In the 2005-06 off-season, the Cavs needed to make a mark, a stamp in free agency. At the top of the list was shooting guard. The market had 4 marque players: Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, Michael Redd, and Larry Hughes. Ray Allen wanted too much money so the Cavs didn't seriously persue him. Fair enough. They really tried to get Michael Redd. In fact, LeBron sent him a video tape! He turned them down to make $13+ million to stay with the shitty Bucks. Fair enough.
But the Cavs didn't even attempt to look into Joe Johnson. The reason: The Suns wanted too much ( two 1st rounders). Some critics also believed giving Johnson that amount would leave less money to re-sign LeBron. Here is a fun fact! There is something called BIRD RIGHTS. These rights allows the team that drafted a player to re-sign him to as much money as they want, more then any other qualifying offer from another team, even if it is above the salary cap. We could have signed Joe Johnson and dished out 100 trillion dollars to LeBron.
So this leaves us with the two 1st round picks vs. Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson>>>>>>> Shannon Brown plus the 2008 1st round pick. But we didn't even look into the Johnson situation, a player who makes a million LESS than Hughes and is outperforming him in every major statistical category known to man (and animal).
Let's look at some numbers:
2006/07
Player A
Games played: 32/44
14.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.3 apg
40.4 FG%, 39.3 3PT %, 66.43 FT%
Player B
Games played: 38/42
24.9 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg
48.1 FG%, 38.2 3PT %, 75.4 FT%
2005/06
Player A
Games played: 36/82
15.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.6 apg
40.9 FG%, 36.8 3PT %, 75.6 FT%
Player B
Games played: 82/82
20.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.5 apg
45.3 FG%, 35.6 3PT%, 79.1 FT%
Obviously Larry Hughes is not Player B. Joe Johnson is putting better stats without Steve nash feeding him the ball. Teams are locking on him and he is putting up better numbers across the board while playing the same minutes. UGHHHHHHHH
