Cavaliers may be vulnerable minus Pavlovic and Varejao
While it's hardly a surprise that Kobe Bryant trade talk was back in the news last week, the NBA locale that could have a bigger impact on the Bulls is Cleveland.
The defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers went most of the summer without making a single personnel move. Then, they lost two players when restricted free agents Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao never came to terms.
Rather than accept the one-year qualifying offer and become unrestricted free agents next summer, Pavlovic and Varejao decided to just stay home. The two disgruntled Cavs could play overseas, sit out the entire season, or eventually agree to new contracts and return to Cleveland.
Some analysts have tried to blame the holdouts on the housing slump, since Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's primary business is Quicken Loans. More likely, Cleveland is holding tight on the budget because its payroll already is bumping up against the luxury tax, thanks to big payouts for Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones in past years.
The Cavaliers seem well-equipped to play without Varejao this season, since they already have Drew Gooden at power forward. Pavlovic is another story, especially against the Bulls.
The 6-foot-7 native of Serbia is a big guard who handles the ball well and gave the Bulls plenty of trouble last season. He scored 21 points in a pivotal overtime win at the United Center on March 31. He was inactive when the Bulls won in Cleveland a month earlier.
If Pavlovic never comes back, the Cavs don't have a comparable replacement. They signed 6-5 guard Devin Brown just before training camp. But right now the backup plan appears to be second-year pro Daniel Gibson at shooting guard, while Hughes and his 3.7 career assist average tries to master the point.
All four Bulls-Cavs games this season will take place in March and April. So there is plenty of time for Cleveland to re-sign its wayward players and regroup before the first meeting with the Bulls on March 2. For now, though, the Cavs seem to have taken a step back since visiting the Finals last June.
There has been talk that LeBron James arrived at camp in great shape and worked hard on his jump shot this summer. It will be interesting to see if two straight years of USA Basketball duty takes a toll on James.
Plus, the NBA was kind enough to squeeze two Shanghai exhibition games onto Cleveland's schedule. The Cavs already are in China and will stay for a full week, playing two games against Orlando.
Are the defending East champs ready to wobble? We'll see. The Bulls haven't had many answers for James so far in his career.
• While reading any speculation that Kobe Bryant is headed to the Bulls, keep in mind that the Bulls would need to move two big contracts in any such deal or else face a huge luxury-tax bill.
And if both Ben Gordon and Luol Deng sign extensions before the month is over, that pretty much eliminates any chance of a Bulls-Bryant trade this season, unless the Lakers agree to take Ben Wallace in return. That doesn't seem likely, since Wallace is owed $44 million over the next three seasons.
• Milwaukee Bucks rookie Yi Jianlian looked awful in his preseason debut against the Bulls last week, then showed some positive signs in his next two games, both against Utah. Yi scored a combined 25 points in the two contests. On the down side, he piled up 8 turnovers in one of those games.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com