Woj: Cavs have legitimate fear Kevin Love will walk this summer

[MBunge]

Love leaving the Cavs as soon as possible makes a certain amount of sense.  If he opts in next year, the rules against sign-n-trades will mean that ONLY Cleveland will be able to offer him the so-called "mega max" deal that Carmello signed.  That means he's then at Cleveland's mercy when it comes to trading him somewhere else.  If he opts out this year, he can sign a "normal max" deal with someone else and get another opt out after two years.

Mike

[saltlover]

To be fair to Larbrd I originally provided the 14 million dollar figure which was a lazy estimate on my part. I guess the larger picture is that is really unlikely Aldridge would end up in Cleveland. It is also debatable whether losing both Thompson and Love for Aldridge would even be a good thing for them.

I don't think it's debatable at all.  Love and Thompson is better than just Aldridge.  However, is Love walks, there's little they can do about it.  If they're then able to make a choice of Thompson or Aldridge, then I think they'd have to choose LMA without hesitation.

[BleedGreen1989]

Love leaving the Cavs as soon as possible makes a certain amount of sense.  If he opts in next year, the rules against sign-n-trades will mean that ONLY Cleveland will be able to offer him the so-called "mega max" deal that Carmello signed.  That means he's then at Cleveland's mercy when it comes to trading him somewhere else.  If he opts out this year, he can sign a "normal max" deal with someone else and get another opt out after two years.

Mike

Thats a good point. TP.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Makes me think that Ainge making a Big Draft day trade is SO important to the C's...If he uses a bunch of his Chips, to significantly improve our roster PRIOR to the start of Free Agency---than He'll be in a much better place, making offers.

[GratefulCs]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUOB8MN4Kc

[GratefulCs]

Love leaving the Cavs as soon as possible makes a certain amount of sense.  If he opts in next year, the rules against sign-n-trades will mean that ONLY Cleveland will be able to offer him the so-called "mega max" deal that Carmello signed.  That means he's then at Cleveland's mercy when it comes to trading him somewhere else.  If he opts out this year, he can sign a "normal max" deal with someone else and get another opt out after two years.

Mike

Dang, that's a good point



TP

[LarBrd33]

Welp here's hoping we can bring him to Boston. 

[Roy H.]

Keep on trolling, Woj.

Seriously,I respect his opinion a lot on most things, but his disdain for LeBron is well documented, so anything he says that has even the tiniest bit to do with LeBron I instantly take with a grain of salt.

Trolling? Maybe not quite, but something like this should be treated a lot differently than most "Wojbombs"

Yes, exactly.  I think Woj is pushing his agenda more than reporting things factually.  His animosity toward Lebron is well known, and I take this story as him 1) putting out clickbait, and 2) trying to create a media distraction around Lebron.

[wiley]

Aside from the accuracy of the report, I think Love will leave
Cleveland.  I'll be shocked if he stays.  I also don't think
Cleveland will have a hard time replacing his superior offense
with a combo of decent offense and better defense.

[LarBrd33]

Makes me think that Ainge making a Big Draft day trade is SO important to the C's...If he uses a bunch of his Chips, to significantly improve our roster PRIOR to the start of Free Agency---than He'll be in a much better place, making offers.

The Cousins thing doesn't seem plausible to me, but hypothetically would you dramatically overpay for Carmelo Anthony if it would give you a better shot at Kevin Love?  Let's assume the Knicks land a stud in this draft and Phil decides he wants to just build around youth.

For instance, if the price for Melo was Wallace's 10 mil expiring + Bradley's 7 mil + Marcus Smart + Sully + #16 + #28 + Brooklyn's 2016...   But it ensured that you'd be able to lure Kevin Love... and then use Thomas + Turner + picks to trade for Ty Lawson... you'd have something like this on the books

PG - Lawson - 12.4 mil
SG - Young? Lol - 1.7 mil
SF - Melo - 22.8 mil
PF - Love - 20 mil?
C - Zeller - 2.6 mil
6th - Olynyk - 2 mil

I think we'd have another 5 mil in cap space to hopefully bring Paul Pierce home on an opt-out...  Fill out the rest of the roster with min level players (KG's staying in Minny for the long-haul, but offer him the vet min out of respect).    Instead of only having 5 mil left, I'm alternatively not not opposed to dumping the salary of Zeller + Olynyk (for future picks) and having another 9ish mil to offer a guy like Omer Asik.   That number might even be higher if we sign Kevin Love for less than 20 mil.

Sure, that team probably doesn't win a title, but then a year later we'd have 25 mil in cap space to add to Lawson, Melo and Love...  then a year later you'd have another 20 mil in cap space to add even more talent.  Welcome to salary cap crazy-town.  Best take a swing immediately so you aren't left in the dust when the megateams start forming. 

[jpotter33]

Makes me think that Ainge making a Big Draft day trade is SO important to the C's...If he uses a bunch of his Chips, to significantly improve our roster PRIOR to the start of Free Agency---than He'll be in a much better place, making offers.

The Cousins thing doesn't seem plausible to me, but hypothetically would you dramatically overpay for Carmelo Anthony if it would give you a better shot at Kevin Love?  Let's assume the Knicks land a stud in this draft and Phil decides he wants to just build around youth.

For instance, if the price for Melo was Wallace's 10 mil expiring + Bradley's 7 mil + Marcus Smart + Sully + #16 + #28 + Brooklyn's 2016...   But it ensured that you'd be able to lure Kevin Love... and then use Thomas + Turner + picks to trade for Ty Lawson... you'd have something like this on the books

PG - Lawson - 12.4 mil
SG - Young? Lol - 1.7 mil
SF - Melo - 22.8 mil
PF - Love - 20 mil?
C - Zeller - 2.6 mil
6th - Olynyk - 2 mil

I think we'd have another 5 mil in cap space to hopefully bring Paul Pierce home on an opt-out...  Fill out the rest of the roster with min level players (KG's staying in Minny for the long-haul, but offer him the vet min out of respect).    Instead of only having 5 mil left, I'm alternatively not not opposed to dumping the salary of Zeller + Olynyk (for future picks) and having another 9ish mil to offer a guy like Omer Asik.   That number might even be higher if we sign Kevin Love for less than 20 mil.

Sure, that team probably doesn't win a title, but then a year later we'd have 25 mil in cap space to add to Lawson, Melo and Love...  then a year later you'd have another 20 mil in cap space to add even more talent.  Welcome to salary cap crazy-town.  Best take a swing immediately so you aren't left in the dust when the megateams start forming.

Ehhh. Though it'd be a ridiculous offense, I don't like having five guys in the starting lineup that are average or worse defensively, especially Love and Melo.

I don't see a draft-day trade happening, because I don't think there's really any true star out there that we could pull off a trade for right now. DMC is the closest one, but the earliest they'd pull the trigger on a DMC trade is this coming season if it's not going well. I think we'll have to try and sit down with two free agents, e.g. Jordan and Love, and try to convince them together to come here.

[jpotter33]

Love leaving the Cavs as soon as possible makes a certain amount of sense.  If he opts in next year, the rules against sign-n-trades will mean that ONLY Cleveland will be able to offer him the so-called "mega max" deal that Carmello signed.  That means he's then at Cleveland's mercy when it comes to trading him somewhere else.  If he opts out this year, he can sign a "normal max" deal with someone else and get another opt out after two years.

Mike

I've always said we should offer him a one year max next year, or at least a max with a one year opt out deal. That way he can take advantage of the rising cap in 2016 and we can lock him up long-term.

I, too, don't think he'll stay in Cleveland, but for us to have any chance of getting him we'll have to do four things:1) convince him that he's not winning in the West right now and the East is the easier path to the NBA Finals, 2) really sell him on Stevens, which shouldn't be hard, 3) show him that he'll be "the man" on our team on offense, and 4) show him that others will join him once he signs with us (hopefully a DJ or Gasol type to help us defensively).

[LarBrd33]

Makes me think that Ainge making a Big Draft day trade is SO important to the C's...If he uses a bunch of his Chips, to significantly improve our roster PRIOR to the start of Free Agency---than He'll be in a much better place, making offers.

The Cousins thing doesn't seem plausible to me, but hypothetically would you dramatically overpay for Carmelo Anthony if it would give you a better shot at Kevin Love?  Let's assume the Knicks land a stud in this draft and Phil decides he wants to just build around youth.

For instance, if the price for Melo was Wallace's 10 mil expiring + Bradley's 7 mil + Marcus Smart + Sully + #16 + #28 + Brooklyn's 2016...   But it ensured that you'd be able to lure Kevin Love... and then use Thomas + Turner + picks to trade for Ty Lawson... you'd have something like this on the books

PG - Lawson - 12.4 mil
SG - Young? Lol - 1.7 mil
SF - Melo - 22.8 mil
PF - Love - 20 mil?
C - Zeller - 2.6 mil
6th - Olynyk - 2 mil

I think we'd have another 5 mil in cap space to hopefully bring Paul Pierce home on an opt-out...  Fill out the rest of the roster with min level players (KG's staying in Minny for the long-haul, but offer him the vet min out of respect).    Instead of only having 5 mil left, I'm alternatively not not opposed to dumping the salary of Zeller + Olynyk (for future picks) and having another 9ish mil to offer a guy like Omer Asik.   That number might even be higher if we sign Kevin Love for less than 20 mil.

Sure, that team probably doesn't win a title, but then a year later we'd have 25 mil in cap space to add to Lawson, Melo and Love...  then a year later you'd have another 20 mil in cap space to add even more talent.  Welcome to salary cap crazy-town.  Best take a swing immediately so you aren't left in the dust when the megateams start forming.

Ehhh. Though it'd be a ridiculous offense, I don't like having five guys in the starting lineup that are average or worse defensively, especially Love and Melo.

I don't see a draft-day trade happening, because I don't think there's really any true star out there that we could pull off a trade for right now. DMC is the closest one, but the earliest they'd pull the trigger on a DMC trade is this coming season if it's not going well. I think we'll have to try and sit down with two free agents, e.g. Jordan and Love, and try to convince them together to come here.

We don't have cap space to do that without a couple moves (gotta dump the salary of 2 of the following 3 players:  Thomas, Bradley, Wallace).  Will be interesting to see how Ainge handles this.

[jpotter33]

Makes me think that Ainge making a Big Draft day trade is SO important to the C's...If he uses a bunch of his Chips, to significantly improve our roster PRIOR to the start of Free Agency---than He'll be in a much better place, making offers.

The Cousins thing doesn't seem plausible to me, but hypothetically would you dramatically overpay for Carmelo Anthony if it would give you a better shot at Kevin Love?  Let's assume the Knicks land a stud in this draft and Phil decides he wants to just build around youth.

For instance, if the price for Melo was Wallace's 10 mil expiring + Bradley's 7 mil + Marcus Smart + Sully + #16 + #28 + Brooklyn's 2016...   But it ensured that you'd be able to lure Kevin Love... and then use Thomas + Turner + picks to trade for Ty Lawson... you'd have something like this on the books

PG - Lawson - 12.4 mil
SG - Young? Lol - 1.7 mil
SF - Melo - 22.8 mil
PF - Love - 20 mil?
C - Zeller - 2.6 mil
6th - Olynyk - 2 mil

I think we'd have another 5 mil in cap space to hopefully bring Paul Pierce home on an opt-out...  Fill out the rest of the roster with min level players (KG's staying in Minny for the long-haul, but offer him the vet min out of respect).    Instead of only having 5 mil left, I'm alternatively not not opposed to dumping the salary of Zeller + Olynyk (for future picks) and having another 9ish mil to offer a guy like Omer Asik.   That number might even be higher if we sign Kevin Love for less than 20 mil.

Sure, that team probably doesn't win a title, but then a year later we'd have 25 mil in cap space to add to Lawson, Melo and Love...  then a year later you'd have another 20 mil in cap space to add even more talent.  Welcome to salary cap crazy-town.  Best take a swing immediately so you aren't left in the dust when the megateams start forming.

Ehhh. Though it'd be a ridiculous offense, I don't like having five guys in the starting lineup that are average or worse defensively, especially Love and Melo.

I don't see a draft-day trade happening, because I don't think there's really any true star out there that we could pull off a trade for right now. DMC is the closest one, but the earliest they'd pull the trigger on a DMC trade is this coming season if it's not going well. I think we'll have to try and sit down with two free agents, e.g. Jordan and Love, and try to convince them together to come here.

We don't have cap space to do that without a couple moves (gotta dump the salary of 2 of the following 3 players:  Thomas, Bradley, Wallace).  Will be interesting to see how Ainge handles this.

Yeah, I know we'd have to open up a little bit of space for a second near-max player. I'm sure we can dump Wallace with a first (Sixers), and I would think we could make some sort of cap-saving move with either Bradley or Thomas (more than likely Bradley since IT will be needed). What about making a trade with Utah since they reportedly like Bradley? Something like Bradley for their pick this year (#12) and salary filler?

[LarBrd33]

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/05/06/cavaliers-cancel-arm-slings-giveaway-during-playoffs.ap/

The Cleveland Cavaliers canceled a plan to give away 20,000 arm slings to fans to show support for Kevin Love.

Love is out for the remainder of the playoffs.

It's not known what the team plans to do with the unused slings

SMOKE=FIRE!!!