27-year old power forward/center Anderson Varejao always seems to play with a passion for basketball that rubs off on his teammates. He is one of the most unselfish players in the league as he would rather dive for a ball, grab a rebound or set a pick than score. He played in 76 games (7 starts) for the Cavs last year and he averaged 28.5 minutes, 8.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Those are not bad numbers for a backup player. He has now played in 388 games (72 starts) in his six years with the Cavs and he has averaged 24.1 minutes, 7.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Varejao is likely #2 in the hearts of Cavs’ fans behind LeBron James and he isn’t going anywhere.

A lot of teams were asking for 21-year old PF/C J.J. Hickson at the trade deadline but the Cavs were smart to resist as he has a huge upside. Hickson played in 81 games (73 starts) in his second season with the Cavs and he averaged 20.9 minutes, 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Hickson got stiffed in the post season as he didn’t get much P.T. but that will not be a problem in 2010-11 with the Cavaliers who aren’t expecting either Shaq or Big Z back. Hickson has now played in 143 games (73 starts) in his career with the Cavaliers and he is averaging 16.8 minutes, 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. The best is yet to come for J.J. Hickson.

The Bulls planned to get more physical last night and all it did was tick off LeBron James. James is averaging 40.5 minutes, 32.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.0 steal and 3.0 blocked shots per game in this series. Let’s see how Chicago likes having the shoe on the other foot as they don’t have Michael Jordan anymore. No matter what the Cavs tried they couldn’t stop him in his prime and the Bulls have absolutely no chance of stopping King James. James Johnson tried to get physical and he got posterized. Enjoy your short stay in the playoffs, Bulls’ fans.

Backup forward Leon Powe is buried on the Cavs’ depth chart right now but he makes the most of his minutes on the court. Powe has played in 11 games (1 start) for the Cavaliers this season and he is averaging 12.4 minutes, 5.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Powe will step up if given the chance for the Cavs. I’m thinking that he will have a bigger role for the Cavaliers next season.

Daniel Gibson is buried on the Cavaliers’ depth chart right now but that hasn’t hurt his long range stroke as he is hitting 47% of his three point shots this year. Gibson has played in 54 games (10 starts) for the Cavaliers this season and he is averaging 19.6 minutes, 6.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Gibson’s main problem is that he is not a point guard and he is too small to handle the banging at the shooting guard slot. So he’s only getting minutes when the matchup favors the Cavs.