SB Nation - Daniel Gibson

Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Mike Lisboa — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:11:43 -0000

Amar'e Stoudemire must start AND FINISH with his gorilla game for the Suns to have a chance in Cleveland tonight. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Hopefully the Suns can make like Alando Tucker and wash the icky residue of last night's loss to the Knicks off their hands before mixing it up with the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight.

The Suns head into Cleveland 2-1 with a chance at salvaging a winning record on this eastern road swing before coming home to face the Kings on Saturday. Last night the Suns came out flat on both ends of the court and despite rallying to get within 6, never recovered offensively or defensively.

So, which Suns team will show up tonight? The 14-3 power rankings darlings or that group of zombies that took the court in New York last night.

The Cavaliers come into tonight's game riding a 4 game winning streak, including a 16-point thumping of the Mavericks on Saturday. That's right: Saturday. In addition to being at home, Lebron and company have 3 days of rest. For their part, after taking most of yesterday's game off, the Suns should be plenty rested as well *rimshot*.

Match-ups

Guards

At the point, we have Steve Nash going up against Mo Williams. On paper, this would seem to be a clear advantage for the Suns, but last season Mo torched the Suns for 30 points in their meeting in Phoenix and 44 in Cleveland (Nash missed this game with an injury). Off the bench, it's Daniel Gibson vs. Goran Dragic. While Boobie is capable of getting hot, in 8 games this year, he's only averaging 6.8 point per game. If Dragic can bounce back from a terrible performance in New York, they should basically cancel each other out.

I thought it was the 30-somethings that were supposed to struggle with back-to-backs? Jason Richardson has been a key ingredient to the Suns potent offense this year, averaging 17.4 points per game, good for 2nd on the team behind Amare Stoudemire. However on the 2nd night of back-to-backs, all of J-Rich's offensive numbers have taken a hit: -7.7% on FG%, -4.9% on 3PT%, -32.1% on FT% (yipes!), and -6.1 PPG. There's no reason he shouldn't reverse that trend against Anthony Parker (and you thought the Suns had cornered the market on lesser siblings! He has to play in the shadow of his sister Candace.) and he'll have to if the Suns want to win this one.

Off the bench at the 2, it will be interesting to see who the Suns go with in Barbosa's absence. After pouring it in (14 points on 4-7 shooting), Alando Tucker may have earned some increased minutes. Equally mysterious is who the Cavs will bring off their bench behind Parker. After seeing limited use thus far this season due to personal and health reasons, Delonte West played a season-high 29 minutes against the Mavs, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Forwards

Grant Hill will have his hands full with LeBron James. If he and Jared Dudley can combine to keep LBJ around his averages, the Suns will probably consider that a success. I don't think anyone has any illusions of stopping him.

Off the bench, Jamario Moon is something of a Matrix-Lite, so he and Jared Dudley will engage in some kind of sideshow hustle competition.

At power forward, the Suns have what should be their clearest advantage, offensively at least. Amare Stoudemire needs to bring his vaunted Gorilla Game to exploit Cleveland's tandem of Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson. If he can stay out of foul trouble, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs while not having to worry too much about being challenged on the other end. Except for rebounds.

Center

Here's where line-up and strategy will come into some serious play. It's entirely possible the Cavs elect to send Varejao and Hickson out on Frye at the perimeter, keeping Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the lane to defend Amare on the pick and roll. If that's the case, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs. (See what I did there?)

Defensively, Channing Frye doesn't have the bulk to keep up with Shaq in the post and the Cavs will probably go to this mis-match early and often, much like the Lakers did with Andrew Bynum earlier in the season against the Suns.

Robin Lopez will probably get some early minutes on the defensive end to see if he can help stop the bleeding in the paint against the much larger Shaq. Robin vs. Shaq has the potential to be explosive as Robin looks to heap some punishment on the The Big Mentor who rode his Fuzzy-head pretty hard last season.

Of course, that's just wishful thinking. Shaq will destroy Robin given the chance.

Predictions

Offensively, the Suns will look to spread the floor against the Cavs using their dead-eye shooting (which hopefully they bring with them tonight) to exploit the lack of speed of the Cavs big men. If his shot his falling, Channing Frye could have a career night. Similarly, if the Cavaliers lumbering bigs stay at home on Stoudemire, he and Nash should have a field day running the pick and roll till the cows come home.

Defensively, the Suns will have to find a way to limit Cleveland's opportunities in the paint AND contain the speedy Williams AND contain LeBron James. If the Lopez and Frye struggle with Shaq, look for Jarron Collins to come in and provide 6 additional fouls against O'Neal. I'm pretty sure Robin will use his up fairly quickly.

In a perfect world, the Suns draw the Cavaliers into an up-tempo shoot-out, regain their accuracy and out-run the Cavs. For their part, Cleveland and their 8th ranked defense (100.6 points per 100 possessions) will look to keep things slow as molasses (7th slowest pace in the NBA), bogging the Suns down in a half-court game. Look for them to pound it inside and run plenty of isolations for LeBron James. Like, 70 of them.

While I think the Suns will come out more focused than they did last night in New York, I don't see them winning this game. They'll keep it close in the first half, but their porous defense will be their undoing as the game wears on.

Final score 105-93, Cavs.

Suns vs Cavaliers coverage

Suns vs Cavaliers preview

Fear The Sword

Wednesday Trioks

Seth — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:43:05 -0000

Good day, pilgrims. The Knicks are signed up to play basketball against the Atlanta Hawks at home tonight. In the meantime, let's take a look at what's floating around the world wide web.

- Eddy Curry practiced with the team yesterday and...Holy Jared Fogel, what happened!? NYKnicks.com has the words and video on the big guy, who looks like his own little brother right now. I saw Eddy in person no more than 6 weeks ago and the amount of progress he's made is astounding. I was ready to discount his ever playing this season completely, but things appear to be looking up.

- From that same article, Nate Robinson practiced yesterday and could be ready to go against Atlanta tonight. The Knicks could badly use his offense, provided he can relocate his shooting touch.

- Trey Kerby runs the "Phenomenal Swag" feature at Ball Don't Lie, and happened upon some fresh kicks for the suffering Knick fan/hipster in your life. I think we can call these people "Knicksters".

- You'll probably object to my invoking the name of Charles Smith in this space, but you should know that he's been up to some philanthropy since becoming dead to you in '94. Howard Beck profiles Smith's engagement with the NBA Retired Players Association.

- Mike Kurylo of Knickerblogger tells Donnie Walsh what's what about advanced statistics and Walsh...well...read for yourself.

- Danilo Gallinari isn't on the All-Star ballot, which infuriates me. It also infuriated me when Danilo Gallinari wasn't elected president or named Top Chef or America's Next Top Model. ALL THESE HATERS. I wouldn't be surprised to see some cock in the three-point shootout, though. And by that I mean Daniel Gibson might participate.

- I have a feeling that a few of you will foam at the mouth after reading this bit of opinion on Chris Bosh. If you do foam at the mouth, you should consider getting treatment.

- All I'm saying is don't let your guard down around that Tate's triok. Something fishy about that character.

Come back later for a Knicks-Hawks game thread and maybe my celebrity sex tape. Maybe.

Cavaliers notch first win, beat T-Wolves 104-87

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:00:35 -0000

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

about 1 month ago: Cleveland Cavaliers Mo Williams drives to the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves' Al Jefferson, left, defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 in Minneapolis. Williams scored 20 points in the Cavaliers' 104-87 win. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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Rest assured, Cavaliers fans - this year's edition of the Wine and Gold still know how to win basketball games. In an effort reminiscent of many of the 66 wins from last season, the Cavaliers slowly, methodically beat down on a young, talented - but overmatched - Minnesota Timberwolves team 104-87. For the Cavaliers it was a job well done - mission accomplished. Sometimes the hardest win is the first even when you know there will be more to come.

Tonight the Cavaliers looked like a team - and it goes deeper than the level of opposition. The Cavaliers looked much more comfortable in their own skin - finding the roles that will take them where they are going to go this season.

I'll start with the obvious - Shaquille O'Neal. It was obvious that Shaq was trying to do too much - and perhaps the Cavaliers were trying too hard to feed him the ball. Through the first two games, Shaq was averaging 27 minutes and about 12 shots per game. Tonight, Shaq played 19 minutes, and took 6 shots - scoring 6 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. That is more of how I thought Shaq would be used. He was open to passing out of the post - often to open players. Often the Cavs - Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson - were hitting those shots. If they didn't, Shaq was there to grab the rebound. That is how I thought this Shaq-deal would work

LeBron got to take the 4th quarter off, which was a welcome sight. He undoubtedly set the tone, however, in the first quarter that saw him score 11 points. You got the feeling that James was going to do whatever it took to win tonight - be it score 50 points or simplye what he did - 24 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in 33 minutes.

The defense was also back to form. While the 2nd quarter was once again a work-in-progress(29 points allowed), the Cavaliers were solid in the 2nd half again - 40 points allowed - and for the game held the Wolves to 42% shooting(21% from deep).

The Cavaliers had 5 players in doubles figures led by LeBron(24 points), Mo Williams(20 points), Zydrunas Ilgauskas(15 points), Daniel Gibson(14 points) and Anderson Varejao(13 points). The bench stepped up as well, scoring a combined 35 points.

The Cavaliers are not a finished product, of course, but it was good to see positive signs, and felt great to get a win. The Cavs won't have much time to enjoy it, however. The team is likely already on its way back to Cleveland for a date with the Bobcats tomorrow night.

Basketball is Back!!! Cavaliers lose to Celtics 95-89

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:35:05 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

about 1 month ago: Cleveland Cavaliers' Shaquille O'Neal (33) tries to pass around Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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Let's get the bulk of it out right now - the Boston Celtics beat the Cavaliers at The Q tonight. That is a big deal in and of itself since the Celts hadn't won in Cleveland since 2004. Maybe it's because the Celtics felt at home in their white unis. Either way, they won the game.

The game started out big for the Cavs as they ran out to a 19-5 lead. The crowd was in full throat and the team seemed to be feeding off of it. Then Mike Brown went to his bench at the 5 minute mark of the 1st quarter and the team lost some momentum - it never really got it back.

I would love to blast Brown for this but I really can't. The Cavaliers have 3 games to play in the next 4 days and with an aging front court they need to try and give rest whenever they can. They may sound ridiculous after the first game, but the truth is this wasn't a playoff game, it wasn't the Eastern Conference Finals. It was 1 game, Game 1 of 82. Tonight the Celtics hit the shots and played better and they got the win.

They call Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce the 'Big 3'. Tonight, they were. Pierce had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Garnett 13 points and 10 rebounds while Allen chipped in 16 points. Combined they were 16-19 from the free throw line as well. Rasheed Wallace looked energized by his new digs as well, scoring 12 points(3-6 from deep).

The Celtics might be at their best, however, when Rajon Rondo is playing at a high level. Rondo does alot for the Celtics and when he is playing with a lot of energy the team seems to feed off of it. Rondo played that way tonight scoring 8 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 10 assists. A little bit of everything.

For the Cavaliers it was LeBron James scoring 38 points in 45 minutes - way too long if you ask me. Mo Williams added 12 while newcomers Anthony Parker and Shaquille O'Neal scored 10 a piece. For Cleveland it was their bench that forgot to show up. Daniel Gibson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Jemario Moon scored a grand total of 10 points.

It was painfully obvious that the Cavs are playing a Guard short. That is an obvious statement since Delonte West is dealing with personal issues. I saw Delonte on the court before the game and he looked great....physically. Whether it is West, or the rumored Antonio Daniels, the Cavaliers need another ball handler - Boobie Gibson is still a liability with the ball in his hands - and to be honest the team could probably use both Daniels and West.

All that said, this is just one game. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that something was lost here at The Q during the Magic series. Three times against the Magic the Cavs had big leads only to see them evaporate. It happened again tonight. The feeling I had in the Q last season - when it seemed the Cavs couldn't lose - seems lost. Perhaps a visit from Charlotte on Halloween will get it back. Whatever the case, it feels great to have Cavaliers basketball back - rest assured its going to be a great season!

Cavaliers waive 3, roster set at 15

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:12:24 -0000

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced today that they have waived guards Andre Barrett and Russell Robinson and center Darryl Watkins. Barrett played in four games during the preseason, averaging 5.8 points and 4.3 assists in 17.5 minutes per game while Robinson played in five games (one start) and averaged 6.4 points and 2.4 assists in 20.0 minutes per game. Watkins appeared in four games and totaled two points, eight rebounds and one block in 28 minutes played.

The Cavaliers roster now stands at 15 -

NO PLAYER POS HGT WGT

1 Daniel Gibson G 6-2 200

14 Danny Green G/F 6-6 210

21 J.J. Hickson F 6-9 242

11 Zydrunas Ilgauskas C 7-3 260

00 Darnell Jackson F 6-9 253

23 LeBron James F 6-8 250

5 Coby Karl G 6-5 215

15 Jamario Moon F 6-8 205

33 Shaquille O’Neal C 7-1 325

18 Anthony Parker G/F 6-6 210

44 Leon Powe F 6-8 240

17 Anderson Varejao F/C 6-11 260

13 Delonte West G 6-3 190

31 Jawad Williams F 6-9 220

2 Mo Williams G 6-1 195

Morning Briefing: We've Seen This Script Before

JakeTheSnake — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:51:56 -0000

More photos » by Mark Duncan - AP

Rest up, Antawn.

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Well, that didn't take long at all. 7 minutes into the Wizards' 5th pre-season game and we have our first injury to one of the Wizards' Big 3. Understandably, this set the Wizards blogosphere into a bit of a panic. We'll get to some of those reactions after the jump, but first I wanted to highlight this passage from Brian Windhorst's recap:

Playing against a rather deep Washington Wizards team expected to contend this season, the Cavs couldn't keep up. Getting 18 points from Gilbert Arenas, 24 from Mike Miller and 21 from Randy Foye, the Wizards left town with a 109-104 win. Seven players were known out before the game including LeBron James, who was home sick. Then during the contest Anderson Varejao suffered a wrist contusion and Daniel Gibson bruised his tailbone.

Welcome to life as a Wizards fan, Cleveland.

Jamison Sprains Shoulder In Win - Michael Lee, Washington Post

The loss of Jamison for a lengthy period of time would greatly sour the enthusiasm surrounding the team, which always seems to be in an annual, yet futile, attempt to stay healthy. Jamison's injury places in doubt his availability for the season opener against Dallas on Oct. 27. "Antawn is pretty tough," Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said. "For him to be out an extended period is going to take a lot. Right now, it's all speculation, we'll have to wait and see. Luckily, we still have two weeks and hopefully he'll bounce back for us."

Shoulder sprain sidelines Wizards' Jamison - Mike Jones, Washington Times

The Wizards hope the injury isn't another of the many strokes of bad luck the team has experienced in the past four seasons. Since acquiring forward Caron Butler in 2004 and pairing him with Jamison and point guard Gilbert Arenas, the Wizards' mantra has been that they can compete with the league's elite - if they stay healthy. But year after year, injury has claimed one or more of their core players - whether it be Jamison, Butler, Arenas or Haywood - shattering their lofty postseason aspirations.

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104 - Michael Lee, Wizards Insider

Losing Jamison would be a huge blow for the Wizards because he is the one member of the Big Three that doesn't have a proven backup to fill in if he gets hurt. Gilbert Arenas has Foye. Caron Butler has Mike Miller. Jamison has ... Andray Blatche? JaVale McGee? Fabricio Oberto? Dominic McGuire? That isn't a knock on those players, but there would be a significant dropoff from a player who is good for 20 points and eight rebounds almost every night. If you don't think losing Jamison would be huge, all you had to do was watch Butler at the first timeout after Jamison went to the locker room. Butler hopped off the bench and sprinted back to check on him. "I'm real overprotective of my dudes right now," said Butler, who did the same thing when Brendan Haywood sprained his right ankle against Dallas. Jamison "told me he was fine and he'd be okay. I felt cool after that." "I'm not even used to the history of being on the sideline with guys going down, but I heard some guys say, 'Aw, not again,' " Randy Foye said after the game.

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104 - Mike Jones, Outlet

Mike Miller, who has been struggling to figure out his role on this team, had no doubts tonight when Jamison went down. He came out with guns blazing and knocked down all five 3-pointer attempts and finished with 24 points on the night. "He went down and I felt like I needed to get more aggressive, period," Miller said. "I'm starting to learn a little more, find my spots, see what I can do to help this team. Especially with Antawn down, I got a little more aggressive and made a few shots."

Wizards 109, Cavaliers 104: Split-squad effort falls short - Bob Finnan, The News-Herald

It wasn't exactly what one would call compelling basketball. In fact, it was almost unwatchable at times. Much of the interest in Wednesday's preseason game ended when the Cavaliers announced that superstar LeBron James would be sidelined with flu-like symptoms.

Flip’s Well-Oiled 3rd Quarter Offense: Wizards 109 – Cavaliers 104 - Kyle Weidie, Truth About It

Yes, Blatche had a bounce-back ’statistical’ game with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to only 3 fouls and 1 turnover. And I don’t want to come down too had on the guy … I did see several good things from him (see #9, 16, 17 & 19 above). But still, it’s the little things that continue to frustrate me — Andray reaches too much when he’s guarding the ball. He needs to better keep his balance/position and move his feet instead of becoming an AAU-style matador. He also closes out on shooters at bad angles. He doesn’t break down into a defensive stance enough when playing the drive against non-shooting big men when they’re away from basket. And finally, over and over, Blatche falls for pump fakes. Discipline my friend, discipline.

Non-game related links

Tough Juice is blogging!

Newly mum Arenas needs to resurrect his talkative ways - Steve Aschburner, NBA.com

What Lies Beneath The Gilbert Arenas Identity Crisis - William Yoder, Agent Dagger

WIZARDS: Washington Wizards 2009-2010 Media Guide

Best of Twitterville

Twitter / Brian Windhorst
Starting lineup: Gibson, Parker, J. Williams, Varejao, Shaq. Yikes.

Twitter / Truth_About_It
Wizards-Cavs tied at 33 ... this is the best I've ever seen Andray Blatche play in the open court.

Twitter / Michael Lee
Mike Miller is flammable right now. He's 9-12, 5-5 from 3-point range and has 24 points. I guess with no Antawn, he knows he needs to shoot

Twitter / The BF gang
JaVale McGee just got shoved out of the way by Daniel Gibson.

Twitter / Truth_About_It
How weird would it be if DeShawn Stevenson got a tat of LeBron's face on the right side of his neck? Bet it'd scare the sh*t out of Bron.

Twitter / The BF gang
Dear opposing fans: DeShawn Stevenson does that "I Can't Feel My Face" thing when he makes a shot. Anytime, anywhere. Don't get offended.

Twitter / Mike Jones
Cavs making a killing from 3-point range tonight. 10-for-16 from the arc.

Twitter / CavsBlogger
Things have just gotten plain sloppy now....mop up time for both teams...

Twitter / The BF gang
You know, I can see now why everyone, particularly the Wiz FO, is in love with Oberto's "intangibles"

Twitter / Michael Lee
If we stay healthy. Have you heard that before? Will that ever happen for the Wizards? Not looking like it with Jamison down.

Twitter / David Aldridge
There's good luck...there's bad luck...and there's Wizards Luck.

Twitter / DrewBreez
Antawn Jamison's funereal message to Wiz fans does not bode well for Gil Arenas/expectations for 09-10.

Twitter / LZ Granderson
The Wizards Mike Miller has grown his hair out and now looks like an Eastwick witch

Twitter / Take a guess!
Omg my cavs lost!!! Boo!! And to the wizards!! That's crazy!

Twitter / Brooklyn
how the hell the cavs get beat by the f'n wizards!?!?! lol -appalled-

Twitter / Jordan Hall
ohh jeez,wizards are gonna be on some big power trip because they beat the cavs

Anderson Varejao out with wrist injury; Daniel Gibson leaves as well

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:49:44 -0000

Cavaliers F Anderson Varejao left Wednesday Night's game against the Washington Wizards with a wrist injury sustained in the 3rd Quarter. X-Rays were negative and Varejao is has been diagnosed with a Left Wrist Contusion.

Also leaving the game and heading to the locker room was G Daniel Gibson. Gibson was diagnosed with a bruised tailbone and will sit out the rest of the night as well.....

2009/10 NBA Blogger Preview - Cleveland Cavaliers

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:58:21 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

2 months ago: Cleveland Cavaliers' Shaquille O'Neal, left, and LeBron James laugh in the fourth quarter of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, in Cleveland. The Cavaliers won 92-87. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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Each year the fine folks at Celtics Blog head up a Season Preview of each team, written by team bloggers. They then present these previews one division at a time. So far, we have seen previews for the Atlantic Division and the Southwest Division. Now comes the Central's turn - due to be released tomorrow. Before that, however, I needed to give my thoughts on the buring questions surrounding the Wine and Gold heading into the season. Check it out!

1. What significant moves were made during the off-season?

I guess it is safe to say the Cavaliers made the biggest move of the off-season - literally. Shaquille O'Neal is a big man and a big personality. The question will be if there is enough room on the floor and shots in a game to keep Shaq, LeBron, Mo Williams and others happy. I believe this team has the character for it not to become a problem - and seeing a few Pre-Season games it appears everyone is going to be completely happy. Should the Cavaliers start losing, well, then there could be problems. I, for one, think the Shaq acquisition was the perfect move for the Cavaliers to make. There is something to having a lot of talent, but that expereince is a huge positive as well. Shaw will also take some of the spotlight off LeBron which isn't a bad thing.

There were other moves, though none got all the attention that Shaq did. Orlando exposed a huge weakness the Cavaliers roster had - length on the perimeter. Mo Williams and Delonte West are both undersized. This, of course, can be camouflaged during the season because, A) most teams don't have the players to expose the Cavs, and B) LeBron makes up for most vulnerabilities. Orlando, on the other hand, did have the players and LeBron could make up for Hedo, and Rashard Lewis, and Pietrus. The Magic simply had too much length.

In steps Anthony Parker(6-6) and Jemario Moon(6-8). Both guys add significant length to the defense and more spot-up jump-shooting from the outside. Now the Cavaliers can matchup much better in the post with Shaq and on the outside with LeBron, Parker and Moon.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

LeBron James. Seriously. The reigning MVP would be the strength to any team he plays on so we have to start there. It isn't the only strength, however. The Cavaliers are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA< and that was when they were undersized in the back-court. Now that they can matchup with bigger, 'longer' teams they could be even better defensively this season than they were a year ago.

The Cavs are also a deep unit, especially up front with Shaq, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao. Darnell Jackson provides some muscle, while J.J. Hickson is on his way to being a premier low-post scoring threat.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

Back-court depth. What was considered a strength just a few weeks ago must be considered a weakness with the uncertainty surrounding Delonte West. In a perfect world, West would be the starting SG, with Moon, Parker, LeBron et al shuffling around the 2 and 3 spots. The Cavaliers could go small, with James at the 4, or go big with James at the 2 and Moon at the 3. West is also the Cavaliers best option at PG behind Mo Williams.

Without West, the team has been forced to start Anthony Parker. He can do the job, no doubt, but it significantly weakens the bench. It also means that Daniel Gibson is once again forced to play the point, a position he isn't very comfortable with. There isn't any real timetable on West's return, but the hope is still he comes back full strength, both physically and mentally.

4. What are the goals for this team?

Easy - Win the NBA Championship. Anything else for this group would be considered a letdown. I don't know if winning the title, or not winning it, will have any affect on what LeBron James does next summer, but this group was put together to win this season.

5. Things a non-Cavs fan might not know.

At one point last season, the Cavaliers had both of Utah's 2003 Draft picks - Sasha Pavlovic(1st Round) and Mo Williams(2nd Round)

Predicted Record: 63-19, Win the NBA Championship. If I don't believe, who will, right?

Poll

How do you think the Cavs will finish in 2009?

Win NBA Championship

428 votes

Win Conference Finals

90 votes

Lose Conference Finals

133 votes

Other

37 votes

688 votes | Poll has closed

Cavaliers go International with visit from Olympiacos

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:09:45 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Preseason
	VS
0-0		2-0
October 12th, 2009
Quicken Loans Arena
7:00 PM
Radio - WTAM 1100AM/FOX SPORTS OHIO
Probable starters:
Teodosic	PG	Daniel Gibson
Linas Kleiza	SG	Anthony Parker
Josh Childress	SF	LeBron James
Vasilopoulos	PF	Anderson Varejao
Schortsanitis	C	Shaquille O'Neal

The Cavaliers go a bit International tonight when Olympiacos invades the Q. While some names are literally foreign to Cavs fans, there are also a couple - Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza - that NBA fans should know fairly well.

For the Cavs, it will survival of the fittest. Mo Williams(Groin), Jemario Moon(Wisdom Teeth) and Danny Green(Contusion) are out of the game with injuires. Add to that Delonte West who is still away from the team due to personal reasons and the Cavaliers will be far from full strength tonight.

Watching the action? Talk about it here.

So it begins...LeBron, Shaq beat Bobcats to start 2009/10 Pre-Season

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:47:06 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

2 months ago: Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) drives past Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace (3) as Shaquille O'Neal (33) watches in the first quarter of an NBA preseason basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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It was just the pre-season, but at long last the Cavaliers, and their fans,can remove the bad taste of the playoff-loss to Orlando this spring by enjoying a win. In a workman-like effort which saw most of the starters play only the first half, the Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 92-87 at The Q.

For the Cavaliers, it was the first chance for the team, and the fans, to see Shaq and LeBron on the court together against someone other than themselves. Could LeBron still get to the rack with Shaq on the floor? Can Shaq actually do what he says he is going to do - take a backseat to LeBron?

Consider those questions, at least for a night, answered with the resounding Hell yea!

LeBron James did what he does - 15 points in 15 minutes - on 5/7 shooting. Shaq scored 6 points, while grabbing 3 boards. One troubling stat might be that O'Neal picked up 3 replacement referee fouls in 15 minutes.

A nice surprise for the Cavaliers was J.J. Hickson, who scored 15 points, adding 5 rebounds, in 17 minutes. Hickson is still a work in progress on the defensive end, but there is little doubting his offensive ability. If he can stay healthy this season, Hickson is going to play a huge role, or at least be promising trade chip.

For the rest of the Cavaliers it was a night at the office. No player played more than 18 minutes(Daniel Gibson, Danny Green) and most importantly everyone got out of the game healthy.

Speaking of Green, I was impressed with what I saw from the rookie. The Cavaliers 2nd Round pick has shot to get into the rotation because he is pretty solid on both ends of the court.

Delonte West, however, did not play and will take a few days to handle some personal business. The absence is excused.

Full Box Score

Check out Rufus On Fire for a look at the game from a Bobcat perspective.