. It’s nice to see someone from Cleveland hoisting hardware at the end of a game, even if it’s not during a championship celebration.