Norman Chad writes a special to the Plain Dealer that discusses the implications of The Decision during the 2011 trade deadline.
“Now the Cavs enter this summer’s draft with two lottery picks and a couple more young big men, which was at the top of coach Byron Scott’s wish list. Scott was so happy with the job Grant did on deadline day, he gave his GM a big hug at the end of the night.” [Jason Lloyd]
“Thursday’s first trade that sent Mo Williams to the Clippers for Baron Davis and a first round pick will go down as the moment the Cavs finally started to turn the page from the LeBron era into a new age of Cavalier basketball” [Ricky Braun]
“[The] Cavaliers will now be rebuilding with some of their other younger existing parts and an additional draft pick this season. Williams and Jamario Moon were taking away too much time from Ramon Sessions, Christian Eyenga, Manny Harris and others, so I don’t have a problem with [the Baron Davis trade] one bit.” [Jacob Rosen]
In case anyone missed this, Rip Hamilton apparently turned down a trade to and subsequent buyout by the Cavs, who would have acquired a lottery-protected first round pick in next year’s draft in the process. Not a huge deal, I suppose, but it’s odd that Hamilton wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to get out of Detroit and onto the playoff roster of a team like Boston or Chicago.
“I can get back to my roots … even if I have to dribble in the snow to get to the gym.” [Baron Davis via Mary Schmitt Boyer]
“Scott and Davis didn’t exactly click when they were together in New Orleans in 2004. The Hornets traded Davis to Golden State that fall. They’ve since made up.” [Bob Finnan]
“While the veteran presence that Jamison provides on the court cannot be replicated, the injury gives the newcomers from the Boston Celtics a chance to immediately become acclimated with the team. For however long the Cavs are without Jamison, his 33 minutes per game will likely be spread among Erden, Harangody, and Samardo Samuels, providing the youngsters with the opportunity for even more on-court experience.” [Conrad Kaczmarek]
On The Twitters
“Sources say Pistons will not buyout Rip Hamilton or Tay Prince. Deal with Cavs could be revisited around NBA Draft time.” [Chris Broussard]
“#FanUp #FAIL RT @SimpleeKayla: Heat vs. Knicks crowd: 19,702. Cavs vs. Sixers crowd: 19,882. #JustSayin” [Eric Knappenberger]
“If the Cavs start Harangody at the 4 they will have the smallest starting 5 in the league since the 1948 Rochester Royals.” [realcavsfans]
Is Antawn really out for the rest of the season?
IMO it’s better that way. Jamison is not in the long term plans. Yeah, you have to play him if you have him, but he doesn’t defend, he eats up possessions, and he’s taking away minutes from the young guys. Let the Cavs get the worst record (best chance at getting #1 pick) and let all the young guys get some experience. Before Jamison went down they were not playing like the worst team in basketball – can’t see how they won’t be now.
Time to REALLY get excited about the youth movement – and to enjoy March Madness – get ready for the lottery.
Was the Pistons pick in the Hamilton deal really lottery protected? If so, why would the Cavs use their trade exception for that?
I’ve yet to see someone with an example of the things you can get with the TPE. I keep seeing these ideas that the Cavs should hold it and not use it for a late 1st rounder or even a future protected pick. What the hell are we getting with this thing? We gonna trade for Kobe with it? To get an unprotected first rounder is going to require taking on someone’s major, long-term salary. As you can see, even Dan Gilbert isn’t willing to pay that price for a draft pick (or else the Cavs could have simply done the trade w/o the buy-out). In the Davis trade, he was able to move a fairly reasonable amount of salary out of here. Had he not been able to move Mo Williams, I’m doubting he pulls the trigger and simply adds 30 million dollars in salary for nothing but a draft pick.
Basically, I say all that to say this, the TPE is going to be us taking on salary w/o actually shedding any. If we are to get an unprotected pick, it’s going to require this team taking on a monster contract like a Baron Davis, only w/o the bonus of being able to send salary back. That means Gilbert is going to have to pay tens of millions of dollars for a draft pick. I don’t see it happening. Therefore, I’m perfectly fine with using the TPE for an expiring contract and a protected draft pick (or a contract in which the player agrees to a buy-out). I don’t expect an unprotected lottery pick to be headed this way for the TPE.
Understand, I’m not saying Gilbert is cheap. I love the guy. But I also understand his money isn’t limitless and to ask an owner to use the TPE on a guy like Hamilton sans buy-out agreement for a draft pick is a little bit much.
Rich – thanks for bringing that up – I was wondering about that too.
Don’t count out Gilbert spending though – dude might be the only person with a bigger ego than LeBron – and he REALLY wants to win.
“#FanUp #FAIL RT @SimpleeKayla: Heat vs. Knicks crowd: 19,702. Cavs vs. Sixers crowd: 19,882. #JustSayin”
^^
American Airlines arena(Heat arena) capacity only holds 19,600. Just saying.
Two seconds of research, Eric.
You make a good point Danny Boy, but how do you explain Heat fans allowing Knicks fans to BOO LeBron while he was at the foul line? I could hear it clearly on my television, and hardly had the sound on. Any Heat fan should have heard that and immediately started cheering as loud as they could to drown it out.
My point? The majority of Heat fans suck.
@ Colin….there are NO Heat fans….just citizens of the city who put on jerseys when the team is good then disappear to the clubs and beaches when team sucks….Heat fans don’t exist…and thus thats why Knicks fans were much louder…
Real fans are Cleveland fans baby hahaha
I wonder how much nanner LBJ is getting down there in South Beach.
Im sorry Jamison was hurt but I’m all for seeing the new/younger players get some good minutes.
What’s the worst that can happen, not win any more games for the rest of the season? Who cares…
I just want Jamison to be fully healthy for next season. His contract expires at the end of next year and with a solid year could bring some good assets in a trade to a contending team.
The Clippers lost to the Kings today!!! These are the kind of things I root for now.
Dan was apparently ready to pay 18-22 million for Detroit’s first rounder. I wouldn’t call that cheap. I doubt it was protected at that price — maybe top 3 protected, but that’s it. However, if Detroit gets top 3 and it rolls over to next year, that’s even better. Look for the Cavs to trade one of those two picks into a later first rounder this year, and an unprotected pick next year. A trade with a team like Charlotte or New Orleans who might fall apart next year would be great.
wonder if there is any chance the cavs could pick up corey brewer. he is young, defends, doesn’t waste possessions and is already used to the cold weather.
The potential trade with the Pistons was protected and Gilbert was willing to pay. It was Hamilton that blocked the deal. Says a lot about Gilbert’s willingness to spend and desire to win, also says something about Hamilton (not taking a buy-out to possibly end up with another contender but still complaining about his current team).
I keep watching Clippers games and cheering for them to lose. It would be great if they fall even lower and we get another top 4 pick from them. (still more likely we’ll get a 5-10 pick from them, but it’s possible).
I really like Jamison and this makes us an even worse team than we were the first half of the season. However, this injury will be good for our younger guys to get some minutes and we can see how Erden fits. Also, since this is a pinky injury, I think it makes Jamison a better trade asset next year as this will ‘save’ his knees – which have caused him a lot of problems in the past. Honestly when he plays I always just hope that he doesn’t hurt his knee again because then we may be ‘stuck’ with him through all of next season. Now our chances of moving his expiring are bettter.
It’s not unusual for Arenas to have more fans than their stated capacity. Capacity is generally based on the number of permenant seats excluding stading areas (like in lodge) and arena resturaunt seats with views of the game. So to hear that 19.7 people showed at the heat game with a capacity of 19.6 isn’t unusual or surprsing at all. Just saying…
My point was that The Q holds more people than Heat arena so the point of Eric tweet was flawed especially on that particular night. I know arenas can hold more than their capacity, yet on that night the Q didn’t exceed its capacity so pointing it out wasn’t a great “GOTCHA!” moment.
Just wanted to point out that the Heats arena was half empty throughout their entire game with NY. They might have announced a crown of 19700 but there were NOT that many people there. That’s why the Heat organization loses money every year.