Point Four-ward: Reinforcements Assemble!
2017-03-01
Deron Williams has agreed to come to Cleveland
The Cavs stood pat at the trade deadline, preaching patience and a little bit of luck, hoping for a “playmaker” and a “big” via the buyout market. After rumors of potential trades with Minnesota for Ricky Rubio or the Mavericks for Deron Williams swarmed Twitter, Cleveland ended up not making a deadline move, keeping a roster spot open and preserving their remaining limited assets (Cedi Osman and 2021 First Round Pick).
1. The Cavs finally get their coveted “playmaker” without a trade
"At the end of the day I felt like this was the best team for me. I felt like I would have a significant role here"
–@DeronWilliams pic.twitter.com/KT4ptLi8S8— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 28, 2017
Deron Williams (No. 3 overall pick, three time All Star, and two time gold medalist) was waived by the Dallas Mavericks after the trade deadline. With a youth movement occurring in Dallas, the Mavericks gave Williams an opportunity to join a contender for the rest of the season. Once considered a top point guard in the NBA, Deron Williams brings dynamic playmaking abilities off the bench at this stage of his career (age 32).
While Williams figures to provide much needed ball handling to the second unit, it’ll be interesting to see how Coach Tyronn Lue integrates his talents during the remainder of the regular season. Consider the playoffs as well, when it is highly unlikely that Lue will run lineups without LeBron or Kyrie, the two top “playmakers” for the Cavs. Williams will bring much needed depth to the team, allowing Irving and James to get ample breaks during games going forward. However, I don’t believe this is a move will yield a 20-25 mpg guy for the Cavs, especially in the playoffs when the bench gets shorter and the team sticks with the lineups they trust most.
Other minor issues that had potential to tangle the Cavs: the coveted number “8” jersey that Deron Williams has worn for his professional career and the nickname “D-Will”. Looks like things worked out as quickly as the issues were raised, though. Interestingly enough, due to the similar letters that start both names, it looks like Derrick Williams’s jersey might have “Derr. Williams.”
https://twitter.com/DWXXIII/status/836451729201848320
Deron Williams will wear No. 31 with #Cavs. He's worn 8 at other NBA stops
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) February 27, 2017
2. Forget “small ball”, the Cavs have found “jumbo ball”
Since the acquisition of Derrick Williams on consecutive 10-day contracts, the Cavs have run out an unusual lineup that has been dangerously effective against their opponents. In an age of “position-less” basketball, the Cavs have found a way to utilize the talents of their “wing-heavy” roster, leaning heavily on LeBron James‘ playmaking abilities.
While the sample size is a still a minuscule 39 minutes, the Cavs’ unit of LeBron James, Kyle Korver, Derrick Williams, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, has scored an insanely high 126.8 points per 100 possessions, while limiting their opponents to 91.8 points per 100 possessions. Unsurprisingly, this lineup has been the best 5-man group for the Cavs. While it’s very likely that unit will trail off as coaches have more opportunities to study film and find weaknesses, fielding a team of guys all 6 foot 7 or taller that can shoot lights out has to be a terrifying one for teams to gameplan against.
3. Andrew Bogut is coming soon…
Sources: Andrew Bogut plans to sign with Cavs after he clears waivers. @ShamsCharania report on @TheVertical. https://t.co/s9gauBLvDd
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) March 1, 2017
As reported by The Vertical just last night, Andrew Bogut will join the Cavaliers after he clears waivers later today (following his buyout with the Sixers). Though he considered several other teams including the Celtics, Spurs and Rockets, he ultimately decided his best bet was with Cleveland. He’s expected to sign officially by the weekend. Currently, the Cavs have a full roster, meaning a player (most likely Jordan McRae) will have to be waived to clear a spot for Bogut.
This season, the Cavs have been most effective by spacing out the floor and attacking the basket, leading to either good opportunities at the rim or open three point shots. Though Bogut won’t offer spacing help, he could have a tremendous impact on the defensive end. No one will argue that the Cavs defense is lock-tight, evident by Cleveland’s defensive rating sitting at 20th in the league. Bogut, despite his age, should still offer a significant boost at protecting the rim and offering a defensive option off the bench when shots are falling too quickly for the opponent. While Griffin disagreed with LeBron about needing a “big” to start out the new year, the opportunity to add a champion and former player of the likely Western Conference Champion was ultimately too tempting to pass up.
4. LeBron is important and shouldn’t be taken for granted
Consider this….
Since coming back to Cleveland, LeBron has missed 23 games. The Cavs have managed to win a total of 4 of those games. 4-19 without LeBron.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) February 26, 2017
The Cavs have been poor without LeBron. They’re 4-19 since his return to the ‘Land. Say what you want about the pieces and parts around James but the evidence is clear, LeBron is extremely important to the success of the Cavaliers. LeBron is arguably one of the greatest players of all time in the NBA and while in today’s age of constant “micro-content” and consumption of media runs rampant, lost in the shuffle is that the greatness of James may be passed by taken for granted as we casually scroll through his triple-double or consecutive streak of scoring at least double digits (8+ years in the regular season).
While many were quick to criticize LeBron’s call for help roughly a month ago, the Cavs have done their best and put themselves in a position to add complementary pieces for the title defense. Reinforcements are on the way, and whether the impact may or may not be enough for a repeat, adding players like Bogut, Derrick and Deron Williams (no relation) will ease the burden on Kyrie Irving and LeBron James while overcoming the injuries to J.R. Smith and Kevin Love, and hopefully lead to a repeat championship, which will ensure that James is not ignored.
Irving and James have been great. But no one else has stepped up today. Really miss Love
I have a question. Are Cavs going to bring back Dahntay Jones? Didn’t they promise to stay in touch with him? He was a great presence last year on the bench. I don’t think there is any room for him this year though. Plus only 13 guys stay on for playoffs which makes it even more difficult.
I can answer that question.
So…I didn’t realize til now it was an actual sprain (been busy today). Honestly…the warriors dont make it out of the west if Durant can’t defend well, and they may have to play a very dangerous OKC team in round one if they drop the top seed. Defense is the key to durant’s value for them because they are so small. Green is great, but has trouble rebounding against taller guys, McGee can’t be effective in major minutes, and Zaza is not a plus defender.
Zaza has to feel really stupid about flopping into Durant’s knee. He tried to flop and draw a foul and injured their best player.
I thought so too, from a quick glance. Is it agreed that that was a major flop, something that Andy might have taught him? If so, I will call that poetic justice.
This is what I said “I suspect Lue doesn’t know how to use Bogut.” which means I could be wrong. Far from saying Lue doesn’t know how to coach Bogut.
what is fun going to warriors blog when you are not going to be there. Have fun. I am giving my input on Bogut since I watched him for four years and one my favorite player, just sharing my opinion.
Jordan McRae the odd man out. Classy things to say about the org though. He’ll always be a champion, and he’ll always be on a CtB t-Shirt.
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/cavs_waive_jordan_mcrae_to_cle.html
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRG3a2jFcrL/
Awesome sentiment… I take back anything bad I’ve ever said about Jordan… Class act
Here’s the thing. You have to separate McRae the person from McRae the basketball player. He is an elite player, maybe not on an NBA level, but maybe one of the 600 best basketball players in the world. He’s just on a team that is SOOOO good that the fact that he’s not one of the top 300 basketball players in the world stands out. But it doesn’t make him less of a person or less of a champion. He drove me nuts on the court at times, but I still appreciated his attitude, and he’ll always be a champion… Read more »
Well said. I need to take back some of my criticism too.
Agree
Nah. We can separate the player from the person. He was painful to watch. No place for someone surrounded by so much talent to make so many selfish mistakes at every opportunity and never learn. Good luck to him, hope he finds a team real quick.
I’m not sure if anyone is paying attention the Miami Heat, but they’re 16-3 in their last 19 games, with Dion “Freaking” Waiters averaging 20.6 points and 5.3 assists in those games. I guess Dion likes the nice weather down there.
THAT IS HIS CITY!!!!
Warriors don’t get out of the West without Durant. Particularly if they have to face Houston.
Dang, March schedule is brutal.
No need to rack up wins. Rest whenever its needed. We survived a 7-8 January. a .500 record in March is fine.
Point forward! I’d say that is a perfect description of the direction recent Cavs-related events have been moving. Watched Cleveland teams since the 50’s and can’t think of a time when so much has gone right for Cleveland sports since then (ok, Browns still have some work to do). All hail Griff!
Haha! Nice catch
Nice hat and a great response for why Bogut is in Cleveland.
Congrats Cavs fans! With the additions of Williams and Bogut (and Korver), you were already favorites against a healthy Warriors team. With Durant’s injury, you are now a lock to win the championship barring your own major injuries (and with how loaded your team is, that basically means only LBJ). No matter the reports, an MCL sprain takes months to get back lateral movement (e.g. Curry’s issues after his in the playoffs). Enjoy the ride.
Is this another fraudfan? Ugh.
Huh??? I am a fan of great basketball, and no particular team. Hence, why I didn’t write “we” and said “you” for the true Cavs fans. I was looking forward to an injury-free finals between the Cavs and Warriors and I am deeply disappointed that for the third year in a row, we won’t have one. I do think that the Cavs were the favorites if there were such a finals because of the reinforcements your brought in and because you have LBJ. LBJ wasn’t all in on winning earlier in his career (see the Dallas-Miami series) but he is… Read more »
Well the idea that Curry was injured in the Finals last year is completely baseless considering he dropped like 35 on Portland in one period after the injury and is mostly peddled by phony front running fans of a certain team out west. Equating that with Irving being out for every game of the Finals except one and Love not playing after Boston is what fans of those imposters do. That’s why I thought you were a fan of that sham of a team.
Sorry.
I don’t equate it at all. The Cavs were very deserving champs last year, and will be again this year. However, rarely does a team win without luck (as the Warriors were very fortunate for their win). That doesn’t devalue the achievement of the winner. That is one (of so many) of the great things about LBJ – he is so strong he doesn’t get injured, and to the extent he does, he recovers so damn quickly. But Curry was mildly injured, which would not matter against an inferior team, but did matter in a series that went 7 games… Read more »
JR getting closer…
Interesting…
EG, I can’t think they would cut Felder after investing all that money to get the pick. Don’t see JFJ walking away, and still like his value overall to the team. Still betting on McRae being the odd man out.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly… The deadline to waive a guy and allow him to still be available for post-season play is midnight EST tonight… That said, I don’t think anyone involved (Cavs, McRae or Liggins) believes that they’d be picked up by a playoff contender anyway, but still it would be the nice thing to do…
There was an interesting tweet by Bobby Marks on why the Bogut deal may wait until the weekend.. See below
DWill is ready to go!
Bron rocking his pink hat today…
The one wrinkle of the KD injury that would be a fun story: GSW loses the #1 seed to SAS with KD out, and then they have to play OKC and Westbrook in Round 1 without KD. That would be kind of amazing….
And, remember, last year the Ws had a much deeper roster — to get KD, they had to sacrifice their depth. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose the #1 seed because of this injury. They are still good, but their schedule is tough and they could struggle a bit without the depth.
I doubt they lose the #1 seed. They are up by enough games that they should be fine. Light years
It’s only 3 games in loss column. If the KD injury rattles them (they are really bad when faced with even a whiff of adversity), they could choke it away.
Its too bad. They were only 1 more superstar away from having a really good team.
warriors didn’t lost much depth as was thought of once Bogut replaced by Zaza, drafted McCaw, added West+McGee. Now they add Matt Barnes who was playing well before waived.
Mcaw, West and McGee are all pretty terrible. Matt Barnes can’t shoot or defend and was arrested for choking a woman.
That means you don’t know much about teams or players in west. McCaw is playing like a vet, West and McGee are doing very well as backups. McCaw stats as starer, 10ppg at 50%FG and with good defense whole not being a ball hog. Matt Barnes stats in Feb, 10 ppg, 9 rpg, 45% Fg, 35% 3pg., .3.6 apg.
Those guys suck. Matt Barnes, he’s old slow and can’t shoot and chokes women. LIGHT YEARS AHEAD. What a bunch of…hold on, need to consult a post lower down…imposters.
lol, yet Cavs every move is to match up with warriors. Read this article, might learn a thing or two about warriors and your own cavs.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18788286/nba-two-uneasy-moments-became-turning-point-cavs-season
How does Bogut “match up with Warriors”? I guess teams should try to improve, but not too much so there are no excuses. Every team competing for a championship should be trying to improve at all times, it shouldn’t be considered a detriment…. Warriors added a MVP and retooled their bench while the Cavs are picking up waived players or trading 1st round picks/salary relief. The Warriors felt the need to add Weber, saw Calderon was available and then the KD thing happens and it becomes “sorry calderon gtfo” (granted the Warriors, gave him the money and waived him in… Read more »
If you are saying warriors are worse without KD, ofcourse they will be without top 5 players in the league. Warriors, however could still win games and maintain home court advantage unless one of the other stars get hurt or Kerr prefers rest over reg season wins. My preference, Kerr should start resting the top 3 players in b2bs, the three all star might have played most minutes last 3 years, outside may be Lebron.
As per Bogut. Bogut need to play with starters to be effective. He can set screens to Kyrie and Korver for open 3s and alter shots at the rim by Klay and Curry though Durant can get better of Bogut. I suspect Lue doesn’t know how to use Bogut. Pop would have used Bogut better.
Whatever. Don’t come here and tell us our coach doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I didn’t say that.
Not sure where you have evidence of Lue not knowing how to use Bogut. Did fine with Mozgov a similar, albeit worse, type of player as Bogut.
Don’t get me wrong, all I am saying is that Kerr had to use him at certain times and with certain line ups to get max out of him. Kerr took sometime understanding the same.
I’m quite sure Lue has access to every game Bogut ever played with the Warriors. I think he’ll figure something out. I would also argue that Pop would use almost every single player in the NBA better than every single other coach in the NBA, Kerr included.
Spurs and Warriors system would use a big setting up small in the offense. Pops did that with Diaw and Kerr did that with Bogut and now Draymond. Would Cavs change their offense, I don’t think so.
Pop would have used anyone better. Of course, he has 40 times as much experience as Lue. Lue, however, has some undefinable magic touches and out of the box thinking, like the recent giant death lineup. Assuming he continues to learn on the job, he might become the “next Pop”. If DG + DG + TL can keep the team at the top after LeBron retires (hopefully around 2030), they will be the best organization ever.
Interesting perspective. So your view is the Ws have the same depth as last year? If so, then we shouldn’t really see a drop off at all. You may be right. Will be interesting to watch.
Slightly lesser depth than last year. Me included most thought that warriors will be losing lot of depth with Durant addition but that is not the case. A drop off is still possible because you after all lost top 5 NBA player. But, fall off may have more to do with Kerr being more careful with minutes to three all stars.
Cols is misinformed on almost everything (IMHO, we don’t agree on much), it isn’t just you. He is, however, a loyal Cavs fan & one of a kind.
Warriors play most of their games like 10:30 ET and finish after 1am. We think, most fans in the east don’t know much about west teams due to this reason.
I live in LA, and watch Warrior games more often than not… where they’ll miss KD the most is on the defensive side, not because Draymond isn’t still a top level defender, but because the replacements for Bogut and Barnes (Harrison not Matt) are not quite at the level of their predecessors… They should be fine for the rest of the season and as long as they get a healthy KD for the WCF, they should still be the reps in the WC in the Finals…
+1. Mostly agree. Warriors may need KD at full strength in finals too.
You got “one of a kind” right!
Some NBA talker on ESPN radio today claimed the Dubs only have four lose-able games left, and they are up four.
In light of KD’s injury his is a pretty good article on MCL sprains that, ironically, was written in the wake of Curry’s sprain last year… http://www.mensfitness.com/sports/basketball/stephen-curry-mcl-sprain-grade-i-golden-state-warriors-nba
So Durant should be back for the playoffs. Good thing, I didn’t want those fakers to have any excuses. They signed Matt Barnes who sucks and also was arrested for choking a lady. Seems about right for team light years.
Does “faker” count on Cols’ daily “Fraud Count”?
I used thesaurus.com to compile a list for Cols:
bastard, bluffer, charlatan, cheat, counterfeit, crook, deceiver, double-dealer, faker, forger, four-flusher, hoaxer, impostor, mechanic, mountebank, phony, pretender, quack, racketeer, sham, shark, swindler, horse trader, play actor.
Imposter, phony, sham, all good. Thanks!
or he can just change his handle to ‘Fraud’ so it won’t count on his daily quota.
Again, do you read the articles or just the headlines? There is nothing stating KD should return at any time. He’ll get evaluated again in 4 weeks. He was distraught when he got the news. Why would he get distraught if he’s A-OK for the POs? If you recall, Love got ‘re-evaluated’ after Olynyk ripped his shoulder out. He ‘wasn’t ruled out for the POs” at first, either. These things are tricky. Perhaps KD does return. There is no timeline for a reason. We’ll see in a month how the swelling in his knee does. I’d assume GSW will not… Read more »
Holy moly the Cavs are really really good. I’m glad I get to watch basketball this good playing for the team I root for. Probably a once-in-a-lifetime situation here.
Yep. The last 3 years have been basketball nirvana for Cavs fans.
I have been an Indians fan since the late 50’s, a Browns fan since since the early 60’s and a Cavs fan from Day 1. That is a lot of time to keep the faith that someday Cleveland Sports will be kicking butt. Things started looking up about 20 years ago when the Akron Beacon Journal started reporting on a sixth grader in Akron.
So Durant out indefinitely with MCL sprain and bone bruise, to be reevaluated in 4 weeks. Puts them at the beginning of April just to reevaluation. Will be curious to see the impact this has on the Dubs.
Probably not much but since the media hates LeBron, if the Warriors don’t win or make it back to the Finals, this will be their excuse.
Ha. Not so bad an injury then, they should be fine.
Probably not much if its a minor sprain. If it’s a more severe sprain he could be out until mid playoffs. If he misses a series against the Rockets, it could be tough for the Dubs. The one problem the Rockets have against the Dubs is that they don’t have anyone to guard KD. Take away that and we might get a series.
Glad it’s not a tear. Never like to see guys get hurt… I’m sure they’ll be fine without him for a bit… they were last year.
Yes. I do not think they are going to struggle at all without him.
lol, did you just inadvertently say Warriors are good even without Durant.
much better news than feared. My best guess he will be back in game shape by 2nd round. Warriors adding Matt Barnes over Calderon now. Matt Barnes will get stretch 4 minutes that KD was playing and Iguodala+McCaw will get more minutes at SF. Warriors will be okay, so far as other 3 all stars stay healthy and not over prioritize home court advantage over health.
Of course that assumes he heals properly with no setbacks as he tried to round into game shape. Between KLove and Durant’s injury, I bet on KLove getting into game shape easier. Love’s game is not predicated on athleticism that requires jumping and cutting fast. Love is more a positional rebounder, and a good one. Of course, Durant needs those skills for his game more than Love. Maybe Curry will step up his game. As you know after going I believe 144 games with a three, he has had three stinkers something like 0/11, 0/9 and maybe 0/8 afterward. Not… Read more »
I think warriors will miss Durant from 2nd round in playoffs on. Cavs will not need Love to go to finals. And finals, I am sure you will disagree with me here, Love(and Frye) will not be much of factor against warriors guarded by Draymond. So, if Cavs are to meet Warriors in finals, Love’s value in playoffs, not much. They made finals without Love and Love was not much of a factor in finals he played. Love’s FG% in playoffs last year, 38%. finals 36% FG and 26% 3FG%. He could only play 20mpg. If a spurs/Rockets team come… Read more »
Common misconception. Love’s contributions didn’t show up in the box score of the finals. He had a great plus/minus, rebounded incredibly well, defended above expectations, and holds a lot of gravity that effects every play in small ways. Oh, he also stuck with Curry on an Island and forced him into a difficult shot. Just because a player doesn’t score a hell of a lot doesn’t mean they weren’t vital to our finals win.
Are you saying the Cavs wouldn’t have won without Love’s contributions ? Yes, he defended Curry well for one possession but overall he was marginal player in the playoffs. Lye played him <30 minutes in few games, so there is someone who agrees with me.
If you replaced Love’s <30 minutes some of those games with a player of lesser caliber, yes we probably would have ended up losing…
Have to agree to disagree. We saw same series but guess we didn’t the same way.
Great PFW, Eli.
Man, Griff adds Korver, Derrick Williams, Deron Williams, and Andrew Bogut.
That’s called shoring up your bench
Hey Tom is back!
I hope it’s not just a Lent thing.
Thanks Tom!
Doesn’t Matt Barnes suck?
James is either the #1 or #2 greatest player ever, depending on how you feel about Jordan.
Nah. Russell, Wilt, Kareem, MJ. That’s Mt. Rushmore. The King is in the next tier: Oscar, Magic, Bird, Duncan, James. Next tier: Mikan, Baylor, West, Shaq, Kobe, Dr J, Dream.
Nope.
1. MJ
2. Leb
You are Costanza.
Summer of George.
I did like Costanza, just to be clear.
Although everyone in your “Mt. Rushmore” is a HOF and rightfully so, IMHO only Jordan could had been as efficient in every facet of the NBA in which they all played.
The high scoring centers of yesteryears would not be as highly regarded now as they once were. The game is much different now and I think only Jordan would had been just as good, along with LeBron, in having played in any type of NBA.
The ignorance of earlier players on here hurts my head. Your generation (I’m assuming you are pretty young) thinks Russell, Wilt & those guys were some kind of behemoth’s who put up stats playing vs. midgets. Untrue. Russell is the greatest defender ever. He’s 6’9 or 6’10. Slim. Could defend multiple spots. Lead the fastbreak. 11 titles. 2 as player coach. Wilt is the gretest athlete in the history of the sport. He was a conference champion high jumper at Kansas 3 times (some say 6’6″, going over frontward!). He also lettered in long jump. triple jump, & shot put.… Read more »
JRL just got pwned. There are some guys who wouldn’t be nearly as good now: Oscar Robertson, Bob Cousy… But Wilt, Kareem, and Russell wouldn’t be those guys. Jason is right, they’d be transcendant in any era. Wilt was just an insane athlete as Jason mentioned and with today’s training methods, he might be even better. Russell would have been one of the best players in the league in any era due to his superior athleticism, mind, skill, and will. No one has ever duplicated his defensive prowess. EVER. Kareem has the most unguardable shot in NBA history. And I’m… Read more »
Your Rushmore grows larger with each level… I would swap out Wilt for LBJ in that first tier… Wilt did not have the same champion mentality that Russell, Kareem, MJ and LBJ had/have. To be that dominant physically in that time, but to only win two titles speaks volumes…
There is only 1 Mt. Rushmore, it has 4 on it. Perhaps you should change your moniker? James has 1 more title that Wilt. The issue wasn’t Wilt’s mentality, it was going against the greatest team every (Russell’s Celtics). The knee injury in 1970 was a factor as well. Wilt went 50/25. Wilt led the league in assists one year. He averaged 30/20 for his career. Wilt doesn’t get demoted. If you want to have 5 in your top tier, fine. I think you (& Raoul & Cols) have serious Wine & Gold glasses on. How many titles would James… Read more »
I think you read my statement wrong (but thanks for the personal attack anyway). I meant that your groupings at each tier got progressively larger (5 in second tier and 6 in third). Are you old enough to have watched Wilt play? I’m not, but I’ve watched a ton of footage from old games as a fan and student of the game. It was a different game then, and Wilt was much more a product of being tall and athletic than having an all around game. He only became a passer later in his career when he realized he couldn’t… Read more »
That was just last game. :) Your statement is what it is, how else is there to read it: “your Mt. Rushmore grows larger at every level.” Cleary you were saying there were multiple Mt. Rushmores. What did you mean? And of course the # of players increases at each tier. Do you think the top tier should have more players & the lower tiers less? In terms of Wilt, no, not quite old enough to watch him play. I started watching mid-1970s. Still, I was old enough that Russell was calling the games & Wilt’s accomplishments were held in… Read more »
Meaning that you set up the Mt. Rushmore metaphor, so naturally I assumed your next groupings would be in fours (similar to how the League ranks first, second and third team All-NBA, etc.). Yet, you instead responded by essentially calling me an imbecile in a backhanded way by implying I don’t know that there are four faces on Mt. Rushmore. I know you’ve been reading this site long enough to know that, while I’m certainly not a genius, I do have a modicum of understanding of not only historical landmarks but also the history of the game. Per your timeline,… Read more »
Greatest ever Mt. Rushmore semantics discussion in the history of the internet, there, guys. I gotta say, CtB’s my Rushmore.
LeBron is clearly #1, not even close. If he got the calls that MJ got, he would be averaging 10 points more a game and have about eight rings by now.
I’d probably have to go with….
1. MJ
2. Kareem
3. Magic
4. LeBron
5. Bill Russell
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Tim Duncan
8. Shaq O’Neal
9. Larry Bird
10. Hakeem
Lately, I feel like Shaq hasn’t gotten a lot of love but he’s the only player to beat MJ between his “prime” years of the two three peats which everyone seems to forget now.
We all thought that Orlando team was a dynasty in the making. That’s a solid top 10. Still think Russell & Wilt get vastly underrated. Vastly. Oscar as well. Guys like Mikan (7 titles in 8 years), Petitt (sp?), & Cousy never get a mention (though top 10 is perhaps a tad high for those guys, save perhaps Mikan).
I probably switch Magic with LeBron and I’m good with that list.
I subscribed to the new wesbite, The Athletic, primarily since I like Jason Lloyd’s coverage of the Cavs. In today’s inaugural column, LLoyd wrote about the Cavs difficulty in keeping either DWill next year, since they can’t offer more than the $3 million mid level exception. I still don’t get all the cap nuances. Does anyone know if the Cavs shed some salary, say, like trading Shump, does that allow them to offer more than the mid level to either Derrick or Deron? Thanks
The Cavs would have to shed almost 25M in payroll to offer more than the exception. That is not happening. Unfortunately, the Cavs can only offer the mid-level to free agents as they did not acquire the bird rights to any of the players since they were waived and signed to a less than 3 year deal. There is some good news, the Cavs can offer Korver a contract for whatever value because they obtained his bird rights in the trade. Interestingly enough, the Cavs payroll will be climbing again…… It’ll be interesting to see how some of the lower… Read more »
Thanks, Elijah. I know the Cavs are +/- about $30 million over the cap now so the amount they would need to shed is basically the dollars over the cap I assume? No doubt as you say, Cavsdan will be ponying up some more money. It’s great to have a billionaire owner willing to spend money, right?
You are correct. They are about 30M over right now but the cap is projected to go up about 5-8M. I misspoke, because there is a way to get a 5M exception, which would mean to be under the luxury tax. If the Cavs shed like 15M they could get JUST under the tax (even with Korver’s cap hold, which is important because without his hold, you lose the right to re-sign him even over the cap), then you could offer 5M as a “non taxpayer” team. However, I still doubt the Cavs explore this route…
I believe JFJ said he was retiring after this season, didn’t he? Also, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of DWill actually taking one of those mid level exceptions to have another championship shot.
I totally do not expect them to keep either DWill next year.
The mid level is worth more next year. If Lloyd said $3 mil he didn’t do his homework. New CBA. I think it is closer to $8 mil. I think Korver + Derrick will stay. Both Williamses will be tough.
Non taxpayer MLE is over $8 mil. Tax payer is $5.2 million.
It is going to be tough. Hopefully some or all of Deron, Korver, and Bogut will think they are near the end of their playing days and they already have a pile of money, so the last year or so will be a lot more fun riding in championship parades with LeBron than making a little more money playing for a team that is a long shot to make the playoffs.
As long as @CavsDan gives Griff his money over the summer… there will always be new trades and buyouts at the deadline that he can find again most likely…
Yep. This is the thing to remember. When you find guys on the trash heap and they perform well the idea is not to then pay them the big bucks but remember that you found them in the dumpster and can do it again. See also Delly.
It’s a great time to be a Cavs fan. Good point forward, Elijah, although I would delete the word “arguably” out of the sentence , “LeBron is arguably one of the greatest players of all time in the NBA.” Virtually no one, other than motor mouth Barkley, has James anywhere else but Top Five. For example, SI has James at #5 and ESPN at #3 in their Greatest NBA Players of All Time List.
Good point…. but I like to keep things open ended…..
I hope KD is fine. I want to beat them silly with them at full strength. If he’s not, I hope they don’t even make the finals. I would just prefer not to listen to “We weren’t at full strength.” Though I suppose the National Media will always be saying “If only KD was healthy the Warriors would have won the whole thing.”
Do the national media keep saying the Dubs won two years ago because Love and Irving did not play in the finals? I don’t think so.
Who brings more value to a team: Durant, or Love + Irving?