Danny Ferry agreed to be the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.  The deal is reportedly for six years, which is longer than most people think the actual position will be held by Ferry.  The truth of the matter is that Danny Ferry is unable to escape his tenure in Cleveland.  His past failures shadow him wherever he goes.  By many, Danny Ferry is considered a bad first overall pick, a bad 10 year contract and an even worse GM.  The reason being is because the Cavs failed to even win a single finals game in LeBron James' tenure in Cleveland despite having an excess of cap space and a once in a generation player on the roster. 

Casual Cavs fans and outsiders look at the team's 40-108 (a 27% winning percentage) since James left Cleveland for the Heat and are quick to blame Danny Ferry for not constructing a roster worthy of James' talents.  With James, the Cavs won 60.8% of their games. 

What most people ignore is that Danny Ferry practically inherited a disaster.  He was hired on June 27th, 2005, which was twenty five days after Mike Brown was officially employed by the Cavs.  He came into a situation with a lot of cap space and a superstar with an impending free agency who was eager to make the playoffs.  Starting Ira Newble at shooting guard was not an option and Ferry had to put that cap space to good use.  As I outlined previously, Danny Ferry and the Cavs were destined to lose because of mistakes that previous ownership groups and general managers made. 

The LeBron James era in Cleveland is seen as a complete failure by most people who did not follow the team closely.  Pundits and fans mock Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao.  Unfavorable comparisons are made to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.  Never mind that the Cavs could never outright sign a player of Wade's caliber like Pat Riley did.  That doesn't matter to the black and white world of 140 characters or less.  What matters is that Danny Ferry failed to bring a championship to Cleveland, was a failure to LeBron James and the Cavs deserve their destiny for failing to build a team around him.

Between 2008 and 2010, the Cavs won 77.4% of their games.  The last team to have a two year run like that was the Boston Celtics from 2007 through 2009.  Before that, it was the Dallas Mavericks from 2005 through 2007.  Previous to the Mavericks was the Chicago Bulls, who did it in 1996-1998.  All three of these teams have made it to the finals in addition to winning a lot of regular season games.  The fact that the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led Lakers never won 167 games in a two year span shows how difficult of a regular season accomplishment it is. 

In 2008-2009, the Cavs boasted a 4th best offense and a 3rd best defense in the league. No matter how much the Chris Broussards of the world want you to believe it, no one player can play 1-5 on offense and defense and accomplish an elite defense and offense.  In addition, the 2008-2009 Cavs had a ridiculous 8.9 PPG differential.  In other words, on average, they beat their opponents by almost 9 points per game.  Those Cavs teams were legitimately good despite never getting over the hump.  

With the way people discuss the Cavs teams, you would think that every single person in the world expected them to fail and that they were horrible.  This is a classic case of people using hindsight to affect their opinion of a team and pushing an agenda that so happens to be infuriating to Cavs fans who understand how good some of those teams actually were.  For example, ESPN had a poll during the 2009 playoffs asking its viewers who they thought would win the finals.  With over 150,000 votes, the overwhelming majority picked the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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There are those who say that LeBron James’ long-awaited NBA title is tainted.

They’ll say he didn’t earn it, didn’t deserve it, and still can’t be compared with the game’s all-time greats.

So even though he’s basking in the glow of his first title since narrowly avoiding an upset in the Ohio high school state championship to a massively undermanned, supremely less talented group of skinny white kids, no doubt LeBron is hurt by those who hesitate to fellate his supremacy.

Pay no attention to them, LeBron. Wear that Burger King crown proudly and hold your head up high. Never mind what the haters say. In case that golden trophy isn’t proof enough (assuming Pat Riley ever lets you touch it again), there are thousands of reasons to feel good about yourself.

But, in the spirit of letting bygones be bygones and to show that even Cleveland fans are happy for you, here are the top 23 (reflecting the number which, you may remember, once adorned your jersey at St. Bonaventure or St. Vincent DePaul or wherever it was you played before you took your talents to South Beach):

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I think LeBron was bound to win a Championship at some point. Either he was going to win one the way he did Thursday or he was going to channel Bob McAdoo for the ’82 Lakers; one way or another he was getting his.

I think the talk of LeBron doing it the easy way and riding coattails should be quietly put to rest. There was nothing easy about Miami’s road to the title. The Heat were in mortal danger against both Indiana and Boston and were severely tested in the first four games of the Finals. Chris Bosh was hurt and Dwyane Wade for long stretches was as funky as sweat socks in the bottom of a gym locker. LeBron had to carry that team on his back.

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The Washington Wizards finally beat the Cleveland Cavaliers.  They did not do it in the traditional way of competing on the hardwood for forty-eight minutes and seeing which team can put the ball in the basket more than the other.  They are not very good at besting Cleveland in that sense.  This time, they beat the Cavs by making a trade that will likely affect how Cleveland drafts.

The Wizards traded Rashard Lewis and the 46th overall pick for Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor.  Why this is odd for the Wizards is that it is categorized as a "win now" move for a team that finished with only twenty wins, which is good for the second worst record in the NBA.  What must be said is that Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld has done a nice job of ridding the team of knuckleheads and players with questionable character.  Having said that, he probably should not be making trades that should be reserved for teams on the cusp of the playoffs.  The Wizards will be much improved from last year, but they are going to be paying Ariza and Okafor 42 million dollars combined in the next two seasons.  Rashard Lewis' contract was partially guaranteed next year.  In other words, the Wizards are going to be adding significant salary to be better, but not enough to really make an impact.  Perhaps Ernie Grunfeld is on the hot seat or the team is attempting to make things better for John Wall.  Whatever their intentions are, they are painting themselves into a corner of mediocrity.

The trade that the Wizards made today is the kind that will be discussed ad-nauseum by the anti-tanking brigade for the next year.  On the one hand, the Wizards took on a lot of salary in order to have a questionable return.  This is the sort of trade that proponents of tanking argue for.  The Wizards will be much more entertaining to watch next year (unless you can't find entertainment value in this), but they have effectively removed themselves from having a high lottery pick and are certainly not a team that is in contention.  Conversely, the Hornets traded away two players who can contribute shortly after earning the right to draft Anthony Davis.  They will be accused of tanking by many people.

The trade that was made on Wednesday afternoon will affect the Cavs because it is almost a sure thing that Washington will select Bradley Beal.  Considering that the Wizards now have Trevor Ariza, Chris Singleton and Cartier Martin at the small forward position and they have a big man rotation of Nene, Emeka Okafor, Jan Vesely and Kevin Seraphin, it is unlikely that they will be selecting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Thomas Robinson with the third overall pick.  The Cavs, who were rumored to prefer Beal, will seemingly be selecting between either Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes or Thomas Robinson.  The best case scenario is that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is still available when they draft. 

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