RealGM

The development of our young talent.

If our young talent has developed to the point where we are a legitimate playoff team - 40+ wins, that area, by the 2010 free agency period, we will be able to sign one of the big names out there - LBJ, Wade, Amare, Bosh, etc... as a complement to that team.

No matter how much LBJ or any of the other guys might love playing in Brooklyn and for Jay-Z, if we are not a winning team, they will not want to come here at that point.

That being said, who among our young talent do you guys see as being on that level?

Devin Harris is twenty-five, and will probably be on this team as long as we can hold onto him. Was the starting guard on some reallly good Dallas teams - ironic, because I've always felt him to be a point guard in the mold of a Derek Harper type. Solid second or third scoring option, tough defender. He's the perfect compliment to a LeBron/Wade type - or would be, if he could improve his range. Either way, keeper.

Josh Boone has proven to be a reliable young big, I think. He's only twenty-three, to be fair. I can see him as a decent first big off the bench, or a borderline starting four or five on most teams. He's a keeper.

Sean Williams, while he did have a supbar first season, is still twenty-two - and there's definetly talent there.

Not too sure what everyone's issue with Yi Jinlan is. No, he wasn't a star his rookie season, but he certainly had an above-average rookie year for most - similar situation to Sean Williams, I believe. 8 and 4 at the age of 20 is not too shabby at all.

And then we have the gaggle of new guys - CDR, Lopez, Anderson - can anything develop there?

What I'm banking on is this within the next 2 seasons:

1. Devin Harris - If he establishes himself as one of the top 8 PG's in the league. He doesn't have to be Christ Paul or anything, but he needs to be included in conversations among elite PG's. If he can prove over the next 2 years he can elavate players games around him, play decent defense and knock down the shot consistantly when called upon, that is a great start.

2. Brook Lopez - personally, I think he's the next big name on the team that needs to step up. He needs to develop into a more athletic Z. He has the nice touch around the basket and a decent midrange game already. He needs to get more physical as a defender and willing and committed to battle day in day out. If he can polish is offense game and get better defensively, we'll be looking good.

3. Yi - Personally, we need a reliable shooter to go alongside Lebron. Whether we play him at the 3 or 4, he needs to develop a will to win. He also needs to stop dealing with the Chinese National Team but that probably won't happen. I think being in a place where he feels more comfortable line NY/NJ will help him. If he develops, he can pose match up nightmares for the defense. He isn't fast enough to guard the elite SF's in the league so he needs to learn how to bang with power forwards too.

4. CDR - Of all the other young guys, I am hoping he gels the most honestly. The kid has solid bball IQ and knows what it takes to win. If he can show us over the next 2 seasons that we don't need to worry about the 2 guard and would be ready to step in for Vince when his stats start to go down, I'll love life. If this is the case, I could honestly see CDR by mid 2010-2011 season starting at the 2-guard while Vince accepts the 6th man off the bench role. Vince would still get 20-30 minutes a game because he'd fill in at the 2-3. I honestly think if Vince could win a title, he'd willingly take this roll that season. Be like a better version of Michael Finley. Still be getting paid, still able to step in and play 30 minutes if an injury arises, but willing to buy into the team concept.

5. Sean - I'm holding my breathe still. As much as I want him to become a poor mans Josh Smith, I'm just gonna not make a comment so I dont' end up eating my words. I love the guy, but his potential can go either way right now.

6. Boone, Anderson - I think these guys can be serviceable bench players for a long time. Both have the ability to start at times, but I don't think they'll ever be a full time starter on a championship team. However, I'd love to see them in a Nets uni for a long time.

1- Harris is the main attraction.

2- I agree with Prelude. Lopez needs to develop into something like Z.

3- Yi, I meant Yeah, I dont get why people are down on him. I dont get why people get down on Rookies. Whatever happened to ROOKIE YEAR? Damn!!!! Has this society lost all it's patience? This goes for Sean Will too. IMO Yi is going to have a good year.

4- I am going to lump CDR and Anderson together here. These guys need to work on there perimeter games. Any FA we go after needs shooters around them do to the double teams.

5- Boone, whatever bench and draft picks we pick up along the way need to be productive. A lot of people are high on Boone but I am not there yet. He had good numbers last year but IMO he has hit the ceiling. 8pt 7rbs is cool with me. That is more then what I expected but he isnt the next Boozer.

LBJ won't want to come into a bad situation. He's going to want a legit shot at the ring.

We need one of the youngs to develop into a stud, and a couple of them to be good rotation players.

Frank has got to go by all-star break if things look as painful as last season.

We gots to make it back to the playoffs in 2010.

I think LBJ coming here has everything to do with us moving to Brooklyn.

If the Brooklyn arena isn't very close to completed(as in construction well under way, with less than a year to it being open, fully functional and utilized for all home games) there is absolutely no shot at him coming here no matter how good we are.

I don't think that Lebron will change teams unless:

1 - He is offered a huge amount of money. The NBA collective bargaining agreement prohibits this from happening, so unless the cba is changed in the next version, or Lebron gets a huge offer from another pro league, I don't think that anyone will be able to outbid Cleveland.

or

2 - He has a good shot at an NBA title. This means a team that has one or two other top (near All-Star level) players. Forget 40 wins. KG went to Boston because of Pierce and Allen.

or

3 - Cleveland falls apart.

It is fruitless to try and project what team would make sense as a possible new home this far in advance. Too much could happen.

What if New Orleans moves their franchise to Las Vegas and Lebron and Dwayne Wade decide to both sign with the Hornets. Not a bad city. Not a bad team (Paul, West, Chandler, Wade and James). A player friendly coach.

Actually, any city could look good if Lebron and another elite player were to make a joint move to that team. That would result in an instant contender. In the end, it might not be so much about what city/team is attractive, as much as who else Lebron can convince to join him.

oLd sKool

old skool wrote: Not a bad team (Paul, West, Chandler, Wade and James).
oLd sKool

Voted for Captain Obvious' statement of the year.

By the way, this would be impossible, they wouldn't have the cap room.

I know you guys don't care but whoever is interested. Lebron co-hosted an Obama rally here in Cleveland and had a few things to say to the crowd. Here is one quote........... " You know I love you, I love Ohio, and I am not going anywhere". I know things can change from here and 2010 but that was pretty big because he never came out and said it straight out like that. I bet any money this probably won't make espn/realgm because they only like to report things not in favor of him staying.

Politcians promise and say many things that never end up happening. Fitting how Lebron is with a politician.

Oh and Lebron would make more money in endorsements if he came to Brooklyn. More companies would offer deals and the companies he has signed with would give him more come re-signing time.

2 Years ago Jason Kidd talked about how much he still loves New Jersey and playing for the Nets...a lot can change in 2 years man.

The_Child_Prodigy wrote:Politcians promise and say many things that never end up happening. Fitting how Lebron is with a politician.

Oh and Lebron would make more money in endorsements if he came to Brooklyn. More companies would offer deals and the companies he has signed with would give him more come re-signing time.

Well this is my last comment about his in this thread because i'm not gonna go back and forth about this. I just find it a little comical how knicks and nets fans continue to have threads like these, its 2 years away and its all you guys talk about. Some of your fans act like he plays for you guys, i could see how fans can get excited about the possibility of a great player coming to their team. But its up in the air and 2 years down the line.

now to address somethings....

Lebron was 3rd among pro-athletes in earnings behind tiger woods and phil mickleson, so all this bs about cleveland being a small market isn't a good arguement because he still makes a lot of money and gets a lot of endorsements. And another thing is that you guys might not even have a team in brooklyn in the summer of 2010 from what i read, and lebron isn't gonna go just to any team. He wants to win and the way cleveland is shaping up with young talent, trade assets and cap room for 2010 they seem to be in a better position than new jersey does. He could end up going to a team that no one even suspected, because a lot of teams will have cap space that summer so who knows. But i just wanted to post that little quote because it was good to hear as a cleveland fan and most people act like he doesn't care about being here when he never gave any indication that he was unhappy. He's been raving all summer about this mo williams deal and about our team in general, he is very happy to be here as long as we stay committed to winning and trying to put players around him. And our owner/gm is gonna do everything they can to get guys in here..... Lebron is now coming out addressing these issues about him leaving because guys like stephen a. smith and other reporters keep acting like lebron or friends of bron told them first hand he was leaning towards leaving. He said on media day that he never said anything of that nature to anybody and he seemed pretty annoyed about it from watching the video.

Well i'm done, yall can conitune to dream about what could be. But the season is gonna start and i'm more excited about that right now as i think any nba fan should be whether they expect little or a lot out of their team. You should be happy you are gonna be watching your team play ball instead of drooling about something that might not happen in 2 years.

I'm not delusional to the fact that he could leave and may leave. But if 2010 was right now i would be very confident that he would choose to stay. I'm not trying to bust anyone's balls on here but think about if the situation was vice versa and bron was on your team. I'm pretty sure you would get tired of hearing about all this stuff in the media and other fans acting like he is a lock to be playing for them when he is a free agent. I'm pretty sure it would somewhat annoy you after hearing about it a 1000 times lol....

Da_James_Gang wrote:I know you guys don't care but whoever is interested. Lebron co-hosted an Obama rally here in Cleveland and had a few things to say to the crowd. Here is one quote........... " You know I love you, I love Ohio, and I am not going anywhere". I know things can change from here and 2010 but that was pretty big because he never came out and said it straight out like that. I bet any money this probably won't make espn/realgm because they only like to report things not in favor of him staying.

I dont know. I see a flaw in the above reasoning.

He said he loves Ohio. He didnt say I love Cleveland. He isnt from Cleveland.

Isnt he building a house in OHIO. So of course he isnt going anywhere. He has a house is there. LOL

Now on the Lebron thing. As you hope he stays, we hope he leaves. So in 2 yrs, we will know what happens. Lebron would be great. After the Olympics, Wade is up there on my list too.

Also remember...a lot of players play in cities they don't live in

He said his favourite place in the world is New York, and his favourite borough is Brooklyn.
He wants to become the first billionaire athlete.
The Nets have built a young core that should start to "boom" around 2010.
Add to the fact that the Nets new arena will be sponsored by Barclays a British bank, so with having Lebron on the Nets, Barclays would use Lebron as there poster boy around Europe. Nets love it, Stern loves it, Barclays-Europe loves it.

Sure he can get more money from Cleveland contract wise BUT in terms of advertisements, Lebron would get more with more money playing in a huge city. Now I'm not talking about Nike giving Lebron a raise depending on the market, but when his contract is up they'd sign him for more money. Lebron also gets a cut from the sale of his shoes. More kids would buy his shoes if he played in Brooklyn.

I will say it.

I believe the increase was 50% from Nike if he plays in a select major market.

I believe the cities were NY, LA, Chitown and possibly Boston.

And Cleveland can't really pay him more money, they can only sign him to one extra year.
He can instead get one less year, and then reup one year earlier when starting salaries on a long term contract are alomost on par with the final of the older one.

I still do not bank on him coming here, but it is a very realistic possibility.
It's probably either here, if we are in or absolutley going to Brooklyn, Chicago or the most obvious, Cleveland.

Then again, maybe Miami will be an option.

Hell, maybe all the international talk was about Toronto. Bosh and him.
Wouldn't that be ironically hilarious.

vincecarter4pres wrote:I will say it.

I believe the increase was 50% from Nike if he plays in a select major market.

I believe the cities were NY, LA, Chitown and possibly Boston.

And Cleveland can't really pay him more money, they can only sign him to one extra year.
He can instead get one less year, and then reup one year earlier when starting salaries on a long term contract are alomost on par with the final of the older one.

I still do not bank on him coming here, but it is a very realistic possibility.
It's probably either here, if we are in or absolutley going to Brooklyn, Chicago or the most obvious, Cleveland.

Then again, maybe Miami will be an option.

Hell, maybe all the international talk was about Toronto. Bosh and him.
Wouldn't that be ironically hilarious.

Man we need to clear this up again so Cleveland fans don't go crazy again.

IT IS ILLEGAL FOR HIS CONTRACT TO INCREASE MOVING TO A TOP 3 MARKET (see: LA/NY/Chicago)

This is how he gets more money....Part of his contract with Nike is guaranteed, part is based on % of revenues made by Nike from his products, image, etc. Being in a top 3 market opens up new marketing channels (yes, Lebron is a household name, but there is still plenty of room to grow). I know it's hard to comprehend making it easier to market a guy who is already known around the planet just because he's in a top 3 market, but it's the truth. A little research is all that is needed to understand this. Him in a top 3 market essentially makes the company more money, therefore he gets paid more because he's getting a % of that revenue.

So in the end, his contract doesn't increase, but he gets paid more.

Is everyone clear now? Last time this was brought up, there were like 2-3 cleveland wants what went ballistic on a thread like this a few months ago.


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Now with that said, I still honestly feel it's 70% he stays in Cleveland, 30% he comes to us. There is a chance right now that the stadium may not be done until the 2011-2012 season now if the courts hold up the ground breaking another 6 months like I was just reading. Does Lebron want to deal with playing in Jersey for a whole season. The picture of Lebron making a splash in the new stadium and all that loses it's luster by the day to me. The longer it takes, the more I say it hurts our chances. We need that situation cleared up AND 2-4 of our young guys to prove that they can be legit above average starters to even have him think about coming to play for his friend.

Also, you never know what will happen in the next 2 years. Hell we may even take ourselves out of the running if we get offered a Godfather deal (i.e. deal we literally can't refuse) in the next 2 years. That's a long time.

I give it less than 10%. Pretty much everything from here on out has to line up right. No Whammies.

I hope we don't move to Brooklyn even if that means that we go from a 10 to 20% chance of landing Lebron to a .5% chance.

I want the team to be sold to someone in Jersey and moved to the Rock in Newark.

Give me the 3-8 pick next year and land me James Harden, this kid is gonna be a stud.

Then hopefully a few of our young kids turn into starting level rotational players and hopefully one of them a star and another into a nice player, ala a young Q Rich, Dunleavy or a younger Crash with some potential who is nice trade bait.

Then land us a stud big man in a trade for expirings a draft pick and one or two of our young guys.

If not pursue Amare, Bosh, Dirk, etc. aggressively in 2010 when we realise we can't get Bron without Brooklyn and Wade is staying in Miami.

I personally am burnt out on Lebron. As much of a game-changer as he is, I don't want to turn into my roommate. My roommate is actually from Cleveland and a die-hard Cav's fan (wears his Brad Dougherty jersey all the time). All he does is complain non-stop about how Lebron is a terrible decision maker, how he pulls up for too many shots and as much as he claims he "believes in his team" that it's not the case and he's more "me me me." Having my roommate around yapping about this constantly, it seems to me that Lebron's nature goes against the "high character high quality" team that Thorn and Kiki are going for.

Regardless, time will tell.

I've also been thinking a lot that I can see us moving Vince/one of our young bigs for an all-star 2 or 3 and going after Amare. It's just a feeling I've been having the past month or two.

lol@your roommate.