Just when a strand of chemistry was being made, the Diesel, Shaquille O'neal, gets injured. Instead of having Superman on the court, we will be having Clark Kent on the bench. What is this man!! In a recent game in which our Cleveland Cavaliers beat on the Boston Celtics, Shaq's thumb collided with an incoming celtic and badly stubbed it.
Now today it was confirmed that a successful surgery was completed; and that is great!! However, he'll be missing 8 weeks minimum. This leaves the wine and gold with no option but to play small. Now no one said this was bad, but no one said this could be good. We have no big to play with. At the start of the season, Cleveland had to all-star caliber bigs. Now we have none. Big Z is reportedly finishing up waivers to finalized free agent status. But teams are already making offers to get him. Though I have no doubt he will come back, anything can happen. Even if he does decide to return, he cannot play untill March 22 based on NBA regulations regarding free agency.
Back to the small ball talk. Projected lineups indicate that Anderson Varejao and Antawn Jamison will be made starters, in place of Shaq and J.J. Hickson who usually do. The usual James, Williams, and Anthony Parker control the frontcourt. While offense shouldn't be a problem with the utilization of this type of play, it will impact the way the team is used to playing defense. There is no longer an intimidating post presence in the paint. This will prove to be a true test for the wine and gold.
This transition will also serve as a chance for players to prove themselves as they may get more minutes than they are used to. Varejao, who always gets stater minutes will have to hold it down on the defensive end as well as being more assertive on the offensive. The seven rebounds per night he puts up may have to go up... alot. Same goes for J.J. Hickson. In particular, if these guys do what needs to be done, we'll be allright.
Jamison's numbers are about to SKYROCKET!!! I believe we will see the reason his aquisition with the team WILL bring us a championship. Any thoughts on what you think will happen in shaq's absence? Or how this affects the team? Shoot!!
I guess it could be worse; it could have happened later so that he would miss the playoffs. This team should still manage to hold on to home-court advantage without Shaq, I think, and when he does return--should there be no issues of chemistry--the team should be rarin' to go.
ReplyDeleteHickson stepped up the other night, hey?
Great linking!
Of course, health is a tricky thing. Another injury or a delayed recovery time could really much things up for the Cavs.
it will probably next season, but i cant wait for the Cavs to be completely 100%. if they do they will get a ring.
ReplyDelete