Was Larry Hughes the best choice for Lebron James?

[beau_boy04]

I say Lebron James because when you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers you only think of one man and his name is Lebron.

I ask the question because I read a columnist article few days ago and he mentioned that Joe Johnson was the best player to be pair up next to Lebron James. Some of the reasons he mentioned was that JJ is more athletic than Larry, more potential to be discovered, younger, the ability to knock down the treys, so forth and so on.

Lot of people are comparing Lebron to Michael Jordan. You know the comparisons are unevitable. So if you think of it Scottie Pippen was that great beyond the yard, instead they had other guys like Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, Hodges (I think I spelled his name right), and others.

Larry Hughes is a great defender or at least thats what he proved last season - so was Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan. And rest assure that Lebron will be better at the defensive end this coming up season.

So I would say for now Hudges is great I just hope he can play like last season or better.

What do you guys think?

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

larry Hughes is the exact type of player LBJ is, only lower in skill. All around, prefers to drive and kick out, plays poor one on one defense with the exception of steals, and is not a consistent threat from afar. I don't know, maybe this will work or maybe it won't. Thing is, Cleveland still needs a guard that can shoot.

[zmac]

I totally agree. Hughes will be to LeBron what Pippen was to Jordan, im not sayin he is Pippen and LeBron is Jordan, im just saying that they will be a great duo together.
Now teams wont be able to just double Lebron and shut down 3 quarters of the cavs offense, they will have to watch out for Hughes.
Also Hughes is very good defensively, and both Lebron and Hughes getting all the steals they get, Cleveland will become this seasons Phoenix with the fast up and down type basketball.

As a Cavs fan I cant wait to see Hughes and Lebron go at it together....I see a 10 assists season for Lebron and career high assist season for Hughes.

[Metsis]

LeBron will still gather all the defenders around him and Hughes will be more open than he was with the Wizards. LeBron could have used a good three point marksman at his side as that would spread the "love" defenses give a little more and give BronBron more space. Hughes will be a good fit for the job... Not the best, but he is still a very good player. One of the best at the defensive end and he can score.

I could see the Cleveland starting five as follows:
Ilgauskas - C
Gooden - PF
Marshall - SF
Hughes - SG
James - PG

This would allow Marshall to put his outside shot to some use and would allow James to handle the ball and the big lineup would be hard to match up against, with Hughes as the smallest player at 6'5"... And would almost guarrantee that Hughes would be going against smaller guys in almost every game and thus getting easy points... They would have a great rebounding quartet on the floor and Z is so big that it ain't too easy to get easy shots against him...

[Fenix]

I totally agree. Hughes will be to LeBron what Pippen was to Jordan, im not sayin he is Pippen and LeBron is Jordan, im just saying that they will be a great duo together.
Now teams wont be able to just double Lebron and shut down 3 quarters of the cavs offense, they will have to watch out for Hughes.
Also Hughes is very good defensively, and both Lebron and Hughes getting all the steals they get, Cleveland will become this seasons Phoenix with the fast up and down type basketball.

As a Cavs fan I cant wait to see Hughes and Lebron go at it together....I see a 10 assists season for Lebron and career high assist season for Hughes.

Pippen was a great fit for Jordan because he complemented his skill set, not duplicate it.

[Andrew]

Out of those players, Hughes and Johnson are the best alternatives. Spree's not going to be around long enough for the pairing to pay off (obviously) and both Redd and Allen are effective #1 options, which remains LeBron's role in Cleveland.

[kinokong]

Out of those players, Hughes and Johnson are the best alternatives. Spree's not going to be around long enough for the pairing to pay off (obviously) and both Redd and Allen are effective #1 options, which remains LeBron's role in Cleveland.

allen i agree as a #1 option, redd i'm not sure a shooter is worth 6yr/90mil... still hasn't proven to me that he can carry a team... i have a feeling that cleveland will be happier later on when redd is earning 15 mil/yr

[fgrep15]

Hughes is not a great defender, he's a good defender though. His man to man defense was not consistent, he could do good against some players, but get destroyed by others, he's not really a shutdown man to man defender.

He will help Lebron though, just because he takes pressure off him, and his ball handling, passing and stealing ability will help the team.

[Strike Freedom]

I remember Hughes is also a good scorer, who scored 40+ points in his rookie and somophore year in Golden States.

[fgrep15]

He did average 22 PPG last season, so yes, he's a good scorer.

I ask the question because I read a columnist article few days ago and he mentioned that Joe Johnson was the best player to be pair up next to Lebron James. Some of the reasons he mentioned was that JJ is more athletic than Larry, more potential to be discovered, younger, the ability to knock down the treys, so forth and so on.

Hmmm, that's interesting. While JJ is stronger, Larry has a higher vertical, and is quicker and faster, I'm not sure about that one there.

Also Cleveland wasn't in the position to get JJ anyways, so it doesn't matter. They weren't able to get any of those other guys...

[air gordon]

ray allen.

ray allen has shown he can exist with another big time scorer. less defense then hughes, just as good of a ball handler/passer, if not better, much better perimeter shooter, and moves well w/o the ball

[John WB]

Allen I this is actually better than LeBron right now, at least as a scorer... I voted him tho, cuz I think they could work together really well together and LeBron could eventually grow better.

[dsigns]

I think redd would have fit best...redd is NOT a #1 option, he'd be much better playing off lebron with his great shooting touch.

[NNpF]

LeBron will still gather all the defenders around him and Hughes will be more open than he was with the Wizards. LeBron could have used a good three point marksman at his side as that would spread the "love" defenses give a little more and give BronBron more space. Hughes will be a good fit for the job... Not the best, but he is still a very good player. One of the best at the defensive end and he can score.

I could see the Cleveland starting five as follows:
Ilgauskas - C
Gooden - PF
Marshall - SF
Hughes - SG
James - PG

This would allow Marshall to put his outside shot to some use and would allow James to handle the ball and the big lineup would be hard to match up against, with Hughes as the smallest player at 6'5"... And would almost guarrantee that Hughes would be going against smaller guys in almost every game and thus getting easy points... They would have a great rebounding quartet on the floor and Z is so big that it ain't too easy to get easy shots against him...

I don''t like LeBron James at PG and I don't like Donyell Marshall at SF.

Reason being is that it's a fact that LeBron played better when he played at the SG/SF position, with someone to feed him the ball. And to tell you the truth, I'm a person who believes the PG should never be the number one option.

I don't mind Marshall offensively at SF but defensively he is way to slow to defend most of the SF's in the league. He would have to go up against players like Tracy McGrady, Richard Jefferson, Ron Artest etc. Guys he would never be able to defend.

I would imagine a line-up like this would be best for the Cavaliers:

C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas
PF - Donyell Marshall
SF - LeBron James
SG - Larry Hughes
PG - ...

They need to find themselves a "pass first" PG who can contribute on both ends of the floor and they will be a solid team.

As for the topic, I like Larry Hughes playing alongside James because Ray Allen and Michael Redd need the ball a lot more than Hughes does. I think Joe Johnson would have been a pretty good choice as well, but then he wouldn't be the "star".

[maes]

Well obviously Ray Allen for talent and IQ but it wouldn't work out for either of them due to age differences.

I do agree about JJ being the best choice, i wonder why Cleveland didn't go harder after him. He's a far better long range shooter than Hughes, and a better defender which may be attributed to him just being much bigger (230 lbs vs 180 lbs) but Hughes aint' gonna get any bigger.

And most importantly, his team seems to win and lose based on his play.

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fa ... 05/23/335/

Has won 13 matchups against top 10 Small-Forwards
Phoenix is 12 - 1 in these games.

Has lost 5 matchups against top 10 Small-Forwards
Suns are 0 - 5 in these games.

[Its_asdf]

I agree With -|NN|-[pF]-, I believe that point guards should be more pass-first oriented, and James also played point guard quite a bit during the beginning of his rookie season. Even though he played quite well at the 5 spot, he wouldn't have become the 20-5-5 player and won the rookie of the year if it wasn't for Jeff McInnis coming in and filling in the point.

[NNpF]

I agree With -|NN|-[pF]-, I believe that point guards should be more pass-first oriented, and James also played point guard quite a bit during the beginning of his rookie season. Even though he played quite well at the 5 spot, he wouldn't have become the 20-5-5 player and won the rookie of the year if it wasn't for Jeff McInnis coming in and filling in the point.

The "5 spot" is the Center position.

If you meant Point Guard that is the "1 spot".

[air gordon]

Well obviously Ray Allen for talent and IQ but it wouldn't work out for either of them due to age differences.

what do you mean there 'due to age difference'?

[beau_boy04]

Well obviously Ray Allen for talent and IQ but it wouldn't work out for either of them due to age differences.

what do you mean there 'due to age difference'?

Ray Allen is much older than anybody in that group except for Sprewell of course. And I agreed. Ray Allen wouldn't been the best choice in short term but in the long run Joe Johnson was the best man for LBJ.

[Kobe101]

Larry was the best. He can share the spotlight or give it too Lebron. Ray Allen would want the ball and that wouldnt work.

[Kemp]

I still take Johnson out of those players since he has the flexibility to play 3 positions, PG, SG and SF. Johnson can play both ends on the floor, offensively and defensively. Johnson is a nice addition to any teams he play for but now he is the man in Atlanta.

[Metsis]

You guys think Joe Johnson is willing to share the ball??? If that were true, why would he be so eager to get out of Phoenix?

JJ wouldn't work for BronBron as Johnson wants to be the man... Atlanta will give him that role and I expect him to fall flat on his ass there next season. He is a good player, but he is no super-star... The high 3pt shooting percentage is mostly due to the good looks the presense of Nash, Amare and Marion brought. I still think he is overrated and it has gone to his head and he thinks that he is Kobe Bryant/Tracy MacGrady type super-star... If I were Joe, I wouldn't mind getting those easy open shots all along as Amare and Marion gather defenders to them like a flame gathers moths... This is the reason why Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson were as good as they were last season...

Joe Johnson is just too big headed to play for a good team in a supporting role... This is just like the cast of Seinfeld... Huge stars banded together doing one show, but every tv-series they tried to make solo, just backfired on them... Joe was just great for Phoenix, but will he be as good when the opposing defenses gather around him instead of leaving him all alone???

I'd like him to prove me wrong, but I've seen this type of activity before... Getting a big head and thinking you are something you are not... This is a commonplace among the NBA draft... Someone convinces a high schooler to go for the draft because he is just so darn good and he goes for it and doesn't get drafted... No college for the guy, no nothing... He just destroyed his entire future because someone said that he was better than he actually was... I've seen numerous Finnish hoop players at a young age that had someone blowing smoke up their asses about how great they were and just busted in the end... It's a dangerous game when you boast someones skills and abilities aloud and constantly.

As a ball player, there is always more to learn and you just have to find the motivation to learn it... Joe is taking on a bigger challenge, but I would have signed with the Suns and tried to help them win a title. And this move is really great to move from a title contender into a team that has no shot at the title in the next decade...

Johnson is right now shooting his own career in the leg... Why didn't Cleveland and others push harder to get him? They don't think he's worth the money Atlanta is throwing at him...

[fgrep15]

Joe Johnson was the 3rd option on Phoenix, and in terms of importance to the team was considered the 4th best player. In Cleveland he would be the 2nd option, and the next guy after Lebron, he's willing to pass, it has nothing to do with being selfish on the court, he just wanted to take the oppurtunity to have a bigger role on his team instead of being behind 3 other guys.

Joe Johnson is not even as selfish as Larry Hughes who won't pass the ball on a 3v1 fastbreak because he wants to take it himself. When JJ was averaging 20 PPG after Marbury left, and he was the primary ball handler and playmaker, he was playing 43 MPG, so his FGA/48 mins was not too high. It also shows that those who think he's going to be averaging 20-5-5 on the Hawks should get serious because I don't see him getting that many minutes on a team with so many swingmen. and he won't have those averages without huge minutes.

He is currently overatted by some, but he also improved his jumpshot a lot from 03-04, because you don't jump that high in 3PT% when being assisted the same amount, just because you have better teammates. In Atlanta I see him putting up 17-4-4 numbers in about 37 MPG, and shooting 42-43% FG and 35-37% 3PT.

[galvatron3000]

Cavs need a shorter not another Lebron-ish type player unless Lebron's jumper is fire this season. Also, Larry is not a stopper defender but rather a gambler on steals defender per se'. MY copper coins

[Fenix]

The more I read, the more I like this signing. LBJ's shooting will be certainly improved next season and if they get a legitimate starting PG a la Jaric (or even Damon Jones who would do his job well on a team like this) who can distribute the ball, defend the perimeter and hit the standstill three pointers, they'll be ready to go. Hughes certainly won't complement James, but he will provide another triple threat which will make LBJ (and others) even more dangerous. He'll just have to learn how to pass the ball back to the perimeter once the opponent's defence crashes. The problem will be on the defensive end. LBJ and Hughes are both stealers extraordinaire, but the gamble too much. I really don't know how anyone thought Hughes could be DPotY this past season. He's just an average man-to-man defender. Just look what Wade did to him. LBJ is even worse than him, but his ceiling is much, much higher. He's almost 6'9'', with 7 foot wingpsan, 245 pounds, quick, strong and athletic. He isn't really what you could name 'a natural defender', but MJ was also labeled as a poor defender and became a great one due to his psychical tools and work ethic. LBJ has even more psychical talent for playing great D than Jordan ever had. What I'm trying to say is that James won't have to be the type of scorer MJ was for the Bulls or James was this year for the Cavs, so he will be able to be the teams defensive stopper.