The @LockedOnCavs crew did a good job on 08-09 Cavs which would be my favorite team if not for 16.

They missed some things about that season & Orlando series.

There was talk/debate during the year whether the Cavs should trade for Shaq who was having his resurgent PHX year

1/

Although Boston got a lot of attention there were people who saw ORL as big threat & with LAL having Gasol & Bynum there was a real call for the Cavs to get Shaq. Before Twitter there were the Z Wars & they were fierce.

I was against it because I felt the Cavs needed wings

2/

The Cavs wings outside of James were Szczerbiak & Pavlovic and I remember asking why would you trust those guys in the playoffs but people did for some reason and kept the focus on Shaq. I think the trade was going to be West, Wallace & no. 1

West was the deal killer for me

3/

Another narrative that season was the #Cavs record vs elite teams. The definition of elite changed during the season. Ws & Ls did & didn't count depending on your view of the Cavs. Windhorst did bring up that big L to Orlando and called it a red flag.

4/

The Magic series sticks in my craw despite the title. Nationally, history now says "LOL, can believe James took THAT team to 66 Ws." Locally, it may be more "Magic were on roids"

Really, Mike Brown had possibly the worst gameplan you could imagine.

5/

The plan was to have LeBron James roam on D and focus on Dwight Howard. James was "guarding" Rafer Alston and none of it worked. Yes, several guys on Orlando shot out of their minds but the Cavs made it easy for them. The lack of wings got exposed.

6/

At the end of game 1 Mike Brown had Varejao & Wallace in the game. Varejao hadn't been able to keep up with Rashard Lewis at all. They needed a 3, they ran Lewis off screens got him open & got a 3. Varejao had no chance and they lost the first game of the postseason at home

7/

The okey doke of Orlando was the pick-&-roll game not Howard. Regardless of what Howard did the Cavs got double digit leads in games they couldn't hold because of they couldn't handle the p-&-r. James needed to be on Turkoglu or Lewis in spots but he was roaming.

8/

Magic had a big playmaking wing in Turkoglu, stretch 4 in Lewis, 3&D wings in Lee & Pietrus w/ Howard just overpowering people with strength & athleticism. Mike Brown needed to do to Orlando what the Bulls did to Shaq's Magic. Sacrifice Z & Wallace & disrupt their p-&-r game

9/

Pietrus seemingly hit every corner 3 and Rafer Alston lost his mind banking 3 but they were open. The Cavs got caught in-between and stopped nothing. I remember just raging in exchanges with Sam Amico and we wanted Mike Brown gone. That series was a fireable offense.

10/

It very well could've been the case that ORL was just too bad of a series matchup for that Cavs team. Mo was big all year but stunk. But, Ive followed you young guys long enough to know that way you & we all look at basketball now you wouldn't have been kind to Mike Brown

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