Brian Windhorst, at least, reported that the Love deal was part of the discussion with LeBron before he signed, so it’s fairly safe to say that LeBron planned on Love being in Cleveland for this season.
They’ll be a contender; any Eastern Conference team with LeBron on the roster is a contender (see: the 2005-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers), with a decent shot of making the Finals, where they will run into a team that’s almost a lock to be better than them. LeBron’s been in this exact same boat before, in 2011, and the outcome there in the following seasons was a pair championships. So, the idea that he’ll flee Cleveland unless they win the title this year seems pretty empty. Maybe if they go 25-57 and Irving pulls a knife on LeBron during a practice, or if Dan Gilbert sells the team to Donald Sterling, or a meteor obliterates Quicken Loans Arena.
It also ignores the pretty obvious fact that LeBron’s in Cleveland specifically to fix the part where he left his hometown to go win a championship elsewhere instead of sticking it out and winning a title there. He’s not going anywhere.
Reports confirming the proposed Thad Young for Anthony Bennett trade. I like this deal for the 76ers. They won’t be any good anyway, and they’re swapping a good player on an expiring contract for a younger guy and they might be in position to take advantage of Bennett’s improvement. Minnesota is committed to moving forward instead of tearing down, so they’d better hope Young keeps improving and Ricky Rubio learns how to shoot. The Cavs are also expecting to sign Shawn Marion for the minimum in another one of those veteran discount deals. Indiana really wanted him after Paul George got hurt. Nobody knows if Ray Allen will join the Cavs, too. There aren’t too many free agents left on the open market at this point, but we still don’t know what will happen between the Suns and Eric Gordon.
They’ll be bad next year and probably the year after that no matter what they do. It really does make sense for them to trade a 26-year-old guy with one year left on his deal for a cheaper second-year guy who might improve over the next three years. I can’t say this makes them better as such, but at least it’s not a straight salary dump or a giveaway. Since they’ll stink regardless, they might as well gamble on one more young player and see if he can succeed next to Noel and Carter-Williams.
I know, we’re so naive, thinking they are, like, actual three-dimensional human beings, some of them money-motivated, some of them loyal to a team or region, some of them family-motivated, some of them championship-motivated, and most of them complicated mixtures of all of those.
If only we were as sophisticated, wise and nuanced as you, we would understand if they are, each and every one, in fact Snidely Whiplash cardboard cutouts.
The Cavs traded for love, won’t actually be processed for a bit, but it’s done. They’re giving up Wiggins, Bennett, and a first round pick.
It seems like they’re giving up a lot considering Minnesota’s weak bargaining position with only one year left on his deal, but the NBA cap is some complicated bullshit I don’t understand. Apparently they couldn’t have signed him for a max deal as a free agent next year, but if they trade for him, they can extend him for that salary.
I guess the key consideration is that Lebron is 30 and can win now - they don’t want to wait 3-4 years for Wiggins to develop, they want someone else in their prime now.
Shawn Marion also signed for the vet minimum to give LeBron legit rest minutes. Some old ring chasing vets are going to end up helping the team a decent bit.
Edit: Love has to actually re-sign with the cavs next year as a free agent, as I understand it - they can’t just extend him. Which means he’ll have the option to leave, even if he agreed in principle to stay. That’s a weird shitty thing the NBA does, and I guess that’s similar to what happened with Boozer. The Cavs would be ridiculously screwed giving up all that stuff for one year of Love if he ended up going away as a free agent.
I doubt it’ll happen, since Cleveland can offer him more money than anyone and he’ll want to play with LeBron and win titles, but it’s strange that it’s a possibility.
It’s not about the cap. It’s about competition: other teams wanted him, too.
What he has to do is opt out of his existing contract. I’m not sure that helps make sense of the situation, but I think it’s a piece you might be missing. He signed a four-year deal with Minny two years ago, and that contract included an opt-out after year three. Once he does that, he can sign that five-year deal with the Cleveland. He won’t be a free agent if he doesn’t opt out. I guess they could still negotiate an extension, but I suppose he’d be getting paid less.
The trade will become official tomorrow. Turns out it’s going to be a three-team trade after all, the really interesting wrinkle is that Anthony Bennett is not going to Philadelphia. Minnesota will keep both Bennett and Wiggins and get Thad Young from the 76ers. Philly will get Alexey Shved and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, and Cleveland will send them the Heat’s 2015 first-round draft pick, which Cleveland had from the LeBron trade.