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Photo: ESPN.com
Leon Powe may be out of action until February, but the Cavaliers are concerned about battles past that date. That's the main motivation behind the Cavaliers giving PF Leon Powe a 2-year deal at about $1.77 million, which includes a team option for the second year.
Powe, who is on his 3rd ACL injury and 4th knee operation overall, was a key bench contributor in the Celtics' championship season two years ago. He also performed well with increased minutes in the absence of Kevin Garnett before getting injured himself just two games into this season's playoffs.
In the regular season, Powe played in 70 games (7 starts) and averaged 7.7 points, 4.9 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per contest. Powe has the ability to put up 15 points in a game with his interior scoring, but he is not an outside shooter or more than an average foul shooter at best (71% career). In other words, this signing doesn't fix the team's need for a "stretch four", but it does provide them with a solid contributor off the bench who can provide some scoring and rebounding if Powe can return to action this year.
Although Leon Powe is listed at just 6'8", he plays bigger than that. He has 240 pounds on that frame and doesn't appear to have trouble defending the bigger power forwards in the association. His rebounding numbers are solid, and if anyone can remember Leon Powe's performance against the Cavaliers this year where he scored 20 points and snagged 11 rebounds in 26 minutes, you know what I'm talking about.
With Powe out for the first half and J.J. Hickson's back an uncertainty, Brian Windhorst reports that the team may still pursue signing either Joe Smith or Rob Kurz. I'm glad that this may be the case, because both would be solid contingency plans in case one of the two mentioned above cannot return. However, I feel that neither would demand playing time if the team is at 100 percent.
Here is how I see the roster (as of right now) in February when Powe returns.
PG - Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson
SG - Delonte West, Anthony Parker, Danny Green
SF - LeBron James, Jamario Moon, Jawad Williams
PF - Anderson Varejao, Leon Powe, J.J. Hickson, Darnell Jackson
C - Shaquille O'Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
In my opinion, when healthy, the Cavaliers now have THE best bench in the entire league. With three guys who were starters last season (Parker, Moon, Z) and the solid track record of Powe, the bench is poised to be very good. In addition, if Daniel Gibson can rebound from his poor performance last year, the bench could truly be a force to be reckoned with.
Kirk
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