Early this morning, the Cavs acquired a Darko of their own without having to waste the #2 pick in the draft.
Just a few hours before the draft, the Cavaliers traded Jiri "the other flop" Welsch and cash to the Bucks (former home of Michael Redd) for a 06 second-round pick. Then an hour after the draft finished up, Ferry & Co sent the newly acquired 06 pick to the Magic for 7'2'' center Martynas Andriuskevicius (44th pick overall).
While I don't know really anything about this massive Lithuanian, I can only tell you he is 19 and has been tutored by Lithuania basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis for several years (trust me he is quite the teacher). Also, he entered last year's draft but pulled out.
So once again we give up our future draft picks but we do get to
throw Jiri's $2.1m salary in to the pot to give the Cavs a total of
almost $28 million to spend in the market when the free-agent period
begins on Friday.
Finally, in response to a comment in the last post, I think the move to acquire
a Lithuanian was smart given we have no idea if Z will resign and more importantly no center under contract.
5 comments:
I think this was a great move. First, he has "tremendous upside." He was slated to be a first-round pick. Now the kid needs more playing time. But it can happen in Europe. We won't have to pay right now. So we invest in a player, let him develop, bring him over here, and let him grow more. Wow- sounds like my former favorite player, Danny Ferry, has brought the Spurs model here already. Well done.
Now just sign Jesus Shuttlesworth, pair him with God LeBron, resign Z, and bring in Antonio Daniels. That will be an offseason.
doesn't this giving up of future draft picks make you guys a bit nervous? and will $28M be enough to bring over michael redd?
I don't like giving up draft picks at all. But we didn't have one this year. And second round picks are easy to acquire. The most important thing for us is cap room, so we can sign free agents.
Yes, $28 million is plenty to sign Redd or Jesus. The max contract will be around $10 mil per year. That means we can give max to either one. We can then max out Z if we want (I think it is pretty stupid to give him the max length, though. Maybe 4 years at the max rate). That leaves us with $$ for a power forward and a PG. If Z doesn't sign, then we can go after Dalembert or another young athletic center.
I don't care who we sign, provided that LBJ has a say.
Love Ferry's first moves as GM. Get rid of dead weight at SG and clear some cap space. Then set the stage to finally part with Diop. So the new Lithuanian is young and skinny, but why not let Z finish what Sabonis started while Z still has the legs? He only has to fill Diop's massive 3 minutes per game off the bench. Let the kid get knocked around a few minutes a night while Z schools him in practice. You gotta think that Ferry is doing everything he can to get Z to stay. Bring Sarunas Jas-whatever here and you could rename ourselves the Lituanian LeBrons.
Perhaps its possible Jiri Welsch will be a better player in Milwaukee than he showed in Cleveland. He certainly never lived up to expectations when Cavs traded a #1 pick to Celtics for him. Besides I'll take a seasoned NBA vet for a low 2nd round pick anyday of the week. What do you think of Buck's getting Redd & Simmons? I'd say that with all the moves by Larry Harris that Milwaukee should be fighting for a home court playoff spot. We will be young but I'd say we have more talent on this team since 80's teams of Moncreif and Cummings.
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