That's not a bad return considering the timing of kyrie's request. They keep a puncher's chance at the title while getting some good pieces for the post LeBron rebuild
I guess they are banking on Devin Booker taking that next step as well. They still have solid veterans there with Chandler and Dudley. They may fight for an 8th seed, but I don't see them going any further than that.
^^^ re: The above two posts........Yes, they have a young stud in Devin Booker. How steep of a price will they pay for Kyrie Irving? That wouldn't be a bad haul for Cleveland. For all our sakes, I hope they just get it done so New York will turn to other matters (*cough* Carmelo! *cough*).
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/08/cleveland_cavaliers_scribbles_64.html If the Cavs are to work a deal for Irving to Minnesota, Wiggins is the most likely Cavs target. Yes, the Wolves could still sign-and-trade him. But that would create some bad blood -- unless Wiggins wanted to be part of the deal. As one NBA source told me, Wiggins signing a long-term deal with Minnesota makes it unlikely the Wolves will trade him. Kyrie Irving's four teams on his trade list are New York, Minnesota, San Antonio and Miami. As I look at the list, I find no pattern. For example ... Miami? I suppose it's a great spot to spend the winter. But the Heat just signed Dion Waiters to a four-year, $52 million deal. They had major chemistry issues when in the same backcourt with the Cavs from 2012-14. I've not heard any viable rumors about Irving and Miami. I heard Phoenix would be very interested in dealing for Irving. But the Suns would want to know if Irving will sign an extension to stay in Phoenix. His contract is up in the summer of 2018. I'm told Irving is not about to commit to any team at this point. He has two seasons left on his contract and wants to keep his options open. The Suns would be willing to trade Eric Bledsoe as part of a deal for Irving, even if Irving makes no commitment. But they would not want to include rookie Josh Jackson in that deal, assuming Irving keeps his options open. The Cavs would love shooting guard Devin Booker, but he is as close to untouchable as anyone on the Suns roster. The Suns would love to put together a package with Brandon Knight, T.J. Warren and Bledsoe for Irving and some others such as Iman Shumpert or Channing Frye to make it work on the salary cap. That has little appeal to the Cavs. Knight has a torn ACL knee injury and will miss the entire season. So forget him. I still think Phoenix is a likely destination for Irving. The Suns can be tempted at some point to give up Jackson, an athletic small forward who would help the Cavs. He was the No. 4 pick in the draft. But right now, it appears the two teams are just waiting to see if anything else comes up, such as a third-party deal. Irving is from New Jersey and would love to play for the Knicks. It would give him the type of national profile he craves. The only player the Cavs would really want from New York in an Irving deal is Kristaps Prozinigis. It's very unlikely the Knicks would part with their gifted 7-foot-3 center. There are the never-ending Carmelo Anthony rumors. He does want to come to the Cavs. He doesn't want to come to the Cavs. He doeswant to come to the Cavs ... you get the point. But Anthony should not be a focal point of any trade involving Irving. Like LeBron James, Anthony does have a no-trade clause. My guess is it's a media creation, but there have been reports of a deal centering on Portland's Damian Lillard and Irving. That would really interest me. Lillard has four years and $115 million on his contract. I don't know why Portland would trade their All-Star guard who is signed for four years for Irving, who can leave in two years. Besides Phoenix, the other team likely to be involved in an Irving deal is Denver. The Cavs and Denver had a three-way trade worked out involving Paul George (to Cleveland), Kevin Love (to Denver) and other players to Indiana. The Pacers backed out of the deal. Denver doesn't have a lot of big-name players, but the Nuggets do have some young players who are absolutely loved by many NBA executives. Start with 22-year-old shooting guard Gary Harris. He averaged 15 points last season, shooting 50 percent from the field (42 percent on 3-pointers). The stats geeks believe he is a hidden gem. Wilson Chandler is a 6-foot-8 small forward. The 30-year-old averaged 15.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and shot 46 percent last season. He's a career 14-point scorer. Lots of scouts like 20-year-old Jamal Murray, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 9.9 points shooting 40 percent as a 19-year-old rookie in 2016-17. I hear Denver will not give up Murray and Harris in a deal. The point is Denver has some players who could be attractive to the Cavs. It's possible there could be a three-way deal with Denver and Phoenix.
From Irving standpoint I would want to be in Minnesota for purely basketball reasons. Second would honestly be the knicks as weird as that sounds. Him and KP could be a very good duo in 3 years if perry can draft well and get the right role players around them (defenders) I understand were he is coming from. When your from the area especially the ny/nj area you just want to be there forever. My mothers side of the family is all from NY and we love it but ppl that aren't from there just don't get it and I do understand why, it's a lot to take in compared to California or houston. From clevland standpoint the Suns deal Is the best imo. Twolves is nice also with Wiggins and Teague and it's the more sure thing. But Bledsoe is better than Teague when healthy (big if) and I like Josh Jackson ceiling a lot more than Wiggins. Jacksons has what Wiggins didn't coming out and that's motor and heart. He's a dog and he's already going to be elite on defense from day one. Imo he's already the better rebouder passer defender than Wiggins. Wiggins just has the one skill set than I admit Jackson might never get amen thats the scoring. I know Wiggins can be a 25ppg scorer in this league. I don't know is jacksons can be more than 12-14 in his peak. But if I'm clevland I would gamble on jacksons because if he does learn to score and shoot your looking at the next Kawi Leonard who is better at passsing, A true franchise player. Wiggins imo will never be a true franchise franchise guy but he's going to get paid like one. He'll get numbers and he'll be a top 25 player for a nice amount of years but if I know Lebron is gone get me the young guy who's got the real star potential even tho the other guy is young and is already scoring a lot.
I don't think they keep a puncher's chance at a title. They were out-classed as is and Bledsoe would be a downgrade from Irving. Josh Jackson is a nice prospect, but he's not going to move the needle at all as a rookie. They'd fall behind Boston in the East, IMO.
I thought the Suns rejected any trade deals that involved Josh Jackson. To me that makes sense, even with Irving they are not even playoff contenders so what's the point in trading somebody like Jackson for Irving?
It makes sense for a contender or borderline contender to give up youth, potential, rookie scale contract & the option to lock the player under contract for many more years to get a better player in return. It makes absolutely no sense for a bottom of the barrel rebuilding team to do the exact same thing.
Irving + Shumpert to PHO for Bledsoe + T.J. Warren + Tyson Chandler + Miami 2018 1st + PHO 2nd Who says no?
4 way deal with Rockets and Knicks? Sign me up. Miami 2018 1st to Knicks for taking on Shumpert and giving Lee to the Cavs so Lebron and company have more depth. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yb29d5sr
I toyed with something similar, but if we do something like that... it would already be done.... Knicks just don't want Ryno (right now)
Bledsoe, Bender and 2018 Miami 1st...eh, not a great package imo, but if nobody is going to offer better i think they should take this offer and move on, i don't really see how they can keep Irving on the roster at this point.
I'm with Vivi on this one... that's a decent haul.... if I was Cavs I would also try to swap Shumpert for Chandler (Chandler is wasting away on Suns)
