We’ll start off with the only team in the East that is still playing at this point in the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  After falling to the Detroit Pistons 0-2 in the Conference Finals a few weeks ago, the Cavs now find themselves in a similar predicament against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.  The main difference in the two aforementioned series is the fact that Cleveland was within a possession of winning the first two games against Detroit, but has been absolutely embarrassed in San Antonio.  The striking similarity is that all four losses have been on the road and that the Cavs will look to bring the series home in grand fashion with a win at home.

LeBron James was the storybook hero in the Pistons series with performances for the ages.  Since then, he has come back down to earth with a thud – but still hasn’t been terrible.  After putting up 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists a game against the Pistons, the Spurs have laid the defense on James to a new level as his averages of 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.  While these numbers may not look too, too bad on the outside, couple the fact that his three turnovers a game against Detroit is now a six (SIX!) turnovers a game against the Spurs, and you can easily see who the better defensive team is.

Thankfully, not all is gloom and doom for the Cavs, as they’ve been able to make Daniel “Boobie” Gibson a household name over the past few weeks.  While his nickname definitely helps matters, his contributions to the Cavaliers are what have launched him into the limelight.  His minutes have doubled from the first two rounds of the playoffs, while his scoring has tripled.  After putting up 14 points a game against Detroit, Gibson has kept it going in the Finals with 15.5 a night, with two long-balls thrown in for good measure.  While this performance screams “future reach” by fantasy owners, the current production can’t be overlooked.

The counterpoint to Gibson’s successes has been the simply awful play of Larry Hughes.  Hughes is an abysmal 1-10 for the series, though clogging up over 40 minutes of total playing time.  His foot is clearly not 100%, and the speed of the Spurs is simply too much for Hughes to deal with.  Recent media barrages have led coach Mike Brown to step to Hughes’ defense, but it seems like it can only be a matter of time before the guard’s minutes are split between Gibson and Eric Snow.

Other News and Notes

The big news that doesn’t actually have to do with current on-court hoops is that Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas has gone public with his news of possibly opting out of his contract and becoming a free agent after this season is said and done.  Given this fact, there’s no doubt that “Agent Zero” will be playing out of his mind this season and is worth a top-five pick.  While he’s no stranger to the rough shooting nights, his ability to contribute from long-range as well as his dime-dropping will make him a top option in every league.  Fantasy owners have come to love contract years by players like Mike James, Mo Williams and Rashard Lewis.  Just imagine what this motivation will do to someone with the psychological makeup of Arenas.

Phoenix Suns forward Shawn Marion has seen his name appear in the news an awful lot lately as well.  While he’s in the West, recent coverage is stating that this may not be the fact much longer.  The Matrix has been reported to possibly be playing next season in either Boston, Orlando or Detroit.  While the three aforementioned teams are simply rumors, it’s clear that the Suns would send him to the East if he’s not playing in a Phoenix jersey next season.

The Boston Celtics rumors seem to be the strongest, as it’s been reported that he could be sent to Boston for their fifth overall pick this season, along with washed-up center Theo Ratliff (with contract) and tweener guard Delonte West.  Given that Marion is to cash in on about $34 million over the next two seasons, taking on Ratliff’s $12 million of cap relief after next season seems to make a ton of sense.  Throw in the fact that they could wind up with a stud forward with the fifth selection (don’t forget, Dwyane Wade was drafted fifth…but so was Nikoloz Tskitishvili) and the Suns would not miss Marion as much as it looks on the stat sheets. 

The Orlando rumors for Grant Hill and Detroit for Rasheed Wallace do not seem to hold as much ground, but only time will tell.

Speaking of Detroit, despite getting bumped from the Conference Finals for the second season in a row, Joe Dumars and company have gone public with the fact that they will not be blowing up the team.  Coach Flip Saunders will remain on the sidelines, and first priority will be to re-sign guard Chauncey Billups.  Billups struggled at times in the playoffs, but has been clutch enough in the past that the Pistons have little choice but to bring him back, especially when you consider other possible options to run the ball for Detroit.  Antonio McDyess and Chris Webber will then remain as the other possible re-signings, but given their age and the whole “salary cap” thing, it will remain to be seen if either or both of the big men are back in Detroit next season.

The final two notes are also trade scenarios that would involve the Portland Trailblazers, but similar to the Marion scenarios, involving Eastern Conference partners.  With the first pick in the draft, there’s little doubting that the ‘Blazers are looking to draft Ohio State big man Greg Oden.  Given that they drafted LaMarcus Aldridge last season, the efforts have been to move forward Zach Randolph and his 20 points/10 rebounds a game to a willing and able recipient.  While the Oregonian reports that Portland could move Randolph to the New Jersey Nets for swingman Richard Jefferson, the Atlanta Hawks have kept themselves in the news thanks to that third overall draft pick and Oden’s preference to play with guard Mike Conley, Jr.  Conley would take a high draft pick to acquire as well given the fact that he’s the consensus top point guard in the draft, and the third pick would seal the deal.

Other names that have been rumored in the Randolph deals have been guard Jarrett Jack as well as Josh Smith and his three rejections a game.  Regardless, Randolph would be huge in the East.  If you can stomach your power forward not blocking a ton of shots, Z-Bo in the East would be a nice bump in his scoring and rebounding.  Don’t forget that Randolph also shot 82% from the line last season, which is a huge plus for a big man.  Pairing him with Jason Kidd in New Jersey would be even better, as it could be the first time that Randolph would have a fellow All-Star to play by his side. 

We’ll check back in a couple of weeks, as the Finals will more than likely be long in the rear view mirror and some possible trade scenarios will become more clear.  Until then…

Have a question or comment for Scott? Email him at scottsargent@sportsgrumblings.com.