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Acquisition of Kelenna Azubuike & Matt Barnes and split the MLE would be an upgrade in scoring & athleticism. Before we start judging lets look at both players.


Kelenna Azubuike: Averaged 8.5pts 4.5 assist 5 rebs
Not bad for a fifth option when you have the likes of Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, S-jax Al Harrington


Matt Barns: Off yr only 4.7pts 1 assists However his mother died early in the year and he wasn't the same after her death. However if you look at his numbers the year prior not only was he a major contributor he was also named the team captain .

So I think we could have both of these players for the MLE Kelenna Azubuike was only making 789,000 and Barnes maybe 1.2 so if we split the MLE we could have both

Azubuike has already signed an offer sheet so that takes him out of the running. But what is most interesting about both of these players is that Barnes was actually drafted by the Cavs and Azubuike was in the Cavs camp a few years ago. Boy, maybe we didn't have the right guys running this thing.

Who did he sign with do you no? I was hoping we could upgrade are talent without going deeper in the Lux Tax Hell

He signed with the Clippers.

LBJ4MVP23 wrote:He signed with the Clippers.

$3 mill. I expect the Warriors to match unless they have one of their annual brain freezes. Barnes is about to sign with the Suns. Would have been a very good addition for the Cavs who don't have much depth.

Smarter yet would have been to offer Azubuike $5 mill. That GSW might not match,and he's worth it. Can be a starter before long.

TheOUTLAW wrote:Azubuike has already signed an offer sheet so that takes him out of the running. But what is most interesting about both of these players is that Barnes was actually drafted by the Cavs and Azubuike was in the Cavs camp a few years ago. Boy, maybe we didn't have the right guys running this thing.

You or some other long-termer can correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that after first Lebron season when Azubuike was on our summer league team? And IIRC the Cavs elected to keep Dajuan Wagner over him, even though Azubuike played pretty well in the summer league and even in that preseason.

Matt Barnes never showed a lot during his brief Cavs stint. Heck he couldn't beat out Jiri Welsch for a roster spot and nobody here really complained about it. He was a foul-prone tweener with poor range. Dude worked his butt off and became a decent player, though I think finding the right situation like he did in GS is just as important.

Icness wrote:You or some other long-termer can correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that after first Lebron season when Azubuike was on our summer league team? And IIRC the Cavs elected to keep Dajuan Wagner over him, even though Azubuike played pretty well in the summer league and even in that preseason.

Azubuike was in training camp for Lebron's third season, Larry Hughes first season. Wagner had been renounced by then and was out of the league. Azubuike did play well in the summer and in the pre-season, but the team had to cut a player and the team chose to keep Mike Wilks instead. Wilks was later traded for Flip Murry, so it wasn't a total loss, but I have to wonder how things would have worked out if they kept Azubuike instead.

Yup. Barnes was terrible here, but I remember several of us who wanted to keep Azubuike around after his terrific camp. I understand why we didnt keep him, but I still wish we would have found a way to.

Douglar! wrote:

Icness wrote:You or some other long-termer can correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that after first Lebron season when Azubuike was on our summer league team? And IIRC the Cavs elected to keep Dajuan Wagner over him, even though Azubuike played pretty well in the summer league and even in that preseason.

Azubuike was in training camp for Lebron's third season, Larry Hughes first season. Wagner had been renounced by then and was out of the league. Azubuike did play well in the summer and in the pre-season, but the team had to cut a player and the team chose to keep Mike Wilks instead. Wilks was later traded for Flip Murry, so it wasn't a total loss, but I have to wonder how things would have worked out if they kept Azubuike instead.

Good memory, thanks for that!