Report(s): George sounding more willing to resign long-term with a superteam

[Moranis]

If a team like Boston or the Lakers isn't willing to include some of the high level prospects (or draft picks in Boston's case), I really don't know why the Pacers wouldn't just trade with the Cavs and make the Cavs take on some of the other longer contracts.  I mean Indiana could trade George, Ellis, and Jefferson for Love, Frye, and Jefferson (Felder and Tavares could be included as well for some "prospects").  Frye and Jefferson might very well retire, which saves the Pacers even more money and they still have Love whom they could move for more savings and/or prospects.  The Cavs get George and some solid bench depth in Ellis and Jefferson, while the Pacers just go into full on tank mode and try to build around Turner.

A few problems. The Pacers are not interested in Love and it seems like he doesn't have tons of interest around the league for whatever reason. So just assuming they can unload him when they have been unable to get a 3rd team into the mix seems like a pretty unlikely move.

For the Cavs Eliis and Jefferson are bad contracts at this point. Ellis has had his scoring decline for 4 straight seasons and was a complete non factor int he post season. Paying him 11 million next year on a team in luxury cap hell would be pretty tough to swallow. Jefferson is completely broken and down and cooked and his seen his mpg decline from 30 to 23 to 14 the last 3 seasons. At best his defense was average, but now he is so slow it is horrible and offsets the low post scoring he can provide. So the Cavs are taking on these two vets that don't help their team and further bloat their books while weakening the frontcourt in the hopes that George is a better 3rd star than Love? That seems like change just for the sake of change that may not even make them a better team.

The Cavs obviously believe George is better than Love or they wouldn't have been trying to trade Love for George (I also agree with that sentiment, but I understand why people would prefer Love on that team).  Ellis and Jefferson are better than Frye and Jefferson (especially if they both retire) and thus that would also be an improvement.  Obviously that is a heavy tax load, but if the Cavs really believe George is better than Love, then that seems like a move that would make sense for them, as really Cleveland's one goal (outside of winning a title) should be to make the moves necessary to keep Lebron in town next summer.

I don't think the trade at the draft happened because there weren't as many teams available and the Pacers were holding out for a prime level asset (from LA or Boston or somewhere else).  I'd imagine at the very least, Love can be moved for a couple of late 1st's fairly easily at some point this summer.  Heck I could see Boston going for Love if they strike out in free agency or land someone like Hayward and thus want to get a PF for the starting lineup (though the money is harder to match).  I mean is it really hard to see Boston offering Indiana Crowder, Bradley, Rozier, Boston 2018 1st for Love (so Boston's starting 5 would be Thomas, Smart, Hayward, Love, Horford and would still have Brown, Tatum, Zizic, etc.).  A team like the Suns might decide to take a step up and give up a quality young player or two for Love.  Love doesn't expire next summer so if nothing else it buys Indiana another whole year to move a disgruntled "star", while also removing two contracts that don't make sense for a tanking team.

I think you are really discounting the fact that Ellis and Jefferson take up roster spots that prevent them from filling out their roster with players that have skills they need (namely some athleticism, young legs and defense). Also I don't agree with you assertion that Jefferson is better than Frye for them. Frye has been a truly elite 3 point shooting that has played critical roles in games for them the last 3 seasons. He averaged 9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 18 minutes a game for them last year while shooting 40% from 3. How exactly is Jefferson's, who also misses 20 games a year, an upgrade from that? You then add in the fact that Ellis is a 31% 3 point shooter and the Cavs are also losing Love's elite 3pt shooting (45% in the playoffs!) and they are really hurting their team multiple times. Furthermore, their presence on the roster and crazy luxury tax bill limits their ability to get free agent vets or buyout guys that will be far superior to the basketball corpses of Jefferson and Ellis. Do you not realize how bad these guys are?

why are you talking about Love when talking about Jefferson and Ellis?  George is the player replacing Love both in the starting lineup and production wise.  Frye and Jefferson are both seriously considering retirement (see http://cavaliersnation.com/2017/06/23/report-richard-jefferson-and-channing-frye-could-be-looking-to-retire-to-free-up-cap-space-for-cavs/).  If they retire, what they did this year or might do next year makes no difference.  So you are essentially adding Jefferson and Ellis to two empty roster spots.  Now maybe you think the Cavs are going to land better players for the minimum to fill those two roster spots.  I don't.  But again this is about acquiring George, not acquiring Jefferson and Ellis.

I am saying that I do think the Cavs can get better players with minimum roster spots.
They essentially got Bogut and Deron Williams for the minimum for last year while the warriors got David West and Zaza for near it to name a few that jump to mind. This year it has been rumored that Zach Randolph, Vince Carter will sign with a contender (but possibly the warriors) for the minimum. Tony Allen may be available for close to that. Perhaps David Lee.

Obviously players like Wade and Anthony are rumored to enter the buyout market at some point as well.

I am not sure the Cavs are any better with George than they are with Love. I definitely don't think if they are marginally better it is worth taking on 18 million in bad contracts next year in Ellis and Jefferson just to do so. I am also curious how this trade works under the CBA. Frye makes 7.8 million and Jefferson makes 2.5. Love Makes 21.5 (total of 31). The 3 pacers combine to make 39.5 million....

trade worked on espn trade machine.  At the heart of your contention is that you just don't think George is an upgrade on Love but a lot of people do including the people in Cleveland that matter (i.e. Gilbert, Lue, James, and Irving).  The Cavs had basically 3 worthless roster spots last year (plus Frye and Jefferson) so they have plenty of room for minimum level players but George is a real upgrade to their starting lineup and gives them a number of things that Love can't in a series against Golden State which all Cleveland cares about.  At the end if the day the Cavs believe George give a them a bettwr chance to beat Golden State and a better chance to retain James.  If you believe that and have to take on some bad contracts then you do it every time if money is no object to you (which it doesn't appear to be for Gilbert).