Bron's Team

[alby]

Cavs Resign Big Z

CLEVELAND -- Days after the Cleveland Cavaliers made waves with a marquee free-agent signing, Zydrunas Ilgauskas has elected to remain with the club.


Ilgauskas


Ilgauskas agreed in principle to a five-year deal on Monday, his agent, Herb Rudoy, told ESPN Insider Chad Ford.

According to Rudoy, Ilgauskas's contract is worth between $55 and $60 million.

The agreement comes three days after the Cavaliers agreed to terms with guard Larry Hughes, one of the top prizes on the free-agent market after a stellar season with the Washington Wizards.

Hughes' six-year deal is worth between $65-$70 million. Based on those numbers and a projected $49.5 million cap, the Cavs still could have as much as $6 million left under the cap to sign more free agents.

According to a source inside the Cavs, the team has several other targets including Lithuanian point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and Heat power forward Udonis Haslem.

The 30-year-old Ilgauskas, who has played all seven of his seasons with Cleveland, averaged 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds in 78 games last season. He led the NBA with 299 offensive rebounds, ranked sixth with 165 blocks and was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the second time in three years.

After suffering through myriad foot injuries early in his career, the 7-3, 260-pounder has been a constant presence in the middle for the Cavaliers. Ilgauskas has missed just six games over the last three seasons and has increased his minutes in each campaign.

In 413 career games, the Lithuania native has averaged 14.9 points and 7.7 rebounds.

---

Big Z
Gooden
Lebron
Hughes
Snow??

Not bad.. middle of the pack, nothing special..

[mavsman55]

If they can find a decent replacement for Gooden, or at least a solid backup I think they are at least making it to the playoffs this year. One reason they did so poorly this year, IMO, is the inconsistency of players like Jeff McInnis. They need to get rid of that Newble guy too... he's terrible.

Snow can run the point quite well. You don't have to be able to shoot 3's to be effective (Andre Miller, Brevin Knight, etc.) He has good ball-handling skills and is very strong for a guard. With a role-player like snow running the point and LeBron, Larry and Zydrunas picking up most of the scoring load, I think this team's not going to be half-bad next year.

[alby]

cleveland was in the top 4 in the east until a meltdown towards the end of the season.. don't know why, but they had a good team until late.. then silas got fired and it all went downhill

so playoffs for them imo is a given, middle of the pack i was meaning fighting for home court