The Cleveland Cavaliers are actively shopping Larry Hughes to other teams now.
Bad Fit
When general manager Danny Ferry signed free agent Larry Hughes in the summer of 2005, he was hoping for a player that would be the perfect complement for LeBron James.
Thus far, that has not been the case.
Head coach Mike Brown has experimented with a few different roles for Larry Hughes. He’s even tried pushing a square block into a round hole by utilizing Larry Hughes as the team’s starting point guard. His ballhandling skills are good enough for the job, but you take away his aggressive nature on offense by requiring him to focus on setting up his teammates first.
Larry Hughes is a slasher who can handle the ball. That’s basically two of the same skills that LeBron James excels at. A better partner for LeBron James would be someone that can shoot the ball from the outside and can play defense. Someone like Richard Hamilton would be perfect, but we all know it’s not going to be easy to pry him away from the Detroit Pistons.
So, Larry Hughes is a bad fit with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be a bad fit on another team.
Good Fit
There’s a handful of teams in the league where Larry Hughes may be a good fit.
Every time there’s a trade rumor, the Los Angeles Lakers are usually involved. However, with Larry Hughes, this one actually makes sense. If the Los Angeles Lakers ever decided to concentrate on playing the triangle offense again, then Larry Hughes would be a good fit. His ability to slash would make him a threat in the offense. Plus, he has experience playing with a superstar wing player, so he should be able to transition himself into being a teammate of Kobe Bryant.
With injuries to Mike Bibby and Kevin Martin, the Sacramento Kings could use some backcourt help right now. Then again, there are talks that the franchise is looking to rebuild with fresh faces, so Larry Hughes could fill that spot. He might not be a franchise player, but he can be a solid #2 guy.
Another team that might be a good fit for Larry Hughes is the New Orleans Hornets. His slashing style should be a good complement for Peja Stojakovic’s outside shooting. He can also help Chris Paul with some ballhandling duties.
An interesting combination for the Miami Heat would be a backcourt tandem of Dwayne Wade and Larry Hughes. Both players are similar in that they’re natural shooting guards that can both swing over to the point guard spots. If they were able to share those duties together as interchangeable parts, then that might be the weapon that helps turn things around in Miami.
Larry Hughes Cleveland Cavaliers Maroon Replica Adidas NBA Jersey |
On Dislay
The Cleveland Cavaliers have begun utilizing Larry Hughes as a starter again. The general consensus is that the franchise wants to put the guard on display to increase interest from other teams. He’s taken over the starting point guard spot from Daniel Gibson. Kind of interesting that he would start at point guard instead of shooting guard. Logic states that it would be best to put Larry Hughes at his natural position, but Danny Ferry could be showcasing him as a point guard because a lot more teams are looking for point guards right now. Larry Hughes has been in the game long enough to understand how things work. He knows that if he really wants to leave the team, then it’d be in his best interest to play the point well enough to raise his stock. |
Closing Thoughts
General managers make mistakes all the time. Danny Ferry can fix his mistake by trading away Larry Hughes.