Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

[TampaBuckeyes]

LeBron wants to become the GOAT. In order to do that he needs more finals appearances and 2-3 more championships. I thought he was going to do this by going to 6 championships and winning 2-3 with Cleveland in a 6 year span. I was wrong.
Sounds like LeBron's strategy is to go to another finals with Cleveland and most likely not win it.
1. This way he can keep his streak alive, did Jordan go to 15 straight championships?
2. Move on to the Lakers after next year where he can win a championship with 3!!! teams.
3. Take over a 4th 'worst in the league team' and take it to the finals, winning a title with 3 of them (don't forget about trip 1 to Cleveland).
4. And... here's the kicker: When Jordan left the Bulls, the won 2 less games the following year. When LeBron left Cleveland and Miami (and presumably Cleveland next year) they went from title contenders to not making the playoffs.
I only come to this conclusion as he isn't actively trying to bring any players in, and letting the management (who he hates) to make some of the worst decisions possible for the team.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

I only come to this conclusion as he isn't actively trying to bring any players in, and letting the management (who he hates) to make some of the worst decisions possible for the team.

Unless Lebron can somehow double the salary cap, there's not much he can do to bring players in. Very few NBA players are going to take massive pay cuts just to have the dubious privilege of playing on the same team as Lebron James.

As far as management making "some of the worst decisions possible for the team", could you be more specific? Management had a deal in place to trade Love and Shumpert for George and Faried - a trade that probably would've benefited the Cavs - but Indiana nixed the deal at the last minute and ended up taking a much worse deal from OKC, so you can't really blame Cavs' management for Indiana's stupidity. The Cavs re-signed Kyle Korver which seems like a pretty decent move. Other than that, the team really hasn't done much because they can't do much due to their salary cap situation.

I know that some fans are frustrated with the Cavs right now, but they are going to be a top-2 team in the NBA for the 4th straight season. Except for an historically great Golden State team, the Cavs might be looking to 4-peat in 2018. That happens sometime - a great team runs up against an even greater team. At least we got one in 2016 and we'll get another chance in 2018.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

LeBron wants to become the GOAT. In order to do that he needs more finals appearances and 2-3 more championships.

Heh. This is why he won't be the GOAT. Jordan didn't have goals he needed to manufacture so people would talk about him as if he were the best. He just went out and was the best. Part of that isn't on Lebron.....it's just how things are now (EMBRACE DEBATE!!!), but that doesn't make it any less true. I'm glad I got to just enjoy Jordan being better at something than almost anybody who's ever been alive has been at anything else, without having to check boxes and force arguments every year.

 

[cdiddy70]

Crawford to Minnesota.

Not sure what's out there right now.

Looks like the Turkish Jordan will be the only addition (other than Calderon and Jeff Green)

Might have to wait until February for buyouts for Melo/Wade.

As a sidebar to think Hayward I'd top shelf but wasn't aware this would cause them to loose Bradley, Olynick, and possibly one of Crowder or Smart.

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

Hard pass on Crawford anyway. He hasn't been good in years. If Frye couldn't get on the court in the Finals, Crawford certainly wouldn't be able to.

I also hate the Jeff Green signing. He's terrible at basketball and always has been. He'll light up the box score once every 20 games, and somehow that's been enough to convince teams he's worth a damn.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

Part of the taxpayer MLE ($5.192 million) will be used to pay Osman's first year salary.

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

Anyone else experiencing deja vu?

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Anyone else experiencing deja vu?

I fucking hate those articles that place all the blame on the cavs without looking at the lack of effort in Lebron recruiting, fact he won't commit to staying past next year or the fact they can't sign a damn free agent because they got all the guys that Lebron wanted and signed them to stupid contracts

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

The Cavs deserve a decent amount of blame. Gilbert fired his GM days before free agency started, severely hampering their ability to sign or deal players. They tried to dump Shumpert (one of the few players that could stay on the floor against GS) to lower the tax burden. That's exactly what Miami did with Mike Miller.

LeBron is at fault for forcing them to re-sign dead-end players like Smith and Shumpert for big money, but this offseason has been a disaster. I like Cedi Osman, but I doubt he'll get minutes because Lue doesn't respect for young guys. That said, bringing over a good Turkish player isn't moving the needle, anyway.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

The Cavs deserve a decent amount of blame. Gilbert fired his GM days before free agency started, severely hampering their ability to sign or deal players. They tried to dump Shumpert (one of the few players that could stay on the floor against GS) to lower the tax burden. That's exactly what Miami did with Mike Miller.

LeBron is at fault for forcing them to re-sign dead-end players like Smith and Shumpert for big money, but this offseason has been a disaster. I like Cedi Osman, but I doubt he'll get minutes because Lue doesn't respect for young guys. That said, bringing over a good Turkish player isn't moving the needle, anyway.

who were the Cav's gonna sign, they have no cap space? I agree firing the GM was stupid but to say they would have made a blockbuster trade after looking at what Indy took for PG is not a sure thing.

bottom line Cavs are backed into a corner with no really good moves and the only assets they have that someone might want is lebron or kyrie, its seems to be obvious that noone is enamored with Love (or it might just be his contract)

 

[tsteele316]

who were the Cav's gonna sign, they have no cap space? I agree firing the GM was stupid but to say they would have made a blockbuster trade after looking at what Indy took for PG is not a sure thing.

bottom line Cavs are backed into a corner with no really good moves and the only assets they have that someone might want is lebron or kyrie, its seems to be obvious that noone is enamored with Love (or it might just be his contract)

I would posit that signing Calderon day one of free agency, given the current pg market, was pretty dumb. It was if they were desperate to have a fall back body there just in case. But it seems obvious that Gilbert is going to push for felder to be the backup. But there are a few combo guards and bigs out there that can provide some good value. I fully expect Jeff green to be shumpert 2.0 in that he gives one stretch of really good play in order to gain a contract far beyond his value, only to turn back into a pumpkin.

In reality, the cavs really only need to put together a bench that can actually contribute, instead of the series of corpses that occupied spots 8-13 on the roster.

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

who were the Cav's gonna sign, they have no cap space? I agree firing the GM was stupid but to say they would have made a blockbuster trade after looking at what Indy took for PG is not a sure thing.

bottom line Cavs are backed into a corner with no really good moves and the only assets they have that someone might want is lebron or kyrie, its seems to be obvious that noone is enamored with Love (or it might just be his contract)

They weren't going to sign anybody with the space they had, but now we'll never know if Griffin could've moved some pieces to free up space or acquired better players than what they had.

I agree with tsteele in that the Green and Calderon signings were both terrible. The moves they made this offseason make the missed Danny Green trade look like they nearly acquired Jordan at his peak.

 

[exhawg]

They weren't going to sign anybody with the space they had, but now we'll never know if Griffin could've moved some pieces to free up space or acquired better players than what they had.

I agree with tsteele in that the Green and Calderon signings were both terrible. The moves they made this offseason make the missed Danny Green trade look like they nearly acquired Jordan at his peak.

There's no freeing up space. They are so far over the cap the only option would be to trade players nobody wants for more expensive players that teams want to unload. Love has enough value to get them an equivalent player for less years or more money, but even a guy like PG probably wouldn't have moved them past the Warriors. I would like to see them bring DWill2 back, but I don't know if what they have left of the MLE is enough. I feel any improvement they make this year is going to rely on a Felder or Osman making big strides as a 6th man. Maybe somebody gets bought out at some point that helps, but I don't know if there's anyone out there that puts them over the top. Maybe Kyrie takes the next step and shoots like Curry and is the best below the rim finisher in the game while playing adequate D. Maybe Love can play more stretch 5, but he doesn't really have a good fit against the Warriors. That's a lot of maybes and none of them are very likely.

Just blame the NBA for allowing the cap to grow enough in one year for the team with the best players to sign one of the top 3 players in his prime to a max contract. The Warriors really lucked into perfect drafts. Curry had injury issues and signed a second contract for good value. Green and Klay signed second deals before the cap jumped so they both look affordable now. OKC drafted better, but they were too cheap to keep the team together. Imagine Westbrook, Harden, KD, Ibaka, and Adams with Reggie Jackson coming off the bench when they go small.

I'm sure the Cavs would have done a little better if Griffin had stayed, but there just isn't much to do. Green and Calderon might both be turds, but at least they are minimum contract turds. That's why I like guys like DWill2. At least he's still young enough to maybe figure it out.

 

[BuckeyeMafia]

I'm with you entirely regarding young guys, but Lue didn't give them any minutes in the playoffs. He played the corpse of Deron Williams and Dahntay Jones over Derrick Williams in the Finals. Derrick Williams had the size and length to stay in front of Durant, at least for a couple possessions, but Lue didn't even allow him the opportunity. And speaking of Dahntay Jones, the Cavs released DeAndre Liggins, a (relatively) young, versatile defender to sign Jones.

I'm not saying they've had a lot of leeway to improve, but stupid moves like releasing Liggins and refusing to play young guys don't help them long-term.

 

[tsteele316]

I'm with you entirely regarding young guys, but Lue didn't give them any minutes in the playoffs. He played the corpse of Deron Williams and Dahntay Jones over Derrick Williams in the Finals. Derrick Williams had the size and length to stay in front of Durant, at least for a couple possessions, but Lue didn't even allow him the opportunity. And speaking of Dahntay Jones, the Cavs released DeAndre Liggins, a (relatively) young, versatile defender to sign Jones.

I'm not saying they've had a lot of leeway to improve, but stupid moves like releasing Liggins and refusing to play young guys don't help them long-term.

Liggins is a career journeyman at best. He's not the example you want to use.