Server Strikes Back
July 29, 2008Training Camp: A Photographical Recap
July 29, 2008Going into the most recent NBA Draft, it could be argued that Danny Ferry needed to draft a guy that would be considered more “NBA Ready,” as opposed to banking on pure upside. When we left the night with J.J. Hickson in tow, many people were left scratching their heads which lead to many posts in a don’t-jump-off-of-the-ledge fashion.
After a superb summer league, that actually found him listed as the top power forward on SI, the fact that I now read this news has me admittedly perplexed.
“Cleveland Cavaliers first-round draft pick J.J. Hickson had a solid performance at the NBA Summer League that just wrapped up in Las Vegas. Erie fans can expect to catch Hickson, 19, this season as a member of the Bayhawks, the new NBA D-League team.”
If this is the case, does this change your perception of the draft? If so, I would completely understand. Many fans feel that we have a deadline of sorts to have a banner hung from our rafters. To draft a guy that not only did well this summer, but will now go play at our newly acquired D-League franchise just seems silly.
If anyone is happy about this news, it’s Anderson “Contract Year” Varejao. With Drew Gooden long gone, and a pair of 40-year olds ahead of him, he’ll have that much more space to whip out the occasional running 360 layup.
What I do know is that I’ll be mightily irked if this is all a ploy to bolster our D-League team by putting NBA-caliber players at the development level. Of course, as hinted by Matt Moore, it could just be lofty expectations from a new team that we do not even have sole rights to. Needless to say, this will be a interesting roster move one way or the other. To be continued…
(Imperial Dortmunders to Ridiculous Upside)
12 Comments
okay, i can see a second rounder being put in the d-league, but shouldn’t we give this first round kid a chance with the cavs before we send him down? i mean, the guy lit up vegas. i know i know, its vegas league. but at least he didn’t suck. give him a chance to contribute. i’m not saying put him in as a starter from the get go, but at least let him come in when a few games get out of hand (in our favor) to grab some boards and seal the deal. or even on those common nights where Z, Ben, and Andy tend to get in serious foul trouble. the farm system works in the MLB, not in the NBA. VERY FEW players from the d-league end up improving enough to establish good careers in the NBA.
Don’t worry if the D-league doesn’t pan out for him he can always join the AND 1 mixtape tour…
The other thing to keep in mind here is if the Cavs are smart, they’ll put Hickson on the same pattern the Suns put Alando Tucker on. Tucker spent three weeks with the Thunderbirds, then two weeks with the Suns, then three weeks with the Thurnderbirds, and so on. By balancing them, it got him playing time which kept him fresh and gave him floor time, and allowed him to work out with the team, which gave him bonding experience. With their depth in the frontcourt (pending Varejao), the Cavs could do this, and it might have some good results, especially when one of the frontcourt inevitably goes down with injury, there won’t be as much game rust on Hickson.
True, very few first rounders get sent down to the D-League, but it’s also true that very few first rounders get significant playing time. Would we rather have Hickson sit on the bench at the NBA level or play at the D-League level? It’s a fair debate. I’d be willing to bet (if it’s even true that he’s going to start out in D-League) that Hickson doesn’t spend a whole season there….he’ll see some NBA time this season.
i dont like this at all. i have never heard of a first rounder going straight to the D-League. maybe like a 30th or 29th pick, but not a 19th. Z, Ben, and Joe aren’t getting younger or faster, so we need him to get some NBA experience. Getting experience in the D-League is nothing to what he could learn from playing little time in the pros. I dont like this, and dont think its a smart move.
This article makes it sound like he will be with the Cavs this season, but it doesn’t come out and say it directly.
I choose to read between the lines and assume that Hickson will be with the Cavs in Cleveland.
http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/07/summer_camp_fun_hicksons_perfo.html
With those kind of numbers I can’t imagine he’ll be in the D-league for long, its probably the best move however since we have 4 big guys on the roster right now and he’d just spend alot of time on the bench. If he keeps putting up numbers like that in the D-league he’ll get his shot. Especially since the Cavs are probably looking for any reason to cut AV’s playing time to hurt his chances of getting that sweet free agency contract next summer.
I think the move is more about roster space than anything right now so I can understand it. However with the age of our big guys someone is going to be injured at some point and we’ll get to see J.J. in action.
Hoy
I emailed Terry Pluto wondering if he could check into this. He wrote back to me and said the following.
“this is news to danny ferry, who hopes jj can be in rotation off the bench.”
Terry Pluto is the best.
Nice Craig.
Hoy,
We need to give Andy his min so he can show people how he spent all winter learning how to jump.* That way we can get something back for him in a trade during the season.
~Adam
*I made that up
He needs to play, that is the problem…Sitting at the end of the bench behind our four bigs is not going to do him any good. I don’t think this is a bad thing…
I could see why they’d send him down (like, when an MLB team sends a fringe guy down to “play everyday” instead of “being a utility guy on the bench in the Show”), but if the point is to have him be a valuable part of the rotation, wouldn’t you want the guy spending as much time as possible playing with the best player on the planet? He’s not going to get the kind of experience needed to play with LBJ down in the D-league, because no one down there is going to get him the ball in the spots that LBJ is.
In short, I’m waffling, and can see both sides of the argument. I just literally found this site for the first time today and wanted to jump in with both feet.
Hollinger on ESPN.com projected him as an early D-leaguer (full disclosure: I love Hollinger’s stuff), so I buy it. Kid is super-raw…I still don’t like the pick, at least not over Darrell Arthur, even w/ the Vegas performance. Remember, someone named Marco Bellinelli was the best player in Vegas last year.