Leon Powe Making Cavs Debut?

By BOB FINNAN
rfinnan@MorningJournal.com

INDEPENDENCE — Cavaliers forward Leon Powe was forced to “go in the shop” for a few months.

He sustained an ACL and microfracture injury on his left knee in the playoffs last year in Boston.

Powe, who signed with the Cavs in the offseason, has been inactive for the first 54 games of the regular season.

He’s nearing a return to the court. It could happen against Denver tonight, but Cavs coach Mike Brown said Powe has yet to get the medical clearance to play.

“I had to go in the shop,” Powe said. “I know how hard I worked, and I knew the hard work was going to pay off sooner or later. Hopefully, it’s about that time.”

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Powe will have to fight for minutes at power forward with newly acquired Antawn Jamison, J.J Hickson and Anderson Varejao.

“I feel like I could play,” Powe said. “I feel real good. I’ve felt good for the last month, actually, but they’ve been extra conservative with me. Now, they have to communicate with each other and see what they want to do.”

Powe said he’ll wear a knee brace in the games when he returns.

He’s not the only player close to returning to the court. Point guard Mo Williams has missed the last 11 games with a sprained left shoulder. He practiced with the Cavs Wednesday, but isn’t expected to face the Nuggets either.

“(I) didn’t have a good practice today,” Williams said on his Twitter account. “(I’m) a (little) rusty. (It’s going to) take me a few days.”

Powe Possibly Returns for Feb 25th Match Up Against the Celtics?

Nothing is for sure but Leon Powe could be set to return on February 25th in Boston against the Celtics. Although this is not set in stone this is a date I'm sure Leon would love to make his return.

Speaking of the Cavs vs Celtics game in 2 weeks, ''it's in the back of my mind,'' Powe said.

So much depends on how Leon looks and feels in practice. Possibly

''I'm good. I know the first one [repair] didn't really work out that great because I still felt a lot of pain,'' Powe said. ''The second one kept me out on the court for five years.''

''My game hasn't gone anywhere. I have confidence in my game,'' he said. ''When I get out there, I'm just going to play basketball. I'm just going out there rebounding and scoring anytime they put me out there on the floor.''

A return to the game in Boston would be nice. I wouldn't expect Leon to get much playing time if that is when he returns. Maybe just a wave to the crowd and a few chances to run up and down the floor. Either way that would be an exciting night for Powe and the fans that miss him in Boston.

Are the Celtics Missing Leon Powe?

The Boston Celtics sure could use a little Leon Powe in their lives. Yes, I know Leon has been injured and nobody knows how well he's gonna play when he returns to the court. But wouldn't the thought of Powe returning to the Celtics right now be exciting?

The big guys are struggling for Boston right now.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis- (I'll stop calling him that when he acts like a man) Hasn't showed up this year. 5.3 points a game and 3.9 rebounds isn't going to get it done off the bench. I'm sure missing a lot of the season with an injured hand hasn't helped Big Baby's game. But it's his own fault for punching someone in the face. That's the risk Boston took by keeping a "Big Baby". Glen's Contract for 2010: $3 Million

Brian Scalabrine- Scalabrine may be a good role model and a good team guy but he still isn't a good basketball player. 1.8 points and 0.9 rebounds a game isn't much production for a guy that's making $3.4 million in 2010. Nearly 7 times more than it would've cost to keep Powe.

Shelden Williams- It seemed like Williams could've been a nice pick up for Boston but he hasn't done much, 3.9 points per game and 3.4 rebounds. Part of that has to do with the return of Big Baby. I think Williams needs some minutes and he could be ok. But we all know Doc Rivers is in love with Davis so that probably won't happen. Even with extra minutes Boston shouldn't expect much from Shelden. Contract for 2010: $825,497

Rasheed Wallace- Wallace is a good player to have coming off the bench but his production hasn't been what the Celtics had hoped for. 10 points and 4 rebounds a game isn't what Boston thought they were getting. Give Powe the playing time Rasheed is getting and I know Leon would have better numbers than that. Powe also wouldn't be getting a technical foul every game. When Wallace came to Boston I thought he'd be a great defensive presence along with his good offense. I have to say he hasn't exactly impressed me on defense. Wallace is getting older though so he has to slow down at some point I guess. Rasheed's 2010 contract: $5.85 million

Kevin Garnett- KG continues to be the leader of the Celtics. But his knee isn't keeping up with his huge heart. Injuries seem to be what's causing Garnett's worst season since his rookie year(14 points and 7 rebounds a game). KG doesn't have the spring in his step on offense or defense. Garnett can't give the minutes he has in the past. This is why a good back up is critical to the Celtics this season. Garnett's 2010 contract $16.5 million

Kendrick Perkins- Perkins inability to add any offense to the Celtics in the past has frustrated me tremendously. But Kendrick really worked on his game in the offseason and became a guy Boston can trust with the basketball down in the post. So props to him for working hard and improving. 11 points and 8 rebounds a game is good but Perk can't do it all. Some help from the other Bigs on the team sure would be nice. Perkins 2010 contract: $ 4.75 million

It's clear the Celtics could use a little Leon Powe in their lives. As a good human, role model, and great basketball player. Wouldn't it have been worth the risk to keep Leon for $500,000? That would've been a steal in my opinion. It's one sixth of what Big Baby is making this year and one seventh of what Scal is making. But O well, it's too late and now Leon is getting ready to come back to the Cavs. Boston missed out on this one.

Powe on Schedule for February Return

Lisa DeJong, PD


By Rick Noland
The Chronicle-Telegram

CLEVELAND — Slowly but surely, Leon Powe is making his way back from serious knee surgery.

The Cavaliers power forward has begun full-speed running and cutting and is playing one-on-one with assistant coach Melvin Hunt, putting him on pace to meet his goal of returning to action soon after the Feb. 14 NBA All-Star Game.

“I can do all my moves,” Powe said Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena prior to a game against the Houston Rockets. “I just want my finishing moves to be a little more powerful. It’s getting there. Each week, it’s a little better.”

Powe underwent an MRI in Boston in mid-December and his left knee was found to be structurally sound, but there is no target date for him to return to practice.

“We’re trying to get everything right before I go out there,” the 6-foot-8, 240-pounder said. “Once you go out and practice, there’s pretty much no turning back.”

If Powe can make it back by mid-February and round into top form for the playoffs, he could give the Cavaliers a bruising presence under the basket.

That would allow coach Mike Brown the luxury of choosing between the 25-year-old, J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao at power forward, but those types of decisions are still a ways away.

“I’m moving and running and doing all types of stuff,” Powe said. “I’m trying to get my in-game situations down.

“It’s frustrating, because I’m a competitor. I want to be out there helping my team.”

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2009/12/28/cavs-notes-powe-comeback-on-track/

Leon Powe Moving Onto Cleveland

Leon Powe is about to sign a two year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers which will officially end his days with the Boston Celtics.

As a Boston Celtics fan I am very disappointed. I feel management made the wrong decision that's for sure. I've already vented on that issue plenty of times so I won't do it again. B the Boston Celtics will be cursed forever because of this move and it's thanks to Danny Ainge not signing Leon.

While this is bad news for the Celtics, it is great news for Powe. Leon will be getting paid while he is rehabbing his knee and gets a chance to play for what might be the best team in the NBA. Or at least they are the best team now that Leon has signed with them.

Powe and Lebron James do have history together. They played on the same AAU team a few years back so that can't hurt as far as team chemistry goes. On the subject of team chemistry, I remember Shaq saying a couple of years ago that Leon is a tough dude and was real impressed after Powe shut O'neal down in a game against the heat. So I have to imagine that Shaq will be happy with Leon signing.

With the addition of Leon this Cavs team has now become the most physically dominating team in the NBA. Lebron, Shaq, Varejao, Powe, and Ilgauskas will be wearing teams down with their size and strength. The Lakers better bulk up if they want to handle this basketball team.

Leon Powe-tition

Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images


I'm sure most of you that go to this website have heard of the Leon Powe-Tition by now. If you haven't seen or heard of it check it out by clicking here. The good people at CelticsBlog.com have made a petition that both Celtic and Leon Powe fans can sign in order to convince Danny Ainge that he should resign Powe. I think this is a very nice gesture by both Celtics fans and the people at Celtics Blog.

It shows how much of an impact Leon has had on Boston as a player on and off the court. I mean how often does a bench player have a petition formed to try and bring him back to the team? I don't think I've ever seen that. This is a credit to both the great sports fans in Boston and what a great human and player Leon Powe has been.

Farewell, Leon

I was reading this post by CelticsHub writer Zach Lowe and thought it summed up the feelings Celtics fans had for Leon. It's hard to sum up all the feelings in great moments Powe had as a Celtic but Lowe does a great job.

By Zach Lowe, CelticsHub

Farewell Leon

I really hope Leon Powe knows how much Celtics fans like him and will miss him. We all know why that is–the well-documented childhood difficulties, the never-ending series of knee injuries that seemed to happen right when he was turning a corner, and the way Leon responded to all of it by working even harder. He’s a bit of a cliche fan favorite, actually–the scrappy role player who overcomes personal and professional obstacles to contribute to a championship team.

But let’s talk about basketball. There was something that drew me to Leon Powe from the moment I saw him play: He’s a bit awkward. There are guys who just look beautiful in the post, whether they are fading along the baseline (Olajuwon), stroking the mid-range jumper (KG), juking guys with shoulder fakes before tossing up a soft jump hook (Duncan) or nailing a high-arcing turnaround J (Dirk).

Leon is not pretty to watch. You see–almost feel–every bit of effort it takes him to put the ball on the floor, lower his shoulder into a taller defender and flick a one-handed shot toward the rim. He can’t leap much without a head of steam, and he’s not quick or explosive enough to beat his defenders with spin moves or dribble-drives. He was usually shooting right over a defender’s body, and so he never really seemed to have the time or space to aim his shots, unless he was dunking (and, man, were those dunks ferocious). He often pushed off with his left hand to create the minimal space he had. Every time he attacked the rim, I cringed, expecting an offensive foul.

The shots, once released, look a bit like blind tosses toward something approximating the correct area of the rim or the backboard. And they always seem to bounce around the rim and off the backboard before going down.

And they went down 52 percent of the time, and 57 percent of the time in the ‘08 championship season. And when the shots weren’t going down, Leon was drawing fouls. He led the Celtics–by far–in free throw attempts per 36 minutes in each of the last two seasons, not an easy feat on a team with Paul Pierce.

He is a graceless, below-the-rim player for the most part, and I love him for it. Debilitating knee injuries robbed him of his peak athleticism, and so he adjusted, and he became a relentless wrecking ball who did the best with the body he has now. He made himself into and NBA player even after he lost the athleticism that made him an intriguing NBA prospect to begin with.

(Reminisce about Leon’s greatest Celtic moment, and view some YouTube-age, after the jump).

It all came together in Game 2 of the 2008 NBA Finals, which I think will be the Leon memory most of us will hold closest. You all remember the highlights (included in a YouTube compilation below): the two dunks to end the 3rd quarter, the first a fast break posterization of Luke Walton off a feed from the Truth; the coast-to-coast dunk in the early 4th quarter that drove Phil Jackson crazy and served as the ultimate indictment of that Laker team’s toughness.

But what I like about that game is the fact that Powe’s most important work came in the 2nd quarter, when he scored eight points in a six-minute span that included a game-changing 13-2 Boston run. You know how many field goals Leon made in that stretch? One. His other six points came on free throws, as he used his body and his unconventional game to draw four shooting fouls on LA. Blue-collar Leon at his best at the most important moment.

Powe scored 21 points in the game, and there was no reason to expect such a contribution, because his minutes had been dwindling as the playoffs wore on. Starting with Game 4 of the Cleveland series, Leon barely played. Doc benched him altogether for Game 6 at Cleveland and games 3 and 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Detroit. In between, he played just 1:15 of garbage time in a blowout Game 4 loss.

But Leon stayed ready, and he exploded when his moment game in Game 2. It was great to see.

That sort of thing has actually happened a lot in Leon’s brief career. He didn’t play at all over a seven-game span between Jan. 2 and Jan. 16 of the ‘07-08 season, all of them DNP-CDs save for the game he missed for the birth of his son. But then KG suffered an abdominal strain on Jan. 25th, forcing Doc to play Leon extended minutes.

Powe responded with a career-high (then) 25 points in a January 29th win against Miami (a game Ray Allen also missed), kicking off a stretch of nine games in which Leon averaged 13 points per and hit double-figures seven times.

This year? His minutes fell in January, when Doc played him fewer than 10 minutes in three straight games for the first time all season. When the minutes jumped up again, his production wasn’t there–until KG hurt his knee on Feb. 19 at Utah. Over the next 11 games, Leon averaged nearly 14 points per game.

Then what happened? He collided knee-to-knee with Ben Gordon on March 17, and missed all but the last two games of the regular season. Another good streak, interrupted.

He came back for the playoffs and did exactly what he was supposed to do in Game 1 against Chicago: Eight points and eight rebounds in 16 super-efficient minutes. He could score against Chicago’s front court.

Then Game 2, and another knee injury, this time a torn ACL. A playoff run in a free agent year, interrupted.

Leon will fight back from this, like he has from every other injury he has suffered. He just won’t be doing it with the Celtics. But I hope he knows that Celtics fans will be watching him, and rooting for him, wherever he goes. A piece of the 2008 title will always belong to Leon.