While it is easy to think
trading Anderson Varejao away for some young players or draft picks is smart,
it’s the farthest thing from being smart. Right now, Anderson Varejao is
arguably the best center in the East, since Andrew Bynum is out. He’s the
top rebounder, shooting sixty percent, and in second place for assists by a
center. On top of all of this, he’s a veteran at thirty years old; one
that is playing the best basketball of his career. He’s seen it all now:
conference finals, playoff series, rivalries, the bench, a starting spot, and
the sideline with injuries (While some people say his injury history might make
him worth trading, the cheapness of his contract makes it worth it to keep
him. Omer Asik is making more than him at this point. If Andy gets
injured, I just think of him as adequately paid rather than underpaid.).
Yes, having seen so many
things and playing at an insane level right now make him a great trade piece for
draft picks or prospects (his contract with a team option of under ten million
in 2014 also makes him very tradable), but this also makes him the perfect
mentor and leader for the new Cavs. Every year watching the NBA, I always
hear something about a young team needing a veteran to guide them. The
veteran for the Thunder was Derek Fisher. For the Clippers, it is
Chauncey Billups. There’s a long list of veterans who are signed to guide
young blossoming teams. None of them are in their primes though.
Rarely, can they make active contributions to their teams on the court, aside
from making sure a diving player lands on a warm bench seat.
Varejao is at his peak
though, which makes him the best veteran possible for a team of very young
players. He is able to actually show the team how to act and how to play,
rather than say, “look what I’ve done in my career.” Varejao also has the
advantage of not being a guy who is psychically gifted or insanely
talented. No player on the Cavs can ever say, “well, Varejao just has
more tools than I do.” Varejao is pure hustle mixed with intelligence
learned over the years. He puts all of himself, plus that afro, on the line
every night trying to get wins for us. He also offers the bonus of being a
defense first player. Young teams always struggle on defense, so he is
going to help the Cavs figure out how to play defense. At the very worst, he’ll
teach/show them how to annoy the hell out of the other team while getting lots
of second possessions to mess up. He’s infectious because he tries so
hard players feel guilty if they don’t put some effort in on both ends.
There are other angles to
defend not trading Varejao.
The Cavs have tons of
picks over the next two years to fill out the team with young players, and we
have the money to sign some legitimate free agents this summer. If we
sign a defensive minded three point shooter or draft a decent three point shooter
along with a good shot blocker (hopefully, Thompson just becomes this), I think
we have a contending team with Kyrie leading the way. Varejao is going to
be an integral part of a contending team if we trade him away, so why not keep
him as an integral part of our contending team, since he is used to playing
with Kyrie already?
Speaking of Kyrie, he runs
the pick and roll to perfection with the wild thang (all the announcers of the
away teams say we’re the best pick and roll team, now imagine if we draft
shooters to kick out to for open threes?). Just looking at the situation
with Irving in mind, we should keep Varejao at least another year to train
Tyler Zeller on the craft of the pick and roll and how to make other teams hate
you because of second chance possessions.
Finally, Varejao is a fan
favorite. We lost Lebron, Z retired, and Wrong Rim Ricky is gone, so give the fans Varejao. How many times can someone look forward to going out to a game and
getting a wig (www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/wiggy_weekend_081204.html)?
If the Cavs find a younger player that is going to let them do this, they should get rid
of the wild thang.
No comments:
Post a Comment