Ever since Shaquille O’Neal went down with his thumb injury, the Cleveland Cavaliers have basically been playing without a center. They’ve been starting J.J. Hickson at the position, although Anderson Varajao has been getting the bulk of the minutes there.
How has the team responded? Well, they’ve won nine of their last ten games, and continue to have the best record in the league at 56-15. They lead the Lakers by three games for home court advantage throughout the playoffs, and have a 6-1/2 game bulge over Orlando for best record in the Eastern Conference.
They’ve responded very well, thank you.
When the team takes the court tonight for Game 72 against New Orleans, they will have a legitimate NBA center on the roster. Yes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is back with the Cavaliers, thus completing the Antawn Jamison transaction.
In essence, GM Danny Ferry picked up Jamison for nothing, and added injured point guard Sebastian Telfair in the transaction as well. Thank owner Dan Gilbert’s deep pockets for this one.
Mike Brown did a great job of changing on the fly, going from a team with perhaps the ultimate low post presence in O’Neal to a team who ran a little more and spread the floor in the absence of a dependable scorer inside.
Still, defensively, the wine and gold missed the size and length of Shaq and Ilgauskas, as teams frequently attacked the basket with more vigor than they would had the two seven footers been there.
Although Ilgauskas doesn’t move very well laterally, he still changes shots inside because he’s so tall. That’s been missing from the Cavs defense.
The big man’s return just adds to the depth that exists on the Cavaliers’ roster. They released Darnell Jackson to make room for Ilgauskas, and even he has shown he can contribute if need be. Now that Leon Powe is getting some minutes, Brown could play any of the 12 guys dressed on a given night, and not have to be nervous.
That’s very rare in the NBA these days.
We’ve said this before, but a lineup of Delonte West and Daniel Gibson at guard, Varajao at center, and Jamario Moon and Powe at forwards may not be a playoff team, but they wouldn’t be the New Jersey Nets either. It’s a very respectable lineup, and none of those guys start for the 2009-10 Cavaliers.
The coaching staff once again faces the challenge of fitting another body into the rotation. The good news is Brown should only have to do this one more time this season, and that will occur during the playoffs when O’Neal returns to the lineup. Hopefully, there won’t be too much of an adjustment or slippage in play.
The best thing about the depth on this roster is that it allows them to play different styles and still win consistently. You want to play an up and down game? The Cavs can do it and win. You want to pound the ball into the post? The Cavs have the bodies to defend this. You have a lot of size? So do the Cavs.
This team has enough quality role players, guys like Moon, Gibson, Powe, Jawad Williams, etc. that they can play effectively against any style.
Tonight, the Cavaliers take the court and have their veteran big man back and in uniform. The depth just keeps getting deeper. With eleven games remaining in the schedule, there is just one piece still missing for this team to make a run at a title.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 