The season ended Cavs thread...and NBA discussion in general

[Warthog]

My first thought is that Ferry knows LeBron is not coming back to Cleveland and wanted to get out before professional basketball in Cleveland dies.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

My first thought is that Ferry knows LeBron is not coming back to Cleveland and wanted to get out before professional basketball in Cleveland dies.

I think this is likely. His contract was up in a month, and if he doesn't think he retains LeBron, he knows he wouldn't be renewed, and he can get away with less fuss now than in the post-LBJ apocalypse.

It could also mean that LeBron has been talking with other parts of the Cavs' org and had input on the coaching and GM situation, and the Cavs are pulling out every possible stop to try and woo him to stay. This would be pretty stupid, since LeBron's input over the course of his career has been much more harm than good, but it's possible.

[cw08]

My first thought is that Ferry knows LeBron is not coming back to Cleveland and wanted to get out before professional basketball in Cleveland dies.

I think this is likely. His contract was up in a month, and if he doesn't think he retains LeBron, he knows he wouldn't be renewed, and he can get away with less fuss now than in the post-LBJ apocalypse.

He can't even sign LeBron before his own contract is up. That makes no sense.

[Warthog]

My first thought is that Ferry knows LeBron is not coming back to Cleveland and wanted to get out before professional basketball in Cleveland dies.

I think this is likely. His contract was up in a month, and if he doesn't think he retains LeBron, he knows he wouldn't be renewed, and he can get away with less fuss now than in the post-LBJ apocalypse.

He can't even sign LeBron before his own contract is up. That makes no sense.

He had three years to get LeBron to sign a new deal and it didn't happen. Now everyone knows the destiny of basketball in Cleveland rest on the signing of James. I would think the GM of his current team has to have a gut feeling about what might happen. If he thinks James is leaving, why would Ferry want to stick around in Cleveland with a team with aging, marginal talent and absolutely no cap space?

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Word out of Chicago is that Thibodeau has agreed to be the next coach of the Bulls. I think that's another notch in the Chicago column for the LeBron sweepstakes. There's the WWW connection, plus LeBron had to be impressed with how Thibodeau's D shut down his Cavs in the playoffs.

I'm as happy about this hire as I was pissed about the VDN hire. And that's saying something.

[cw08]

Word out of Chicago is that Thibodeau has agreed to be the next coach of the Bulls. I think that's another notch in the Chicago column for the LeBron sweepstakes. There's the WWW connection, plus LeBron had to be impressed with how Thibodeau's D shut down his Cavs in the playoffs.

I'm as happy about this hire as I was pissed about the VDN hire. And that's saying something.

This was a knock on Wes' cred. Thibodeau got a terrible deal. Two-year deal with a third as a club option for 6.5? That's chump change for the top assistant in the league.

[Falconboy]

A report is saying it's true. Bosch and Lebron in Chicago. Did they really clear that much cap space to sign both of these guys? My fantasy was that Cleveland could sign Bosch but that was never gonna happen with Cleveland salary situation which never appeared was gonna change anytime soon. It appears that the Cav's have no real chance of improving the roster at all.

[Warthog]

Did they really clear that much cap space to sign both of these guys?

I think that the Bulls have about $32 mil in cap space now. They are like $2 mil short of being able to offer two max contracts. So if James and Bosh are going to Chicago, one of them is taking less then the max. Doubt that would be LeBron.

This free agency season is making a mockery of the NBA. The Bulls quite simply gave away a pretty decent player and a mid first round pick for nothing. The Knicks have been dumping salaries for years to get where they are now. The Nets, the worst team in the league last season, have a shot at signing a star player simply because they have cap room. That is ludicrous.

What are the Knicks going to do if they don't get James/Bosh/Wade? Hand out max deals to Boozer and Joe Johnson? Or will they hold onto their cap space to make a run at Melo next year and hope no one else has the space to sign him?

I like having a salary cap to attempt to even out the small market and big market teams. But it is just crazy that it all comes down to who gave away the most bad contracts to see who gets to sign the big free agents. I mean how free are they when only like 5 teams have the space to sign them to the contract they think they deserve?

[Warthog]

After putting up the previous post, I went over to the Plain Dealer web site to catch on the Sunday sports news. Oddly enough, Bud Shaw just posted an column that touches on what I was talking about:

http://www.cleveland.com/budshaw/index. ... _fran.html

Chicago being praised for giving away a good player. The Cavs go WAY over the salary cap and do just about everything possible to add talent in an attempt to win a championship. But the reward is the fact that all the teams that gave up and gave away all their high salary players, and were awful (or mediocre at best), are now the front runners to sign players like James and Bosh.

[Class of 61]

RE: The Salary Cap and the Cavs


I know it's being said that the Cavs have NO room under the cap etc.; BUT I'm assuming that Shaq, and possibly Z, won't be back..Wouldn't that give Cleveland some major "wiggle space" under the cap? Also, getting rid of West, which seems probable, might help as his contract is only "guaranteed" for 500K. Not an expert on salary caps, and especially NBA rules, but I thought it odd that we have NO space...not to mention, if LB leaves, there's even more money available.

All I do know is that I'm tired of this whole Lebron saga...get it over, one way or another...life WILL go on.

[BGDrew]

I'm not up on the NBA but what would losing Lebron do to the Cavaliers organization? Is it too much of a stretch to say losing him could begin the downfall of the organization?

[Warthog]

RE: The Salary Cap and the Cavs


I know it's being said that the Cavs have NO room under the cap etc.; BUT I'm assuming that Shaq, and possibly Z, won't be back..Wouldn't that give Cleveland some major "wiggle space" under the cap?

They were so far over the cap that, no, it still doesn't get them under.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9195

I think when the official cap is announced next week it will be like $55 or $57 million. The Cavs will already be at $50 million if Lebron doesn't resign. So not a lot of room to do anything.

[Redwingtom]

BTW - Since when are players allowed to collude about their free agency desires, but owners are prohibited from doing so?

[Jacobs4Heisman]

BTW - Since when are players allowed to collude about their free agency desires, but owners are prohibited from doing so?

Employees can "collude" in any industry, while businesses can not. Nothing different about the NBA, except that you and I don't care if Bob from Meijer and Shirley from Home Depot decide they both want to go work at Wal-Mart together. Stern admitted that he obviously can't keep players from talking to each other, as long as the conduct isn't absolutely over the top. There is a ton of shady stuff happening behind the scenes right now - guaranteed. All Stern cares about is that it doesn't get to the media.

I'm more excited than I have been about basketball in 12 years right now. Just the possibility of a super-team in Chicago is a million times more than I could have asked for before we won the magic ping-pong ball combination to get d-rose. A 1.4% chance changed the whole face of the franchise, and now with some shrewd cap management the Bulls are in position to clean up and win more titles. I'm to the point now where I'll be disappointed if LBJ doesn't end up in Chicago. Never would have envisioned that 6 months ago.

If LBJ has been truthful and really cares about championships above all else, Chicago is where he'll end up. Hopefully Bosh follows him.

One thing I'm interested to hear from Cavs fans: If we accept the premise that Bron is gone, would you rather have the Cavs work out a sign and trade to get some sort of asset back, or would you rather management tell him to f*** off and not help him get his extra year/salary? Logic obviously dictates you would want assets, but I'm not emotionally invested in the LBJ/Cle pairing, so maybe that trumps it for you.

[hammb]

BTW - Since when are players allowed to collude about their free agency desires, but owners are prohibited from doing so?

Employees can "collude" in any industry, while businesses can not. Nothing different about the NBA, except that you and I don't care if Bob from Meijer and Shirley from Home Depot decide they both want to go work at Wal-Mart together. Stern admitted that he obviously can't keep players from talking to each other, as long as the conduct isn't absolutely over the top. There is a ton of shady stuff happening behind the scenes right now - guaranteed. All Stern cares about is that it doesn't get to the media.

I'm more excited than I have been about basketball in 12 years right now. Just the possibility of a super-team in Chicago is a million times more than I could have asked for before we won the magic ping-pong ball combination to get d-rose. A 1.4% chance changed the whole face of the franchise, and now with some shrewd cap management the Bulls are in position to clean up and win more titles. I'm to the point now where I'll be disappointed if LBJ doesn't end up in Chicago. Never would have envisioned that 6 months ago.

If LBJ has been truthful and really cares about championships above all else, Chicago is where he'll end up. Hopefully Bosh follows him.

One thing I'm interested to hear from Cavs fans: If we accept the premise that Bron is gone, would you rather have the Cavs work out a sign and trade to get some sort of asset back, or would you rather management tell him to f*** off and not help him get his extra year/salary? Logic obviously dictates you would want assets, but I'm not emotionally invested in the LBJ/Cle pairing, so maybe that trumps it for you.

If LeBron is going to leave Cleveland you absolutely MUST try to work out a sign and trade. The Cavs franchise is going to be in shambles without LeBron. It is imperative that they get SOMETHING in return.