Say It Ain't So Andy

Now you talk to anyone that knows me, I was one of the most critical people when it came to the contract discussions with the Cavaliers and Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao. I saw this as another potential Damon Jones...spending too much money on someone that has done some decent/good things, but isn't a cornerstone. I could throw Larry Hughes into that mix too, but I drank that kool-aid when we signed him, and I'll be happy to make the first batch if he actually can stay on the friggin' floor.

But I digress. When I stumbled on to an RSS feed before the home opener that said we signed Sasha, I thought we made a panic move because of our pitiful preseason. We just threw cash at him to come back. But then I saw the deal, 3 years for $11 million and some incentives and I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought Anderson was worth a bit more than that, but I also thought it would make him come around. It's hard to be on an island all alone like that.

But the days kept going by, the season began, and aside from Lebron James playing out of his mind (and hopefully saving something for March and beyond in 2008), we've looked pretty terrible. Does anyone think its a coincidence that we are giving up 102.7 points a game and we've given up 100 points 9 times in 14 games with Anderson soaking up the sun in Brazil? Last year we gave up 93.5 points per game over the same time period. It was January 19th before we had given up our 9th 100 point game last year and we gave up 18 all season. At the pace we are one, we are going to give up 52 100 point games defensively. Now I understand that Hughes being out hurts, but it doesn't hurt that much!



Then I got mad at Anderson, thinking he wasn't right to be demanding so much money. And then reading this little diddy by Terry Pluto just made me even more mad. After reading that, I started thinking, who does this Anderson Varejao think he is? We made him a fan sensation in Cleveland, he became the quintessential "Wild Thing" we had searched for on the baseball field for so long, and now he thinks he's to good to play with LeBron? I was with Terry Pluto the whole way...until Chad Ford from espn.com made me set down another glass of kool-aid.



Read this article that is on Cleveland.com attached to the Associated Press about Anderson's recent requests for a sign and trade. If I had read that first, I'd be furious. Anderson demanding a $60 million contract? Spurning Danny Ferry who would go to his home in Brazil to show his support for him? And how could you say you love the fans but no longer want to play here? Now, read this article from Chad Ford, the one that was chopped up for the Associated Press article. Now the real picture is starting to come clear. And in reality, I think if I was Anderson I'd probably be angry and frustrated as well. Lets look at a few things:

• The Cavs low-balled him out of the gate with the $1.2 million qualifying offer to keep his rights.
• They followed that up with a $4 million a year option which was "fair" yet they weren't afraid to raise up to almost $6.5 million a year later in negotiations.
• A team (The Grizzlies) is ready to make him an offer and the Cavs big-time them into backing down. If the Grizzlies offer $9-10 million a year, has Anderson been playing this entire season so far? The Grizz went on to sign un-restricted free agent, Darko Milicic.
  
• Ferry shows up unannounced at his home in Brazil with a contract in hand? Thats not only presumptious, it's boderline illegal according to NBA rules and disrespectful to Anderson and his agent.
• LeBron doesn't like the fact that Anderson isn't there. It's not dependent on how good Anderson is, it just shows LeBron that the Cavs aren't committed to surrounding him with anyone and thats not really the message you want to send him.
• My favorite stat: "His adjusted plus-minus numbers last season said he was the 22nd-best player in the league"...do we even want to know where Hughes, Sasha and Damon Jones fall on that list?

The other thing this says to me, is I can't trust the Plain Dealer any farther than I can throw Ted Washington. I have to wait for the World Wide Leader (who's done a despicable job covering the Sean Taylor tragedy by the way) to put out a story before I hear about this? AND then, it's not even the full story, but the slanted version to put the Cavs in the best light possible. Look I understand you do your best to keep the big boys happy and your reporters in the locker room, but step it up a little bit PD before more incidents of choice reporting become evident.

I sincerely hope this gets worked out and Anderson does decide to stay and realize, hey I do have LeBron, and Z who's giving all he's got left in the tank and young upstart guys in Sasha and Gibson, and who knows, maybe even a healthy Larry Hughes for a quarter or two. But I hope they show him the money, because to see Wild Thing in a Cavs uniform again, it's gonna take $8.5-10 million a year now. And if you ask me, I think that might money well spent.



UPDATE:

Anderson Varejao has agreed to a 3-year offer sheet with the Charlotte Bobcats reportedly worth $17.4 million. For the full story, click here. The Cavaliers have one week to match the deal, or lose Varejao.