If you have the ability to make a move that could win you 5 titles in a row, you mortgage whatever future you can mortgage to do it. Teaming Lebron-Love-Kyrie is not quite in that echelon but it's pretty damn close. Wiggins will be an almost guaranteed All-Star but if Lebron leaves before he blooms Wiggins is not going to bring a title by himself.
Sure...add an all-star stretch 4 who is also a monster on the glass and a motion-offense oriented coach and you have yourself a real contender! Spoiler
Let's go back to 1984. Michael Jordan is not a sure bet. Ralph Sampson is. Should the Bulls pull the trigger on that trade now? Keep the rookie and sign Love or some other near-elite player in free agency.
Two problems with that. 1. If you wait until next offseason, you don't have Love this season. Then if he signs next year, Lebron is 31 adjusting to new teammates. 2. Love could easily decide to go somewhere else, or take the money to stay if Minnesota turns their team around.
The 1984 Bulls were a 27 win team. They had no current megastars in their prime and no expectation of even making the playoffs. Making a win-now move would have been idiotic. The 2014 Cavaliers are a team that has the best player on the planet signed to what is, in the most pessimistic case, a one-year deal. If a Love acquisition pans out they could win multiple championships before Wiggins even makes an All-Star team. The two situations are far from analogous. Using Sampson as a sure bet is also very skewed because you're deliberately using the biggest "failed" "sure bet" in Houston sports history as a sure bet.
This bothers me, I feel like pride is the root of this. Minnesota just doesnt want to get fleeced in the public eye, and anything outside of Wiggins for Love will be seen as getting fleeced. Bennett + Waiters + 2 first rounders is a stupid trade for Cleveland and Minnesota isnt even taking that. My vision of Lebron and Wiggins playing shut down Detroit style perimeter defense and holding bad teams to 68 points is fading away.
It has to be Kevin Love! Wiggins is one of the most overrated prospects to come out of the draft since OJ Mayo. If Cleveland can land a bonafide star like Kevin Love, they have to do it in a heart beat.
How is he overrated? no body said he was skilled yet, everybody says he is the biggest pile of raw ability anybody has seen in many years. Which is exactly what he is. He can get 8 to 10 buckets a game just off athleticism, he is already a great perimeter defender and he has the foundation of a good jumpshot. I would have a heartattacking signing that trade agreement. He will come back to bite the Cavs for sure. But I agree with you, you kind of have to do the trade. With a tear in your eye. lol
Wiggins is overrated and Love is underrated. Selfishly, I'd like to see klove on a team where he is the star in the playoffs, because I think he is a player that can lead a team to the finals and win. when he is with lebron, of course that isn't going to happen. i just wished that the grizzlies had not traded love when they drafted him. but that is water under the bridge.
I would have done it the day Lebron made his decision. I don't know much about Wiggins but my KU friends question his desire to be big time. Don't know if that's accurate but either way, getting a player of Love's caliber is worth it.
That's a big leap of faith when he's yet to even show he can lead a team to over .500. He'd be perfect next to Lebron though.
That is an absolutely insane idea. He has never even taken a team to the playoffs. He could NEVER lead a team to a championship
The Cavs have a chance to win a championship with Lebron, Love, and Irving. They have never won a championship in their history. This is a no brainer. You get love.
Even if you take the worst case, disaster scenario analogy it's still not that bad. If you flesh out the analogy and the Bulls happen to have just signed Larry Bird and already had Sidney Moncrief, acquiring Sampson might still get you one championship. Who knows if MJ and Bird would actually mesh well together (on and off the court). Would Bird (or the coach) actually allow MJ the touches to ever become Air Jordan?
I might be missing something, but Bennett and Waiters are under contract this season for 5.5 and 5.1 million, why would they have to decide on their 2015-16 options before the 2014-2015 season even takes place? In my scenario, the Cavs would decide on Bennett, Waiters and Thompson a week before the draft and the July 10th. Ideally they would trade Waiters for a trade exception and a future pick, before or during the draft. Bennett and Thompson depending on how they fared in 2014-15 season would either have also been traded for TE/picks or waived/renounce in July 1-10 to accommodate a Love signing. Again not entirely sure about the dates the Cavs have to officially renounce or waive their rights to Bennett & Thompson, nor how waiving their rights/caphold to Varajeo impacts resigning him later. Great points and I definitely agree it is one of the big drawbacks of the scenario I outlined. I think the plan is one Morey would pursue especially since there would many more possibilities/options/details/restrictions & rules, too complicated for me to navigate. Of course in the event Love doesn't choose Cleveland it could also be disastrous.
Bump.... Would the Cavs have been better off keeping Wiggins and Busty Beignet (two #1 picks) instead of trading them for no Love in return? :grin:
Wiggins for Love will look worse and worse as things go along, but Love is probably a little underrated at this point. Just not a good fit with the Cavs and a trade would benefit both sides.
The key is LeBron is still most dominant or MVP calibre at this stage of his career as PF, but not as SF. But Love cannot play the 5. Love needs to be traded for a SG/SF, ironically Wiggins with his good defense is a good fit with LeBron, Kyrie and TT.
