Post mortem 2022-23

[ijspeelman]

Tbh, my faith in a Garland/Mitchell backcourt is a little shaken atm. I'm not seeing the type of offensive synergy one would hope for and we just saw the problem with trying to hide both of them on the defensive end. Now, could we fix the offensive problems with F.A. shooters and bringing in a guy like Atkinson? Possibly. Are we going to do the latter? Probably not.

I think the hope is that two things happen to help "fix" their symbiotic relationship (both you've brought up).

1. Added spacing - a lot of the spacing issues have made it harder for both players to get going in the paint and have made their passes to the perimeter mean less if the player player is not going to shoot it or make it.

2. Improved offensive system - as it stands, Garland is our best on-ball playmaker (for others) and best off-ball player. He cannot be both at the same time. I've been holding onto this, but Mitchell has potential to be a great off-ball guy as well, but I don't think the coaching staff has tapped into that potential and have noticed Mitchell doesn't have the best off-ball tendencies (they aren't necessarily god awful, but they aren't great). Hopefully, either JB and staff picks out this issue and works on it + creates new sets that utilize him more off-ball or a new coaching staff creates a new system that also utilizes him more. And Mitchell embraces this role.

I do not subscribe to the idea that our perimeter defense lost us this series. There were definitely bad moments mixed in, but we held the Knicks to 111.1 ORTG for the series which would come in at 3rd worst in the NBA (if it were for an entire season). I saw a lot of effort put in by both Mitchell and Garland to stick with Brunson and others, and I wouldn't say they were bad. Its all about the offense imo.

[toooskies]

Tbh, my faith in a Garland/Mitchell backcourt is a little shaken atm. I'm not seeing the type of offensive synergy one would hope for and we just saw the problem with trying to hide both of them on the defensive end. Now, could we fix the offensive problems with F.A. shooters and bringing in a guy like Atkinson? Possibly. Are we going to do the latter? Probably not.

I think the hope is that two things happen to help "fix" their symbiotic relationship (both you've brought up).

1. Added spacing - a lot of the spacing issues have made it harder for both players to get going in the paint and have made their passes to the perimeter mean less if the player player is not going to shoot it or make it.

2. Improved offensive system - as it stands, Garland is our best on-ball playmaker (for others) and best off-ball player. He cannot be both at the same time. I've been holding onto this, but Mitchell has potential to be a great off-ball guy as well, but I don't think the coaching staff has tapped into that potential and have noticed Mitchell doesn't have the best off-ball tendencies (they aren't necessarily god awful, but they aren't great). Hopefully, either JB and staff picks out this issue and works on it + creates new sets that utilize him more off-ball or a new coaching staff creates a new system that also utilizes him more. And Mitchell embraces this role.

I do not subscribe to the idea that our perimeter defense lost us this series. There were definitely bad moments mixed in, but we held the Knicks to 111.1 ORTG for the series which would come in at 3rd worst in the NBA (if it were for an entire season). I saw a lot of effort put in by both Mitchell and Garland to stick with Brunson and others, and I wouldn't say they were bad. Its all about the offense imo.

Our biggest offensive problems were that we didn't try to play the way we did in the regular season and it screwed us. We didn't play all three of Garland/Mitchell/LeVert, and in fact actively switched away. We trusted Okoro when he was open in the regular season with pretty good results and went away from that in the playoffs. We spent most of the last quarter of the season giving Stevens regular minutes at the 4 as our backup PF and then didn't use him at all. We didn't play Danny Green at all in the regular season and then gave him 40 minutes in the playoffs. We barely played a trapping defense at all in the regular season and decided that the highest-leverage games in the year was the time to try it, and we simply didn't know what to do to get rebounds that way.

We were trying to do new things in the playoffs to "play the chess match" and while you can manage that with veterans who have seen everything, you can't do it with a young team. In the first half of game 5 JBB was in the huddle saying we weren't executing the game plan-- well, no duh, we had a game plan we never used before! We weren't ready.

That's partly to do with coaching the team to win every regular season game-- there's no playoff preparation. If we thought that we were fine without Kevin Love, you commit to your backup (whether that should've been Wade or Stevens) and you give them all the reps you can to make sure they're ready to play. You play trapping defenses for a few nights just in case you need them. You put Cedi on the ball and see if he can stop guys.

You invest in the regular season and it will pay dividends in the playoffs. But we threw out so much of what we invested in because ultimately JBB didn't trust his guys, his system, or any of the work we did. He didn't trust Kevin Love to work through his shooting issues, he benched him for poor performance and didn't give him a second chance that he afforded to other guys (i.e. Rubio and Stevens).

Those are the real mistakes JBB made. He didn't know his guys couldn't execute his game plans. He showed he didn't trust his guys. He didn't trust the team and the team didn't trust themselves. His roster didn't help, but a big part of the reason we didn't have a backup big was on him.

[JonFromVA]

1) Yes, we keep JBB unless it becomes clear he's lost the locker-room. Even Mark Jackson got more than one crack at the playoffs.

2) No, we don't trade Mitchell only fans throw in the towel that fast.

3) Nothing has changed with Allen, we still need him as part of our defensive identity and to protect Mobley.

4) Altman believes he's created a core-4, but anyone else could be traded.

5) Yes, we will try to re-sign Caris and hope opponents look at his TS% and pass on him. Like with Sexton, I suspect things will get draw out if he starts asking for more than $18M.

6) I don't expect Altman's seat is getting warm. We knew the situation when we made the trade and that we wouldn't even have a first we could trade until 2024.

[jbk1234]

Welp

https://twitter.com/ChrisFedor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651989842115297281%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

[ijspeelman]

Welp

https://twitter.com/ChrisFedor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651989842115297281%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

At least we can also stop speculating lol.

[jasonxxx102]

Well I’m really glad the Cavs have doubled down on mediocrity. Gonna be awesome being a 5 seed and bounced again…

So sick of this city and these teams being fine with “good enough”. The small market mentality is so annoying

[jbk1234]

1) Yes, we keep JBB unless it becomes clear he's lost the locker-room. Even Mark Jackson got more than one crack at the playoffs.

2) No, we don't trade Mitchell only fans throw in the towel that fast.

3) Nothing has changed with Allen, we still need him as part of our defensive identity and to protect Mobley.

4) Altman believes he's created a core-4, but anyone else could be traded.

5) Yes, we will try to re-sign Caris and hope opponents look at his TS% and pass on him. Like with Sexton, I suspect things will get draw out if he starts asking for more than $18M.

6) I don't expect Altman's seat is getting warm. We knew the situation when we made the trade and that we wouldn't even have a first we could trade until 2024.

I thought Lloyd's article was interesting in terms of Mitchell extending next summer or almost certainly getting traded if he doesn't.

My concern with proclaiming Mitchell part of the core is that Mitchell didn't choose to sign here and he's under no obligation to choose to re-sign here. If there are aspects of offense that need to be fixed, and I don't think that point is really debatable, then the Cavs better get to fixing them while they still have that option with Mitchell on the roster.

[jbk1234]

Well I’m really glad the Cavs have doubled down on mediocrity. Gonna be awesome being a 5 seed and bounced again…

So sick of this city and these teams being fine with “good enough”. The small market mentality is so annoying

What I find really unnerving is that JBB didn't sound like he was aware of what went wrong, or how he might have shared at least some responsibility, at his last press conference, and then Altman follows it up with a why-would-we-even-consider-a-new-coach private interview. We lost a first round series in five games (two losses at home) wherein we didn't even average 100 ppg. We're on the clock with Mitchell. Kevin Love just helped the Bucks beat the No. 1 seed. Wade saw all of seven minutes in Game 1 and never touched the floor again. Who knows what's actually being said behind closed doors, but the public posture of *everything's great* is a little horrifying.

[JonFromVA]

1) Yes, we keep JBB unless it becomes clear he's lost the locker-room. Even Mark Jackson got more than one crack at the playoffs.

2) No, we don't trade Mitchell only fans throw in the towel that fast.

3) Nothing has changed with Allen, we still need him as part of our defensive identity and to protect Mobley.

4) Altman believes he's created a core-4, but anyone else could be traded.

5) Yes, we will try to re-sign Caris and hope opponents look at his TS% and pass on him. Like with Sexton, I suspect things will get draw out if he starts asking for more than $18M.

6) I don't expect Altman's seat is getting warm. We knew the situation when we made the trade and that we wouldn't even have a first we could trade until 2024.

I thought Lloyd's article was interesting in terms of Mitchell extending next summer or almost certainly getting traded if he doesn't.

My concern with proclaiming Mitchell part of the core is that Mitchell didn't choose to sign here and he's under no obligation to choose to re-sign here. If there are aspects of offense that need to be fixed, and I don't think that point is really debatable, then the Cavs better get to fixing them while they still have that option with Mitchell on the roster.

Sure, there's a difference between identifying a core and building a core, but I do not doubt the Cavs did their homework on Mitchell. If he's getting along with the other core players and enjoying what we're building, I expect he will want to stick around.

That doesn't mean he's Brad Beal and will just be happy to take our money no matter how awful the season ends, but short of catastrophic injuries - improvement is going to happen as a group plays together.

[jasonxxx102]

Well I’m really glad the Cavs have doubled down on mediocrity. Gonna be awesome being a 5 seed and bounced again…

So sick of this city and these teams being fine with “good enough”. The small market mentality is so annoying

What I find really unnerving is that JBB didn't sound like he was aware of what went wrong, or how he might have shared at least some responsibility, at his last press conference, and then Altman follows it up with a why-would-we-even-consider-a-new-coach private interview. We lost a first round series in five games (two losses at home) wherein we didn't even average 100 ppg. We're on the clock with Mitchell. Kevin Love just helped the Bucks beat the No. 1 seed. Wade saw all of seven minutes in Game 1 and never touched the floor again. Who knows what's actually being said behind closed doors, but the public posture of *everything's great* is a little horrifying.

Here’s the thing: is absolutely unaware because he can’t change. He has no adaptability. Instead of reflecting he just deflected blame onto a bunch of other stuff. He was the exact same way in Memphis.

He’s an old school coach with an old school mentality that refuses to adapt to the modern NBA or change his style.

It’s an absolute indictment on JB that his scheme is exactly the same in cleveland as it was in Memphis with totally different players.

[jbk1234]

Tbh, my faith in a Garland/Mitchell backcourt is a little shaken atm. I'm not seeing the type of offensive synergy one would hope for and we just saw the problem with trying to hide both of them on the defensive end. Now, could we fix the offensive problems with F.A. shooters and bringing in a guy like Atkinson? Possibly. Are we going to do the latter? Probably not.

I think the hope is that two things happen to help "fix" their symbiotic relationship (both you've brought up).

1. Added spacing - a lot of the spacing issues have made it harder for both players to get going in the paint and have made their passes to the perimeter mean less if the player player is not going to shoot it or make it.

2. Improved offensive system - as it stands, Garland is our best on-ball playmaker (for others) and best off-ball player. He cannot be both at the same time. I've been holding onto this, but Mitchell has potential to be a great off-ball guy as well, but I don't think the coaching staff has tapped into that potential and have noticed Mitchell doesn't have the best off-ball tendencies (they aren't necessarily god awful, but they aren't great). Hopefully, either JB and staff picks out this issue and works on it + creates new sets that utilize him more off-ball or a new coaching staff creates a new system that also utilizes him more. And Mitchell embraces this role.

I do not subscribe to the idea that our perimeter defense lost us this series. There were definitely bad moments mixed in, but we held the Knicks to 111.1 ORTG for the series which would come in at 3rd worst in the NBA (if it were for an entire season). I saw a lot of effort put in by both Mitchell and Garland to stick with Brunson and others, and I wouldn't say they were bad. Its all about the offense imo.

Our biggest offensive problems were that we didn't try to play the way we did in the regular season and it screwed us. We didn't play all three of Garland/Mitchell/LeVert, and in fact actively switched away. We trusted Okoro when he was open in the regular season with pretty good results and went away from that in the playoffs. We spent most of the last quarter of the season giving Stevens regular minutes at the 4 as our backup PF and then didn't use him at all. We didn't play Danny Green at all in the regular season and then gave him 40 minutes in the playoffs. We barely played a trapping defense at all in the regular season and decided that the highest-leverage games in the year was the time to try it, and we simply didn't know what to do to get rebounds that way.

We were trying to do new things in the playoffs to "play the chess match" and while you can manage that with veterans who have seen everything, you can't do it with a young team. In the first half of game 5 JBB was in the huddle saying we weren't executing the game plan-- well, no duh, we had a game plan we never used before! We weren't ready.

That's partly to do with coaching the team to win every regular season game-- there's no playoff preparation. If we thought that we were fine without Kevin Love, you commit to your backup (whether that should've been Wade or Stevens) and you give them all the reps you can to make sure they're ready to play. You play trapping defenses for a few nights just in case you need them. You put Cedi on the ball and see if he can stop guys.

You invest in the regular season and it will pay dividends in the playoffs. But we threw out so much of what we invested in because ultimately JBB didn't trust his guys, his system, or any of the work we did. He didn't trust Kevin Love to work through his shooting issues, he benched him for poor performance and didn't give him a second chance that he afforded to other guys (i.e. Rubio and Stevens).

Those are the real mistakes JBB made. He didn't know his guys couldn't execute his game plans. He showed he didn't trust his guys. He didn't trust the team and the team didn't trust themselves. His roster didn't help, but a big part of the reason we didn't have a backup big was on him.

Our biggest offensive problems were not that we went away from what we did in the regular season. We had the second lowest offensive rating of any playoff team. Only the Heat had a lower offensive rating and that likely would've changed had they not gotten Love so late in the season.

The Knicks won the regular season series.
Pretty sure the Heat did as well. The Sixers won their series. Not sure about the Bucks. We routinely struggled to score against good defensive teams. You could see this coming from a mile away.

[ijspeelman]

I think the hope is that two things happen to help "fix" their symbiotic relationship (both you've brought up).

1. Added spacing - a lot of the spacing issues have made it harder for both players to get going in the paint and have made their passes to the perimeter mean less if the player player is not going to shoot it or make it.

2. Improved offensive system - as it stands, Garland is our best on-ball playmaker (for others) and best off-ball player. He cannot be both at the same time. I've been holding onto this, but Mitchell has potential to be a great off-ball guy as well, but I don't think the coaching staff has tapped into that potential and have noticed Mitchell doesn't have the best off-ball tendencies (they aren't necessarily god awful, but they aren't great). Hopefully, either JB and staff picks out this issue and works on it + creates new sets that utilize him more off-ball or a new coaching staff creates a new system that also utilizes him more. And Mitchell embraces this role.

I do not subscribe to the idea that our perimeter defense lost us this series. There were definitely bad moments mixed in, but we held the Knicks to 111.1 ORTG for the series which would come in at 3rd worst in the NBA (if it were for an entire season). I saw a lot of effort put in by both Mitchell and Garland to stick with Brunson and others, and I wouldn't say they were bad. Its all about the offense imo.

Our biggest offensive problems were that we didn't try to play the way we did in the regular season and it screwed us. We didn't play all three of Garland/Mitchell/LeVert, and in fact actively switched away. We trusted Okoro when he was open in the regular season with pretty good results and went away from that in the playoffs. We spent most of the last quarter of the season giving Stevens regular minutes at the 4 as our backup PF and then didn't use him at all. We didn't play Danny Green at all in the regular season and then gave him 40 minutes in the playoffs. We barely played a trapping defense at all in the regular season and decided that the highest-leverage games in the year was the time to try it, and we simply didn't know what to do to get rebounds that way.

We were trying to do new things in the playoffs to "play the chess match" and while you can manage that with veterans who have seen everything, you can't do it with a young team. In the first half of game 5 JBB was in the huddle saying we weren't executing the game plan-- well, no duh, we had a game plan we never used before! We weren't ready.

That's partly to do with coaching the team to win every regular season game-- there's no playoff preparation. If we thought that we were fine without Kevin Love, you commit to your backup (whether that should've been Wade or Stevens) and you give them all the reps you can to make sure they're ready to play. You play trapping defenses for a few nights just in case you need them. You put Cedi on the ball and see if he can stop guys.

You invest in the regular season and it will pay dividends in the playoffs. But we threw out so much of what we invested in because ultimately JBB didn't trust his guys, his system, or any of the work we did. He didn't trust Kevin Love to work through his shooting issues, he benched him for poor performance and didn't give him a second chance that he afforded to other guys (i.e. Rubio and Stevens).

Those are the real mistakes JBB made. He didn't know his guys couldn't execute his game plans. He showed he didn't trust his guys. He didn't trust the team and the team didn't trust themselves. His roster didn't help, but a big part of the reason we didn't have a backup big was on him.

Our biggest offensive problems were not that we went away from what we did in the regular season. We had the second lowest offensive rating of any playoff team. Only the Heat had a lower offensive rating and that likely would've changed had they not gotten Love so late in the season.

The Knicks won the regular season series.
Pretty sure the Heat did as well. The Sixers won their series. Not sure about the Bucks. We routinely struggled to score against good defensive teams. You could see this coming from a mile away.

The Warriors, Bucks, Grizzlies, Suns, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Heat all had worse offensive rating in the regular season.

[jbk1234]

Our biggest offensive problems were that we didn't try to play the way we did in the regular season and it screwed us. We didn't play all three of Garland/Mitchell/LeVert, and in fact actively switched away. We trusted Okoro when he was open in the regular season with pretty good results and went away from that in the playoffs. We spent most of the last quarter of the season giving Stevens regular minutes at the 4 as our backup PF and then didn't use him at all. We didn't play Danny Green at all in the regular season and then gave him 40 minutes in the playoffs. We barely played a trapping defense at all in the regular season and decided that the highest-leverage games in the year was the time to try it, and we simply didn't know what to do to get rebounds that way.

We were trying to do new things in the playoffs to "play the chess match" and while you can manage that with veterans who have seen everything, you can't do it with a young team. In the first half of game 5 JBB was in the huddle saying we weren't executing the game plan-- well, no duh, we had a game plan we never used before! We weren't ready.

That's partly to do with coaching the team to win every regular season game-- there's no playoff preparation. If we thought that we were fine without Kevin Love, you commit to your backup (whether that should've been Wade or Stevens) and you give them all the reps you can to make sure they're ready to play. You play trapping defenses for a few nights just in case you need them. You put Cedi on the ball and see if he can stop guys.

You invest in the regular season and it will pay dividends in the playoffs. But we threw out so much of what we invested in because ultimately JBB didn't trust his guys, his system, or any of the work we did. He didn't trust Kevin Love to work through his shooting issues, he benched him for poor performance and didn't give him a second chance that he afforded to other guys (i.e. Rubio and Stevens).

Those are the real mistakes JBB made. He didn't know his guys couldn't execute his game plans. He showed he didn't trust his guys. He didn't trust the team and the team didn't trust themselves. His roster didn't help, but a big part of the reason we didn't have a backup big was on him.

Our biggest offensive problems were not that we went away from what we did in the regular season. We had the second lowest offensive rating of any playoff team. Only the Heat had a lower offensive rating and that likely would've changed had they not gotten Love so late in the season.

The Knicks won the regular season series.
Pretty sure the Heat did as well. The Sixers won their series. Not sure about the Bucks. We routinely struggled to score against good defensive teams. You could see this coming from a mile away.

The Warriors, Bucks, Grizzlies, Suns, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Heat all had worse offensive rating in the regular season.

Sorry, was going off of PPG.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/standings/

[JujitsuFlip]

1) Yes, we keep JBB unless it becomes clear he's lost the locker-room. Even Mark Jackson got more than one crack at the playoffs.

Mark Jackson coached 3 seasons, JB has just been guaranteed his 5th season.

[jbk1234]

Tbh, my faith in a Garland/Mitchell backcourt is a little shaken atm. I'm not seeing the type of offensive synergy one would hope for and we just saw the problem with trying to hide both of them on the defensive end. Now, could we fix the offensive problems with F.A. shooters and bringing in a guy like Atkinson? Possibly. Are we going to do the latter? Probably not.

I think the hope is that two things happen to help "fix" their symbiotic relationship (both you've brought up).

1. Added spacing - a lot of the spacing issues have made it harder for both players to get going in the paint and have made their passes to the perimeter mean less if the player player is not going to shoot it or make it.

2. Improved offensive system - as it stands, Garland is our best on-ball playmaker (for others) and best off-ball player. He cannot be both at the same time. I've been holding onto this, but Mitchell has potential to be a great off-ball guy as well, but I don't think the coaching staff has tapped into that potential and have noticed Mitchell doesn't have the best off-ball tendencies (they aren't necessarily god awful, but they aren't great). Hopefully, either JB and staff picks out this issue and works on it + creates new sets that utilize him more off-ball or a new coaching staff creates a new system that also utilizes him more. And Mitchell embraces this role.

I do not subscribe to the idea that our perimeter defense lost us this series. There were definitely bad moments mixed in, but we held the Knicks to 111.1 ORTG for the series which would come in at 3rd worst in the NBA (if it were for an entire season). I saw a lot of effort put in by both Mitchell and Garland to stick with Brunson and others, and I wouldn't say they were bad. Its all about the offense imo.

Yeah, I don't think our perimeter defense lost the series. Maybe Game 1.

[KuruptedCav]

Kennard was the only guy on the Clippers who interested me. Batum looked washed as a starter. Covington couldn't even beat out Batum. He's been out of the rotation all season. Neither PG or Leonard can stay healthy and they make $50M each so you'd be hard pressed to find a deal that made sense.

Also, I strongly disagree that Mitchell's trade value won't be significantly diminished if we find ourselves in a similar position a year from now.

That discounts the value of Mitchell the player playing for the Cavs in 2023/24.

You’re equating spending $50 on gas with dropping $50 on the ground simply because at the end of the day you have $50 less.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tbh, my faith in a Garland/Mitchell backcourt is a little shaken atm. I'm not seeing the type of offensive synergy one would hope for and we just saw the problem with trying to hide both of them on the defensive end. Now, could we fix the offensive problems with F.A. shooters and bringing in a guy like Atkinson? Possibly. Are we going to do the latter? Probably not.

If Jon is right, and the Cavs are taking a long-view here and willing to give JBB at least one more season, then the added value of Mitchell for one more season might not be worth the opportunity costs in terms of what you'll get in return a year from now. Also, my feelings as to how high the Cavs should go to retain LeVert will be dependent upon whether Mitchell is still here and who might come back in a trade.

You don't want to panic, but it's important to be clear-eyed about the potential downsides of inaction.

No doubt. But it’s not all downside. The opportunity that comes from Mitchell being on the team is answering questions:

1) Can Altman fill out this team? Can he fix that every starter is giving up size? That front court shooting is non-existent?

2) Can Mobley or Allen effectively stretch in 2023/24?

3) Can JBB build a transition offense that doesn’t drive 4-5 defense on the second chance.

I don’t expect both Mitchell and Allen to be here in 2025. But, I think making that call is easier with them both in the building.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JujitsuFlip]

Do we just run it back and attempt to sign some shooters with the MLE?

"They could also try to trade for a forward with the MLE since the new CBA allows it to be used as a trade exception".

I posted this on the GB but if it's true, this wrinkle adds flexibility to the Cavs trying to find their starting SF with the MLE.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/04/cavaliers-mitchell-next-season-levert-garland-wing-upgrades.html

MLE also going up to $12.2 million, BAE projected at $4.44 million, and Agbaji TPE is $3.91 million... Cavs could get good depth, quick, fast, and in a hurry this summer.

[toooskies]

Do we just run it back and attempt to sign some shooters with the MLE?

"They could also try to trade for a forward with the MLE since the new CBA allows it to be used as a trade exception".

I posted this on the GB but if it's true, this wrinkle adds flexibility to the Cavs trying to find their starting SF with the MLE.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/04/cavaliers-mitchell-next-season-levert-garland-wing-upgrades.html

MLE also going up to $12.2 million, BAE projected at $4.44 million, and Agbaji TPE is $3.91 million... Cavs could get good depth, quick, fast, and in a hurry this summer.

What kind of depth do you think we will get with sub-Osman level contracts? We realistically add one rotation player, possibly get a better situational C than RoLo (Bryant?), and add one roll-the-dice player like Danny Green, Otto Porter, or Yuta Watanabe.

Realistically we are as likely to see internal improvement from Wade or Stevens or even Merrill as we are to land someone with the BAE.

[jbk1234]

Do we just run it back and attempt to sign some shooters with the MLE?

"They could also try to trade for a forward with the MLE since the new CBA allows it to be used as a trade exception".

I posted this on the GB but if it's true, this wrinkle adds flexibility to the Cavs trying to find their starting SF with the MLE.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/04/cavaliers-mitchell-next-season-levert-garland-wing-upgrades.html

MLE also going up to $12.2 million, BAE projected at $4.44 million, and Agbaji TPE is $3.91 million... Cavs could get good depth, quick, fast, and in a hurry this summer.

What kind of depth do you think we will get with sub-Osman level contracts? We realistically add one rotation player, possibly get a better situational C than RoLo (Bryant?), and add one roll-the-dice player like Danny Green, Otto Porter, or Yuta Watanabe.

Realistically we are as likely to see internal improvement from Wade or Stevens or even Merrill as we are to land someone with the BAE.

If we could poach TJ Warren, currently on a league minimum deal, from the Suns, I'd do that. Bryant or Saric are possibilities. I don't know that Wantabe is gettable for the BAE, but that would be great.

[toooskies]

"They could also try to trade for a forward with the MLE since the new CBA allows it to be used as a trade exception".

I posted this on the GB but if it's true, this wrinkle adds flexibility to the Cavs trying to find their starting SF with the MLE.

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/04/cavaliers-mitchell-next-season-levert-garland-wing-upgrades.html

MLE also going up to $12.2 million, BAE projected at $4.44 million, and Agbaji TPE is $3.91 million... Cavs could get good depth, quick, fast, and in a hurry this summer.

What kind of depth do you think we will get with sub-Osman level contracts? We realistically add one rotation player, possibly get a better situational C than RoLo (Bryant?), and add one roll-the-dice player like Danny Green, Otto Porter, or Yuta Watanabe.

Realistically we are as likely to see internal improvement from Wade or Stevens or even Merrill as we are to land someone with the BAE.

If we could poach TJ Warren, currently on a league minimum deal, from the Suns, I'd do that. Bryant or Saric are possibilities. I don't know that Wantabe is gettable for the BAE, but that would be great.

But that's sort of the point. Warren and Watanabe aren't playoff rotation players, at least according to their current coaches.