It wasn't really the Irving trade that broke the Cavs it was Lebron turning the Cavs into his Klutch sports placement agency. First of all Wiggins was on a rookie deal Lebron had him moved for Love who was injury prone and making the max. Then he had Thompson making the max and JR Smith making near max because they were on his sport agency. Then even the coach got fired and he had Lue employed again because he was on Lebron's agency. Getting an expiring and lottery pick for Irving isn't that bad by itself, it was just more like the straw which broke the camel's back. If Thompson and Smith were signed to cheap deals then the Cavs could have another star to offset Irving's loss and if they had a competent coach maybe they wouldn't be this bad. Wiggins is still on a rookie deal if they didn't ship him out they would have space to sign another max dudes. If you add all that up the Cavs could've had 1-2 more superstars on their team which would turn things around drastically. Irving on the Cavs wasn't amazing, when Lebron sat down the Cavs had a negative differential last season. However look at Irving now. Vice versa look at Thomas last year vs this year. It just goes to show you the importance of having a good coach vs a clueless one.
Those finals appearances and ring are all due to Lebron himself. However if you look at the Cavs they had also been blessed with so many top 4 picks they could have drafted their own version of GSW. They squandered all of it partly due to their incompetence but also due to Lebron's tampering. Love is not better than Wiggins, Love always seems to be injured other than that 1 year the Cavs won a ring. At least Wiggins would have be healthy for every run the Cavs had and during the first couple of years he would be making rookie salary so the Cavs could have added a superstar alongside him.
SAS: Dan wants him gone. He's tired of being held hostage. They suspect he's gonna leave & think he's already checked out. Some believe LeBron quit. LeBron believes they have quit. Gilbert & LeBron's relationship has contaminated the franchise.
What do you guys think it would take to trade for Lebron now? what would we have to give up Capela + Gordon 1st Rd Picks?
They completely murdered LeBron on First Take. That was actually a very interesting segment. I don’t think there is anyone in the NBA that doesn’t feel like LBJ has pulled a can of quit.
How many teams are the warriors in terms of drafting? . Cavs management is pretty much bad at everything. They were terrible before lebron and after lebron. Wiggins is not better than love. He has a PER 13.5, negative BPM, VORP, a 102 ORTG, 112 DRTG and he is making max money. He is pretty much a bad contract at this point. Min is doing good because butler is balling.
Windhorst: “I know for a fact that Lebron, if all else is equal, wants to stay in Cleveland. He wants to be here, he wants to play at home. He values that greatly. But if he feels he can’t win here because of Dan’s choices, he may have no choice but to leave.”
LeBron’s mouthpiece. This is so LeBron can try to save face in order to avoid a similar backlash like the last time he left. If LeBron wants to be in Cleveland, he needs to play like it.
One would assume only if he comes very cheap and his contract is tradeable. Then again, this is Dan Gilbert.
I am wondering if LeBron leaves. . . do they blow it up completely or try like the Rockets WIN while reBUILDING Rocket RIver
Dan Gilbert, Koby Altman Don't Have Relationship With LeBron James __________________________ Windhorst: I almost don't think it's worth focusing on who they might trade for but who they might trade away. There are issues on this team. Interpersonal issues, trust issues & the overarching issue LeBron vs. Dan Gilbert. LeBron has continually been frustrated with Dan that he has not taken steps to improve the roster since Kyrie's trade demand/departure. He was very frustrated they traded Kyrie for a pick when stars were being traded last summer. LeBron made it very clear to ownership Kyrie shouldn't have been traded. Ownership's perspective is they don't think he's putting down the pedal all the way & isn't showing good leadership. It would be nice if someone on this team could get Dan & LeBron in a room together & face each other. LeBron, go back to being yourself & Dan, do something to help me out. More than anything, they gotta get past Thursday so the pressure of what will happen with the roster will be off & LeBron can stop focusing on who his teammates are & back on the game. Talking to the Clippers? They've had conversations. Dan Gilbert does not want to take on long term money past this season. Even though DeAndre can opt out, they want to trade Tristan to LA & the Clippers don't want him. A lot of the big deals they've been looking to attach Tristan. Every trade goes through the prism of is Dan all in on LeBron and the answer is no because LeBron isn't all in on him. Ty Lue's job security? Ty Lue has 3 years, $20M left on his contract. Mike Brown & David Blatt are still getting checks from Dan Gilbert. Don't think he wants to pay 4 coaches. Ty Lue's biggest advantage is he has a great contract & Ty Lue seems to be willing to play the lineup the front office wants him to play. He's playing lineups trying to manage egos & trade situations. He's not playing his best lineups in my opinion. I can't believe that that is his decision. I believe Lue & the front office are aligned. You can argue LeBron needs to be the bigger man but LeBron is trying to apply pressure to do something before Thursday.
It's not that I'm not giving Irving credit, it's that the stats show whenever Lebron sits the Cavs lose on point differential. That is a fact lol, are you denying that? You act like Irving now in Boston is how Irving was playing during his Cavs tenure and also act like Isiah Thomas was playing like this during his Boston tenure. Irving more than doubled his BPM last year to this year and also improved his defense from -2.5 to -0.5. He is also posting a career high in FG% and shooting 40% on 3s on 10 attempts a night. If you look at Thomas it's the complete opposite, he became worse on every statistical category. Both guys switches teams, is it a coincidence one dude is playing the best ball of his career and the other dude who got traded away is playing the worst? It's not that I'm not giving Irving credit it's that you think how he is playing now has nothing to do with his coach, new mindset and teammates.
No way he goes to Boston, especially the way Kyrie left and Miami???? They don't have a 2nd star in place where he can contend.
He loves Spoelstra. I think the Rockets path is just too complicated. With teams gearing up for the summer of 2019 and Gilbert not wanting to absorb Ryan Anderson, I don't see a realistic way to make an opt-in and trade work and I definitely don't see a Ryno trade working.
He is younger and has room to improve, Love is on the downhill of his career and can't stay healthy. More importantly it wouldn't be Wiggins vs Love, it would have been Wiggins+Max dude vs Love. He spent 4 years on a rookie deal, that means for the past 4 years Cavs could have had Wiggins plus another max dude vs just Love. Only reason Wiggins got a max deal is because he is seen as the franchise guy in Minny, on the Cavs he wouldn't get a max deal if he wasn't performing he would obviously get a lower salary look at Curry his first salary he didn't get the max because GSW had other stars and Curry was always injured at the time. Best of all Wiggins+that other max dude would have been present in all 4 Finals runs for the Cavs instead of sitting on the bench like Love.
