Cleveland Sports Forum

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a deal to send talented but troubled swingman Kevin Porter Jr. to the Houston Rockets in exchange for a future second-round pick, sources tell cleveland.com.

The second-rounder is top-55 protected and unlikely to ever convey, sources say. However, sources say, the Rockets will take Porter with one of their trade exceptions, which allows the Cavs to move off Porter’s remaining salary -- $1.71 million for this year and the $1.78 million guaranteed for 2021-22 that was part of a contract option the Cavs exercised last month.


The not-yet-official move also opens a roster spot -- and enough flexibility below the luxury tax -- for the Cavs to attempt to sign a backup point guard while Matthew Dellavedova remains sidelined indefinitely because of a concussion.

civ ollilavad wrote:great game by all 8 guys who played. The bench of Allen, Prince and Dotson was outstanding; they outscored Nets bench 47-10. Brooklyn has 3 superstars and little depth. And little defense.

civ - they just started playing together and defense will definitely take time. Also they will likely add to their bench. Make no mistake about it they are the favorites in the East by quite a margin.

PS - the Cavs are quite a spunky defensive team this year! So they are picking a great time to have a back to back with the Nets being way ahead of them in their defensive concepts and meshing this season.

crushed the Nets in game 2.
Steve Nash postgame interview sounds depressed
They're adding a center who was expected to be with the Canton Charge. assume they do better than that.
No, I don't think the Cavs are now favorites in the East! but boy are they ever outperforming expectations.

civ - they are well coached and play defense - and that equals effort. That will keep you competitive.

Colin Sexton is really blossoming.

Again, the NBA is a team game and it will take the Nets some time to gel - especially defensively. But they will pick up some spare parts (remember how guys came to the Cavs with Lebron to have shot at a title?) and they will make the playoffs.

They only care that they gel in time for the playoffs.

It looks the Cavs could ease into the playoffs too; they've expanded them to include 10 teams per conference this year with a play in round. That would be a pleasant surprise and good experience for the young team.

Going to be interesting whether they trade Drummond at deadline or not ? 2nd round of playoff potential if he stays.

He's a free agent at the end of the season, right? Do you think they'd get much in trade? If they deal him, they'll go back to McGee is a good backup.
Unfortunately a game or few in the playoffs won't bring them much ticket revenue but could gear up more advance sales for next season.

Ironically the Nets just seem to have a need for a big man now. Right?

Hmmm, Drummond there?

Going to take a team with 27 million in cap space.

Lloyd: Why do players keep clashing with the Cavs?


By Jason Lloyd 45m ago 22
First it was LeBron James, then it was Tyronn Lue. Then J.R. Smith and Kevin Love, then Kevin Porter Jr. and now Andre Drummond. All of them had issues with the Cavaliers, all of them upset with some aspect of the organization.

All of them, except for Love, are long gone now or, in Drummond’s case, wearing “Farewell” sweatshirts to games and awaiting his flight out of town.

Each of them had various reasons for their unhappiness. LeBron didn’t like the direction the franchise was heading (ownership was culpable for that) and Lue wanted to play his veterans over the kids. Smith was miserable and didn’t want to be here after James’ departure for Los Angeles. Porter Jr. was his own worst enemy and now Drummond’s unhappiness has escalated to where the organization has deemed him unplayable, too.

There is one common thread in all of this: Koby Altman.

Altman was named GM in the summer of 2017. He was given an extension in 2019. Running NBA teams is hard and some disagreement is to be expected. At some point, however, it’s fair to ask why does this keep happening in Cleveland?

Five players, including three All-Stars, and a championship head coach. All had issues with the franchise — and those are just the ones we know about. James, Love and Lue — three of the most important figures in team history — all clashed with the general manager.

Why?

It doesn’t help that Drummond’s benching came during the most difficult portion of the schedule, but this was never about wins and losses. The Cavs are 10-19. They’ve lost eight straight and 12 of 14. I’ve written since the preseason the Cavs aren’t ready to compete in the East and should be focused on acquiring another high draft pick. That hasn’t changed. The fact they held onto the rope as long as they did this season is a testament to J.B. Bickerstaff and his coaching staff.

I gave Altman a pass for Porter because the Cavs saw an opportunity to gamble on a top 10 talent at the bottom of the first round. It was a lottery ticket worth scratching, even if it busted.

There have been good moves, too. Acquiring Jarrett Allen when the Nets were scrambling to find another first-round pick for the James Harden trade was excellent. Isaac Okoro has endured typical rookie struggles but has received high reviews from teams around the league.

But the fact this keeps happening and this organization has to keep sending guys away makes it fair to question. What other organization has had this many public disputes with veterans, All-Stars and a championship-winning head coach? The Knicks, maybe, and that’s not company any team in the league wants to keep.

The Cavs keep talking about setting a new culture. What is it? Four coaches in three years? Players consistently lashing out at the organization?

Excusing Drummond now, five weeks before the trade deadline, is an eternity by NBA standards. The Pistons did the same this week with Blake Griffin. I would expect both to be resolved long before March 25.

The problem won’t be finding teams interested in Drummond. The problem will be finding a team motivated to match his whopping $28 million salary in a trade and the Cavs’ appetite for taking back bad money. And much like with Porter, this latest development will only tank what little trade value previously existed. It only takes one injury or one team to change its mind, but at this point, Drummond seems headed for a buyout.

Miami, Milwaukee, Brooklyn and the Lakers all make sense on some level if Drummond is bought out by the Cavs, particularly given Anthony Davis’ calf and Achilles injuries. While Davis missing extended time could reshape the trade deadline, the rest of the league will likely be waiting on a Drummond buyout. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise given the lack of interest in him at the trade deadline last year. The Cavs got Drummond for pennies and they’ll only get pennies, if anything, for him now.

Draymond Green tore into the league following the Warriors win over the Cavs on Monday for its treatment of players and cited the Cavs’ situation with Drummond as the latest example.

“To watch Andre Drummond before the game sit on the sideline and go to the back and come out in street clothes because a team is going to trade him is bullshit,” Green said. “Because when James Harden asks for a trade and essentially dogged it … he was castrated for wanting to go to a different team. Everybody destroyed that man. Yet a team can come out and say, ‘Oh, we want to trade a guy’ and that guy is to go sit and if he doesn’t stay professional, then he’s a cancer and he’s not good in someone’s locker room and he’s the issue. …

“At some point, as players, we need to be treated with the same respect and the same rights as a team has.”

It’s easy to blame Drummond for pouting after the Cavs acquired Allen, but I’d argue the Cavs should’ve known Drummond was always out for himself. He’s played nine years — all in the East — and only once has been part of a team with a winning record. He plays for his numbers and now he’s playing for his next contract.

It’s easy to blame Porter for being immature and self-sabotaging his chances in Cleveland. That’s in fact the exact argument I made at the time, that sooner or later each player is responsible for his own actions.

At some point, however, the Cavs have to look in the mirror and wonder why.

Why does this keep happening to them?

Dan Gilbert = bad karma?

Mark, when I read this article I had a hard time figuring out why Lloyd wrote it. Especially when he included Porter Jr who is and was a complete piece of crap.

These players are hard to deal with even when they are making 30 million dollars a year. Altman has a tough job.

Dan Gilbert is a tough owner but would you want him to buy the Indians or the Browns ? Damn straight I would. Gilbert makes it possible to believe that the Cavs will never lose because of a lack of money. As a fan that is all I can ask for.

Of course I get that. And I admire his commitment to winning.

Personally I'd prefer an owner for the Tribe with Gilbert's money - but not Gilbert.

I am a Bills fan and their owner Terry Pegula would be my choice. His quote that stuck with me (he made his money fracking) was "I am not in football to make money. If I want more money I'll drill another well".

He has put his money where his mouth is and at the same time built a sustainable and healthy culture there.

Hey rusty I am sure you've seen this on the Athletic but seems this is the right place to post it for others who don't subscribe to that excellent site:

Dan Gilbert, Paul Dolan, Jimmy Haslam: Where Cleveland’s owners stand, from power to punch line


By Jason Lloyd 6h ago 28
Four years ago, Dan Gilbert was carried around on the shoulders of the city for delivering Cleveland a championship. Paul Dolan received a standing ovation for a World Series Game 7. Jimmy Haslam was a punch line.

Now everything has changed.

Maybe.

What’s real? What isn’t? The optics around all three owners in town look drastically different today than they did in February 2017. But has anyone truly changed?

It’s complicated. And it might be a bit premature to make lasting declarations about the changing fortunes of the Indians or the Browns.

Dolan appears to be the same today as he was then, even though it may not feel that way. The Indians continue to score well in all of their employee engagement surveys. People who go to work there never leave in part because of the stability and culture set by ownership. That matters. They hire smart, qualified people and stay out of the way.

Their spending habits never really changed, either, despite what the books say. The biggest stain on their ownership tenure was just painted over briefly by John Sherman.

Sherman was officially introduced as a minority partner in August 2016, only a couple of weeks after Cleveland shocked baseball by trading for Andrew Miller. The Indians added $5 million to the payroll during the ’16 season, in part because of the financial injection Sherman provided.

That continued into 2017. Backed by Sherman’s deep pockets, the Indians signed the top bat on the winter market in Edwin Encarnacion and added Jay Bruce at the deadline because Cleveland, not the Yankees, was willing to pick up his salary as the payroll soared over $100 million for the first time in franchise history. It exploded to $134 million in 2018, a leap of nearly $50 million in just two years. There were other important factors, but in hindsight, the biggest reason for the leap was clearly Sherman.

And then they just … let it … die. The explosion quickly extinguished. Sherman vacated his role as a minority partner and took control of the Royals after the 2019 baseball season. The Indians, who had a championship contender in both 2017 and ’18, did nothing financially to supplement a contender. By 2020, the Opening Day payroll was already back down to $92 million. The pandemic slaughtered revenue last year and now they are on pace for the second-lowest payroll in baseball this season, ahead of only the Pirates.

Has anything changed about the Dolans ownership style since the World Series run? Not really. Only their partnership with Sherman.


Browns owner Jimmy Haslam (Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
Haslam is different. The first sign Jimmy was staying out of the way was Freddie Kitchens’ introductory news conference, when he watched from the front row rather than his custom chair at the podium. Haslam quietly made it clear: John Dorsey had control.

Until he didn’t.

Haslam was derided as meddling again when Kevin Stefanski was hired and reports about postgame meetings with ownership on Mondays surfaced.

“If you owned a pro football team, would you meet with the head coach the Monday after the game?” Haslam asked the day Stefanski was introduced. “Of course you would. Of course we would.”

Did Haslam and the Browns finally get it right this time? It certainly appears so, at least for now. Paul DePodesta, Andrew Berry and Stefanski are a vast improvement over whatever was happening in Berea before. It’s fair to remain skeptical, however, until we have more proof.

The pandemic altered everyone’s reality. Nobody was really around the building to meddle. When the world returns to normal, will everyone continue to behave themselves? We’ll have to wait and see.

I wrote during the season that DePodesta was right all along. The problem was, nobody would listen to him. Finally, it seems, the owners are listening. If DePodesta truly does have the ear of ownership now and the power to match, and if the Haslams remain content to stay out of the way, it could be a clear example of an owner changing his ways.

We’re just not there yet. We need more time and proof.

Gilbert is the most complicated, which is why I saved him for last. He has remained fairly insulated from day-to-day team activities since his stroke in May 2019 and it’s becoming evident now that’s likely never to change. This is the new normal.

His public appearances have been limited. His first came a year ago Sunday at a luncheon for powerful Detroit businessmen. Since then, he has taken Rocket Mortgage public, and in December, he sold all of his ownership interests in Cleveland’s casinos. His son, Grant, continues to take on a larger role within the Cavaliers.

Meanwhile, the team is floundering. They’ve lost 10 straight and 14 of 16. Their average margin of defeat during the current streak is 22 points. They aren’t just losing, they’re getting embarrassed. Their net rating is minus-9.6 for the season, meaning they’re getting outscored by nearly 10 points per 100 possessions. That’s easily the worst mark in basketball and nearly 3 full points behind the 29th place Timberwolves, who just fired their head coach.

They’ve had injuries, trades and key figures excused from the roster, yes. But they’re also a broken team right now gasping for the All-Star break and a few days away.

In the past, this is when front offices and team executives went into self-preservation mode and feared what the irascible Gilbert might do next.

Now? Now it’s hard to say what comes next. Health has forced Gilbert’s ownership style to change dramatically. When he wants to express his wishes across all of his business interests, his voice is still heard, and it’s heard loudly, according to those I’ve spoken to in recent weeks. It’s just that it isn’t heard nearly as often as it was before.

Gilbert will always have the championship. He spent incredible amounts of money for Cleveland to win and he deserves all the praise for it.

But there’s also this: The Dolans’ winning percentage in 21 years as owners is .511.

Gilbert’s winning percentage in nine seasons with LeBron James was .654. In the seven years without him: .296.

Haslam’s winning percentage in eight years owning the Browns is .304.

Draw your own conclusions.

This hasn’t come up in a while, but the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder both stand below the league’s salary floor right now. Additionally, that number is now pro-rated over the course of the season to prevent some shenanigans of yore. If New York doesn’t add roughly $13 million in the next few days, or if the Thunder don’t add about $12 million, it will be free money for the players currently on their roster. They’ll be cut checks to make up the difference and bring their teams to the floor.
— John Hollinger