Cleveland Sports Forum

Peter C- great day for you! Happy things worked so well. Tribe fans need things like that.

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Nah.



Dwyane Wade - G - Heat

Dwyane Wade is in talks with the Cavaliers, according to Jordan Schultz of the Huffington Post.

While we're taking this one with a grain of salt as Schultz reports that talks are still in the early stages, Wade coming to Cleveland would go a long way towards helping the Cavs compete with Golden State's new super team.

We'll keep an eye on Wade's upcoming free agency decision, but his fantasy value would take a bit of a hit with a move to the Cavaliers.

TFIR ... word broke quick on Twitter last night. He took a private jet to Cleveland to meet with owner Dan Gilbert and Lebron. And Brian Windhorst just reported that Wade has cancelled a couple visits with other teams for later this week. So I dunno man. It just might go down. I don't know how the Cavs can swing it with the cap though. Very confused.

One rumor out there is they might do a sign and trade and send Love to Heat. I would hate that move. Love is like 6 or 7 years younger.

Dwyane Wade joining the Cavs for less money and out of spite could happen
Miami has made things ugly enough with Wade in negotiations to force his hand

by Zach Harper @talkhoops 7h ago

It could happen.

The idea of Wade spurning the Heat and taking a huge discount to go reunite with LeBron James in Cleveland is gaining steam. Wade, who reportedly has been displeased with Miami's offers, is seeking upwards of $25 million a year and would like to get a three-year deal in the process. The Heat probably don't feel great about that kind of monetary commitment when they're still trying to find a way back to being a title contender.

As Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald writes, Wade in Cleveland is an actual option. It requires Wade going from asking $25 million a year to passing on $20 million a year offered by the Heat to accepting the taxpayer mid-level exception for just under $3.5 million. That is sacrificing a lot of money in the name of feeling disrespected, but Wade and LeBron are still extremely close and would like to play on the same team again some day if it makes sense. So does that make sense now?

And yes, joining LeBron James in Cleveland is an option. Among a few still, and "a long shot" due to the economics, according to a source, but definitely an option. The Cavaliers don't currently have anything other than the taxpayer midlevel to offer ($3.48 million), which would be a huge reduction in pay. So they would need to make multiple deals to accommodate more salary. Or James would need to take a historically large cut, which wouldn't sit well with the players' union, but maybe he doesn't care about that. He repeatedly told me, when I was covering the Cavaliers during the 2014-15 season, how much he missed Wade. That might be priceless.

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This does seem like a long shot but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Wade has been passive aggressively tweeting about relationships being important and there are enough leaks throughout this story to feel pretty confident that the Heat may have gone too far initially with how little they offered him. It's the tough balance of keeping the franchise icon in your heart and still trying to maintain a competitive balance that means more than a playoff appearance. Pat Riley has tried to do that for multiple offseasons and the deeper we get, the more upset Wade seems to be.

Wade wants to still be treated as the organization's most important figure on the court, and that hasn't been the case during tenuous negotiations for two straight summers. Last year, there was a mild flirtation with the Cavs before settling on a one-year, $20 million deal. This year, the Cavs are following the Wade family on social media and there seems to be a building paranoia that Wade could bolt.

From a money standpoint, the Nuggets still make more sense and the Bulls could make some things work to open up the money he's seeking. From a revenge standpoint, the Cavs would be Wade throwing up two middle fingers to Riley as he walks away from his NBA family. No matter the outcome, this has been pretty good theater.

No overdraft fees or monthly charges is pretty impressive.

Wade left and went to NY knowing what the Cavs can offer. Which isn't much. He's meeting with a few other teams there.

Gilbert should pay him the 3+ mill salary for 3 years. Then pay him 20 mill a year for 3 years off the books in a side deal to cut a 30 second commercial for his Horseshoe casino.

Probably a rule against that tho now that I think about it.

To me, this could be Lebron doing a favor for a friend, and allowing the Cavs to serve as fake suitors to drive Wade's bargaining power up.

$3.5 mill? No way.

And I agree, no way Love, way younger, gets traded in this thing unless multiple teams got involved and the Cavs got a much younger return back.

This building superteams that the NBA is now about makes even less interested in the sport than I've been. The first 82 or maybe first 100 games of the season become rather irrelevant. I prefer baseball anyway, just as a game, but I also prefer a sport where nearly every team wins between 40% and 60% of its games, and in which no individual victory can legitimately be called an "upset".

There is no question civ that the regular season is devalued in the NBA.

Part of that is the extreme physical nature of the game now, with the schedule being too demanding for that degree of physicality. In other words, guys need days off for their bodies to properly recover.

Back to backs? That's insanity these days. The schedule is all about the $

Another part is the fact that so many teams get into the playoffs. Too many.

And finally, part of it is because of the nature of the draft. Hmmm, didn't we just have Tomlin pitching today - the Tribe's 19th pick one year? And that is not uncommon, we all know the baseball draft is difficult at best to do well.

Another local example, a local kid Cito Culver was a 1st round pick of the Yanks a few years back, can't get his ass about AA.

So my point is, NBA draft picks (and only 2 rounds) have far more potential to make significant impacts on teams. An individual (Lebron a prime example) in general has more impact on an NBA team anyways.

So with draft picks carrying that kind of weight, there's all kinds of incentive to tank, and it does happen. Yes, it happens in baseball too but IMO on a smaller scale. And tanking in MLB means using kids (a la Atlanta now, Philly too, and in the past the Cubs and Astros) who actually can turn out to be damn good.

So I love the game and love to follow it, but I agree the borderline fan has all kinds of reasons to ignore the regular season.

Very borderline here. I stay connected to the Cavs primarily since NBA is my son's favorite sport and I need to chat semi-intelligently with him.

Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire Chicago Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy via trade

Chris Haynes, cleveland.com
on July 06, 2016 at 10:07 PM, updated July 06, 2016 at 10:33 PM


CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland Cavaliers will trade for Chicago Bulls small forward Mike Dunleavy, league sources confirmed to cleveland.com.

Chicago is parting ways with Dunleavy to shed cap space to make room for Miami Heat free agent Dwyane Wade, who committed to signing with his hometown team on Wednesday night.

Cleveland will use a portion of the $9.6 million Anderson Varejao trade exception to absorb Dunleavy's salary, The Vertical reported.

The 14-year veteran has two years remaining on his deal at $4.8 million for next season and $5.2 million for the 2017-18 campaign. However, the final year is a non-guaranteed salary.

LeBron James has always wanted to play with Dunleavy, but it will be interesting to see if his new teammate still has anything left in the tank. He underwent back surgery last September.

In 31 games for the Bulls last season, Dunleavy posted 7.2 points per game and shot 39 percent from long distance. He will turn 36 before the season tips off. He's played with Golden State, Indiana, Milwaukee and Chicago throughout his career.

Richard Jefferson announces deal with Cleveland Cavaliers
WKYC Staff , WKYC 10:10 PM. EST July 06, 2016

CLEVELAND - Richard Jefferson announced his plans to retire from professional basketball after the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed the 2016 NBA Championship.

But Jefferson appears to have put his retirement plans on hold.

On Wednesday, Jefferson announced on his Snapchat he signed a two-year deal with the Cavaliers.

He wrote, "Heard it here first...Can't wait to repeat...2 year deal done!! The Land you ready?"
draft



At the Cleveland Cavaliers Championship Parade and Rally, Jefferson asked the crowd if he should play another season.

"If you guys want me to play one more year, I'll play one more year," Jefferson told them before sitting back down.

Nice move swooping in on Dunleavy. Probably explains Wade's visit to Lebron/Cavs.

So civ can keep up in his Cavs conversations:

With Wiggins’ Rising Stock And Love’s Declining Numbers, Does Title Win Validate Trade For Cavs?

Posted By: Cameron WilkoszPosted date: July 06, 2016In: Cavs

If you really try and find a damp patch from the Cleveland Cavaliers championship run (it still feels so good to write!), you’re led pretty clearly to the struggles of Kevin Love. It’s just under two years ago now that the Cavaliers pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota in exchange for the three-time All-Star, so let’s look back and ponder, would Cleveland make the same trade again?

At the time of the trade, there were new rumors flying around every day, and the teams finally found a third party to make it all happen, the Philadelphia 76ers. Minnesota received Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett from Cleveland and Thaddeus Young from the 76ers, while the Sixers received Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved from Minnesota and a 2015 first-round draft pick from Cleveland (via Miami).

With LeBron James returning home to fulfill his promise of bringing a title to Cleveland, the Cavs were in no need of rookies and the coaching attention that Wiggins would have needed. Cleveland needed to find that third major piece that was already established in the league, ready to take that next step, to join forces with James and the young Kyrie Irving.

Kevin Love seemed as the perfect fit to the game style that Cleveland was about to play. With Irving running the point and James on the wing, adding a guy that had posted 30 and 30 games in his time in Minnesota seemed like a no-brainer. The price to be paid was steep as giving up Andrew Wiggins was a risky and bold move but something that was needed to be done.
Bob Donnan l USA Today Sports

When LeBron James came home, it changed everything. Cleveland needed to get out of their gradual rebuild and find guys to help James on his way to the top, and fast.

Love faced an incredible task when he first joined the Cavs, adjusting from being the guy that the offense ran through in Minnesota to being the third option in Cleveland. That’s a tough transition for anybody, and add the fact that a championship is expected of you, and you’ve never played a playoff game in your entire career. No pressure right?

As the team’s third best player, Kevin Love got as close to averaging a double double as humanly possible. With 16.0 points and 9.9 boards a night, Love also added 2.4 assists with what seemed to be nightly SportsCentre highlight touchdown passes to LeBron James’s flag routes.

Love’s numbers from his Minny days have certainly taken an overall dip, but his shooting percentages have pretty much stayed the same. Love shot 36% from deep this season, which is slightly lower than his 37% in 2014, but it also outplays Wiggins’ 30% from beyond the arc.

It’s no secret how important and dominant the three ball was for Cleveland throughout their championship run, and Love being able to stretch the floor with confidence is something that Wiggins could not have done for Cleveland. Comparatively, Chris Bosh averaged 16 and 6 for Miami in the 2012-2013 season while they defended their crown as NBA Champions. Bosh was very much the same, seeing his numbers dip after leaving the Toronto Raptors in the distance to buddy up with two ball-dominant scorers, that’s just what happens.

Love beat out Wiggins in nightly averages of rebounds, assists, and blocks, with a higher free throw and three point percentage while also turning the ball over less. He was in a place where he was ready to win and experienced enough to help a team on its way to a title.

Now with a ring (and multiple championship belts) the doubters and critics shouldn’t have a bad word to say about what Kevin Love did for this team. Love’s lockdown of Steph Curry on his last ditch effort to tie Game 7 up in the dying minutes is enough to make this trade again. In my eyes, he forever immortalized the words “The Stop” in Cleveland sports history.

Kyrie Irving said it best during the team’s celebratory parade.

“The only question that can be asked of this group right now is, what’s next?”

So thank you David Griffin, for making the trade that brought the city of Cleveland the championship Love that it truly deserved.

Cleveland,

Thank you for the past three years. The Cavaliers are a great organization and I really want to thank everyone involved for giving me my opportunity, making me feel so welcome. Thank you to all the staff, coaches, and players that I have worked with during my time at Cleveland; I have made lifelong friends. Winning a championship with a special group of players, I can't wait for the first reunion. Thank you to the fans for all the love and support.

When I first moved to Cleveland, people would say "Oh, you're going to Cleveeeland" (in a negative way) - I didn't know anything about Cleveland, I just knew it was going to be colder than Australia and Saint Mary's (California). Those people couldn't have been more wrong. The city is unique and special. Cleveland has grown and changed a lot in my 3 years of living downtown. There are tons of great restaurants, the people are genuine and the passion for sports teams is unreal. All the people that visited me absolutely loved it.

Here are some memories I will never forget. The crowd going crazy and giving a standing ovation when I denied the ball to help force a shot clock violation my rookie year- Anderson Varejao taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes - Seeing the crowd still there and supporting passionately throughout a 33-49 season- Lebron's first game back, The Q was crazy- Getting to play pick and roll with the best player in the world- Throwing lobs to TT- The support and love you showed for me, especially during the playoffs and finals last year- Catan battles with my mate, Joey Harris- The Cavs Australia Day- Team dinners - The way the fans brought even more intensity and energy to drive us when we were down this year in the Finals 0-2 and then 1-3- The arrival back to the airport after winning - and of course the parade, I don't think I can say anything that would do justice to that experience - Hearing local Clevelander's stories of what a championship meant to them and their city as well as where they were and what they were doing during game 7; I feel lucky to have been a part of that experience.

Tough to put into words how I feel about Cleveland and everyone connected to it - just know that I gave everything I could anytime I was out there and I loved every minute of it.

The opportunity I have in Milwaukee is the right move for my career to challenge myself to grow and develop with a young, exciting team.

It is time to move on now but I really can't thank everyone in Cleveland enough for everything. Cleveland will always be a special place for me and a special chapter in my journey.

All the very best,
Delly