Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

[ScriptOhio]

Cavs Sign Dwight Powell

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed forward Dwight Powell, the 45th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts. Per league policy, terms of the contract were not released.
Powell played four years at Stanford, appearing in 136 games (105 starts) with averages of 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game. The 6-11, 240-pound forward from Ontario, Canada is a two-time First Team All-Pac 12 selection. He averaged 14.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals during his senior season and was the Pac 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Powell also played for Canada in the World University Games in the summer of 2013.

During the 2014 Samsung NBA Summer in Las Vegas, Powell appeared in three games (one start) for the Cavaliers and averaged 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game. He was originally acquired along with center Brendan Haywood in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for guard Scotty Hopson and cash considerations on July 12, 2014.

Entire article: http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/releases/powell-signing-140823

 

[ethan]

I Love this trade. Would have loved to keep Wiggins but he was demanded to be included, and I don't blame the Cavs for pulling the trigger.
Wiggins will obviously become the next Michael Jordan now. He should thank Cleveland.

1. Cavs, 2. Bulls, 3. Heat

With a healthy Rose, the Bulls will be a tough match, but unless Rose has learned how to shoot, the Cavs should be able to easily outscore them.
The bulls never seem to be able to score consistently and losing Boozer should hurt them in that area. Over the hill, Pau Gasol doesn't scare me.

I don't see any team in the East who could beat the Cavs 4 times in 7 games.
Kyrie, LeBron, Love, 3 All Stars, with Dion and Varejao who could be on the verge of being all-stars themselves.
Not to mention a young athletic and skilled PF in Tristan, then we have Marion...Miller...

The Cavs are stacked.
Ray Allen + Backup Center...Your Next.

The future is also bright, the Cavs gave up Miami's first round pick (top 10 protected) in the Love trade.
But they still have Memphis's first round pick (1-5 15-30 protected)
Cavs can potentially still land a highly talented player between pick 6-14 in the 2015 draft.

 

[exhawg]

I really wanted to keep Wiggins, but the longer I've had to think about it I've realized that this is the right move to maximize the window. Lebron probably has 5 more elite years and Wiggins would have taken most of that to get to his prime. Sure it would have been nice to have Wiggins in 5 years when Lebron becomes an undersized stretch 4, but having Lebron at the end of his prime with Love and Irving in their prime with Waiters and Thompson still working their way up will be killer. The Cavs are going to be the destination for the over the hill min contract guys for the next 5 years. There is no reason for anyone on this roster to average more than 35 minutes a game.

I wouldn't expect anything else flashy this off season. Either a min contract big or a cheap big that they can get for the Utah contracts. Next summer they'll probably look to move Haywood for a guy like Hibbert if one is available.

If you had told me back in May that the Cavs starting lineup this season would be Kyrie, Waiters, Lebron, Love, and Andy I would have told you to stop hanging out with Josh Gordon.

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

I'd be surprised if the Utah guys are moved before February this year, but I think that's the next (and final) step after Ray Allen. The Cavs need to do their research about defense-first centers who can come in, run the floor, and maybe hit a jumper or two to space the floor. The front court becomes awful crowded with Thompson, Varejao, Love, potentially Marion, and a rim protector on the roster, but I think it's the best move. They could also have Marion as an over-qualified backup for LeBron, which would be great, especially if we could get LeBron down to about 32-34 minutes a night.

My last remaining concern (aside from center, which I'm assuming will be filled before the playoffs) is that the Cavs really can't play small ball. Anyway you cut it you'll have Love at the 5 which he really can't defend. It'd be:

1. Kyrie
2. Dion/Allen
3. Miller/Marion
4. LBJ
5. Love

 

[buclife]

Or the lineup could be:
Kyrie/delladova
Waiters/Miller/Jones
Lebron/Miller/Marion/Jones
Tristan/lebron/ Marion
Love/varejao
...

 

[Buckeye737]

Still not a fan of the Love trade, but it's done.

I'm a little skeptical of the Big 3 concept of an NBA team. What makes me happy about the Cavs is that I think Dion Waiters is a hell of a #4, who could actually make it more of a Big 4 with some improvements in his game.

 

[MaxBuck]

My last remaining concern (aside from center, which I'm assuming will be filled before the playoffs) is that the Cavs really can't play small ball. Anyway you cut it you'll have Love at the 5 which he really can't defend. It'd be:

1. Kyrie
2. Dion/Allen
3. Miller/Marion
4. LBJ
5. Love

You make a good point, but honestly I don't think LeBron would have much difficulty guarding nearly any center in the league if push came to shove. (And it would ...)

 

[NFBuck]

Still not a fan of the Love trade, but it's done.

I'm a little skeptical of the Big 3 concept of an NBA team. What makes me happy about the Cavs is that I think Dion Waiters is a hell of a #4, who could actually make it more of a Big 4 with some improvements in his game.

Well, that strategy has won 2 of the last 4, and 3 of the last seven titles to go with 6 finals appearances in 7 years (Heat and Celtics). That's hard to argue with.

 

[ethan]

I think its the consistency that a big three brings. Even the Spurs core is a big 3. Its so hard to stop a team from winning when 3 star players from 3 different positions can dominate whoever they are matched up with at their position. It leads to consistent scoring. It leads to double coverage which leaves one of the big 3 open every possession.

I think the Cavs still need another big man in the paint. Spliter and Duncan beat Miami up under the basket.
Honestly I just hope someone in the West knocks the Spurs out this year. lol

 

[y0yoyoin]

My last remaining concern (aside from center, which I'm assuming will be filled before the playoffs) is that the Cavs really can't play small ball. Anyway you cut it you'll have Love at the 5 which he really can't defend. It'd be:

1. Kyrie
2. Dion/Allen
3. Miller/Marion
4. LBJ
5. Love

1. kyrie
2. Dion
3. Lebron
4. Marion
5. Love

Thats about as small as your getting...you may give up some points in the paint but you would have great athleticism and a huge ability to rebound...I could see a small ball 2nd unit as

1. Delle
2. Miller
3. Allen
4. Marion
5. TT

I also dont think its a foregone conclusion that Waiters starts ahead of Miller...As much as Dion hates to admit it, he is a great spark off the bench

 

[Buckeye737]

Well, that strategy has won 2 of the last 4, and 3 of the last seven titles to go with 6 finals appearances in 7 years (Heat and Celtics). That's hard to argue with.

The Celtics had some pretty good pieces aside from their Big 3, which is really what I'm getting at. When Mario Chalmers was playing better or Mike Miller/Shane Battier went crazy from three, then the Heat were able to get it done. Both years that the Heat got beat, it was to a team with a little bit of high end talent along with a bench that went crazy. I think there has to be something outside of a Big 3 to cover the margin of error, and Waiters is the guy that gets that done for the Cavs IMO.

 

[jlb1705]

The Celtics had some pretty good pieces aside from their Big 3, which is really what I'm getting at. When Mario Chalmers was playing better or Mike Miller/Shane Battier went crazy from three, then the Heat were able to get it done. Both years that the Heat got beat, it was to a team with a little bit of high end talent along with a bench that went crazy. I think there has to be something outside of a Big 3 to cover the margin of error, and Waiters is the guy that gets that done for the Cavs IMO.

...almost all of which the Celtics acquired during or after the process of assembling their big three. The only players they carried over from the season before they traded for Allen and Garnett were Tony Allen, Kendrick Perkins and Brian Scalabrine.

 

[NFBuck]

The Celtics had some pretty good pieces aside from their Big 3, which is really what I'm getting at. When Mario Chalmers was playing better or Mike Miller/Shane Battier went crazy from three, then the Heat were able to get it done. Both years that the Heat got beat, it was to a team with a little bit of high end talent along with a bench that went crazy. I think there has to be something outside of a Big 3 to cover the margin of error, and Waiters is the guy that gets that done for the Cavs IMO.

And the Cavs have AV, Waiters, Tristan Thompson. Waiters and Thompson should be here for several years. AV, who knows if he can stay healthy for more than 40 games, but when he's healthy, he's solid. The rest of the roster will be filled by vets like Miller, Jones, Marion. I'd argue that roster is more talented than any of the ones the Celtics or Heat put on the floor. On paper, the Cavs are as good as anybody in the league. We'll see how long it takes for them to gel, but by April, they should be very, very good.

Can they beat the Spurs this year? I don't know. But I do know the Spurs key pieces are getting OLD, so there's no telling how much they have left. I suspect not much more than a year or two, tops.

*Edit* missed you mentioning Waiters.*

 

[exhawg]

And the Cavs have AV, Waiters, Tristan Thompson. Waiters and Thompson should be here for several years. AV, who knows if he can stay healthy for more than 40 games, but when he's healthy, he's solid. The rest of the roster will be filled by vets like Miller, Jones, Marion. I'd argue that roster is more talented than any of the ones the Celtics or Heat put on the floor. On paper, the Cavs are as good as anybody in the league. We'll see how long it takes for them to gel, but by April, they should be very, very good.

Can they beat the Spurs this year? I don't know. But I do know the Spurs key pieces are getting OLD, so there's no telling how much they have left. I suspect not much more than a year or two, tops.

*Edit* missed you mentioning Waiters.*

Andy's biggest injury problems have been when he was forced to play 30-35 minutes a game. Back when he was averaging 25 minutes a game he was healthier. With Love and Thompson I would be surprised if Andy was over 25 a game especially during the regular season.

It would be nice if Blatt could keep the whole roster averaging a max of 30 minutes a game during the season. I'm sure there will be some games where you need Lebron to play 35-40, but there will be others where they should be able to keep him to 25.

 

[Piney]

Z is seriously trying to make a comeback? Good gawd...