Would the Cavs re-sign both Love and Thompson to max deals?

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Dan Gilbert will use all his Quicken money and pay the luxury tax to win championships.  He doesn't care about the tax and badly wants to win and win big.  He would absolutely pay Love and Thompson max contracts.  If Love tells him he will re-sign but doesn't want to play with Thompson, then the Cavs will let Thompson go.  Frankly I think they can both get their minutes by playing them together with Thompson at the center.  So something like C - Mozgov (25), Thompson (18), Varejao (5) and PF - Love (35), Thompson (13).  Play Varejao more when injuries or foul trouble arise.  I think that gets everyone their minutes and keeps everyone relatively happy.

I don't think you understand the nature of Thompson's and James' relationship. Thompson has the same agent as James. There have been reports that James is going to make sure that Thompson gets a max deal with the Cavs.

Love has no leverage. Gilbert has no leverage. This James' team, and if he wants Thompson, then Love has to make a decision.

There are 96 minutes for bigs in a game - Love will want at least 32. Thompson will deserve, for his money, at least 32. Mozgov's rim protection is making him valuable for at least 24.

That means you are paying Varajoe 10 million a year for 8 minutes a game. That is terrible cap management. You cannot put 50+ million a year into 4 bigs, and pay Lebron 30 million a year, and pay Irving 20 million a year.

[Endless Paradise]

If Love tells him he will re-sign but doesn't want to play with Thompson, then the Cavs will let Thompson go.

I agree with everything else you say, but ehhhhh, I don't know about that. LeBron reigns supreme in Cleveland and Thompson has his backing. If it really comes down to it, I think they'd prioritize LeBron's wishes over Love.

That said, I don't know where this notion of Love not wanting to play with Thompson even comes from. Because it's definitely not from any substantiated rumors.

[zubi.anaba]

Dan Gilbert will use all his Quicken money and pay the luxury tax to win championships.  He doesn't care about the tax and badly wants to win and win big.  He would absolutely pay Love and Thompson max contracts.  If Love tells him he will re-sign but doesn't want to play with Thompson, then the Cavs will let Thompson go.  Frankly I think they can both get their minutes by playing them together with Thompson at the center.  So something like C - Mozgov (25), Thompson (18), Varejao (5) and PF - Love (35), Thompson (13).  Play Varejao more when injuries or foul trouble arise.  I think that gets everyone their minutes and keeps everyone relatively happy.

I don't think you understand the nature of Thompson's and James' relationship. Thompson has the same agent as James. There have been reports that James is going to make sure that Thompson gets a max deal with the Cavs.

Yeah reports !! absolutely nothing concrete to suggest lebron is forcing them to pay him the max. Anyway he is a RFA so they will match whatever offer he gets. I do not see a single team in the league offering him a max. I see him settling for 4yrs 44mil

Love has no leverage. Gilbert has no leverage. This James' team, and if he wants Thompson, then Love has to make a decision.

Again just a bunch of speculation insinuating that James is holding the team hostage. If Lebron wants to win like everyone thinks he does, why wouldnt he want Love and TT on his team?

There are 96 minutes for bigs in a game - Love will want at least 32. Thompson will deserve, for his money, at least 32. Mozgov's rim protection is making him valuable for at least 24.

Yup thats how it will be not sure what the problem is

That means you are paying Varajoe 10 million a year for 8 minutes a game. That is terrible cap management. You cannot put 50+ million a year into 4 bigs, and pay Lebron 30 million a year, and pay Irving 20 million a year.

AV is made of glass, in 30s and will prob be washed up a bit by the time his back. He has been a Cavs his whole career and the contract they gave him was more like a thank you for being here kind thing. Dont see how he will **** about playing time. He aint that kind of player

BY the way KI didnt qualify for the super max. He didnt make first team all NBA or start the All star game this yr so his max is the normal 14mill not 20mill

Anyway yes their luxury bill will be high but the cap will go up and Dan G has never had a problem paying tax for a winning team. Esp when he is cashing in with Lebron on his squad. Everything else you saying really doesnt matter

[Celtics4ever]

Love is walking I bet to LA.

[Moranis]

Dan Gilbert will use all his Quicken money and pay the luxury tax to win championships.  He doesn't care about the tax and badly wants to win and win big.  He would absolutely pay Love and Thompson max contracts.  If Love tells him he will re-sign but doesn't want to play with Thompson, then the Cavs will let Thompson go.  Frankly I think they can both get their minutes by playing them together with Thompson at the center.  So something like C - Mozgov (25), Thompson (18), Varejao (5) and PF - Love (35), Thompson (13).  Play Varejao more when injuries or foul trouble arise.  I think that gets everyone their minutes and keeps everyone relatively happy.

I don't think you understand the nature of Thompson's and James' relationship. Thompson has the same agent as James. There have been reports that James is going to make sure that Thompson gets a max deal with the Cavs.

Love has no leverage. Gilbert has no leverage. This James' team, and if he wants Thompson, then Love has to make a decision.

There are 96 minutes for bigs in a game - Love will want at least 32. Thompson will deserve, for his money, at least 32. Mozgov's rim protection is making him valuable for at least 24.

That means you are paying Varajoe 10 million a year for 8 minutes a game. That is terrible cap management. You cannot put 50+ million a year into 4 bigs, and pay Lebron 30 million a year, and pay Irving 20 million a year.

Varejao is terrible and they are stuck with him, his salary has no bearing on the rotation.

Love is better than Thompson, if Love says him or Thompson, Thompson will be the one to leave.

[oldtype]

If Thompson gets the max Love is gone, simple as. Why should Love believe anything ownership tells him about having a larger role next season when the team has another max player who plays the same position, who also shares an agent with/is close friends with the team's de facto GM?

[Endless Paradise]

If Thompson gets the max Love is gone, simple as. Why should Love believe anything ownership tells him about having a larger role next season when the team has another max player who plays the same position, who also shares an agent with/is close friends with the team's de facto GM?

Because, despite what you mentioned about Thompson's ties to LeBron, Love's already been the starter and received the bulk of minutes?

Whether or not it's wise to pay max money to your sixth man is a fair discussion to have, but this notion that Love should feel disrespected because Thompson gets paid is... well, illogical and an extreme reach. We go from Love supposedly being upset about wanting a larger role to... Love being upset that another player is getting paid some arbitrary amount of money? Like, it's specifically the max for Thompson that would send Love out of town? He'd be fine with Thompson getting the $10+ million he was widely projected to fetch at the start of the season, but not $15 million? Where's this mystical cutoff where Love would feel fine with Thompson being on the team?

This argument doesn't make any sense. Why would and should he care if Thompson gets paid? Thompson's max will be significantly less than Love's max. A player's contract doesn't necessarily determine their role; ask David Lee and Gerald Wallace.

[oldtype]

If Thompson gets the max Love is gone, simple as. Why should Love believe anything ownership tells him about having a larger role next season when the team has another max player who plays the same position, who also shares an agent with/is close friends with the team's de facto GM?

Because Love's already been the starter and received the bulk of minutes?

Whether or not it's wise to pay max money to your sixth man is a fair discussion to have, but this notion that Love should feel disrespected because Thompson gets paid is... well, illogical and an extreme reach. We go from Love supposedly being upset about wanting a larger role to... Love being upset that another player is getting paid some arbitrary amount of money? Like, it's specifically the max that would send Thompson out of town? He'd be fine with Thompson getting the $10+ million he was widely projected to fetch at the start of the season, but not $15 million?

This argument doesn't make any sense

Think about the human dynamics here. If you're Kevin Love, how can you feel that the team will give you a bigger role when there's a guy immediately behind you on the depth chart who's paid almost as much, gets along with his teammates more, and played well in the playoffs while you were injured. With Thompson behind him, Love would be on a very short leash next season - he'd have to be constantly fearful of Lebron agitating for the other max guy to take away more of his minutes.

Given that love already appears to be feeling marginalized and unhappy with the status quo, why wouldn't he perceive a max contract Tristan Thompson as a threat? He wants a bigger role than what he has now and he'd naturally think that he's most certainly not getting it in Cleveland.

[manl_lui]

Dan Gilbert will use all his Quicken money and pay the luxury tax to win championships.  He doesn't care about the tax and badly wants to win and win big.  He would absolutely pay Love and Thompson max contracts.  If Love tells him he will re-sign but doesn't want to play with Thompson, then the Cavs will let Thompson go.  Frankly I think they can both get their minutes by playing them together with Thompson at the center.  So something like C - Mozgov (25), Thompson (18), Varejao (5) and PF - Love (35), Thompson (13).  Play Varejao more when injuries or foul trouble arise.  I think that gets everyone their minutes and keeps everyone relatively happy.

I don't think you understand the nature of Thompson's and James' relationship. Thompson has the same agent as James. There have been reports that James is going to make sure that Thompson gets a max deal with the Cavs.

Love has no leverage. Gilbert has no leverage. This James' team, and if he wants Thompson, then Love has to make a decision.

There are 96 minutes for bigs in a game - Love will want at least 32. Thompson will deserve, for his money, at least 32. Mozgov's rim protection is making him valuable for at least 24.

That means you are paying Varajoe 10 million a year for 8 minutes a game. That is terrible cap management. You cannot put 50+ million a year into 4 bigs, and pay Lebron 30 million a year, and pay Irving 20 million a year.

Varejao is terrible and they are stuck with him, his salary has no bearing on the rotation.

Love is better than Thompson, if Love says him or Thompson, Thompson will be the one to leave.

idk, if LeBron wants Thompson to stay, Thompson stays. Sadly, LeBron has more saying power than ALMOST anyone in the FO. Hell he has more say than the coach.

I joke with my friends that LeBron is a player, coach, and GM for almost any team, and sadly, sometimes it's very true

[Endless Paradise]

I really think you're projecting. How much money Love and Thompson will make is wholly independent of how they'll be used next year. There are a number of teams I could point to with players who have been signed to contracts that will pay them significantly more than players ahead of them on the depth chart. That's not even going to be the case in Cleveland: no matter what Thompson commands, Love will make more money than him, even if he just opts in.

If Love feels threatened by Thompson's presence - and we've heard no kind of reports to that extent, as opposed to the various reports discussing the possibility of Love leaving because he's unhappy with his role - you honestly think that'd change if Thompson got re-signed for, say, $4 million next year? The only thing Love should realistically be concerned about in regards to Thompson is Thompson's production. The dollar amount he's re-signed for is honestly irrelevant.

[LooseCannon]

I think they will.  Dan Gilbert's net worth rose $1 billion in the past year.  He can afford one year of heavily paying the luxury tax in order to win a championship.

Just because he can afford it doesn't mean he will.  Mickey Arison has a higher net worth than Dan Gilbert.  Lebron James left Miami at least partly because the Heat were being cheap about avoiding luxury tax.

[celticsclay]

I really think you're projecting. How much money Love and Thompson will make is wholly independent of how they'll be used next year. There are a number of teams I could point to with players who have been signed to contracts that will pay them significantly more than players ahead of them on the depth chart. That's not even going to be the case in Cleveland: no matter what Thompson commands, Love will make more money than him, even if he just opts in.

If Love feels threatened by Thompson's presence - and we've heard no kind of reports to that extent, as opposed to the various reports discussing the possibility of Love leaving because he's unhappy with his role - you honestly think that'd change if Thompson got re-signed for, say, $4 million next year? The only thing Love should realistically be concerned about in regards to Thompson is Thompson's production. The dollar amount he's re-signed for is honestly irrelevant.

This is something that I have thought about. At first glance this is true, You have Wallace on the Celtics, Lee and Iggy on the Warriors, Presumably Andy V on the Cavs if he were healthy. Garnett the last few years with the Nets/Twolves. However, those players are all on the back 9 of their careers and over 30. Are there really a lot of players that 24 to 26 making 12-20 million but coming off the bench? I really can't think of any.

[Endless Paradise]

No, but I legitimately don't see why that matters. Thompson was willing to accept his role coming off the bench in a contract year and I'm supposed to believe that it's suddenly going to be an issue for him to accept that same role next year while making roughly three times what he's making now with a guaranteed, multi-year deal? Just doesn't make any sense to me.

[celticsclay]

No, but I legitimately don't see why that matters. Thompson was willing to accept his role coming off the bench in a contract year and I'm supposed to believe that it's suddenly going to be an issue for him to accept that same role next year while making roughly three times what's making now with a guaranteed, multi-year deal? Just doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm not a 100% sure this is true. I think coming into this year the only big men players that the Cavs had were Andy V, Love and TT. Andy Varejo had played more than 31 games once since 2010 coming into this season (side note that is an insane fact). I think thompson made a pretty smart bet there would be a lot of minutes available when the inevitable varejo injury hit. Theoretically, Andy V's minutes would also dwindle in the future regardless of health.  I think Mosgov's presence along with Love could complicate the picture a little. They are all in their 20's and all will get additional contracts in the future and are all capable of playing 25+ minutes a game. I am not a 100% convinced that Tristan (and/or) Love would want to commit to 4-5 more years of splitting the power forward position in their 20's. It would be kind of unprecedented for players their age. However, tp for the good discussion and I can see where you are coming from.

[Endless Paradise]

*shrugs* I don't see much of an issue with a three-big rotation of Love/Mozgov/Thompson. It worked during the season with the older Mozgov (who's turning 29 this July, for what it matters) receiving the fewest minutes. I honestly don't think Varejao will care that much about not playing often given that he's got a very checkered past of injuries, including his most recent one of a torn Achilles. I think he'll be happy to make $10 million while playing sparingly for a winning team with one of his closest teammates in LeBron as opposed to the previous four years of playing sparingly for terrible Cavs teams.

TP for you, too.