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Reason 5738723 why Grunfeld knows what he's doing

By Mike Prada

Via Yay Sports comes a new blog on former Wizard Larry Hughes.  

The title?  I Detest Larry Hughes.  Classic.

Here's a quick snippet for you to munch on.

When you go 3-13, 1-4 from beyond the arc, 0-0 FT, and collect 0 rebounds in 39 minutes, you may want to just shut the fuck up and stare at the wall. Not surprisingly, this was a typical lackluster Larry performance. The Cavs trailed by 4 going into the 4th quarter against the really ridiculously hot Phoenix Suns. What the Cavs needed was someone other then LeBron to hit an open jumper. Enter Larry Hughes, king of smiles himself. This douchebag smiles so much, I swear he cracked some grins at his brothers funeral. Larry missed every shot he took (it seemed), puncuated by a jumper 4 seconds into the shot clock with some time left to climb back into the game. Yes, the Cavs ended up losing by 15. Perhaps coach Mikey should sit Larry for a few games. We'll see if he still smiles. Then again, getting 13 million to shoot 40% and average 14 ppg will make you smile. Horray!

This is seriously hillareous stuff, and since  this blog doesn't seem like it's going to be around for a while, it's worth checking out now.  

Of course, two years ago, there was genuine concern over losing Hughes, who averaged 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals for Washington's first playoff team in nearly a decade.  I remember some people saying that Hughes, not Gilbert Arenas, was the most valuable player on that team.  In hindsight, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that 2004/05 was a statistical improbability; that Hughes was playing out of his mind in a contract season.  All of his numbers were career highs, and his scoring was a full three points higher than in any other season.  

Naturally, Cleveland bit after striking out on Michael Redd (imagine how good Cleveland would be if they held onto Redd and Carlos Boozer) and took the next best thing.  Ernie Grunfeld traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, and the rest is history.  Butler is having an all-star caliber season, while Hughes is the subject of personal hate blogs.  

Honestly though, Hughes is really just the Keith Van Horn of this generation.  A team gave him a stupid contract, making him seem more valuable than he should have been.  It's not his fault if Cleveland is willing to pay close to the max for his services.  Hughes is by no means a horrible player, but he's nowhere near a max one.  Credit Ernie Grunfeld for understanding this before Danny Ferry.

By the way, if you're wondering why there's only sporadic content up today, don't worry.  I've got two longer pieces in the works for later in the week, one on Jared Jeffries and one on Brendan Haywood.  Stay tuned!