Nobody has really floated this idea, but if you're the Cavs, if Lebron isn't giving you answers as to what the future will be and its causing all this havoc and is about to upheave your entire franchise and fanbase for the 2nd time in the same decade, why not just trade Lebron? Figure out a way to structure a deal that will ship Lebron to NY for Porzingis and picks, and deal Love elsewhere as well to get out from some bad contracts, and get ahead of the situation and build around Kyrie / Porzingis + some young assets. Cavs are staring down a situation where the best case scenario is they get blown out by the Warriors in the finals. If you're projecting what is best for your franchise for the future, and not THIS year, its to move past the Lebron era on your terms, and not James.
http://insider.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/20124720/cleveland-cavaliers-win-kyrie-irving-trade The teams on the list of desired destinations Irving gave the Cavaliers, according to ESPN's Chris Haynes -- Miami, Minnesota, New York and San Antonio -- mostly don't make sense as trade partners for Cleveland. Other than Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks don't have anyone else on the roster with trade value remotely comparable to Irving's. (Sorry, Carmelo Anthony doesn't count.) Same with the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard. A deal with the Timberwolves centered around Andrew Wiggins could be more appealing, but would require LeBron James to serve as the Cavaliers' full-time point guard -- and produce an awkward pairing of Irving and newly signed Jeff Teague in the Minnesota backcourt. The Heat could build an offer around point guard Goran Dragic, who is a capable enough 3-point shooter (40.5 percent last season, 36.3 percent career) to fill the role Irving does playing off the ball alongside James. Dragic has two seasons left on his contract at less money per year than Irving. But he's not nearly as dynamic a playmaker and is already 31. A couple of teams not on Irving's list could make more competitive deals. The Boston Celtics could offer point guard Isaiah Thomas, who was chosen for the All-NBA Second Team ahead of Irving last season. Thomas is surely the closest offensive proxy for Irving's skills the Cavaliers could get in return. However, the Celtics might be willing to offer him because Thomas is an impending free agent and his defensive limitations (in his case, being 5-foot-9) are more difficult to overcome. If Cleveland views this season as potentially its last with LeBron James, dealing for a player in the last year of his contract might make sense. Otherwise, the Cavaliers would be forced to choose between letting Thomas walk in a year or paying him a max deal starting at a projected $30.6 million that would take Thomas well into his 30s. Matching salary would also surely require Boston to gut its roster, making such a deal probably unpalatable. The best option, then, might be a Phoenix Suns package centered around point guard Eric Bledsoe. While his effort tends to wax and wane during the regular season, Bledsoe is the kind of physical defender Irving is not, and he's become a credible enough 3-point threat to play off the ball. (Bledsoe made a career-high 104 3s last season, albeit at a below-average 33.5 percent clip.) There are other reasons to believe a Bledsoe deal could work. He's a client of Klutch Sports, the agency founded by James' business partner Rich Paul. Phoenix also has ample cap space to take a contract like Channing Frye or Iman Shumpert off Cleveland's books, reducing the Cavaliers' tax bill. A deal of Irving and Shumpert for Bledsoe and T.J. Warren would save Cleveland nearly $60 million in payroll and taxes this season. While Bledsoe would be a defensive upgrade against Stephen Curry in a possible Finals rematch, it's still hard to say the Cavaliers would have a better chance of beating Golden State with him in place of Irving. Cleveland would lose too much of the shooting and shot creation that broke the Warriors' defense late in the 2016 Finals. Unless the Cavaliers can get another star point guard who is unexpectedly available in a trade, an Irving deal might help them in the regular season but not in the playoffs.
Kind of confusing why Suns would be needed. Suns don't want Melo. Knicks wouldn't want anyone other than Kyrie. How does it make any sense?
Tom Haberstrohâ @tomhaberstroh Just gonna leave this here ... Cavs with Kyrie Irving ON, LeBron James OFF last season: -120 in 635 minutes.
Dave McMenamin: Kyrie has decided sometime in the last 6 weeks that at this stage of his life/career, he doesn't want to be a running mate alongside LeBron. He wants to be a feature player. Miami, San Antonio, Minnesota & New York - two of those teams, he's not the runaway lead player. Still trying to make sense of why now & why those teams? Connect the dots, summer of 2018, if he believes LeBron won't be here, no way the Cavs will get rid of LeBron & me in the same summer. Will the Cavs honor his request? I can say this: Cavs did include Kyrie in trade scenarios in late June/early July. Sure, they'll field all the offers that will flood in now. Will they pull the trigger? I'm not so sure. He's an affordable commodity. No way it's an absolute that he's traded.
Lol, so much wrong here... Although Love, LeBron, and Carmelo can work offensively as a trident of stretch fours, they can't effectively play defense. Carmelo knows that he's a perfect for the Rockets where he would be the only stretch four.
Because Lebron has a no trade clause. With Lebron they are getting to the finals. I mean how many teams have been to the finals in the last decade?
I'm laughing at the thought of Kyrie Irving wanting to run his own team as a point guard. There's a reason the Cavs suck anytime LeBron sits. It's because Kyrie is a shooting guard in a point guard's body. He's also an atrocious defender. Any team thinking Kyrie can be their primary facilitator is in for a rude awakening. He's basically a younger, guard version of Melo with elite handles.
