If Lebron Leaves....

[HoopsMalone]

Lakers are "potentially" stacked for the future , but it all hangs on several unproven players: provided Ball is the real deal, Kuzma game transfers well, Ingram takes a big leap etc. If only 1 or 2 of those things happen they are not stacked at all.Just loaded with young players and a couple of aging injury prone bigs in Lopez and Bogut neither of which fit into their long term plans. They also have to get more from Randle or move him for a late first rounder. KCP is probably their best player, and that aint saying much.
Gilbert hasn't cared about spending $ up until now, and yes he will try to shave dead weight, but he will sell the team before he abandons the formula that has worked thus far. If Lebron leaves Cleveland I don't think the Lakers would be his best option,and definitely not a high enough caliber roster for him to carry into the WCF in 19-20,let alone 18-19.

First of all, there is no question of whether Ball is the real deal or not. Barring injury he's a guaranteed hall of famer. He's that good.

KCP is a very good player. People have no idea about him. Not sure if he will be in LA or not. My guess is not.

Paul George. Pretty good player. Also now an excellent shooter, which pairs perfectly with LeBron.

Kuzma has some question marks but already looks like a Terrific fit with LeBron.

Ingram same.

Lopez is a free agent so he's probably irrelevant but he is a shooter too.

Randle makes no sense in LA. He's totally unnecessary with ball there to run the offense. Randle is arguably not even a useful player. I can't imagine he will be back in LA. With George and LeBron he's totally useless

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[Stillwater]

Lakers are "potentially" stacked for the future , but it all hangs on several unproven players: provided Ball is the real deal, Kuzma game transfers well, Ingram takes a big leap etc. If only 1 or 2 of those things happen they are not stacked at all.Just loaded with young players and a couple of aging injury prone bigs in Lopez and Bogut neither of which fit into their long term plans. They also have to get more from Randle or move him for a late first rounder. KCP is probably their best player, and that aint saying much.
Gilbert hasn't cared about spending $ up until now, and yes he will try to shave dead weight, but he will sell the team before he abandons the formula that has worked thus far. If Lebron leaves Cleveland I don't think the Lakers would be his best option,and definitely not a high enough caliber roster for him to carry into the WCF in 19-20,let alone 18-19.

First of all, there is no question of whether Ball is the real deal or not. Barring injury he's a guaranteed hall of famer. He's that good.

KCP is a very good player. People have no idea about him. Not sure if he will be in LA or not. My guess is not.

Paul George. Pretty good player. Also now an excellent shooter, which pairs perfectly with LeBron.

Kuzma has some question marks but already looks like a Terrific fit with LeBron.

Ingram same.

Lopez is a free agent so he's probably irrelevant but he is a shooter too.

Randle makes no sense in LA. He's totally unnecessary with ball there to run the offense. Randle is arguably not even a useful player. I can't imagine he will be back in LA. With George and LeBron he's totally useless

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That is pretty presumptuous considering he hasn't played 1 regular season game in the NBA yet.
He will be a solid passer, beyond that nothing else is at all Guaranteed. He could turn out to be Kendall Marshall and signing training camp deals for chump change in a few years. You don't know , and neither does anyone else.
The only hope LA has of getting Lebron is as a neighbor when he is 40.

[HoopsMalone]

C'mon be serious. Hall of famer. Write it down in ink.

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[Stillwater]

C'mon be serious. Hall of famer. Write it down in ink.

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Hey, you could be right. but you could just as easily be dead wrong man. The issues with his shot mechanics, lack of a mid range game etc could really hurt the man early on,not to mention he doesn't defend. He probably will overcome those issues somewhat and remain in the league for awhile even if he doesn't as a Rondo type pg, but HOF is a premature estimation based on summer league and college dimes.

[tidho]

The team as constructed gives him his best odds of not just making the finals but winning it. GSW is not unbeatable. He will not leave for any reason regarding basketball if he does decide to go, it will be for non basketball reasons, which by all acounts should take a back door to basketball for the next few seasons anyway. I see him re-signing a 1 yr deal , pushing the Ownership to do more , and then if they deliver he will sign the supermax and be the highest paid player in NBA history in summer of 19-20.
Maybe he will just take that $ next summer, but to me him leaving is highly unlikely despite the wishes and pipe dreams of LA and other cities who think they have better rosters despite having won nothing.

I disagree 100%. He has a much better chance of beating the Warriors in LA. They're going to be stacked.


Also Gilbert is in the repeater tax. I see him flashing Crowders contract as candy to help him move some combination of his veteran salaries. Cleveland doesn't really have "bad" contracts but I can definitely see them struggling to unload just because of the sheer lack of cap space out there. It will be an interesting rebuild, if he can do it without sacrificing osman, zizic, or any picks I'd say it's a job well done though.

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If LeBron leaves the Cavaliers won't be over the cap next season. If he stays its worth paying and Gilbert can, if he leaves its not worth paying and he won't have to. Repeater tax is irrelevant.

Don't think there is any doubt that if he walks the Cavaliers are going to rebuild. Love would be easy to move for value, and you'd have to wait and see on Thompson, Korver, and Jr. Isn't impossible to think Thompson could stick around to sign another deal here.

[tidho]

DP

[TheOUTLAW]

I'd rather flip everyone and rebuild cleanly instead of maxing out a guy with a **** up hip and being a middler team. But that's just me.

If he is not recovered it won't be offered. I think you are severely undervaluing the talent on this roster, yes they are built to play with Lebron, but if they get a "floor general" in Lebron's wake, they can still compete and draw in a fa Like Avery Bradley at minimum. They are underdog's with Lebron against GSW, so to think they could win a championship without another superstar is unlikely, but who's to say that Nets pick doesn't become one or get traded for one.

I want to believe that, i really do but remember how bad we were when he left? Remember how the team would be respectable and we were going to be .500 and then get another max player and th........yeah and then we saw first hand how devastating losing a generational talent is. The roster is very old too....this is it we have 3 years left max unless they pull off a miracle and get another sub 30s all star.

If the Cavs don't go into full 76er tnt to every asset rebuild mode if he leaves they are really clueless. Although i could see Dan wanting to prop the team up a couple more years to keep its value before selling it...who knows he is an enigma.

One good thing is at least there won't be a kobe lakers situation where him hanging around at 38 39 sets the teams rebuild back years. I doubt he retires a Cav like that.

You actually thought that the Cavs would be decent after Lebron left? Why?

[afarmenian]

If he is not recovered it won't be offered. I think you are severely undervaluing the talent on this roster, yes they are built to play with Lebron, but if they get a "floor general" in Lebron's wake, they can still compete and draw in a fa Like Avery Bradley at minimum. They are underdog's with Lebron against GSW, so to think they could win a championship without another superstar is unlikely, but who's to say that Nets pick doesn't become one or get traded for one.

I want to believe that, i really do but remember how bad we were when he left? Remember how the team would be respectable and we were going to be .500 and then get another max player and th........yeah and then we saw first hand how devastating losing a generational talent is. The roster is very old too....this is it we have 3 years left max unless they pull off a miracle and get another sub 30s all star.

If the Cavs don't go into full 76er tnt to every asset rebuild mode if he leaves they are really clueless. Although i could see Dan wanting to prop the team up a couple more years to keep its value before selling it...who knows he is an enigma.

One good thing is at least there won't be a kobe lakers situation where him hanging around at 38 39 sets the teams rebuild back years. I doubt he retires a Cav like that.

You actually thought that the Cavs would be decent after Lebron left? Why?

Not really didn't really expect them to be anything other than a bad team but I didn't think they'd be that terrible but the prevailing attitude at the time was that they would still be competitive that's all I'm saying

[Stillwater]

I want to believe that, i really do but remember how bad we were when he left? Remember how the team would be respectable and we were going to be .500 and then get another max player and th........yeah and then we saw first hand how devastating losing a generational talent is. The roster is very old too....this is it we have 3 years left max unless they pull off a miracle and get another sub 30s all star.

If the Cavs don't go into full 76er tnt to every asset rebuild mode if he leaves they are really clueless. Although i could see Dan wanting to prop the team up a couple more years to keep its value before selling it...who knows he is an enigma.

One good thing is at least there won't be a kobe lakers situation where him hanging around at 38 39 sets the teams rebuild back years. I doubt he retires a Cav like that.

You actually thought that the Cavs would be decent after Lebron left? Why?

Not really didn't really expect them to be anything other than a bad team but I didn't think they'd be that terrible but the prevailing attitude at the time was that they would still be competitive that's all I'm saying

The team in place now and under contract for at minimum 2 more seasons and the younger future core players like Zizic and Osman for longer is far better than the one Lebron left behind for South Beach.
No matter how you look at it, he has no reason to leave if the front office continues to do what they have since he came back.