Fixing The Cavs

[CoachCowens]

Shaq and a new coach.

[RD3]

My idea for fixing the Cavs is a little different than what has been suggested. I don't like the Shaq trade because there is no way he could run up and down the court with Howard. I do like the Tyson Chandler idea and that trade does seem doable. But how about this one.

1) Sign Lamar Odom to a 4 year deal for the full MLE. He could finally fill the need for an athletic power foward who can shoot from the outside which Cleveland is always trying to do to help LeBron.

2) Trade Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavolic to Golden State for Jamal Crawford and Corey Maggette. I know both guys are "me" players, but put them on a team with LeBron and a chance to win it all and they should thrive. Also, neither one of these guys have played for a winner and this situation would be too good to try to screw up.

Now I know these moves would screw up the big 2010 free agent spree for Cleveland but they have to show LeBron that they're trying to win and win now. If they dont win it all next year, I know LeBron will leave for NYC and Cleveland will be left with nothing to help draw free agents.

Cleveland Lineup:

PG: Mo Williams
SG: Jamal Crawford
SF: LeBron James
PF: Lamar Odom
C : Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Bench:

PG: Boobie Gibson
SG: Delonte West
SF: Corey Maggette
PF: JJ Hickson
C : Anderson Varejao

[Moranis]

The Cavs should not do anything that hurts their chances at landing Bosh or Amare at the deadline and/or diminishes their cap space in 2010. 

[bobdelt]

Cleveland wants to win to keep Lebron - but if they trade for Shaq - they get probably 1 season out of Shaq. And then when Lebron is a free agent - it's the Cavs team without Shaq (and whoever they traded for him) that he'll be signing with.

It seems like a desperation move to me.

[Eeyore III]

Unless someone retires, and according to the figures on Hoopshype, the Cavs have no ability to sign a free agent in the summer of 2010, except to the MLE or LLE.  So the idea that they can just sign Bosh is wrong.

The OP wants to remake a half-court team into a running team.  That just ain't gonna happen.  If LBJ wants to run, there's a team in NYC trying to do just that, and they're saving a place for him.

Shaq is a good move for them, given the alternatives. Their problems were (1) they were designed only to play the Cs and Lakers, not the Magic, and (2) three of their bigs--Z, Ben and Smith--all got too old all at once.

Given the salary cap, Delonte at $3.5 million is waaaay better than Hinrich at $10 million.  If Chicago could make that trade and have $7 million to spend, they'd do it in a nanosecond.

[celticinorlando]

i dont want the cavs fixed

[Fafnir]

Unless someone retires, and according to the figures on Hoopshype, the Cavs have no ability to sign a free agent in the summer of 2010, except to the MLE or LLE.  So the idea that they can just sign Bosh is wrong.

The OP wants to remake a half-court team into a running team.  That just ain't gonna happen.  If LBJ wants to run, there's a team in NYC trying to do just that, and they're saving a place for him.

Shaq is a good move for them, given the alternatives. Their problems were (1) they were designed only to play the Cs and Lakers, not the Magic, and (2) three of their bigs--Z, Ben and Smith--all got too old all at once.

Given the salary cap, Delonte at $3.5 million is waaaay better than Hinrich at $10 million.  If Chicago could make that trade and have $7 million to spend, they'd do it in a nanosecond.

You are wrong on this. There was a thread where it was discussed in detail how Cleveland can sign LeBron and another max FA. Cordobes, Roy, and myself parsed most of it out. Here is Roy's post on it:

It will be close, but I think they'll be able to do it.

Let's say Lebron signs for $18.5 million (his starting salary should be somewhere in that range; that may be a little on the high side.)

Let's also presume the salary cap stays relatively level the next two seasons, around $57 million.

Right now, counting Lebron, the Cavs would have exactly three guaranteed contracts on the roster:  Lebron ($18.5 million), Williams ($9.3 million), and Boobie ($4.02 million).  That's a total of $31.82 million.  Let's assume they invite Hickson back for $1.53 million.  That brings their payroll up to $33.35.

Delonte's deal is non-guaranteed, as is Darnell Jackson's.  It's unlikely Jackson will be back; who knows about Delonte.  Let's look at both scenarios.

If Delonte comes back, their payroll goes up to $37.85.  Additionally, they'd have a cap hold to fill out the other eight roster spots.  That cap hold is $473,604 for each player, or $3.79 million.  That brings total team salary up to $41.64 million.  Under a $58 million cap scenario, that would leave the team with roughly $16.36 million and since I've been rounding up, they may have a little more space than that). That's just below a max contract amount for players with 7+ years in the NBA..  The team should, however, be able to offer a max deal to somebody with 6 or fewer seasons.

If Delonte *doesn't* come back, we have no idea how much of his contract is guaranteed.  Let's assume that roughly 1/3 of it is (as with Pavlovic this season).  That means they'd subtract $3 million from their payroll, but would have to add an additional cap hold.  Their salary would be $39.11; under a $58 million cap, they'd have enough to offer a max deal ($18.89 million in space.)

Of course, the margin of error is small.  The above scenario means no free agents signings, no draft picks, etc., extending into 2010-11, and it also means renouncing any of their own free agents.

Not everyone agreed with us, but the Cavs will make it happen in my opinion.

[paintitgreen]

It's not so much whether the Cavs will make it happen (although I agree they should), it's whether they can. And it's pretty plain that they can make it happen.

It should be even easier for them, but they really shot themselves in the foot by signing Boobie for so much and so long.

[snively]

I can't project long-term too well, since it's impossible to decipher where FA's will land, but I can't see the Cavs pleasing LeBron by letting everyone expire.  Without Big Z, Varejao and Wallace they have pretty much no frontline.  Eat up the cap space with Bosh and they're running with a team of Mo, Boobie, Bron, Bosh, maybe West and a bunch of minimum contract players. A bunch of scoring PGs and a coterie of minimum-salaried big men and back-ups are not going to complement the two stars very well.  Essentially Cleveland has to convince a not entirely sold LeBron to not have a chance for two years, for a chance to be really good on the 3rd year.  It's just really hard to see that happening.

[paintitgreen]

I completely disagree. You're ignoring that Z and Wallace are both done - Wallace is even retiring this year rather than playing and Ilgauskas is just finished from his age and injuries, that became obvious this spring. So it's basically Bosh v. Varejao, and Bosh is the easy choice there.

You don't need one superstar and 8 role players to win a title. You need 2-3 stars (depending on the quality; in Lebron's case, 2 stars is fine) and good complements. With Lebron and Bosh, having Mo, West and Gibson gives them a good backcourt. They do need a burly center (he doesn't have to be great, just pretty good), a backup big and a bigger backup perimeter player. But you have to get the star pieces in place first, that's the key. Longterm, Cleveland would be better off getting Bosh with cap space next year, then grabbing extra pieces to surround Lebron, Bosh and Mo with. Obviously, the ideal scenario for them is to get Bosh in a trade this summer using those expiring contracts and any young players they can come up with, Varejao in a sign and trade if Toronto's interested. That way, they can still use their MLE this summer (Gortat?) and next to build the pieces around Lebron and Bosh.

The key is they need a second star - Mo Williams ain't it, Delonte and Varejao won't ever be at that level, and Ilgauskas is done. Until they get that star in place, they won't be at the level they need to be at. And they can't just hope they get it with a late first round pick. That lack of a second star is why failing to use Wally's expiring contract this season was such a huge mistake.

[Who]

Varejao would be a great complement to Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire.

The Cavs should keep him. They can dump Gibson if they need more wiggle room.

[paintitgreen]

I agree, Who. Varejao can work as a second big man and would be great as an energy guy off the bench too (if you can get a burly Perk-type as starting center). That's the major reason I think the ideal for Cleveland would be a trade this summer - so they can lock up Varejao longterm without worrying about the signing taking away their chance at cap space to bring in a star next summer. A future core of Lebron-Bosh-Mo-Varejao would be a fantastic start to a good 5-6 year run, plus they'll have the MLE this summer and next. If they want to keep the cap space to get Bosh, they can't resign Varejao or use the MLE (other than on a one-year deal) this summer, and I believe that if they have cap space next summer, even if they use it up in getting Bosh, they don't get the exceptions.

If, for example, Cleveland could get Toronto to agree to a Wallace, Pavlovic, West or Gibson, Hickson, future picks and cash for Bosh and Banks (or some other contract the Raptors want to unload, I don't have the numbers in front of me), they can lock up Varejao and use the MLE to sign a bigger backup wing or a big man. This season, they could put out Mo-MLE signing-Lebron-Bosh-Ilgauskas with Gibson and Varejao as their top 7. They could use the LLE and minimum contracts to fill the bench. Or, maybe they sign Gortat at the MLE, and he becomes the starter. They would then have Ilgauskas' expiring contract and can maybe try to pry Carter from New Jersey or McGrady from Houston (not sure if Cleveland would have the matching contracts available but Houston might be willing to take Ilgauskas and Gibson for McGrady).

In the end, I don't think they have the non-expiring contract assets to get a deal done with Toronto, and that's the key to this working. Otherwise, I really don't know how they keep Varejao (an important player on their team) and get a true second star.

I agree about dumping Gibson, but I don't think anybody would want him with the long-term, too-expensive deal he's signed to.

[RAcker]

I don't think the Cavs need a lot of fixing.  If they upgrade Wallace to Shaq, I think that would be huge for them.  They could use another wing scorer who can create his own offense, but that's a luxury I think.  If they make the Shaq trade, they'll be in great shape both for next season and in the future.

But could Shaq at this point in his career really effectively run the pick and roll with LeCrab?  The options become limited with Shaq involved in that play in my opinion.  I'd love to see him go there and clog up the lane ON OFFENSE.   

[angryguy77]

I don't think the Cavs need a lot of fixing.  If they upgrade Wallace to Shaq, I think that would be huge for them.  They could use another wing scorer who can create his own offense, but that's a luxury I think.  If they make the Shaq trade, they'll be in great shape both for next season and in the future.

But could Shaq at this point in his career really effectively run the pick and roll with LeCrab?  The options become limited with Shaq involved in that play in my opinion.  I'd love to see him go there and clog up the lane ON OFFENSE.  

not to mention that he would sloooooooooow them down big time which is the exact opposite thing they need to do with Lebron. i hope he goes there, it will absolutly wreck there game.

[angryguy77]

But i really feel the best way to fix them is to move the whole team to China to live at their new part owners house and have a year long slumber party and pillow fights.