This may be a biased account of Anderson Varejao’s game, for it is difficult to be unbiased when exploring the ways of the Wild Thing.

He is, or at least was, among the most reviled players in the league. Google “Varejao hate” and you’ll find plenty of results. Magazines, Celtics message boards, Yahoo! Answers, and even Yelp have had bad things to say about Cleveland’s favorite Brazilian. Some of that hatred has been collecting dust since the Cavs have been a joke for the past few years, but I’m confident it will return in full force. Hate, like manners and proverbs, is timeless.

There’s also this Varejao lowlight video with “Yakety Sax” as the soundtrack. Never change, Internet.

I, for one, adore Anderson Varejao. What drives this wonderful man to play the game the way he does, I don’t know. But I’ll be damned if it isn’t beautiful, even if he has a weird jumper and rarely scores more than 18 and always lays it in instead of dunking. This Game Illustrated series ostensibly uses stats to analyze players, but the best part of Andy’s game is not quantifiable.

The best part of the Anderson Varejao Experience is the ineffable boost that he provides, to teammates and fans alike. His energy and effort are so genuine, so authentic, so relentless, that it’s impossible not to get caught up in it. To hear the combination of excitement and appreciation that a Varejao Play elicits from a Quicken Loans Arena crowd is to hear the very best that sports have to offer the world: A team and a player, joined at the soul.

Aw, look at me. I’m rambling again. Let’s go:

The Kingsman



Hate, like manners and proverbs, is timeless.

Andy and LeBron James made for a dynamite pick-and-roll tandem during The King’s first tour in Cleveland. In lieu of an actual offense, a great many possessions revolved around James-Varejao pick-and-rolls at the top of the key while Mike Brown fished through his pockets for Mr. Chicken stamp cards.

Varejao is a heady offensive player, and he has done especially well when sharing the floor with LeBron. In 2009-10, Varejao shot 59.4% from the field when partnered with LeBron, including a terrific 67.5% at the rim. Andy’s shooting percentage dropped over each of the next three post-Decision/apocalypse seasons. from 52.8% in 2010-11, to 51.4% in 2011-12, to 47.8% in 2012-13. Last season he bumped it back up to 49.5%, but that’s still not great for a center.

Obviously, having LeBron James on the court makes things easier for his teammates, despite some rumblings to the contrary. But those teammates still need to make plays, and Andy reacts to LeBron as well as anybody. He’s a whiz at finding soft areas on the court when LeBron draws traffic, and he has sticky hands to catch all those bullet passes. There is no shortage of LeBron-to-Andy highlights:

From way back in 2005:

To the regular season in 2009…

To crunch time in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals (with excellent commentary, by the way)…

To preseason in Rio…

These guys get along wonderfully, on and off the court. It’s a victory for friendship and basketball that they get to play together again.

Evolução (That’s Evolution in Portuguese)

It may be instructive to look at how Andy played with LeBron in the past, but he is not the same player he was five years ago. A quick look at his shot charts over the years will show what’s changed (tip of the cap to WFNY’s Jacob Rosen and the whole gang over at Nylon Calculus):

2009-10: This is the last season with LeBron. Andy lived in the paint, and it was a good living—he shot 57.2% for the year. Lots of quality shots around the bucket as the Cavs won 61 games.

2010-11: LeBron leaves, and everything goes blue. Andy still stayed around the hoop, but didn’t convert nearly as effectively. The Cavs won 19 games under Byron Scott.

2011-12: Some improvement near the rim, but nothing to write home about. Antawn Jamison was the second-leading scorer on this team, and Samardo Samuels played in 54 of 66 games in a lockout-shortened season.

2012-13: Ooh, this is different! We see Colatina’s finest stepping out and trying his hand in the midrange, and having some success. Hmmm…

2013-14: Andy was one of the league’s best big men from midrange last season. He shot 48.8% between 10 and 16 feet from the hoop, which is exactly the same percentage that Dirk Nowitzki shot from those distances. From 16 feet to the three-point line, Andy shot 49.4%, one measly percentage point behind Dirk. This is rarefied air to share, as Dirk is one of the best shooters in the whole darn league.

Before you throw a brick through your computer, I know: this is comparing German apples to Brazilian oranges. Andy’s jumpers are wide-open catch-and-shoots, while Dirks are double-teamed one-legged fadeaways. Dirk took five times as many midrange shots as Andy. Dirk is option number one, Andy is closer to option number ten. Your headline today: Anderson Varejao is not Dirk Nowitzki.

But still! There’s going to be a lot of space for the Cavs inside the arc this year as defenses run out at shooters and double-team penetrators. Having a big man who can knock down some shots is a good thing, even though midrange J’s are as fashionable as Andrew Wiggins’ draft night ensemble.

Passable Passer

Andy will be able to do damage as a passer in the midrange, too. The Cavs won’t want him handling the ball too often, but he can be an effective facilitator from the high post. Remember all those LeBron-to-Andy highlights from earlier? They go both ways:

Andy averaged 2.2 assists per game last year, fifth among centers. He tied Marc Gasol for second in assist-to-turnover ratio among pivot men, and he ranked third in assist rate. His passing figures were even better in 2012-13, and it’s reasonable to expect him to fare better still with quality teammates.

If Tristan Thompson ends up being the starting center, Varejao’s passing skills will be a welcome addition to bench units. He isn’t in Joakim Noah’s class as a distributor—no current center is—but he can direct traffic well enough for the offense to string a few passes together, and help avoid too much stagnancy.

Deft Defender

The whole reason Andy found a spot in the NBA as a second-round pick is his maniacal defense. He’s slowed a little with age, but he still chases ball handlers like a beagle after a squirrel. He bumps cutters through the lane and nixes would-be post ups. He gets his hands on a lot of passes, knocking offenses out of rhythm or stealing the ball outright. He’s been among the five most thieving centers in each of the past three seasons.

He is not, however, a leaper in the class of DeAndre Jordan or Andre Drummond. Zach Randolph is closer to his neighborhood. Andy has averaged more than one block a game exactly once in his 10-year career. He blocked zero shots in 39 of his 65 games last year. He does, however, protect the rim in a different way. Take it away, Zach Lowe:

Varejao is one of the league’s all-time great charge-takers, and he argues that even just trying to take charges can be a more effective form of rim protection than chasing shot-blocks. Defenders who leap for rejections take themselves out of the play, and if they launch too early, ball handlers can read the play and dish a drop-off pass before the next defender is ready to rotate. A charge-taker can stay on his feet if the ball handler passes early, and a charge attempt often stops the play — with a turnover, foul, or loose ball that flies out of bounds.

I am not at all worried about Andy on defense. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s still reasonably agile, and he rebounds the hell out of the ball.

La Fin.

I didn’t want to spend a whole section talking about injuries because that’s a bummer, but it needs to be addressed in Senhor Varejao’s case. He played a respectable 65 games last season, but he has missed scores of games over the years and is always one injury away from disaster. The crowd gasped when he knocked a knee in the preseason game against the Bucks. Fingers crossed, I suppose.

I hope he doesn’t get hurt, not only because he boosts the Cavs’ title hopes, but because he is one of my very favorite Cavaliers ever. He has taken the foreign-big-guy-as-ambassador torch from Zydrunas Ilgauskas and carried it proudly. I want Andy to stay healthy because he carries himself the right way, and he plays the game the right way.

Andy’s game is all extra passes and smart angles. It’s hedging screens and setting good ones himself. It’s positioning on the offensive glass. It’s being a pain in the ass to play against and a delight to play with.

There’s nothing better, in my opinion, than a genuine display of hustle on a basketball court. I don’t care if I sound like a more traditional Norman Dale—I’ll take a guy who will lay out for a loose ball every time the ball is rolled out. It’s unselfishness, and it’s desire, and it’s just love of the freaking game. One might dismiss these as plays that anyone could make because they don’t necessarily require talent or skill, but that notion is absolute woolspit. Hustle is a skill.

Basketball people have a funny relationship with their sport, one that engenders ideas of respect and tradition and playing the right way. They’re all clichés. There’s no way to measure any one of them. But if you want to understand what the hell that stuff actually means, watch Varejao. You’ll get it.