LeBron pushing Cavs to get Carmelo even if trade includes Love
BY Frank Isola
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Tuesday, February 7, 2017, 2:00 AM



Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony apparently do have something in common: LeBron James as an ally.

According to a league source, LeBron is the one pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers front office to acquire Carmelo even if it potentially means having to include Kevin Love in a deal, which is something Cavs management is opposed to doing. Jackson is hoping to move Anthony prior to the Feb. 23 trading deadline and one player the Knicks have targeted is Love, who had 23 points with 16 rebounds in Cleveland’s win over the Knicks on Saturday and 39 points with 16 rebounds in Monday’s overtime win against Washington.

The Cavs vehemently denied that LeBron, who has been at odds with the front office, is forcing the team to make a deal for Anthony. In fact, LeBron called it “trash” while Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said “Kevin (Love) should be happy that teams want him, but he’s not going anywhere”


Any deal for Anthony would require the Knicks leading scorer to waive his no-trade clause and the consensus is that Anthony would agree to play for the defending champs and his long-time friend LeBron.



The Daily News reported last February that James and Anthony discussed forcing a trade to Cleveland but Anthony said he wasn’t ready to leave New York and thus did not ask the team to pursue a possible trade. With the Knicks at 22-31 after Monday’s loss to the Lakers and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season, Anthony knows his championship window is closing fast.

Whether LeBron has enough influence over the Cavs front office and owner Dan Gilbert to force a trade is unclear. ESPN reported last month that James is upset that management did not honor its commitment to find a suitable back-up point guard. The Cavs have since worked out several free agent point guards, including Mario Chalmers and Lance Stephenson.


A deal involving Carmelo is complicated because of Anthony’s salary. For the Cavs to acquire Anthony without including Love in the deal would require the Knicks to take back at least three role players in order to match salaries. And that’s something the Knicks may be reluctant to do, anyway.

The Cavs could look to recruit a third team but Cleveland is in no hurry to part with Love, an All Star who is also younger than Anthony and serves a specific role on the team. And while Cleveland doesn’t want to alienate the NBA’s best player, the Cavs do have James under contract through the 2017-18 season.



In past years, the Cavs have gone out of their way to placate LeBron, including the decision to fire David Blatt and promote Lue to head coach. In fact, LeBron also pushed for the Cavs to acquire Love from Minnesota three summers ago in a deal that included former top overall pick Andrew Wiggins.

The Cavs front office may draw a line in the sand. Coincidentally, former Bulls GM Jerry Krause recently told Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski that Michael Jordan never went to the Bulls front office and made any kind of similar request to LeBron’s.

“I will say one thing for Michael Jordan,” Krause said. “(He) never came to me and asked for other players. He never came to me and asked me to draft a player. Never came to me and asked to trade for a player. Never once did that happen. Part of it was he thought he was so darn good he could win without ’em. He understood what we had to do as an organization.”

LeBron, like Jordan, also has the ability to get the best out of his teammates. During Saturday’s win at the Garden, LeBron spent much of the game running the offense without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. He created open shots for his teammates all night and if a couple of former Knicks, Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert, had been a little more accurate with their outside shooting, the Cavs could have won by 40.



If you don’t think he’ll get the most out of Anthony, think back to the 2012 Olympics when Carmelo was coming off the bench for the U.S. and flourishing with LeBron running the show.

On Saturday, LeBron expertly avoided weighing in on Jackson’s and Anthony’s deteriorating relationship. No need to enter that minefield, especially since LeBron publicly criticized Jackson in December for referring to his friends and business partners as a “posse.” Anthony piled on, saying that Jackson shouldn’t be talking about another player in that manner.

But now the three are linked by a potential trade. There are other suitors, namely the Clippers, who will be in town on Wednesday. The Celtics would do a deal if they can steal Anthony, and Oklahoma City is interested but it’s unlikely that Carmelo would sign off on that deal.

Cleveland remains in play, mostly because of LeBron. Phil needs his help.

Kevin Love (knee) out against Minnesota, All-Star Game in jeopardy


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kevin Love will not play Tuesday against his old team in Minnesota and his All-Star status could be in jeopardy because of some left knee pain.

The Cavs announced Sunday that Love complained of soreness during their 125-109 win over the Nuggets Saturday night. He underwent an MRI Sunday. The team did not announce the results, but said Love would not play against the Timberwolves in Minnesota Tuesday night -- where he played for six seasons until the Cavs traded for him in 2014.

The Cavs said Love would undergo furth treatment and evaluation has necessary. So, stay tuned.

Love scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds Saturday. He battled food poisoning and a lower back injury in January, which cost him most of the seven games he's missed. He said the lower back issue was under control. The knee is a whole new thing.

The All-Star Game is in one week. Love, who is averaging 20 points and 11.1 rebounds, was selected as a reserve for the East.

This leaves the Cavs with just two big men for at least one game -- Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye. Coach Tyronn Lue could choose to start Frye next to Thompson, which is what he did when Love missed a home game against the T'Wolves on Feb. 1. Or he could consider going smaller with either James Jones, who's started for Love before, or newcomer Derrick Williams.

The Cavs practice Monday, where there could be plenty of updates. Iman Shumpert has missed the last three games with a sprained left ankle.

Out for 6 weeks

Cleveland’s All-Star forward Kevin Love will be out at least six weeks following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. The news was first broken by ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin and later confirmed by the team

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/02/14/c ... -left-knee

lets see, that means April 1. He should be ready for opening day.

I suppose there IS big Cavs news going on:


Goran Dragic - G - Heat

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Heat "are willing to part with Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow as centerpieces" in a trade for Kyrie Irving.

Well the only NBA players I'm familiar with are big names Durant and Curry and Harden. Are these two guys anybody anyone would have any interest in?

Adrian Wojnarowski ✔ @wojespn
Sources: Boston, Cleveland on trade call now with league office. Deal is done.
7:25 PM - Aug 22, 2017

HE GONE !

Kyrie Irving - G - Celtics

Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's 2018 first-round pick.

There's no such thing as an offseason in the NBA. For the Celtics, they finally have their face of the franchise in Irving and he's under contract for the next two seasons with a player option for the third.

Umm, pardon me if I think this is a great trade for the Cavs.

The horrible Brooklyn Nets 2018 first rounder will be a top, top pick.

Along with Thomas and Crowder?? Wow.

And we need those kinds of players to begin the rebuilding process as LeBron leaves again!

Mark, Zizic is going to be good ! Possibilty he gets traded again.

J.R. wrote:And we need those kinds of players to begin the rebuilding process as LeBron leaves again!

JR - with Thomas and Crowder (this guy is a great wing defender) added to earlier smaller pickups like Rose and Jeff Green they will arguably be better this year!

So that premier first round pick is just an amazing cherry on top.

rusty2 wrote:Mark, Zizic is going to be good ! Possibilty he gets traded again.

Heard that he's good but a project at this point.

Pretty good summary. I disagree with Pluto that the Celtics will be better this year - losing Crowder and Thomas in this deal (to me) assures that. That said, they did get other pieces (especially Gordon Hayward) in other deals so who knows? Good read:

Cleveland Cavaliers probably made best deal for Kyrie Irving under circumstances -- Terry Pluto


By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

terrypluto2003@yahoo.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two months ago, would I have traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics?

Really? Irving to the Cleveland Cavaliers biggest rival in the Eastern Conference?

Irving to Boston for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, rookie center Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's unprotected 2018 first-round pick?

Of course not.

But two months ago, no one knew (other than Irving and his people) that Irving was going to demand to be traded to a team where he could be a "focal point."

No one knew -- including LeBron James -- that Irving no longer wanted to play with James.

In a summer where Paul George ends up in Oklahoma City, Jimmy Butler in Minnesota ... Irving to Boston is another shocker.

Let's add Derrick Rose to the Cavs. When the Cavs walked off the court in Oakland after losing Game 5 and the title to the Golden State Warriors ... who knew all of this would happen?

But it did.

IRVING DRIVEN

Irving did everything in his limited power to force a trade. This was not a marriage that could be saved.

I texted with a top NBA executive about the deal. I wanted him to put himself in the place of Cavs general manager Koby Altman.

He said he'd make the deal. He said he was surprised the Cavs convinced Boston to put Brooklyn's pick into the trade. The Celtics refused to do that when trying to trade for George and Butler earlier in the summer.

Brooklyn is likely to be one of the NBA's worst teams. The pick will be very high.

The executive said there are some concerns about the health of Thomas. The 5-foot-9 guard missed the last three games of the Boston-Cavs series with a hip injury. There was some discussion about surgery, but apparently Thomas has decided it's not necessary.

BREAKING IT DOWN

1. Irving ended up with a team that is the one challenger to the Cavs winning the East. It's made for TV drama. He joins Gordon Hayward, the star forward signed by Boston in the off-season.

2. But as the executive mentioned, Boston is no longer the same rugged defensive team. Crowder is a tenacious small forward. He also is under contract for three seasons. The Celtics also traded guard Avery Bradley to Detroit, and he's another determined defensive player.

3. Boston has completely changed its team by adding Hayward and Irving. The Celtics also drafted Jayson Tatum, a big-time scorer. Will they share the ball as much and defend as well as last season? That's uncertain. But they will score more points.

4. Thomas has one year and $6.3 million on his contract. The 28-year-old supposedly wants a maximum contract when he becomes a free agent next summer.

5. Irving has two years left on his deal at about $19 million annually. He can opt-out and become a free agent in the summer of 2019. He supposedly would be interested in staying with Boston long-term.

6. Zizic is a 7-footer who played for David Blatt in Turkey last season. He is not supposed to be NBA ready. The Cavs want to start adding younger players. But he's not a factor in this trade.

7. Thomas has never played fewer than 65 games in a season, and that was in 2011-12 when he was a rookie. He has missed only six games in the last two years. I don't like to hear about hip injuries with little guards.

8. The Cavs now have Rose and Thomas at point guard. Health is a question with both. But they can be very effective players if they can blend with LeBron James.

9. Part of the challenge for Thomas was being the main scorer on his team last season. That won't be the case with the Cavs, where he joins Kevin Love, James and Rose. But will he adjust to not being the first option to score?

10. I'm not overjoyed with the deal because it does make Boston better. But I do love the adding of the high pick.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Keeping Irving would have been a disaster.

When a player averages 25 points a game ... takes more shots per game than James ... and goes to three consecutive NBA Finals...

When that player wants to be traded because he doesn't want to share the court with the best player in the NBA...

It's impossible to keep him.

So then, it became a matter of what is the best trade for the Cavs.

I preferred a deal with Phoenix for Eric Bledsoe, Josh Jackson and a draft pick. The Suns weren't interested.

I don't know what the Cavs could have received from other teams. But the Cavs got more for Irving than Chicago did for Butler or Indiana for George.

So it's probably a very good deal.

But seeing Irving in Boston ... WOW!

The games between the Cavs and Boston should be epic.