LeBron James will play the PF Position next season

[QUOTE=gyu]He said he's like 260.

And for those Dwight-LeBron pics, in the first pic Dwight is clearly standing behind LeBron. Why not look at the team USA group pic where they are standing from tallest to shortest? Clearly Dwight is taller.

[IMG]http://www.onemanfastbreak.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/usa_basketball_team.jpg[/IMG]

Even if LeBron plays the PF I don't see him playing offense that much more differently than he does now.[/QUOTE]

PF would indicate more post play. in that picture though, bosh doesn't look too much shorter than dwight and i tried to go by foreheads. jason kidd almost looks as tall as d-wade there.

[QUOTE=Meticode]
I've been hoping we can get Matt Barnes for this. 6-7, 230LBS. Guy is athletic, great energy guy, can knock down open jumpers, run the floor well, and be pesky on defense while being able to guard the 2 and 3 spots on the floor.[/QUOTE]
We pretty much agree on everything, including this. I've always been a fan of Barnes and he really could be an important piece if the CV thing doesn't work. I've seen scenarios in which we get both CV and Barnes, but I don't see it happening. I don't think we can afford both.

Either we get CV to play alongside Shaq in the frontcourt or it will be Shaq and LeBron at the 5 and 4 and Barnes at the 3.

If we were somehow able to swing both CV and Barnes, I would be absolutely elated.

I agree with you about Varejao. His hustle and energy are important to have coming off of the bench and his ability to frustrate opponents is something that every team in the NBA wants in a role player. However, it has become increasingly obvious through his actions in the past three offseasons that Varejao has a much higher opinion of his worth than what is the reality.

If he can't accept the fact that he is an energy guy off of the bench and should be paid accordingly, I would tell him not to let the door hit him on the @ss on the way out. That isn't to say that we won't miss him, but the last thing that the organization wants to do is overpay for a guy that has such limited skills.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]Mike Brown has a track record of making suspect defenders into serviceable (or better) on that end of the floor (Mo, LeBron... he even had Drew Gooden playing pretty good defense in-between his brain farts).
[/QUOTE]

Well, CV played for a defensive coach last year, Scott Skiles, and his defense was still suspect. So he can't use the "We didn't put much emphasis on defense" excuse like Mo.

[QUOTE=Mikaiel]Well, CV played for a defensive coach last year, Scott Skiles, and his defense was still suspect. So he can't use the "We didn't put much emphasis on defense" excuse like Mo.[/QUOTE]

Even then, overall for a team Milwaukee wasn't that great defensively. A player's own effort on defense is greater when you have team mates that actually play good help defense.

[QUOTE=Mikaiel]Well, CV played for a defensive coach last year, Scott Skiles, and his defense was still suspect. So he can't use the "We didn't put much emphasis on defense" excuse like Mo.[/QUOTE]
But, at the same time, did anyone on the Bucks' team take defense seriously? It sure as hell didn't look like it the times that I watched them play.

It is a little different when you not only have a coach that is 100-percent committed to defense, but a team and, possibly most importantly, a superstar that expects nothing less than your best effort defensively.

I'm not saying that CV would become a top tier defender via osmosis, but I do think that he is athletic enough to be a serviceable defender and the Cavs, unlike the Bucks (even under Skiles), demand that from everyone.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]But, at the same time, did anyone on the Bucks' team take defense seriously? It sure as hell didn't look like it the times that I watched them play.

It is a little different when you not only have a coach that is 100-percent committed to defense, but a team and, possibly most importantly, a superstar that expects nothing less than your best effort defensively.

I'm not saying that CV would become a top tier defender via osmosis, but I do think that he is athletic enough to be a serviceable defender and the Cavs, unlike the Bucks (even under Skiles), demand that from everyone.[/QUOTE]

Well, in any case let's hope his tweets on Twitter are true and he wants to play for Cleveland. :D

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]But, at the same time, did anyone on the Bucks' team take defense seriously?[/QUOTE]

I don't know. All I know is that Skiles' teams always play good defense. His Bulls were always one of the top rated defensive teams, even before they got Ben Wallace. And this year, the Bucks went from worst defense in the league to 15th best. So I guess their coach takes defense seriously. But yeah, like you said, on this Cavs team, everyone is committed to defense, so it's probably not the same scenario.

We'll see what happens. I heard CV was the plan B. But unfortunately I don't know what plan A is, or how reliable that info is. Windhorst or Wine&Gold never talked about that.

[QUOTE=Mikaiel]We'll see what happens. I heard CV was the plan B. But unfortunately I don't know what plan A is, or how reliable that info is. Windhorst or Wine&Gold never talked about that.[/QUOTE]

Makes me wonder what plan A is too...

RedBlackAttack,

Your post was spot on.

People fail to see that your position on the starting roster does not limit you to only guarding that player of the same position on the other team. LeBron guarded other positions B4. It happens. Shawn Marion guarded players everywhere from 1-4.

For LeBron and the PF situation... [B][I]it would only be for certain stretches of games [/I][/B]and he would not be disadvantaged by the majority of PF's in the league. At the SF position LeBron just dominates anyone, and matches well on the Defensive end with basically every other SF in the league. At the PF position LeBron would have the advantage versus nearly every PF on the offensive end, but on the defensive end he could be exploited by a limited number of players.

Cleveland could have the luxury of playing matchups also, by playing LeBron at the 4 for portions of certain games. [B][I]Cleveland could have that luxury of TRUE versatility[/I][/B].

There are a lot of pending things with Cleveland and a lot hinges on their PF position. What Cleveland could do is resign Varejao and then sign a solid tall wing, and for stretches they could have LeBron be the PF who can stretch the offense, while having a Matt Barnes play SF, which could keep players 1-4 on the perimeter for Shaq, and LeBron can still drive.

David West, Dirk, Bosh, Rashard, KG, Pau, Lamarcus Aldridge, Amar'e, Rasheed, and a number more of PF's don't always play back to the basket, there really aren't to many true back to the basket big men anymore. LeBron is quicker than most, and he could be strong enough for all of them also. So for stretches, YES, LeBron could man the PF position. It would hinge on them having a solid back up Wing player.

Cleveland would have done this last year if Wally wasn't the player he was on defense. It would have been a horrible mismatch for Wally vs. any other SF, but Wally could at least lean his body into a posted up PF, or a PF who wasn't as quick as that teams SF.

Cleveland could resign Varejao and then sign a tall wing player, so they could have versatility, and then have Varejao be Center during Small Ball and then play PF when they need him to pester the another player.

LeBron could handle the 4 for stretches, and he DOES NOT have to be in the post on the offensive end.

I'd like for someone to name me a team who has their 4 and 5 primarily posted up on both blocks, and always down low on the offensive end? One team I can think of now Memphis, and we haven't seen it yet, but Memphis with Gasol and Thabeet since neither is considered a jump shooting big will have that problem with 2 big men crowding the paint, so we'll see how that turns out.

Like Meticode also said, I really want Matt Barnes, He's tall enough for the SF spot, and quick/a good enough shooter for the SG spot. He can also hit the spot-up 3's LeBron always gives. He's also a great rebounder and passer, and huge hustler. I hope the management sees this and makes in an offer. He's still underrated.

[QUOTE=Mikaiel]We'll see what happens. I heard CV was the plan B. But unfortunately I don't know what plan A is, or how reliable that info is. Windhorst or Wine&Gold never talked about that.[/QUOTE]

I think Plan A is to resign Varejao and then to sign the tall Wing Player, I'll use Matt Barnes as that's the player I think would work well for this hypothetical lineup.

I just don't believe the Cavs want to leak that part of the information for leverage purposes with AV. I agree that AV brings a lot of intangibles to the Cavs, but he isn't a player you want to pay a lot of money because he's not a starter, well not with the Centers that we have.

I think the Cavs want to resign AV and then grab the big Wing player (Barnes) so they could then run different lineups, thus having more versatility than they did last year....

When Shaq is in they would have LeBron play the 4 spot, and Barnes at the 3, which helps stretch the floor with Shaq, which everyone says is necessary. LeBron still plays on the wing, but with Shaq it keeps the opposing big man honest. LeBron could then get by the other PF with his speed, while leaving Mo, Delonte, and Barnes open for the outside jumper.

When Z is in the game, the Cavs could run with AV at the 4, LeBron at the 3, and Barnes at the 2, and Delonte or Mo at the 1, which having Delonte at the 1, would give them a good defensive unit at positions 1-4.

The Cavs last year, tried to play with different lineups thus creating versatility, but it was not that successful, I believe with resigning AV and signing a bigger Wing player, the Cavs would have tremendous versatility... LeBron could play Rashard, or whoever the Magic sign as their PF (assuming they don't bring back Hedo), and if the Magic resign Hedo, then LeBron and Barnes could stick Hedo and Rashard better than what Cleveland did this past year.

Against Boston, AV could pester KG, and LeBron could guard KG at times, while Barnes could handle Pierce during those stretches.

Also having Barnes, LeBron, Delonte and Mo, you have players that can handle the ball and create. Delonte and Mo will be better, with the added continuity and chemistry, and hopefully some added confidence.

What exactly Cleveland would do in a Charlie V. signing I'm not sure, because they would still need to sign a Wing player. They can't split the MLE for Charlie V. and a solid wing player. Maybe Grant Hill could be had for the BAE or Vet Min? Not sure if he'd be up for such a low salary.

I'm actually very keen to resigning AV to a reasonable contract, then adding Barnes with some of the MLE, and Cleveland now has some true versatility.

i dont think they mean he'll start so Pau he wont have to worry about pau. i think they're talking him playing pf in a small lineup like against orlando

Linas Kleiza would be great fit for Cavaliers

Dwight actually scored on Lebron quite easily when they were matched 1 on 1 on the post. Not gonna work.

this is a stupid idea. he's going to lose his explosiveness as a result of constantly being banged up in the post.