Living without Larry

It is the impulse of fans, often in an extension of the media, to be reactionary following a dramatic event like Larry Hughes' injury.  No one doubts the Cavs have suffered a pretty deep blow by losing their second-best player for two months but it is too early to be suggesting breaking up the team with crazy trades.

In my opinion, last night's loss to the Rockets displayed some potentially disturbing stuff.  It wasn't exactly like looking back to last season because the Cavs played better defense, but the way it was LeBron and almost no one else was troubling.  As I wrote, it could've been a bad night or the start of something worse.  Time will tell, so just wait a few games before completely passing judgment, that is what I plan to do.  At this point, I think the Cavs may do well to just trend water for awhile, especially with so many road games coming up.

I do believe the Cavs will make a significant trade at some point in the next six weeks.  The scope of it may vary depending on a lot of things.  I don't believe Danny Ferry will make a significant move to fill in for Hughes, though he may make a minor one.  I generally believe any large deal will involve Drew Gooden, because even though he's talented he simply doesn't play good enough defense to suit Brown.  You'll notice his minutes have been dropping.

I have some ideas on who the trading partners could be, but I'm not going to put it out there now because I personally don't like to rumor monger.   I think there's a good chance it could be a three-team trade, I'll just say that.  What I will say is I know Denver is anxiously looking to make a move and the Cavs could be involved.  Every team seems to be stalling to see what happens with Ron Artest, though.

Also, I don't think it was a mistake to sign Hughes, either despite his injury history.  Remember, they weren't getting Ray Allen or Michael Redd.  It was an acceptable risk.

While you're surfing, check out my latest podcast with Terry Pluto.  How do we talk about Henry James, Eddie Jordan, Sasha Pavlovic and Damon Jones in the same sitting?  Listen and find out.

One last thing.  Some of you may remember the story I did on Wes Wesley last summer.  Now, True Hoop, a good NBA blog, is conducting research on him.