Free Agency and the Rebuild

[dswi25]

Free agency started last week and I'm not sure if the Cavs FO has gotten the memo...I understand the salary cap is holding us back and we only can offer the MLE and other minimum contracts. That being said, I believe in a complete overhaul of the roster minus a few players. I don't believe we need to go "Trust the Process" route, but in my opinion the following steps must be followed to some extent.

1) The youth movement:
-Qualifying offer for Hood (already been offered). Do not match an offer sheet like the one Zach Lavine just got from CHI.
Way too much money for a player who hasn't proven himself yet.
-Extend Nance before his value increases this season to be able to get him on a team-friendly deal.
-Keep Osman, Zizic, and obviously Sexton unless a team is giving up the world for them.
-Preston, Holland, White, and the other potential young players should be given at least a shot at a 2 way contract. Preston
already is signed to that contract and who knows, we may find another diamond in the rough like Delly a few years ago.

2) Smart FA signings:
-It will be so important as to which FA's we sign over the next couple offseasons. We need to key in on older vets who are
willing to take on a mentor role and less minutes on a rebuild project. Players like RJ, Frye, Jameer Nelson, etc. Guys
who have been one of the better players on their teams at some point and are good for the locker room.

3) Take the best offer available:
-TT, Hill, JR, and Clarskon need to go. Take the best offer available even if it seems like we aren't getting enough in return.
TT and JR (I will always love them for helping bring a title to The Land) have absurd contracts. Hill and Clarkson have been
very disappointing. Although, Hill would be a good mentor for Sexton, he's not the same player he was in IND.
-Love and Korver will need to go at some point in the near future. Like the 4 mentioned above, they don't fit the rebuild.
Both Love and Korver can provide guidance for the young players until the trade deadline or next offseason when their
trade value should be at their highest. Love should be able to bump up his stats and increase his trade value as the number
one option. Trade Love for a high draft pick and some salary fillers. Hopefully Korver can net us a couple 2nd round picks.

4) Tank...in a not so obvious way:
-ATL owns our draft pick if it lands outside of the top 10. Keeping our 2019 draft pick could prove to be so vital to how fast
we can rebuild. Losing our pick in 2020 (when the pick is once again protected) would hurt a lot less than next year.
-If we go w/ the young players it will be for development and not necessarily to tank and we should still end up in the
bottom 1/3 of the league record-wise, thus keeping our pick and developing the right players for the future.

5) Coaching change:
-I would like Ty Lue to stay on thru the rebuild and see what he can do minus Lebron... I love Lebron but maybe we'll run
some more plays and get more people involved besides spotting up for treys.
-The coaching change I think needs to happen is kicking Defensive Coach Mike Longabardi to the curb. He was brought in
specifically for defense a few seasons ago and somehow our defense regressed each year. Sure, having different players
who buy into the scheme and have more ability on that side of the ball helps, but the glaring holes in our D drove me
insane the last few seasons. My 8 year old nephew, who I watched many games w/, pointed out what went wrong on
certain plays and how to fix the defensive lapses on a lot of plays. Let me repeat; he wasn't asking me what happened, he
was telling me what needs to happen...at 8 years old! So it doesn't take a 50 year old defensive coach w/ a supposed wealth
of basketball knowledge to fix the problems. This guy is obviously not the right coach to have in place.
-Damon Jones may need to go as well. Lebron proved he wasn't the best GM based on the roster we currently have. Maybe
we need to start weeding out all of LeBron's guys who were brought on to keep him happy.


It's not crazy to think that w/in 2-3 years we can be in the mix in the East playoffs and have legit shots at a title in 5-6 years. The development of Sexton and future high draft picks will be huge. If Osman and Zizic keep developing at this rate, they'll be key contributors to a good team. Hood can get 20 points a night if we are able to retain him and he can learn to be more aggressive. Nance can develop into a double double guy like TT but w/ a jump shot. We may not see Preston in CLE for a season or two, but if he is everything he was supposed to be coming out of high school, then we have a pretty nice nucleus to work w/.

Potential for a bright future lies in Sexton, Hood, Osman, Nance, Preston, and Zizic. If we can add a couple high draft prospects to that mix and a some good FA signings over the next few seasons, I don't see how we can't be successful. Until then, I'll just be off in my imaginary world rebuilding the Cavs way faster in NBA 2k19 and pretending that we take home the Larry O'Brien trophy every year.

[Stillwater]

Clarkson aint going anywhere , he will be the microwave scorer off the bench we need going forward. In fact I would argue he could be the exact player we need to pair with Sexton in the new uptempo offense we will employ. I'd rather have him in there than Swish,Korver or anyone else who is currently on the roster, as we will put Osman as the starting 3. I am starting to get the feeling Hood will not be retained but thats the only current player as the starting 2 guard that makes more sense than JC.
It's almost a given that Hill who is still a solid player will be dealt at the deadline or next summer given the partial guarantee, sending us back a decent rookie scale player or draft considerations and tax relief. Swish might not be possible to be traded,at least not without bringing back meh contracts and will likely just be bought out after this season for cap space.
I don't believe Gilbert has any intention of letting this team go into full tank

[jbk1234]

Re No. 3) There will be no good offers for these players. Teams will want to send back worse contracts. Let Hill and JR play out the season. Next year's salaries aren't guaranteed for those guys and you can use that space either to sign a F.A. or trade it to a team desperate to sign a big-name F.A. With Clarkson, you might get lucky if some other team's backup PG gets injured and they're willing to absorb some future salary as a result. Just reconcile yourself with the fact that TT is going to be on the Cavs for at least this season. It won't be until his contract is expiring that another team sees him as having neutral value on that deal and it makes no sense for the Cavs to attach an asset to move his contract now.

The key with both Love and Korver is to wait until a win-now team struggles to win during the regular season. The big problem with trading Love now is that other teams want to send back bad contracts, toss in a middling first and then just take Love for free. I'm not okay with that. I'd rather our young players learn how to play in competitive games. I like Sexton but he's not Kyrie. He can't be your primary scorer on the floor with 4 minutes left in the game.

Re No. 4) In 2014, the Cavs finished with 33 wins and were the 9th slot in the lottery. I'm not worried about that pick conveying. If this team greatly exceeds my expectations and makes the playoffs, I'm fine sending a non-lottery pick out.

[Revenged25]

Re No. 3) There will be no good offers for these players. Teams will want to send back worse contracts. Let Hill and JR play out the season. Next year's salaries aren't guaranteed for those guys and you can use that space either to sign a F.A. or trade it to a team desperate to sign a big-name F.A. With Clarkson, you might get lucky if some other team's backup PG gets injured and they're willing to absorb some future salary as a result. Just reconcile yourself with the fact that TT is going to be on the Cavs for at least this season. It won't be until his contract is expiring that another team sees him as having neutral value on that deal and it makes no sense for the Cavs to attach an asset to move his contract now.

The key with both Love and Korver is to wait until a win-now team struggles to win during the regular season. The big problem with trading Love now is that other teams want to send back bad contracts, toss in a middling first and then just take Love for free. I'm not okay with that. I'd rather our young players learn how to play in competitive games. I like Sexton but he's not Kyrie. He can't be your primary scorer on the floor with 4 minutes left in the game.

Re No. 4) In 2014, the Cavs finished with 33 wins and were the 9th slot in the lottery. I'm not worried about that pick conveying. If this team greatly exceeds my expectations and makes the playoffs, I'm fine sending a non-lottery pick out.

Re Re No. 3) I would almost look at trading Clarkson for like Delly. Drop another 3-ish mil each of this and next year and bring back a fan favorite. If nothing else it might be good for attendance to start the season with fans wanting to cheer for Delly.

[jbk1234]

Re No. 3) There will be no good offers for these players. Teams will want to send back worse contracts. Let Hill and JR play out the season. Next year's salaries aren't guaranteed for those guys and you can use that space either to sign a F.A. or trade it to a team desperate to sign a big-name F.A. With Clarkson, you might get lucky if some other team's backup PG gets injured and they're willing to absorb some future salary as a result. Just reconcile yourself with the fact that TT is going to be on the Cavs for at least this season. It won't be until his contract is expiring that another team sees him as having neutral value on that deal and it makes no sense for the Cavs to attach an asset to move his contract now.

The key with both Love and Korver is to wait until a win-now team struggles to win during the regular season. The big problem with trading Love now is that other teams want to send back bad contracts, toss in a middling first and then just take Love for free. I'm not okay with that. I'd rather our young players learn how to play in competitive games. I like Sexton but he's not Kyrie. He can't be your primary scorer on the floor with 4 minutes left in the game.

Re No. 4) In 2014, the Cavs finished with 33 wins and were the 9th slot in the lottery. I'm not worried about that pick conveying. If this team greatly exceeds my expectations and makes the playoffs, I'm fine sending a non-lottery pick out.

Re Re No. 3) I would almost look at trading Clarkson for like Delly. Drop another 3-ish mil each of this and next year and bring back a fan favorite. If nothing else it might be good for attendance to start the season with fans wanting to cheer for Delly.

I'd do that. I'm not sure the Bucks would.

[Revenged25]

Re No. 3) There will be no good offers for these players. Teams will want to send back worse contracts. Let Hill and JR play out the season. Next year's salaries aren't guaranteed for those guys and you can use that space either to sign a F.A. or trade it to a team desperate to sign a big-name F.A. With Clarkson, you might get lucky if some other team's backup PG gets injured and they're willing to absorb some future salary as a result. Just reconcile yourself with the fact that TT is going to be on the Cavs for at least this season. It won't be until his contract is expiring that another team sees him as having neutral value on that deal and it makes no sense for the Cavs to attach an asset to move his contract now.

The key with both Love and Korver is to wait until a win-now team struggles to win during the regular season. The big problem with trading Love now is that other teams want to send back bad contracts, toss in a middling first and then just take Love for free. I'm not okay with that. I'd rather our young players learn how to play in competitive games. I like Sexton but he's not Kyrie. He can't be your primary scorer on the floor with 4 minutes left in the game.

Re No. 4) In 2014, the Cavs finished with 33 wins and were the 9th slot in the lottery. I'm not worried about that pick conveying. If this team greatly exceeds my expectations and makes the playoffs, I'm fine sending a non-lottery pick out.

Re Re No. 3) I would almost look at trading Clarkson for like Delly. Drop another 3-ish mil each of this and next year and bring back a fan favorite. If nothing else it might be good for attendance to start the season with fans wanting to cheer for Delly.

I'd do that. I'm not sure the Bucks would.

I think they might. They pay a little more to get a player that would likely fit better with their team than Delly. Their contracts go the same length so it's not like they have to take on a lot of extra money.

[Stillwater]

^ Thought I saw somewhere that the Bucks had been shopping Delly. But I also think we have plans for Clarkson in the high speed up tempo style we will be using with Lebron gone & that Delly would not fit into.