LeBron = LOSER when times get tough ! Really enjoying this whole thing...... TRUE LEBRON EXPOSED !!!!!!!!

Ty Lue: Cavs' 'mindset needs to change' after latest blowout loss
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8:28 AM ET
Brian Windhorst
ESPN Senior Writer

CLEVELAND -- In the wake of another lopsided defeat to a top team on national television, Cleveland Cavaliers players and coach Ty Lue questioned the effort and trust within the team.

"Don't look like [we tried]. We didn't have no fight," Lue said after the Cavs' 120-88 loss to the Houston Rockets, the team's eighth straight loss on national television and fourth by 24 or more points since Jan. 1. "I just think our mindset needs to change. I think we need to do things harder."


Cleveland embarrassed at home on national TV by Rockets, and time is running out
The Houston Rockets never trailed in Cleveland as they exploited the Cavaliers' weaknesses on both ends of the floor. Moves might have to be made by the Cavs.

That has been a common refrain from Lue over the past month as the Cavs have been stuck in a slump that frequently appears to be self-inflicted. Isaiah Thomas said the blowouts aren't a product of toughness issues but trust issues within the locker room.

"We can't just say it was toughness. All they do is shoot 3s. I don't know what's so tough about that," Thomas said. "We're not together on both ends. There's a lot of one-on-one on the offense end, maybe because we don't trust each other. And then on the defensive end, it's the same thing. Guys are put on islands and there's no trust. I mean, if you don't trust something ... I don't know. I think it has a lot to do with trust on both ends."

Thomas is struggling as he continues to recover from a hip injury suffered 11 months ago. LeBron James is healthy, but his effort level has waned over the past several weeks, perhaps hitting rock bottom Saturday.

James failed to get back on defense within the first minute of the game, foreshadowing a night in which he gave significantly less than his normal effort on both ends. He scored just 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting, though he had nine rebounds and nine assists.

Cleveland has lost its past eight nationally televised games this season, losing them by an average of 18 points per game, according to ESPN Stats & Info.



"I'm lost for words, actually," James said, referring to the Cavs' streak on national TV. "They should take us off every nationally televised game for the rest of the season. We haven't played good ball and we get our butts kicked every time we play on national television, so I'm at a loss for words."

The Cavs have gone through midseason struggles in each of the past three years but rallied to reach the NBA Finals each time.

"We gotta stop worrying about the past," James said. "This is this season, and we haven't played well versus anyone."

The Cavs have also made trades during each of the past three seasons. They haven't made a deal so far this season, and the deadline is Thursday.

"That's not a question for me. I show up to work every day. I bust my tail every day. I'm the first one to get to the gym and I'm one of the last ones to leave," James said. "I do my part. I control what I can control, and that is what I can control."

Have you ever asked yourself why writers say that LeBron makes everyone around him better but players always struggle when they start playing with him ? Ever notice that LeBron needs the ball in his hands all of the time ?

Did you notice how LeBron tanked as soon as the fans got excited about IT playing ? Did you notice how players in the locker room were questioning IT's shot selection ? Did you notice how LeBron got upset after he got killed nationally for having his people drop the possibility of the Warriors to Chris Haynes ? (Haynes 2 years ago was ESPN Cavs reporter and is now the Warriors ESPN reporter.) I guess Haynes just made it up.

Best thing for the NBA might be Lebron going to the Warriors and ruining their team.

When is LeBron going to start his own one on one NBA league ?

"That's not a question for me. I show up to work every day. I bust my tail every day. I'm the first one to get to the gym and I'm one of the last ones to leave," James said. "I do my part. I control what I can control, and that is what I can control."

Gilbert please do not make a trade so Lebron will fake an injury and end his season and put the Cavs out of their misery !

Once again LeBron would end his time in Cleveland faking an injury and quitting !

Well, this is one topic we will only partially agree on. Does Lebron make other players better.

I do agree that certainly Lebron is ball dominant.

However you know that role guys like JR Smith, Channing Frye, Kyle Korver have much more value with Lebron on the team. Next season without him all those guys (at the very least) will immediately be virtually useless to the Cavs. And the last time LBJ left we saw multiple role guys immediately become useless to a suddenly horrible team.

I do also think he does see the floor and anticipates very well. He finds guys with his court vision. When he commits turnovers he owns up. Bottom line he is a magnet for opposing double and triple teams and he finds open players if you leave them. Captain Obvious here.

And there is no question guys will come to his team to play with him - Dwayne Wade the latest example. And he should know by now whether to avoid him or not. I'd add Jeff Green who came dirt cheap to play in Cleveland.

Kyrie may be lying, but even he went on about how he benefited from learning from LBJ. But was now ready to move on.

Any time star players (LBJ, Kyrie, Love) play together sacrifices will have to happen so I don't think Kyrie or Love necessarily benefitted personally but they did get a ring. Look at OKC, Golden State and even Houston and multiple star players will have to sacrifice some of their personal games.

7 (or 8?) straight trips to the Eastern Finals with 3 rings hardly needs defending.

So to me it's hard to find much fault with him ON the court.

Off the court the fact that he attracts so many players to his team that benefit from playing with him is also a negative as we are now backlogged with older role players.

They serve the short term purpose of contention but that's why I say the GSW are the elephant in the room now. They are so good that any team in the title hunt is up against it. Basically, Houston is the only team with the horses - and incidentally they have the guys (Ariza, Gordon, Ryan Anderson) that would fit Lebron.

He is getting too old to keep this thing going in Cleveland so I say move on. It is not helping Cleveland that the roster is logjammed with useless guys in a quest that will not lead to any kind of title pursuit at this point. The chips have all been spent and the bill is coming due. Let's get on with writing off next season with the goal of getting back to a sane way of running a team.

And if he is totally focused on rings he also needs to go to Houston or another already loaded team that has a prayer of hanging with Golden State.

Thunder Interested In Trading For Avery Bradley
FEB 3, 2018 11:01 AM


The Oklahoma City Thunder have expressed interest in trading for Avery Bradley.

Bradley was traded by the Detroit Pistons to the Los Angeles Clippers in the Blake Griffin deal this past week.

Bradley will be a free agent this offseason and isn't likely to fit into the Clippers' long-term plans.

The Thunder lost Andre Roberson for the season due to injury.

I suppose if Lebron went to OKC next year with his buddy Carmelo that would work too giving him a better shot at a title than he could possibly get in Cleveland at this point.

If Paul George came back it would be another loaded team.

Westbrook = WOW

Those of you that Twitter, check out this thread


Will Burge
✔
@WillBurge
Dans been saying to anyone who will listen he doesnt care if LBJ leaves cuz “we got one” and the they have the Nets pick. And thats his right but hes letting ego get in the way of winning. And winning aint happening after LBJ leaves thats for sure

Rusty says that Gilbert is doing the right thing.

Bottom line is that LeBron wanted players that he controlled. PG and Bledsoe. Dan said fine but I need a commitment. LeBron says no and Gilbert says why the hell am I trading Love or Kyrie to help this drama king. Better for me to hedge my bets and trade Love or Kyrie for possible lottery picks. Lebron has been pouting ever since. Bottom line he is actually throwing games right now and nobody cares.

Final Thoughts: The Cavs quit Saturday night; it wasn't the first time it happened this season

Jason Lloyd 10 hours ago
Twenty-five thoughts for 25 minutes from Tristan Thompson in the pathetic 120-88 loss Saturday to the Houston Rockets at the graveyard previously known as the Q …

1. The Cavaliers didn’t try Saturday night. They didn’t compete. They didn’t give effort. They quit.

2. This isn’t the first time it has happened this year. It’s just the most recent. The lack of resistance on dribble penetration, the ambivalence toward a defensive rotation, the phobia of stepping anywhere near a shooter around the 3-point line, the refusal to get back in transition and even pretend to care.

3. Sure, there is still time to fix this. The season hasn’t even reached the All-Star break. But with days left before the trade deadline, it’s fair to wonder if it’s even salvageable?

4. “I’m lost for words, actually,” LeBron James said. “Going 0-8 on national television. They should take us off every nationally televised game for the rest of the season. We haven’t played good ball and we get our butts kicked every time we play on national television, so I’m at a loss for words.”

5. Tyronn Lue said “it didn’t look like it” when asked if his team tried. He repeatedly referenced this team’s lack of toughness. Dwyane Wade said the Cavs have played like this a lot this season and Saturday was no different. Sadly, he’s right.

6. “Something gotta change,” Isaiah Thomas said. “It was bad from the jump. I don’t want to comment too much on it. I need to watch film to see what really went down.”

7. But Thomas couldn’t help himself and kept commenting, questioning Lue’s reasoning that it’s a matter of toughness.

8. “We can’t just say it was toughness,” Thomas said. “All they do is shoot 3s. I don’t know what’s so tough about that.”

9. Houston’s 19 3-pointers were the most the Cavs have allowed in a game this season. Thomas, however, also identifies the lack of effort.

10. “I don’t know the last time we got on the floor for a loose ball,” he said. “I know that teams I’ve been on, defense is determined on deflections, steals, loose balls, who’s the hardest working team on that end. We don’t have that right now.”

11. They haven’t had it all season.

12. It’s clear by now that if the Cavs still want to pretend to care about this season, changes have to be made to this roster before the deadline Thursday. This current group doesn’t trust each other on the court, according to Thomas, and they don’t like being around each other very much, according to me.

13. This has been a fractured, grumbling locker room since they assembled in October. Most everyone in there has been a target of someone else’s sniping at some point. Wade warned before the start of the season that their fourth year together in Miami was a grind. Guys got tired of seeing each other, he said, and the jokes weren’t funny anymore. How true that is here, too, in their fourth year together.

14. Guys like James Jones, Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye were the glue guys who played a large role in locker room harmony. Jones retired, Jefferson was shipped out to make room for Wade and Frye has been marginalized by his lack of court time.

15. What is left is a group of content, well-paid veterans who seem to be tired of looking at each other. The worst part about giving up 148 to Oklahoma City, losing by 32 to the Rockets, 34 to the Raptors and 28 to the Timberwolves? No one seems to really care. No one can find rock bottom in this freefall. Like Wade said, they’ve been playing like this all year.

16. Discard the fool’s gold in November and December when they went 18-1 by beating up primarily on league weaklings and the Cavs are 12-19 the rest of the season. That .387 winning percentage is slightly better than Brooklyn (.358).

17. No team with LeBron James on it should have a .387 winning percentage in anything.

18. “When you have an opportunity, you do your job and you do it to the highest of your ability and you live with those results,” James said. “We don’t do that every day.”

19. I wrote weeks ago when this freefall began the Cavs didn’t have the proper trade assets to turn this around. Nothing has changed since then. That’s still true. They aren’t trading the Brooklyn pick to plug a hole in a gaping, sinking ship. That leaves a wagonload of contracts nobody wants and their own first-round pick to dangle. Jae Crowder still has a decent contract and has played marginally better lately. He might fetch the most in return.

20. The sobering reality, however, is there is no player on the market now who can really salvage this. DeAndre Jordan? He’d help, but he’s not a franchise savior at this point of his career. George Hill? Hardly. Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Carmelo Anthony have all been dealt in the past six months. The Cavs got none of them. Now there is no one left to get.

21. James, as is standard with him, was not going to get drawn into a debate of whether the Cavs need to make a roster change before Thursday.

22. “That’s not a question for me,” James said. “I show up to work every day. I bust my tail every day. I’m one of the first ones to get to the gym and I’m one of the last ones to leave. I do my part. I control what I can control and that is what I can control.”

23. ESPN reported after the loss that Lue’s job is safe. That might have something to do with the $20-plus million left on his contract, the fact Dan Gilbert is still paying Mike Brown and David Blatt and the fact there is no one else available to coach this team. No one else on this staff makes a lot of sense.

24. Bringing someone in from the outside, with 31 games left, makes even less sense. Besides, this isn’t Lue’s fault. He isn’t the problem here. So we trudge on toward an inevitable fate of doom.

25. But hey, the Magic are up next. The Cavs have beaten Orlando twice in the last month. They’ll go for the trifecta Tuesday. Talk to you then from Amway Center.

— Reported from Cleveland

I agree rusty Gilbert is doing the right thing without a commitment.

And at this point the team is lucky he isn't committing.

I know it's a dream, but I wish he would waive his no trade to go to a Western Conference contender. Wow, what nice assets we could get to start the rebuild.

When it's over, it's over. He's 33 and it's time!

Mark, check this out .

https://mobile.twitter.com/intotheniite ... twterm%5E0

Reduced to a towel rack. Nice Shump.


Luxury taxes loom large for Cavaliers, LeBron James ahead of NBA trade deadline
Updated 7:26 AM; Posted 6:00 AM

By Joe Vardon, Cleveland.com jvardon@cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When LeBron James and Dan Gilbert met in the summer of 2014 to discuss James' return to the Cavaliers, the luxury tax was a topic of discussion.

Would Gilbert be willing to pay it to ensure the Cavs are a championship contender, James wanted to know?

Yes, no problem, was Gilbert's position.

The luxury tax is again an issue, and it is of great importance to both sides as the Cavs barrel toward Thursday's trade deadline.

With a $134 million payroll this season, the Cavs are way over the NBA's $119.3 million luxury-tax line. Because they've been over the line for several years in a row (Gilbert promised, remember), the Cavs will owe $43 million in tax penalties this summer.

If James is not here next season, sources said, Gilbert will not want to pay anything in tax penalties. In that case -- a James departure via free agency -- the Cavs may strip down and start over, and we'll break that down momentarily.

James wants to see the commitment to winning now from Gilbert. He wants to see players brought in via trade this week who will help the Cavs win this season, get back to the Finals, and challenge the Warriors (or, heck, the Rockets) for a title. He cares not their future contract situations.

In the coming days when (if) the Cavs make a move or two, pay close attention to the players they sound, those they receive in return, and their contracts. It will tell a great deal about where Gilbert sees his franchise going, and in turn will dictate how James interprets Gilbert's desire to keep him.

Both men can make a case about Gilbert's luxury tax promise from four seasons ago.

Gilbert can argue, correctly, that he has paid through the nose since James returned. He spent $54 million in tax penalties the year the Cavs won it all in 2016, and last year paid another $45 million in taxes. No owner has spent more on player salaries and taxes than Gilbert the last three seasons.

James can say, correctly, that tax considerations have impacted roster decisions made by the front office the last two years.

Last season, the Cavs chose to open the year with rookie Kay Felder and inexperienced Jordan McRae and DeAndre Liggins at the bottom of the roster, rather than fill those spots with veterans whose minimum contracts would cost more in salary and taxes.

Last summer, rather than use the team's full, $5.2 million mid-level exception to sign Jamal Crawford, they gave half of it to rookie Cedi Osman and saved the other half. They let a nearly $5 million trade exception expire last month, in part because it would cost the Cavs millions in salary and tax penalties to waive one of their current players in order to make room.

James has a $35.6 million player's option on his contract next season. While he's never exercised a contract option and is expected to again opt out and become a free agent, opting out shouldn't be assumed.

For instance, a new one-year deal with a player's option would mean roughly the same salary for James in 2018-19 than if he exercised the option.

If James walks as a free agent, the Cavs would go from $122 million in committed salaries for next season to about $87 million. The salary cap for next year will likely be $101 million.

Without James, the Cavs would have seven players under contract heading into the offseason. Iman Shumpert has an $11 million player's option in his contract. Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and Channing Frye are all on expiring contracts. Only Thomas ($6.3 million) and Frye ($7.3 million) make more than the veteran minimum.

Kevin Love, who will make $24.1 million next year, has a $25.6 million option for 2019-20. League sources believe the Cavs would try to move Love without James here, but no team sources have confirmed it.

Tristan Thompson has two more years and $36 million left on his contract. Jae Crowder has two seasons and $15 million remaining.

J.R. Smith is guaranteed $14.7 million next season, but the team can get out of the final year of the contract for 2019-20. Kyle Korver's $7.56 million salary is guaranteed next season, partially guaranteed the following year.

Osman will make $2.8 million and Ante Zizic $1.9 million next season. As it stands, the Cavs have two first-round picks in the June draft.

That's the lay of the land for the Cavs' payroll. What they do to change it this week may tell what changes are coming this summer.

LeBron James - F - Cavaliers

LeBron James is unwilling to waive his no-trade clause, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Teams are reportedly doing their due diligence, but, as expected, King James is looking to spend at least the rest of the season in Cleveland. However, all bets are off this summer, as LeBron is expected to explore free agency.

So Sirius XM NBA channel on the Cavs today:

Both Brendan Haywood and David Griffin both were on the air with Jared Greenberg. Hmm, they should know.

Haywood said he has never seen Lebron quit like this for an extended time. He also pointed out that TT and JR aren't the same players. And that Isiah is a shell of himself.

Griffin said there is clearly discord on the team and it won't function unless that can be resolved.

I say that losing Griffin was a huge blow and also at least Kyrie was a good citizen. So in swapping Kyrie for Isiah/Crowder they swapped a producing point guard with a good attitude for a non producing do and Isiah has an attitude too!

This whole Gilbert-Griffin-trade thing has blown up the team.

OK Dan Gilbert - sell the team. Lebron - leave after the year.

It's over - time to start totally new with the 2 first rounders you still have. As well, at least you have tradeable assets led by Kevin Love in your rebuild.