Varejao sidelined

You were wondering, with the Indians in the playoff chase and the Browns successfully shaking off the stench of Butch Davis, where all that "Only in Cleveland" bad mojo was hiding?
We found it. It has latched onto Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao.
Varejao was expected to be a major bench player for the Cavs this season, and possibly push Drew Gooden and Donyell Marshall for the starting power forward spot.
Well, that's not going to happen. At least in training camp.
Playing for Brazil in an Americas World Championship quaifier tournament in the Dominican Republic last week, Varejao took an elbow to his shoulder. The resulting dislocation will reportedly require surgery and could sideline Varejao for all of training camp (only five weeks away now) and the beginning of the regular season.
The loss of Varejao makes the failed attempt to sign Dale Davis sting even more. The Cavs might yet get Robert Traylor back, but we can't be so sure that's a good thing since he reportedly failed his physical with the Nets.
The Cavs' offseason got off to a questionable start with owner Dan Gilbert's fanciful pursuits of Phil Jackson and Larry Brown. Then the Cavs got their act together, hired Mike Brown as coach, Danny Ferry as general manager, and promptly struck the free agent market, landing Larry Hughes and Marshall, and re-signing Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Since that flurry of activity in July, however, the Cavs off-season has ground to a halt. They have made little, if any, headway in their pursuit of a point guard and backup center. Reports that Mavericks amnesty clause casualty Michael Finley will sign with the Spurs have just driven down the odds the Cavs will land point guard Damon Jones. Jones was reportedly waiting to see if the Heat would sign Finley, most likely using up all their cap space and forcing Jones to look at other teams. With Finley signed elsewhere, the chances of Jones re-signing with the Heat have improved greatly.
Jones is probably the best point guard left in free agency. Virtually all the other point guards remaining (Earl Watson, Dan Dickau and Jannero Pargo, to name a few) would be signed as a backup to the aging Eric Snow.
The Cavs' best option is probably to make a trade, but Snow's huge contract would almost certainly have to be jettisoned in any trade, and a lot of teams are either maxed out or close to maxed out in terms of cap space.
With Dale Davis gone to the Pistons, the pickings for a backup center are even slimmer than for a backup point guard. Besides the weighty Traylor (who apparently is slacking on his conditioning without the stern, watchful eye of Paul Silas hovering over him), the Cavs have also expressed interest in Jahidi White. Once you get past White, you'd be better off just trying to coax Rik Smits out of retirement rather than delve further into the free agency abyss.
We knew Rome wasn't going to be built in a day, and the Cavs have made good strides this summer to help erase last spring's collapse. But this roster still has some pretty big holes in it, and Ferry needs to get moving before the start of camp is breathing down his neck, and he is forced to make signings just to get guys in uniform.