I just got back from a Terry Pluto chat and Q&A.  He started off by speaking for about 30 minutes.  Among the Cavs-related topics:

 

1. LeBron James had a very unstable childhood.  He lost some very close people to him when he was in elementary school and his mom had to be away for a few years while she took care of some of her problems.  He moved around plenty of times in that period and formed very close bonds with his friends that he would end up playing basketball with.  When he was in high school, he had very good offers to play at the most prestigious prep schools throughout the country, but he stayed loyal to his friends, family and city by staying at SVSM.
2. The Yankees hat- Pluto said that all of LeBron's life is planned out for him.  From the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed, he has a very strict schedule where he does what he is supposed to do and does exactly what his people tell him to do.  It is of Pluto's belief that LeBron wears the Yankees hat because it is truly his only form of rebellion. 
3. Dan Gilbert is actually doing very well with Quicken Loans despite the state of our economy.  His company is one of the only mortgage companies that made it through this crisis and as a result, Quicken Loans is the primary company available for taking out a loan on a house.  This has actually been one of the most proftiable times in the company's history.
4. He doesn't like the east coast.  He said how if Cliff Lee were pitching for Boston or NYY, it would be a foregone conclusion that he was the Cy Young award winner.  Since he is in Cleveland, they question if he can win the award.
5. For the first few years of Ferry's tenure as GM, he did not make much happen in regards with trades.  People would ask him questions about that all the time, and Pluto would consistently tell them to just "wait and see."  Danny Ferry works for a man in Dan Gilbert who is all about winning at any cost.  Pluto mentioned something along the lines of how Gilbert would ask Ferry every day "what deals are out ther?" 
6. Cleveland is one of three teams to make it out of the first round in the last three years.  The other two are Detroit and San Antonio.  People fear that there is a lot of hype around the Cavs this year and that they may not succeed like the Indians and Browns did.  He will have a column coming out today discrediting that theory by mentioning that fact and the fact that the Cavs have LeBron.
7. I asked him about the shooting guard position.  There has been recent talk of Delonte West starting at SG, but he said that Windhorst does not beieve that will happen.  Windhorst said that Mike Brown likes size, and a Mo Williams and Delonte West starting back court give up a lot of size.  He said that the starting guard will either be Wally or Pavs.  He really does not like Pavs, and had actually just gotten done talking about how he likes to be nice to everyone he covers in the paper.  He did not say anything nice about Pavs and brought up a play* in game 7 of the ECSF last year that summed up Pavs quite nicely.  I asked him if they are hesitant to start Wally at SG since he probably is not part of the team's future, and he said that the Cavs are in "win-now" mode and will do whatever is best for the team.  If starting Wally is the best option until he gets traded, then so be it. 
8. He brought up Brian Windhorst a few times and how he is doing very well.  He lost 40 pounds and is getting back into the grind.
9. He really liked Lenny Wilkins becauase he did not over-coach.  He said how he would just sit there silent for the first 30 seconds of a time out and only bring up one or two points.  He felt this was effective because it didn't confuse players in a high pressure situation.
   

*The play I was mentioning was when it was crunch time in game 7, Pavs was wide-open with a three point shot available.  The shot clock was winding down, and he saw that Ben Wallace was wide open 8 feet from the basket.  He passed to Ben Wallace, who was like "what the heck are you passing this to me for?"  Ben Wallace quickly passed to Delonte West who chucked up a shot that was nowhere near going in.  He brought this up to point out how Pavs is not the best decision maker and how his decisions sometimes kill momentum. 

If we dont trade for an upgrade at SG then I'd like to see Kinsey try and get the starting job because of his defense.  Wally is getting up there in age and he'd have trouble guarding the more athletic SG's in the league.

A back-court of Wally and Mo Williams would probably be one of the worst defensive backcourts in the league.

I was interested to see that the West starting situation is certainly not final like many have been claiming. I havent liked the idea since I heard it and Im a huge Delonte fan but I dont want 2 pgs starting. I like the way we play D and one of the things that has made us so good is having tall athletic players on the perimeter. Delonte is solidish with most pg's he d's up but there arent too many sg's I can picture him able to do much with and im sure the same will go for Mo. 

1-2:  I've never been too worried about LeBron leaving.  The reasons for staying simply outway the reasons for leaving.  Our future payroll status and LeBron's God-like worship being big deals.  Also, us paying him more, and the fact that he doesn't need to go to a big market to get the biggest Nike contract ever.  People act like plane travel and the Internet don't exist.  However, Terry Pluto's points are still very comforting in that respect.  I really feel for people who have a childhood like that.  It really goes to show how far he's come, largley on his own.  Self made people have my utmost respect.

 

3.  GREAT to hear; for the Cavs future and it's nice to know we have a good guy for an owner.  I guess Gordon Gund would not have sold the Cavs to a scoundrel.  Good for you Gilbert!  It's nice to see some people aren't out for the quick and dirty buck, knowing the government will bail you out.

 

4:  I haven't followed Cliff Lee's Cy Young path much at all.  I figured he was a shoe-in; not even close.  However, the whole NY/Boston thing is total BS.  Beckett and CC had very close production levels last year and CC still got the award.  If the bias was really that strong, Beckett would have gotten the Cy Young.  Again, I'm not following the current race, but if most "experts" are using the argument that you have to be on a good/great team to win the award, I now have totally lost all respect for sports journalism.  I thought the NBA MVP discussions were ridiculous.  Wow.  I really hope I'm missing something here.

 

7:  The more I think about it, the more I am sure the SG position is what we will focus on at the trade deadline.  I hope Zerbie/Pavs can hold it together until then.

 

8:  Good luck.  You're the best!

 

9:  I miss Lenny.

 

Hey Triple motion, im living in colorado now so my comment wasnt quite late for me. Glad not everyones ready to throw away the D first mentality. I know our offense has sucked but I dont think throwing away our identity right now would be wise. 2 years now weve been to the finals we were just a few foul calls away from them lol. We just need to work on the offense and bring Delonte in games to be what he is meant to do. Be a strong backup for Mo will. Boobie will fill in as the backup 2 I suppose. I cant imagine him getting burried in a 3rd string pg role.