Cleveland did run some plays for Kyrie off pick and rolls or dribble hand off attacks, but they don't exactly have snipers like Curry and Klay so it's in their best interest to have Love and LeBron post while Thomson and Mozgov crash the boards. I think as long as LeBron can draw a double and kick to a cutter or a guy open for 3, that's a win for them. I was surprised how badly Tristan Thompson dominated Draymond on the glass last night. If Love was still playing it'd be a fair fight. You'd still see isolation, but moreso with Love on Draymond, Kyrie on Steph, and LeBron on Barnes or whoever.
Their offensive rebounding advantage is nuts. But, it does really hurt their spacing and if LeBron's jumper isn't falling (like all Playoffs until last night), it really limits what they can do.
First game... This is a 7 game series. I doubt LBJ can do it all series long. He's just human after all...
I wonder what their plan is now... Do they get largely the same guys and just hope for better health? They really need more depth and more playmakers in the Finals, but that's with Irving and Love out-- even pretty deep teams will be shorthanded while missing their 2nd and 3rd best players. Still, they can use some more help at backup PG and SF. Delly is scrappy, but don't bring much offensively (except for that one game) and their only real backup SF are old slow guys Jones and Miller. Love, JR (unrestricted), Tristan and Shump (restricted) are all free agents, too.
They need to trade Haywood's nonguarteed contract for a either a bad contract that can help or a highly paid role player. I'm thinking they should trade for Calderon giving the Knicks way more caproom but atleast they would obtain a pg who can control the tempo and shoot well. It helps considering Kyrie is injury prone and having 3 pgs is pretty essential in that case. Can't think of anyone else within the 10 mill they could trade for that seems available.
Re-up Thompson, and bring in some better perimeter guys. They need another playmaker and another three point shooter. And they don't need JR Smith or Shumpert. Neither are helpful at all.
Serious question for the cap experts on here. How in the hell can the Cavs bring this team back next season? Assuming LeBron, Love, and Smith all exercise their player options, and Varejao and Irving return, and the Cavs exercise the team option on Mosgov, that's around 75 mil committed to just those players. And that's to say nothing of the 10 1/2 mil owed to Haywood or Mike Miller's nearly $3 million player option. And God forbid Love opts out. Then the Cavs will have to fork over 20+ mil/yr to keep him around(or do a sign-and-trade) since letting him walk for nothing is not an option. I hate to say it, but Cleveland probably just witnessed their best shot at a title go up in flames. The East is so bad and LeBron is so good(although he is now 30), so it's entirely possibly the Cavs will get back to the Finals again. But how can ever defeat a quality Western Conference opponent if they lose all their depth?
They can keep the guys they have using Bird Rights. They just need to pay a lot of luxury tax. Brian Windhorst on Cavs summer moves: http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/13096193/nba-next-lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers
Exactly. That's my point. Sure, they can theoretically bring everyone back. But it'll cost them a fortune to do so: Internally, the Cavs have discussed their payroll needing to balloon to between $100 million and $110 million for next season, according to sources. If they actually hit the top end of that salary threshold, it would put owner Dan Gilbert on the hook for more than $75 million in luxury tax payments and bring the team near the record $193 million in taxes and salaries the Brooklyn Nets spent in 2013-14. It's the same dilemma facing the Warriors over the next 3 offseasons. They could technically re-sign just about all of their free agents. But they'd be so far over the cap(even after it goes way up next summer) that it'll put them heavily into luxury tax territory. We always hear about owners supposedly willing to spend what it takes to win, but how often do we see any of them put that much money where their mouths are? OKC wound up trading Harden over a few extra million dollars a season. Cuban broke up the 2011 champion Mavs and amnestied Michael Finley. The Heat amnestied Mike Miller. We'll see what the Cavs do. But given the number of free agents and player options they're looking at, I'd be stunned if they were able to return with this same roster next season.
The thing is, the money comes out of Dan Gilbert's pocket, but the decision to spend it may belong to LeBron James. If LeBron says spend or else I walk, Gilbert has to spend. Besides with the rising cap the tax number will be much lower in a year or two.
<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&adSetCode=91cDU6NuXTGKz3OdjOxFdAgJVtQcKJnI&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:13098009&thruParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"></script> Windhorst on Kevin Love: There is a little bit of uncertainty in Love's situation. I think the Cavs' mission has become very clear. They'ave done so well in the playoffs without Kevin. They go to Kevin Love with a max contract and say "Kevin, here's a max contract. If you want to sign it, we'd love to have you back. Otherwise, we move on." I think Cavs have proven they can be successful without him.
I think when you have someone like Lebron on your team, you don't need TWO other superstars. Kyrie + Lebron + some solid role players is all you need. A shooter, a rebounder etc. If they can hang in there without Love, Irving, and a crappy JR smith...they can make some minor upgrades and be good enough.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">David Griffin said the Cavs will extend qualifying offers to both Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert.</p>— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a href="https://twitter.com/mcten/status/611628517470547968">June 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Griffin says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash">#Cavs</a> intend to keep Thompson. Expects both LeBron and Love to opt out of contracts.</p>— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) <a href="https://twitter.com/twithersAP/status/611633134258515968">June 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Player option deadlines for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash">#Cavs</a>, I'm told: G J.R. Smith's is June 24, F Kevin Love's is June 25 and F LeBron James' is June 29.</p>— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/611637699963793410">June 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I think the Cavs will keep Shumpert. But I wonder on JR Smith. Initially I thought 'yes,' but now I am not so sure unless the contract is favorable. Cavs have some avenues to add to their rotation and depth. Particularly that non-guaranteed contract of Brendan Haywood.
