New acquisition Hollins hopes to flourish in Cavs' new up-tempo style, and help offset the departures of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal.
Ryan Hollins at a Cavaliers press conference after Cleveland acquired him in an offseason trade.Cleveland, Ohio -- Zydrunas Ilgauskas is gone from the Cleveland Cavaliers after being with them for 14 years.
Shaquille O'Neal has left after one season with the team.
The departure of the two seven-footers has created an opportunity for other big men, such as Ryan Hollins, who was acquired by Cleveland with point guard Ramon Sessions in a three-team offseason trade.
Joe Gabriele writes about Hollins for nba.com/cavaliers:
When Hollins was introduced to the media upon his arrival this past June, GM Chris Grant and Coach Byron Scott said he’s a big man who’s ready to run. Hollins couldn’t agree more.
“Coach already has a system that he wants to play, and I’m definitely blessed to be a part of it and kind of fit that mold,” beamed the Cavs new big. “He’s not going to say, ‘Let’s walk the ball up the floor.’ He’s saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s run. Let’s get into pick-and-rolls.’ And that’s definitely the strong part of my game. When it’s time to execute (in the halfcourt), let’s execute. But definitely knowing that the first push is to run is going to be huge.”
Keep track of the Cavaliers in The Plain Dealer and on cleveland.com/cavs. The Cavaliers begin training camp practices next Tuesday.
JW returns
Forward Jawad Williams, who played high school basketball at St. Edward in Lakewood and played the last two seasons with the Cavaliers, has signed a one-year contract to stay in Cleveland.
Bob Finnan writes for the News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal:
Williams, 27, will likely compete with Jamario Moon and newcomer Joey Graham for the starting job at small forward. That position was left vacant when two-time MVP LeBron James signed with Miami in free agency.
There's an outside chance veteran Antawn Jamison could also start at small forward, but some think he would struggle on the defensive end trying to cover smaller, quicker forwards.
Youth movement
Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant is among the NBA's young executives, and several current or former Cavs coaches/executives come from the San Antonio Spurs "tree."
J. Michael Falgoust writes about front office trends for USAToday.com.
Back then
Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! is in the midst of an A-through-Z series of NBA-related features for Yahoo! Sports.
For Dwyer, "G" is for "Gerald," as in Gerald Wilkins, who played for the Cavaliers from 1992-94 -- though he is better known for his stay with the New York Knicks. Wilkins is the brother of former NBA great Dominique Wilkins, and the father of
Dwyer writes:
But because he was the most 1989 player ever - and not the most 1998 player, or 1984 player ever - Dougie's a little looked over. One of the first supposed "Jordan stoppers," the Cavaliers signed him before 1992-93 only to have Jordan nail a game-winner over Wilkins in Game 4 of the 1993 Conference semis. Everything about Michael Jordan has been done to death, in myriad formats by now; but this clip isn't even available on YouTube in non-videogame form.
The whole package, though? The hair and the Doug E. Fresh and the bicycle shorts and the Pitino-era Knicks association and that Jordan shot and the dunk contests and the Grizzlies and post-Shaquille Magic ... and the brotherhood? That's a collection worth remembering.