So the good news is that the Cavs are getting something back for LeBron James after all. According to Windhorst, the Cavs will be getting two first-round picks from the Heat sometime between 2013 and 2017, a 2012 second-round pick from New Orleans, a future second-round pick, and a $16 million trade exception.
The details of this are complicated, but basically this allows Miami to pay LeBron less earlier in his contract, gives the Cavaliers something something for giving up LeBron, and helps Miami improve in the short term while giving the Cavs a better chance to rebuild.
It looks like the plan is to try and use the picks as assets in a trade and try for another winning season rather than try a full rebuild. Not sure how I feel about that as a five-year plan, but it looks like the management wants to give the fans something to root for next season. Can’t say I disagree with that logic.
I would have something to say about the press conference fiasco, but I was at summer league watching basketball. I really don’t feel like I missed something important. Until tomorrow, everyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZr2qOXQJ4w
Dan LeBatard’s reaction to “The Decision” is priceless. It may sting, but it’s full of laughs.
Echoing Rich, there’s no owner vs. player’s distinction here. It’s the method, not the outcome. I think most of us expected, especially after the playoffs, that LeBron would be leaving for seemingly greener pastures. It’s the fact that he strung us along for two more months, never acknowledged Cleveland fans for their support, and basically pissed on the front office, in addition to what appears now to be throwing the playoffs this year, are what pisses us off.
He can go anywhere he goddamn well pleases. But if he doesn’t want to be thought of as a self-aggrandizing, masturbatory piece of shit, then he shouldn’t have gone about this the way he did.
Rich,
I totally agree with you. People keep holding onto these ridiculous sentiments like loyalty (sounds a lot like hope and change and other marketing slogans used to get presidents elected) and thinking they have value in logical discourse. LeBron quit on his team, he colluded well in advance to form this troika, and he disrespected Cleveland by purposefully adding The Decision to this city’s pantheon of sports embarrassments when he vowed to deliver us a championship. He’s a bad person because of these reason. End of story.
All im saying is look out this coming season. The Cavs will come back with alot of fire i have a good feeling about it. When MJ left the leuge in 1994 every person on that bulls team pciked them selves up and made the team even better.Yes they never made it to the finals after he left, but just watch the Cavs i have a good feeling LBJ leaving is a reason to win a chip. T Mac will sign with the cavs he is the only FA i can see that has the will to win one before he leaves.
@Eric s
Lmao at le.betard… I noticed the “d-l-c” written in nwo letters. When I first heard bout those 3 joining same team, I thought bout wade as hall, bosh as nash and lbj as hogan forming the nwo, with riley as bishoff lol. I don’t know how many of Ya’ll remember that, but Hogan became an instant heel and also pissed on all his hulkamaniacs lol. I mean only a classic wrestling storyline can describe this move lol. And I guarantee that they’ll be people all over the place trying to join them down there within that 6 years (just like wcw). At this point, especially watching the 3 of them hamming it up for the cameras Friday, and understanding lbj makes calculated decisions, this move was certainly thought up LONG before Thursday morning. As wrong as lbj went about doing it, the next 6 years will be a spectacle. At the risk of permanently ruining his legacy, I hope they do in fact win rings. Again, regardless of regular season or playoffs, I will never cheer for them vs the Cavs.
Do you guys think it’d be in Cavs best interest to go after the likes of Jefferson and childress?
No, I don’t. Childress maybe, but it depends on the number. jefferson can’t be a number 1 guy and costs to much for a number 2 guy. We gotta just blow it up and get at least two straight lottry picks before we start taking guys like Jefferson.
Oh, and it isn’t 6 years if they don’t win. They all have 4 year POs.
I love LeBatard. Dude totally understands Miami fans are an oxymoron.
Somebody is gonna be humbled in all of this, whether lbj or Gilbert. Gilbert’s guarantee of winning before lbj was very bold, and on paper, very ludicrous. I don’t know if he’s gonna be ok with packing it in the next couple years for lottery picks. ESpecially after such an outlandish guarantee. Hard for me to see how Cavs are gonna remain a considerable title contender right now. If they kept the roster as is, they’ll definitely be competitive in regards to making playoffs
Yea..Gilbert is about to mess up by not packing it in. Still, we can keep Miami from winning a title w/o trying to beaat them ourselves. Put Mo Williams on the Lakers. Done.
Put Varejao on the Magic. Done.
So what will the Cavs and Gilbert be doing with the money they planned to pay LeBron? Win a championship? You’ve got to be kidding. With the current cast of characters they would have trouble beating Ohio State. Gilbert’s message is playing to the fans anger. He’s playing us, folks. When will he be DOING something more that stocking up draft picks for 3-5 years from now? The Three Kings from South beach will have won several championships by then. Gilbert talks a good game but we need to see more than smoke and mirrors. Does anyone take Gilbert seriously? Does anyone really believe this team, in its current form, will win a championship BEFORE LeBron does? If so, I’ve some swamp land to sell you outside Phoenix, AZ. You can get a loan from Gilbert’s Quicken.
The only way they become championship contenders is if they pull off a trade for Chris Paul at the deadline (or sooner) this will mean getting other teams involved…my hope is that we can work a 3 team thing where Minnesota sends NO Al Jefferson and we take Okafor and Paul, not sure yet exactly what Minnesota gets out of that.
I love the sentiment from Gilbert but he needs to do what is best for the team. The guarantee will be forgotten. Anyway, Miami is not going to win a championship as long as that Lakers frontcourt is together. Not a chance. Cavs need to make smart moves and build for the future. If we put roadblocks in Miami’s way, all the better, but it isn’t necessary. If we can get rid of contracts in a way that makes sense, let’s do it. I really think Gilbert needs to make some kind of statement to make him look like less of a lunatic. Like we don’t have enough problems attracting players already.
Damn, Windy says it looks like Childress is going to Phoenix (which is a fantastic move, but I wish we’d have nabbed him). Now my new-dream scenario of trading for Rubio’s rights and signing Childress can never happen (seriously though, with most of who we have now and those 2, that would be a SICK team).
Perry, wrong board. Don’t give me this bullshit of what he’s selling “us,” cause clearly you aren’t us. No one in their right mind expects this team to win a title anytime soon, but I fully believe they can prevent the heat from winning one by giving away players while rebuilding to specific teams.
Also, owners pushing for a hard cap next year. The “3 Kings (how in the hell does Bosh get mentioned with the other 2…someone help me out there)” are about to be reduced to 2…or be all by themselves after 1 season. It’s gonna be fun watching that shit blow up.
is it just me, or does it look like espn writers, except for simmons, is protecting lebron. most of the articles i read is supporting his decision and somehow forgetting to add the 1-hour espn especial into the equation..
just an observation..
ESPN has always protected him, and will continue to do so unless he goes Benedict Arnold on them too for some reason down the road. Gilbert protected him up until the betrayal and you saw his anger. I mean, not even talking to your owner from the moment you gave up in the playoffs and then having one of your own henchman call him 2 minutes before you leave, especially when that owner has done everything for you….dude has some serious ego.
I’ve always loved Simmons and hopes he continues to pound this story the way he has been. And with talk of collusion and fixing games (at least the Bos series) starting to make national press, lets hope the heat stays on that organization and this doesn’t just blow over.
Getting ahead of myself, but if tampering is proven and Miami has to pay up…in the Joe Smith case, didn’t he become a FA again, and MIN lost all kinds of picks and was fined heavily ? So if I remember that right, would it makes sense that the NBA would make these 2 clowns FA’s again. Not that I’d want either one here and am sure teams would be lining up again to get them but would be nice to see The Fake One have to end up in NY/NJ and in the worst of all possible situations.
Gilbert should not have been kissing up so bad and maybe he would not feel so upset now….Any thoughts on the Jesse Jackson comments?
These ESPN people just do not get it at all. They’re sticking to the false narrative/strawman that the people pissed at LeBron right now are pissed because he went somewhere else. If I have to hear one more goddamn person say that Cleveland didn’t own LBJ or some BS (which, given publicly funded stadiums, etc., we were subsidizing his career and making it possible), I’m going to f-ing strangle myself.
It’s becoming clear that the organization’s steadfast goal of keeping its “win now” mentality, while admirable, might not be possible. Just not many players available at the moment. Teams have been able to craft trades (like PHX deal of today) for weeks, while the Cavs have not. The playoff losses stripped bare much of the trade value of people like Mo and Delonte, while giant contracts hamper the value of Andy and Antawn. JJ, once thought to be tradeable, now probably has to be a keeper, right?
What the heck are the Cavs going to do with that big 16 mil trade exception? As I understand it, they have 12 months in which to use it or it disappears. Best guess is that Cavs will participate in some other team’s mid-season salary-dumping moves. Probably with a team looking to position itself to get Carmelo.
I think the path out of this mess has to be youth. Not talking about tanking for the lottery – actually that rarely works. Also can’t just dump everything and hope to sign a superstar (NYK.) That’s also a fail. Trades, looking to Europe, praying that Eyenga can play, that kind of rebuild. Sorta like Milw, Houston and Portland strategy. Those teams didn’t plan for a superstar, they just overturned every rock looking for new players, and made smart trades and mid-level type FA moves. We need to find our Brandon Jennings, our Aaron Brooks, etc. A tall order.
From Congressman James’ ESPN interview last night:
“I didn’t talk to anyone personally, because … I got to a point the last day, I heard so much about the whole process and the last day I wanted just to be about me,” James said. “I didn’t want to talk to anybody, so when I went to the interview (with Jim Gray) I was comfortable with myself and I wasn’t hearing other people’s voices going on in my decision, so, I didn’t talk to anybody.”
Emphasis mine. The guy is freaking clueless.
hahahaha Congressman James. I love that one. My personal favorite is LeBlown Games. Never more true than Game 5. He really is freaking clueless. Or programmed.
I’m glad the Cavs have decided to no longer talk about players who are not on their roster – good for them. Now they need to get busy looking for talented young players in order to find the next Durant or similar. There’s plenty of talent out there, we just need to find it and mold it under coach Scott’s knowledge of the game.
If done properlly we could be a .500 team. Not what we would like but it’s what it is. I’m just glad Mike Brown is gone – he didn’t have the talent Byron has.
all of this talk that we should blow the team up doesnt make any sense if we dont have draft picks this year that are our own. It would be better to wait and blow it up when a lot of contracts expire anyway imo. No one on the roster can really get lottery picks, maybe later first or second rounders. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens