… and where will they move to?
I think they won’t last three more years in Cleveland, at most. They will go to either Louisville or St. Louis. I pick Louisville because they want a team so badly they will take anyone, and St. Louis just because it’s there, I guess, and because it doesn’t have an NBA team. Possibly San Diego too.
San Diego has proven several times that it doesn’t care much for basketball. (See Rockets, Conquistadors, and Clippers)
San Diego State’s basketball program has only recently shown signs of any life.
I have to admit, it would be kind of neat to have a pro basketball team in my hometown of Louisville. It’s definitely a basketball town, but the question is: Is it a PRO basketball town? Is there enough love for the U of L Cardinals and another set of hoopsters? It has been almost three decades since the town’s ABA franchise packed it in, so maybe it’s time to try again.
If they move within the next two years, I imagine it would be Charlotte. Granted, one team failed there, but that hasn’t stopped a sports league from trying again. Plus, most people tend to think that the Charlotte teams failings were mostly a result of the actions and bad press of a scummy owner alienating a fan base and starting a cycle of failure with team inactions.
As for a new city, it wouldn’t shock me to see them give it a whirl in a place like Vegas or Kansas City. I am thinking a more western oriented team so they can adjust divisional alignments and move Memphis to the Eastern Conference.
According to the excellent book Loose Balls by Terry Pluto, the ABA franchise in Louisville (The Kentucky Colonels) packed it in not because of bad attendance (they had the sixth best attendance in all of pro basketball, and they were one of the more successful teams, going to the ABA finals at least three times, winning a championship in 1975), but because the owner of that franchise, John Y. Brown, simply took a $3 million dollar settlement from the NBA and ran, rather than be one of the four teams to merge with the NBA. Brown turned around and bought the NBA franchise in Buffalo (the Buffalo Braves) for $1.5 million. So he still got into the NBA, and Kentucky lost perhaps its best chance for decades to get an NBA team.
I think Louisville would be a fine choice for an NBA team. St. Louis would also be a good choice as well.
The Cavs? You mean someone is so desperate for NBA hoops that they want this jinxed franchise, a franchise who’s high water mark was the division championship they won back in 1976, and who’s only other notable accomplishment was as Jordan’s whipping boy? (Jordan’s famous shot over the Cavs’ Craig Ehlo is shown every other day on ESPN.)
The Cavs are the team that shrewdly drafted a lumbering center with feet as bad as Bill Walton’s, (Zydrunas Illgauskas) and another who belongs on a Division III college team ( Diop (sp).)
The Cavs are currently angling for the lottery so they’ll have a chance at local phenon Labron James, who is from down the road in Akron. That’ll play out in one of two ways: either the Cavs will get James, and he’ll turn out to be a bust like Danny Ferry, or as part of a black-ops NBA Conspiracy, the Knicks will get him and he’ll be a big star. Under no circumstances will James turn out to be a star if the Cavs wind up with him.
The Cavs are owned by George Gund and the team is for sale. What should happen is the club should be contracted and put out of my misery.
<mini-hijack> Pat, I’ve heard those Knick rumors before, but w/o proof, so of course: cite?
It is relatively impossible to cite a heretofor unfounded, illogical, and improbable rumor, but for those not in the know, here is the general story.
All a load of poppycock, simply because if it were true, I imagine the league would die a relatively quick death in it’s current form and anyone involved would be out of a job and in trouble. I fail to see why helping the Knicks would be worth that.
Alas, the poor Cavs have no hope. If the get James, he will be a bust. If they don’t get to pick James, they will probably waste it on someone else who will suck. There are just certain teams you look at and know that whatever they choose will be the wrong decision.
That’s the beauty of the NBA black ops conspiracy - no one can trace it, except when they’re too blatant about they’re favoritism, like for example the officiating in the Scaramento/LA Lakers series last year. 
I was at game 5 of the Cavs/Bulls playoffs in 1989, and I still say Jordan fouled Ehlo on the play right before “the shot.” (Blatant NBA ref favoritism again.) Ehlo would’ve made the foul shot, the Cavs would’ve been up by 2, and the worst Jordan’s shot would’ve done would be to send the game into overtime, where the Cavs would’ve found some other new and inventive way to lose.
The Cavs were my team. I used to love them but I just can’t take the incompetence anymore. That, and the fact that good seats cost just too much. Send 'em to Louisville, or Charlotte, or Anchorage for all I care. Let the fans there learn about suffering at $75 a seat and $5 for a cup of watered down beer.
If there is a conspiracy involving the Knicks and draft picks, then explain Frederic Weis!
I thought that Jordan’s pushoff of Bryon Russell to hit the game winning shot against the Jazz and win the last Bulls championship was the most obvious and notable overlooked foul.
The Cavs at least have a young team with a bit of talent that just needs development. Of course, that would make them a desirable team for a city looking for a franchise.
Besides, who wants to see games in a place that sounds like a venereal disease?
I remember everyone went crazy with just the idea of a pro team coming to Louisville. I think people would support it, as long as they didn’t suck, which they will.
P.S., this is my 300th post. Yay for me.