Nope, No “Glue Guys” Here!

…At least per Empty the Bench.  But not that I can disagree with their assessment, based on their own criteria. 

Enrico over at The 700 Level led me to the original post, as the Sixers have Samuel Dalembert holding things together over in Philly.  The typical cast of “role players” also got the nod, including (but not limited to) Bruce Bowen and Shane Battier.  No big surprises there. 

However, my first reaction, after reading the list of players, was “wait, no Zydrunas Ilgauskas?”  He’s been through everything with this team.  If Big Z misses a game, it just seems like a different squad out there.  And then I decided to check out the criteria from which these judgements were based.  And the main snag was likely this one:

First, players who are among their team’s top two scorers were not considered. Those are the team’s stars.

And there you have it.  Our veteran big man, who has not only managed to hold himself together for years, but endure a team that has seen a ton of ups (the LeBron era) and downs (the Ricky Davis era), is not considered a “glue man” simply because he’s the second leading scorer on this team with 13.8 points per game.  On the basis of the list, I definitely cannot argue against this.  It’s just a sad, but true, case of other role players on the team. 

Others that received consideration were Anderson Varejao and Devin Brown – both in the single-digits in terms of scoring.  Perhaps there is more to being a “glue guy” than scoring?  But in ETB’s defense, they needed to base this off of something.  Larry Hughes may have actually been considered for this?  While he was in Cleveland, Hughes averaged 12.3 points per contest.  Would the fact that the entire city wanted him out of here negatively impact his ‘good’ standing? 

If I could argue anyone else for some mention, it would be Daniel Gibson.  Though he has missed a large chunk of games due to an injured ankle, Gibson is adored by fans, is not in the top two in terms of scoring, and is at least alright defensively.  Perhaps he was considered a three-point specialist, so was nixed from the list.  If anything he is a lock for “unsung hero” after his performance in last season’s playoffs. 

But if anything, this may be a testament to the lack of cohesiveness (at least perceived) withing the Cavaliers.  Again, this may be expected after an 11-player trade, but could also wind up being the bane of the team’s existence.

Quiet Heroics: The NBA’s Best Glue Players [Empty the Bench]

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