June 30, 201410 yr LeBron is not coming back! Did I say he was? I was referring to Bennett having lost weight, or beef. If Bennett has a decent season, I wonder if all the people who called him "bust" after just one season will have the balls to admit they were wrong. I mean, one year? C'mon, can you imagine what kind of pressure they must their kids under? I hope they have a large therapy budget.... What makes you think I was referring to you? ;)
June 30, 201410 yr The Rockets are so eager to be big players in free agency that they pulled a Gund/Paxson/Boozer and declined the $900K option on Chandler Parsons. Cavs are said to be very interested. IMO, he would be a great fit on our roster and in Blatt's system. Another free agent we will likely talk to is Channing Frye, a PF/C who can shoot the 3. Clearly, Griff is looking for big men that can shoot from the outside to open up the lanes for our penetrators. Assuming Hawes and Deng don't return, and I think that there is very little mutual interest in Deng returning, we need to address the void of veteran leadership on this team..... especially if Jack is on the trade market as reported. Over the past several years, we always start out rough and then finish much stronger in the second half once we acquire some veterans to guide the ship. But then we don't bring those guys back - Livingston, Walton, Speights, Ellington, Deng, Hawes, Jack. If we ever want to get out of the lottery, we are going to need veterans. No matter how much talent you have, you need those intangibles only the seasoned vets can provide to take the next step to becoming a playoff team.
June 30, 201410 yr Chris_Broussard: Sources: Cavaliers flying to NJ today to offer @KyrieIrving max deal (5 yrs, $90 million) on July 1
June 30, 201410 yr ^Yup ESPN Cleveland @ESPNCleveland BREAKING: Kyrie Irving will sign 5-year max extension w/ #Cavs, sources tell @TheRealTRizzo. Listen to http://ESPNCleveland.com for more. After his "sources" were correct on Embiid when all of the national guys were reporting the exact opposite, Rizzo has earned some credibility in my book. The big news is that he "will sign 5-year max extension"...... not the three year opt out deal LBJ signed in 2007
June 30, 201410 yr ^Sure, given that Gilbert invited him as part of his entourage for last year's lottery, I'm guessing Rizzo gets his info from Gilbert, or his direct reports.
July 1, 201410 yr There is a tentative agreement for Kyrie to play for the Cavs for the next 6 years. @cavsdan: Looking forward to the next 6 years of @KyrieIrving in CLE. Just shook hands &intend to sign on the 10th.Cant be more excited about @cavs... https://twitter.com/cavsdan/status/483849492845068288
July 1, 201410 yr It is more than just a tentative deal. They've agreed, but CBA rules don't allow the papers to be signed until July 10. This is a huge PR moment for the Cavs and another bad look for the self-absorbed NY media who continuously attempted to convince the basketball world that Kyrie would bolt as soon as given the opportunity Kyrie Irving ✔ @KyrieIrving I'm here for the long haul Cleveland!!! and I'm ecstatic!! Super excited and blessed to be here and apart of something special.#ClevelandKID David Aldridge ✔ @daldridgetnt Cavs GM David Griffin, Coach David Blatt & asst Ty Lue all w/Gilbert at meeting w/Irving. Cavs' group was "very impressive," per source. Adrian Wojnarowski ✔ @WojYahooNBA Agent Jeff Wechsler on Blatt-Ty Lue in meeting: "They were incredibly impressive. That's what helped sell Kyrie on taking this deal." The Cavs are said to have expressed interest already in SF Trevor Ariza and C Marcin Gortat, both of whom played for the Wizards last year. Washington may have to choose to sign one or the other if they can't afford both. Several other teams are interested. Also, both Deng and Hawes are receiving a lot of interest around the league. We probably want Hawes back, at the right price, but likely won't re-sign Deng. However, both could still net us some nice assets in a sign-and-trade to teams that don't have the free cap space to sign them outright. The Blazers, for instance, want Hawes and would likely have to do a S/T to get him.
July 1, 201410 yr I like the fact that Gilbert, Griffin, Blatt and Lue all showed up at Kyrie's front door at 12:01 a.m. today with $90 million. How do you say "no" to that? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 1, 201410 yr I suppose this little tidbit could go in one of the local economy threads. Rich Paul, LBJ's agent is handling all initial meetings with teams interested in his client at his office here in Cleveland. Lot's a bigwigs should be in and out of town over the next week.
July 1, 201410 yr I like the fact that Gilbert, Griffin, Blatt and Lue all showed up at Kyrie's front door at 12:01 a.m. today with $90 million. How do you say "no" to that? So far so good. I'm very pleased with the draft -- Wiggins (esp), Harris and Powell all appear to be very nice pieces -- and the Griffin regime seems to be making all the right moves. Being proactive and reaching out to Kyrie, flying to NJ and quickly getting the max deal done, was both classy and professional... I do admit, though, I'm still just a tad iffy about Blatt, but my minor anxieties about him are dropping daily the more I hear about this guy from the guys who've worked with or played under him, as well as hearing his own comments.
July 1, 201410 yr This was posted a few weeks back by Nate Silver and the article is relevant today. This is an incredible analysis on whether or not a player SHOULD be offered a max contract after his 3rd year. It's also a great example of why analytics should be used as a tool to aid decision making and not the lone consideration of the decision making process. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-to-sign-an-nba-player-to-the-max/
July 1, 201410 yr Unless I am not reading carefully enough, one dynamic Silver is not taking into account is how valuable expiring contracts are in today's NBA, especially the really large contracts. So, while a max contract player might not be worth his contract value at the end of five years, the contract itself becomes a valuable trade asset which can help you improve your team. Case in point, it is how we landed Kyrie in the first place. LAC wanted so bad to get out from under the last two years of Baron Davis's contract and get some cap relief that it gave us an unprotected first round pick (which turned into Kyrie) in a swap for Mo Williams' expiring deal.
July 1, 201410 yr He is also analyzing max players in a vacuum. It doesn't take into account the scarcity of talent and the opportunity cost of not signing these players. You can't simply add RAPMs and WARPs together to make a team or else everyone would just trot out 15 Nick Collisons. If anything it shows how underpaid the Lebrons and Durants of the world are.
July 1, 201410 yr Silver's analysis is good. But it doesn't take into account the chance that a player as young as Irving could continue to improve - just as players like James, Curry, Paul, and others have done after their initial contract ran. And Irving has been handicapped because he was hurt for 20+ games the first two years, and then in a stupid offensive scheme last year. If he regresses this year, it would be a straight up disaster. He *should* improve. And that makes the max deal make more sense, even if it's dicey in pure dollars/wins terms.
July 2, 201410 yr RFA Gordon Hayward (6'8 SG/SF, Utah, 16ppg, 5rpg, 5apg) is in town visiting the Cavs today. A lot of reports flying around now that the Cavs are preparing a very large offer sheet for him, perhaps even a max deal (which would be around 4yrs, $60mill). The Jazz would have 7 days to match the offer. Hayward is a young, highly regarded prospect. I'm not sure he is worth max money, but considering some of the signings around the league so far this free agency period, that might just be his market value. If they do sign him, I have to think they have a deal in principle to move Dion (and perhaps another piece, like TT) for a big man. Signing Hayward would pretty much eat up all of our cap room. We could still re-sign Hawes, so long as we don't renounce his Bird rights.
July 2, 201410 yr If they do sign him, i would assume we got an unofficial No thanks from Lebron. I like Hayward, not sure where he fits in terms of making deep playoff runs. I think Gilbert and co would pretty much say right there that Irving is going to be that guy, that crunch time, nail biting guy to take over. I think irving has shown glimpses of that, but the way the NBA is going, to win the ring you may need a few of those guys. I actually believe that Waiters was moving towards the role of assassin. I thought his game progressed and i think he is working hard (based of social media). He also nailed that one against Detroit...once you hit those, you want to hit more.
July 2, 201410 yr Hayward is listed as a SG. Wiggins is also listed as a SG. Unless they plan to play Wiggins at SF or vice versa with Hayward then this could work. https://www.instagram.com/cle_and_beyond/https://www.instagram.com/jbkaufer/
July 2, 201410 yr Hayward is a 2/3 at this point. Wiggins is a 3/2. They would be interchangeable at the 2 and the 3..... in time. As far as cap space, the signing would eat up available cap space. The Cavs still have options to get creative and create more space if need be. And, if Utah decides not to match, I'm highly skeptical they would let him walk for nothing. A sign and trade, possibly even including a three-way deal, could be in the works to obtain Hayward and maintain flexibility. EDIT: more believable (IMO) reports now are that the offer would not reach max level, but would be close to it...... something closer to $12-14 mill per year. I think the Jazz would match that. EDIT2: CJ Miles has agreed in principle on a multi-year deal with the Pacers. Good fit IMO. He can provide the type of instant, off-the-bench offense Indiana sorely lacks.... especially with Evan Turner not returning and things looking very shaky with Lance 'the Ear Blower' Stephenson
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates.
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia.
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. Oh come on.... This is that same "woe-is-me" Cleveland is inferior attitude that I've spoken about in the past. Why buy into that BS?
July 2, 201410 yr One wonders why he would meet with the Cavs if he felt the town was so dreary, and the teams fans lacked so much energy. Oh, wait
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. Oh come on.... This is that same "woe-is-me" Cleveland is inferior attitude that I've spoken about in the past. Why buy into that BS? I don't buy it. I love Cleveland.
July 2, 201410 yr One wonders why he would meet with the Cavs if he felt the town was so dreary, and the teams fans lacked so much energy. Oh, wait THANK YOU! Give a person enough money and the things they feel are wrong, instantly become RIGHT!
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. Oh come on.... This is that same "woe-is-me" Cleveland is inferior attitude that I've spoken about in the past. Why buy into that BS? I don't buy it. I love Cleveland. Ok then I don't understand your post or the reason for it other than this being the Cavs Forum.
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. Oh come on.... This is that same "woe-is-me" Cleveland is inferior attitude that I've spoken about in the past. Why buy into that BS? I don't buy it. I love Cleveland. Ok then I don't understand your post or the reason for it other than this being the Cavs Forum. I posted it because it perhaps provides some insight on how the player feels about Cleveland.
July 2, 201410 yr Well, seems like Hayward sorta hates Cleveland. https://twitter.com/NOTSCCleveland/status/484419801847066625/photo/1 Cleveland or the Basketball franchise? Also, was his description of the the Cavs franchise wrong after LeBron left? The energy and environment noticeably changed. You did see this is some fans blog and I would take that post with a grain of salt. To me it comes across as he doesn't like cold weather climates. Agree he likely doesn't like the cold. But still, he could've said Denver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Newark, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis or Philadelphia. Oh come on.... This is that same "woe-is-me" Cleveland is inferior attitude that I've spoken about in the past. Why buy into that BS? I don't buy it. I love Cleveland. Ok then I don't understand your post or the reason for it other than this being the Cavs Forum. I posted it because it perhaps provides some insight on how the player feels about Cleveland. OK Cool.
July 2, 201410 yr Hayward is from Indy... not exactly San Fransisco. Besides I am so over ppl taking shots at us...idgaf
July 2, 201410 yr Not comfortable with offering Hayward so much money, I would rather focus on Monroe and another piece, a big man is to hard to come by and he has talent.
July 2, 201410 yr Jim Kelly went to the USFL not to have to play in Buffalo but now sill lives in the city and loves it. Just get him signed and win and he will love Cleveland.
July 3, 201410 yr Monroe's fit on our roster and in a Blatt type system is questionable IMO. The Cavs clearly want players who are both tall and athletic for their positions or players that stretch the floor for their teammates. Monroe doesn't really have any of those qualities. Nice basketball player. If I was GM I'd be tempted to make a run, but I dont see Griff doing so. After Gortat re-signed in Wash, I suspect keeping Hawes or prying Frye away from Phoenix became the most appealing options. I also think Zeller might redeem himself a bit this year under Blatt. I'm not a Zeller fan at all, but this is unquestionably a better fit for him
July 3, 201410 yr Monroe's fit on our roster and in a Blatt type system is questionable IMO. The Cavs clearly want players who are both tall and athletic for their positions or players that stretch the floor for their teammates. Monroe doesn't really have any of those qualities. Nice basketball player. If I was GM I'd be tempted to make a run, but I dont see Griff doing so. After Gortat re-signed in Wash, I suspect keeping Hawes or prying Frye away from Phoenix became the most appealing options. I also think Zeller might redeem himself a bit this year under Blatt. I'm not a Zeller fan at all, but this is unquestionably a better fit for him Zeller would be great if there was no contact in the sport. Man he gets pushed around.
July 4, 201410 yr After hearing the report that Kevin Love would "100% resign with Cleveland" I would pitch that to LBJ as something they can pull off and tell him to imagine a lineup with K Love, LBJ, and Kyrie. Along with a potential star in Wiggins starting and Dion Waiters, a nice scoring option off the bench, and Tristan Thompson that would be a nice pitch. Also I would Sign and Trade Deng to the Clippers for Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes for another legit scoring option off the bench and a veteran presence.
July 4, 201410 yr In order to get Kevin Love, we're going to have to give up some valuable players including possibly Wiggins, Waiters and/or Thompson. But I wouldn't do this unless it was a sign and trade deal. Get a commitment from LBJ, then get Love to sign an extension, then trade for him. It's too risky to give away valuable players without a guarantee that we'll keep Love for more than a year. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 4, 201410 yr In order to get Kevin Love, we're going to have to give up some valuable players including possibly Wiggins, Waiters and/or Thompson. But I wouldn't do this unless it was a sign and trade deal. Get a commitment from LBJ, then get Love to sign an extension, then trade for him. It's too risky to give away valuable players without a guarantee that we'll keep Love for more than a year. I wouldn't mind trading Waiters and Thompson and a pick in return for Kevin Love. Given how Kevin Love said he won't resign Minnesota's asking price shouldn't be astronomical because they would want something in return instead of letting him walk away for free. Also I agree that I would have commitments from both LBJ and K Love before moves are made. To gather back what was lost from trading Dion, I would S&T trade Deng for Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes.
July 4, 201410 yr The Blazers will sign Chris Kamen so that probably takes Hawes off their rader and back in play with us. Right now he is our best option at C so we will see what happens now.
July 4, 201410 yr I'm pretty sure to sign a max player like Lebron we would have to renounce any rights to both Deng and Hawes, which would preclude us from using them in a sign and trade.
July 4, 201410 yr The cap structure is so jury rigged. It seems like someone finds a loophole and they patch it up. The end result is that almost nobody fully knows how the system works. there are rules that you cant sign someone to a six year contract if they turn 35 at any point in the contract, etc.
July 4, 201410 yr Spencer Hawes is going to sign with LAC when the moratorium ends. That's a big get for Doc Rivers. He seemed like he would fit well in Blatt's system. I have to think the Cavs are going to sign or trade for someone to replace him. We've expressed some interest in Channing Frye who might be a slightly better shooter but is not as good of a passer or rebounder
July 5, 201410 yr I don't know guys... I want to think he's coming back, but he's all about the attention and he loves the speculation, even if he drives it himself. Until he actually signs on the dotted line that he's coming back, I'm less than optimistic.
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