Some Sad Business and Cavs’ Draft Review

First, let me send my love to Farrah Fawcett and her loved ones. Her popularity was before my time, but everything I saw and heard about her suggests she was a strong and beautiful woman. May she rest in peace.

Second, I want to take a second to celebrate the body of work of Michael Jackson and give my condolences to those who were close to him. He was the first concert I ever went to; my parents bought me tickets for my birthday in 2^nd grade. I am not a MJ apologist, if he did what he is alleged to have done (I suspect there is at least some truth to it), taking the innocence of child is an inexcusable act that he will have to answer for at some level. But despite his personal and legal problems later in his life, he was an icon for an entire generation. The music he made will endure for a long time, and its impact on pop music is still felt today (in the good pop music anyway). At the height of his popularity, his international tours probably did more for American diplomacy than most diplomats do. I hope he can find the peace in death that he couldn't, from the public's perspective, seem to find in life.

Ok, enough of the sadness, now on to happier topics. The first of which is that I did my first dry run with my standup for Ben and Kyle (after a few beers for all of us to lower anxiety). They both said they were quite impressed, and they helped me refine some of the jokes that I was still unsure on. Hoping to do a bigger (and maybe longer) practice run soon, so I will be in touch with those who were interested. I put my name in to do open mic at Sidesplitters, but I have not heard anything yet. If you hear of other opportunities, let me know.

So I promised not to post about the Cavs unless they made a major move. Well, they made about the biggest one they could make, both literally and figuratively. Here is the things I like about getting Shaq. Shaq is a huge presence, both on the court and in the locker room. While he is certainly not the player he used to be, his presence on the court will take some of the scoring load off of LeBron. Shaq is still more powerful than most guys in the league and often commands a double team. Which would allow him to pass back out to LeBron, who will now have the defense scrambling to catch up with him, not a good situation against the freight train that is King James. And you know with his court vision, LeBron will find Shaq for some wide open dunks. I think his presence in the locker room will take some pressure off LeBron to be the guy who always has to answer tough questions after the game and will help everyone relax a little bit more with another big and funny personality around. Also, this move costs the Cavs almost nothing. They gave up Ben Wallace, who was certainly on his last legs and may retire, and Sasha Pavlovic, whose athleticism I have always liked but had little to no role on this team. We are already stacked with small, athletic guards. Also, it doesn’t take away any of our flexibility in the all-important summer of 2010 when we can sign a free agent to help Lebron’s decision to stay (Chris Bosh, anyone?).

So what don’t I like about the trade? I think we need to stay cautiously optimistic. Shaq is 37 years old and has been carrying 300+ lbs for a long time. There is no way to know how his body will hold up this season. But he is as motivated as ever to get another ring before Kobe and show that he deserves one last big contract. He will be given days off throughout the season to keep him playoff fresh. Remember this team won 66 games in the regular season without Shaq. This move is meant to help with the matchups and slow-down offense of the playoffs. It remains to be seen how this will affect the defense and chemistry, but those are two things that the Cavs have hung their hat on for the past few years, so I suspect they can work it out. If nothing else, I guarantee they will be fun to watch.

Finally, the draft. The Cavs “shocked” a lot of people by taking a young kid from Congo, but it was a pretty standard move. They didn’t feel anyone was worth paying at that pick, so they saved some money, and got a potential guy they can stash overseas. Odds are he won’t ever play in a Cavs uni, but you never know. More importantly, this signaled to me the Cavs are saying, “we are playing for a championship this year, and we aren’t going to have 30^th pick rookies contributing significant minutes.” They did pick up Danny Green from UNC later (why must you continue to force me to root for Tar Heels, universe!!!), and he may get some minutes as a perimeter defender, but that would be a bonus at this point. It shows the Cavs have, or at least think they have, some more moves to make to improve this team for a championship run. Those moves may or may not include: re-signing Anderson Vareajo, and/or signing Rasheed Wallace, Trevor Ariza (my personal choice), Matt Barnes, Charlie Villenueva, or Chris Anderson. Other players are options as well, but it should be interesting to watch. Go Cavs!