Tag Archives: Anderson Varejao

CAVS ACQUIRE CHANNING FRYE FROM ORLANDO MAGIC

Cavs Press Release Logo

AS PART OF TWO TRADES, CAVS SEND ANDERSON VAREJAO AND A PROTECTED FUTURE FIRST ROUND PICK TO TRAIL BLAZERS AND JARED CUNNINGHAM AND FUTURE SECOND ROUND PICK TO MAGIC

 

CLEVELAND, OH – Through two separate trades, the Cavaliers have acquired F/C Channing Frye from the Orlando Magic. The Cavs traded F/C Anderson Varejao and a protected future first round draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for a second round pick. The Cavaliers then traded the second round pick and guard Jared Cunningham to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Frye.

             “Anderson is a special player, teammate and person,” said Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin. “Few players have earned the respect, support and admiration of an entire organization, fan base and community as Andy did here. Those are all things that made this a difficult deal to do. At the same time, we have a deep obligation to do whatever we can to reach our ultimate goal and we believe this was a deal that improves our team now and positions us better in the future as well. We thank Andy for his hard work, dedication and contributions to the Cavaliers and our community and wish him and his wife, Marcelle, the very, very best.”

Playing in his 10th NBA season, Frye has appeared in 44 games (29 starts) for Orlando, averaging 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game. He is also shooting .397 from the three-point line and .905 from the foul line. Over his career, the 6-11 forward has played in 701 games (420 starts) with New York, Portland, Phoenix and Orlando, averaging 9.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 24.1 minutes per game. He is a career .387 shooter from beyond the arc, which includes .404 shooting on catch-and-shoot threes over the last two seasons (446 attempts).

            “Channing Frye is someone we know well. His length, floor spacing ability and locker room presence will impact us positively,” said Griffin. “He is a great fit with our group, both on the court and off, and we look forward to Channing, his wife Lauren, and their children, Hendrix and Margaux joining us here in Cleveland.”

Varejao has spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Cavaliers and holds career averages of 7.6 points on .512 shooting from the field and 7.5 rebounds in 25.0 minutes over 591 games (208 starts). Among franchise leaders, he ranked third in offensive rebounds (1,479), fifth in defensive rebounds (2,955), fifth in total rebounds (4,434), seventh in games played, tied for seventh in blocks (397) and eighth in steals (529). In 2015-16, Varejao has appeared in 31 games with averages of 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10.0 minutes.

Cunningham, who signed on as a free agent after the 2015 Cavs training camp, appeared in 40 games (three starts) for the Cavs this season and averaged 2.6 points and 0.7 rebounds in 8.9 minutes per game.

CAVALIERS AND ANDERSON VAREJAO SIGN CONTRACT EXTENSION

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers and Anderson Varejao have signed a multi-year contract extension, Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.  Per league policy, terms of the contract were not released.

Anderson Varejao Standing and Smiling Photo Cavs Media Day 2014

“Anderson represents how this franchise wants to approach the game of basketball, both on the court and off,” said Griffin. “He has been a key part of our foundation for years and we are very happy that he will continue to be part of our Cavs family as we work towards our goals at the highest level. Andy is, and has been, a tireless worker, an incredible teammate and a great competitor that plays with a rare combination of energy and intensity that makes him truly special.”

Varejao, who is in his 11th season, has spent his entire NBA career with the Cavaliers, appearing in 535 games (183 starts) with averages of 7.8 points on .512 shooting, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals in 25.9 minutes. He has also appeared in a franchise-record tying 71 postseason games and was a key contributor to the team’s first ever trip to the NBA Finals in 2007.

Among franchise leaders, Varejao ranks third in offensive rebounds (1,401), fourth in total rebounds (4,177), fifth in defensive rebounds (2,776), eighth in steals (500), eighth in blocks (377), eighth in field goal percentage (.512) and ninth in games played (535). He is just one of only four players in Cavaliers history with at least 4,000 points and 4,000 rebounds, joining Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Brad Daugherty and John Williams.

Varejao has notched 88 double-doubles over his career and has pulled down at least 7.0 rebounds in seven straight seasons, including 9.0 rebounds in each of the past four campaigns.

Last season, the Brazilian native appeared in 65 games (29 starts) for Cleveland and averaged 8.4 points on .495 shooting, a team-high 9.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 27.7 minutes per game. Among Eastern Conference leaders, he ranked fourth in rebounds per game (9.7, 13th in NBA), sixth in offensive rebounds per game (2.9, 15th in NBA) and sixth in defensive rebounds per game (6.8, 15th in NBA). He also tied Rick Roberson’s team record (3/4/72) with 25 rebounds to go along with 18 points and three assists in a win over Orlando on Jan. 2. Varejao matched his career high with 16 double-doubles in 2013-14, while recording at least 10 rebounds 30 times, including a pair of 20-rebound performances. His best stretch came in 21 contests from December 26 through February 9 when he averaged 10.0 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals in 32.4 minutes.

 

DAVID BLATT ON ANDY STARTING AT CENTER, HIS BIGGEST CONCERN, AND IF THE TEAM IS PICKING UP BLATTSKETBALL

CDavid Blatt Post Game vs Maccabi Tel Avivavs head coach David Blatt in a round about way announced today that Anderson Varejao will be his starting center, how the team is picking up his principles of “Blattsketball” and more.

Listen to the post practice press conference with David Blatt below.

 

 

LEBRON JAMES ON GETTING READY FOR THE KNICKS, “BLATTSKETBALL”, ANDY STARTING AND THE POWDER TOSS

LeBron Meida Day #1Following practice today LeBron James met with the media and discussed what the team needs to still work on as they get ready for the opener against the Knicks, Anderson Varejao being named the starting center, adjusting to “Blattsketball” and whether or not he go back to the pregame powder toss.

Listen to the post practice press conference with LeBron James below.

 

 

 

MY 1 ON 1 INTERVIEW WITH CAVS CENTER ANDERSON VAREJAO

Find out why Andy always thought LeBron James would return to the Cavs!

Anderson Varejao with Kenny Roda - Media Day 2014

CAVS 3 BIGGEST CONCERNS HEADING ONTO THIS SEASON

1) DEFENSE – Adding LeBron James and Kevin Love along with shooters Mike Miller and James Jones brings a ton of offense and outside shooting, but three out of those four aren’t known for their defensive prowess. LeBron is the only one of that group that consistently plays defense with grit and determination. Shawn Marion will help as a wing defender, but he’s not a spring chicken any more. The need for a rim protector is REAL. Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and if he can play at all, Brendan Haywood, aren’t feared shot blockers.  Add in that Kyrie Irving has yet to play defense in his three years in the league, and Dion Waiters is a liability as well, the Cavs have some serious issues on the defensive side of the ball. Those deficiencies need to be addressed either by adding an “Eraser at the Rim” or for the current players to show more determination and give more effort. Hopefully LeBron’s leadership and defensive make up will rub off on everyone on the team.

LeBron and Kyrie shake hands at Z jersey Ceremony 3-8-14

2) TEAM CHEMISTRY – Ego’s will have to be checked at the door the first day of training camp. Shot attempts are going to have to be divided up amongst a number of ball dominate players, and point totals are going to have to be sacrificed for the betterment of the team in order for this mixture of superstars, all-stars and up and coming stars to gel and turn this group into a true championship contending team. That’s not going to be easy when a number of these players are used to being the number one or two option on every team they’ve played for. How soon this happens, if it happens, could determine how far the Cavaliers can go in 2014-15.

Dion Waiters Interview Photo

3) HEAD COACH – David Blatt was an “Outside the Box Thinking” hire by first year G.M. David Griffin. Blatt has been a successful head coach for many years overseas, but never in the NBA. How will he transition to dealing with the ego’s that we mentioned earlier? With the rule changes that the NBA game brings? And how will he handle coaching against veteran NBA coaches night in and night out?  Blatt as the head coach may be the biggest uncertainty facing this team as the season begins and moves forward. “Griff” has surrounded him with former NBA players as well as former NBA head coaches, so that should help, but David Blatt is still the man in charge and he needs to create his own identity, philosophy and style with his team. What is that? What will that be? Can the European game translate from a coaching standpoint to the NBA? We’re going to find out, and when we do, David Griffin will either have made his first mistake as a G.M., or he’ll continue to look like the basketball “Boy Wonder” genius he’s looked like this entire off-season.

David Blatt and David Griffin 6-25-14

WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN

So what happens when Love comes to town? The Cavaliers are hoping it leads to an NBA championship one day soon.

Kevin Love BR

photo courtesy of bleacher report

U2 and B.B King sang about it years ago. Everybody else has been talking about it recently. And now the biggest trade in the NBA this off season finally happened.  Love is coming to town.

Cleveland has acquired Kevin Love from Minnesota for this year’s first overall pick, Andrew Wiggins, last year’s #1 pick Anthony Bennett and a 2015 first round draft pick they acquired from Miami as part of the LeBron James trade back in 2010.

Per ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports, the Timberwolves also get power forward Thaddeus Young from Philadelphia and a reported $6.3 million trade exception as part of this three team swap, and in turn will send Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved plus a first-round pick to the 76ers.

Kyrie Uncle Drew and Kevin Wes photo

photo courtesy of thebiglead.com

Love, just 25 years old, comes to Cleveland and gets to reunite with Olympic teammate LeBron James and street ball teammate “Uncle Drew”, Kyrie Irving. It creates a “Big 3” that Cleveland has been looking for since “King James” first tenure with the Cavaliers.

Love averaged over 26 points per game along with 12 rebounds a game last season for the Timberwolves, while also dishing out over 4 assists per contest.

LeBron and Kevin Love Olympics photo

photo courtesy of unz.com

 

 

Love gives Cleveland three different 20 points per game scorers in David Blatt’s starting lineup which right now looks like Irving at the point, Dion Waiters at shooting guard, James at small forward, Love at power forward and Anderson Varejao at center.

 

It’s no secret that LeBron James wanted Love in Cleveland as he spoke highly of his high basketball IQ and what a great teammate he was in the 2012 London Olympics at his recent homecoming party in Akron, Ohio. James and Love helped Team USA win the gold medal in London.

On the flipside, James never spoke to, or about Andrew Wiggins, and didn’t mention him in his Sports Illustrated essay when he announced he was returning home to Cleveland. So the writing was on the wall that James had no problem with the Cavs dealing Wiggins, a possible future All-Star, for Love, already an All-Star 3 times over and a 2-Time All-NBA second teamer.

For Wiggins, a kid with enormous potential, he finally gets to call someplace home as he goes to Minnesota and will be the focal point in their rebuilding process.

Bennett will get a fresh start with the T-Wolves after having a disastrous rookie season a year ago, after he was selected first overall.

Love can opt out of his contract and be a free agent at the end of the 2014-15 season and like LeBron James, will probably do so. It will allow Love and James to take advantage of getting a max deal worth max dollars after a new TV contract is expected to be signed by the NBA, which would then raise the league’s salary cap and max free agents will be able to make more money on those deals.

Kevin Love JerseysLove will wear the number #0 and you can already buy his jersey at the Cavaliers Team Shop at Quicken Loans Arena.

A press conference to introduce Love to the media will be held on Tuesday, August 26th at 3pm at Cleveland Clinic Courts.

KYRIE CONTINUES TO MAKE HIS CASE TO MAKE TEAM USA

 

Kyrie Irving USA Photo

Kyrie Irving played 14 minutes for Team USA Saturday night in an exhibition game Anderson Varejao and Brazil and scored 6 points, handed out 4 assists and collected 3 steals as USA Basketball won the contest 95-78. Irving finished 3 of 5 from the floor and just like in the recent Team USA scrimmage looked to be more of a facilitator than a scorer. He had this sweet crossover move that set up teammate Kenneth Faried –

Kyrie Irving breaking Brazilian ankles and then the dish for an “And 1” 

Irving was happy with the way the win, “I think we played really. For our first exhibition game, I think we came out aggressive. Obviously, there are things that we can do better on both ends of the floor, and I’m looking forward to the next exhibition game in New York.”

Anderson Varejao photoIrving’s Cavalier teammate Anderson Varejao played 21 minutes for the Brazilian national team and totaled 6 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

However the thing that the Cavs organization has to be happiest with is that both players came away from the game without an injury.

Anthony Davis led the U.S. with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, while James Harden added 18 points and a team high 5 assists.

Derrick Rose, who played in his first game since tearing the meniscus in his right knee back on November 22, 2013, finished with 7 points and 2 assists in 24 minutes in front of his home crowd.

Next up for Team USA, a trip to New York for exhibition games against the Dominican Republic (Aug. 20) and Puerto Rico (Aug. 22).

The first official game for the United States in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is set for August 30th as they open up pool play against Finland.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS DEPTH CHART AS OF 7-16-14

Head Coach – David Blatt                             Associate Head Coach – Tyronn Lue

(My projected starters in CAPS)

PG – KYRIE IRVING, Matthew Dellavedova

SG – ANDREW WIGGINS, Dion Waiters, Joe Harris, Carrick Felix

SF – LeBRON JAMES, Mike Miller, James Jones

LeBron Getting Ready For Powder Toss

 

PF – TRISTAN THOMPSON, Anthony Bennett, Dwight Powell

C – ANDERSON VAREJAO, Brandan Haywood

 

Keep in mind the versatility of this roster G.M. David Griffin has assembled:Andrew Wiggins Jersey Photo 6-27-14

Andrew Wiggins can and will play small forward as well as shooting guard.

Anthony Bennett will swing between the small forward and power forward positions.

Mike Miller will play shooting guard along with small forward.

Kyrie Irving will be used at shooting guard at times.

Dion Waiters will handle the point guard duties at various spots throughout the season.

LeBron James will play the 1, 2, 3, 4 and maybe even the 5 position, depending on match ups.

Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson can both play power forward and center.

WHO’S ROSTER WOULD BE BETTER, THE CAVS OR THE HEAT?

LET’S PUT LEBRON JAMES ON BOTH TEAMS AND THEN COMPARE THE CURRENT ROSTERS.  WHO GIVES THE KING A BETTER CHANCE FOR MORE RINGS NEXT YEAR AND BEYOND?

Cavaliers                                                                             Heat

 

Kyrie Irving –6’3–193-22 (20.8p-6.1a-3.6r)       PG      Mario Chalmers –6’2–190-28 (9.8p-4.9a-2.9R)

 

Andrew Wiggins –6’8-200-19 (17.1p-1.5a-5.9r)    SG      Dwyane Wade –6’4–220–32 (19p-4.7a-4.5r)

 

LeBron James –6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a)         SF      LeBron James -6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a)

 

Tristan Thompson -6’9-238-23 (11.7p-9.2r-1a)   PF   Josh McRoberts – 6’10-240-27 (8.5p-4.8r-4.3a)

 

Anderson Varejao – 6’11-267-31 (8.4p-9.7r-2.2a)  C    Chris Bosh – 6’11-235-30 (16.2p-6.6r-1.1a)

LeBron Powder Toss Photo

Cavs Bench – Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett, Tyler Zeller, Brendan Haywood, Sergey Karasev, Matthew Dellavedova, Jarrett Jack, Joe Harris and Carrick Felix.

 

 

 

 

LeBron Disgusted Photo 6-14-14

 

Heat Bench – Norris Cole, Shabazz Napier, Greg Oden, Udonis Haslem, Ray Allen, Chris Anderson, Michael Beasley, Danny Granger and James Jones.