OT: Cleveland signs Moon to an offer sheet

[campybatman]

Has Cleveland just upped the ante in the eastern conference?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have continued their offseason remodeling by signing restricted free agent Jamario Moon to an offer sheet, according to NBA front-office sources.

Full details of the offer sheet are unlikely to be known until Monday, when the contract is submitted to the league office. League rules dictate that offer sheets must span three years in length, but sources told ESPN.com that the deal is likely guaranteed for only the first two years.

The Miami Heat will have seven days to match the offer once it's formally processed, but Cleveland would appear to have a good chance of landing Moon given Miami's well-chronicled desire to avoid new contracts longer than one year to protect its 2010 salary-cap space.

There are exceptions to that policy, as evidenced by Miami's well-chronicled attempts to sign Lamar Odom away from the Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat, though, have multiple players at Moon's position -- Daequan Cook, James Jones and Yakhouba Diawara -- even if they don't land Odom, raising doubts about their ability to keep him.

After trading for Shaquille O'Neal and signing Anthony Parker to take their payroll beyond the $80 million mark, Cleveland has spent the past week looking for free-agent bargains as it tries to add depth at the wing positions and find a power forward that can stretch the floor with his jumper. The Cavs had been linked in recent days to forwards such as Rob Kurz and Sean May before signing Moon.

It's believed that the Cavs were hooked on Moon's ability to guard mobile forwards after their struggles to contain Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis in the Eastern Conference finals against Orlando.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Cavs have about $3.2 million left of their $5.9 million mid-level exception that they can use in whole or part to sign Moon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4339432

[Kefa461]

Yeah.....Moon just tipped the scales.......

Not.

[Papa Irish31]

whats the deal with everyone here's obsession with him, he is a below average shooter and defender, it took him until he was 28 to break into the league for a reason

he is a glorified high jumper, please bring him in to guard pierce, i believe we all remember how that works out

[GreenGrizz]

Cleveland is trying to keep Lebron from going to NY.

[campybatman]

So both Cleveland and Orlando (targeting CJ Watson) have gone after restricted free agents. Curious to see if they both get their player.

If Cleveland decides to use all of their remaining MLE to sign Moon, then this might rule out Gooden as a power forward option for them.

Ainge needs to decide: Davis or Digou, Lue or Ivey or whoever?

[mrautobahn]

This is like the Cold War! First the Cavs get Shaq... then we get Rasheed... then they get Anthony... then we get Daniels... then they get Moon... we haven't even started the season yet and I'm getting pumped already...

(Note: I probably got the transactions in the wrong order but still...)

[Cyclical]

Man, they're really looking a like a strong, deep team now. Moon is an excellent bench pickup. C's and Cavs should both break 65 wins next season and pretty much dominate. The gap between the top handful of teams and the rest of the league is widening by the day.

[SonicYouth34]

Good signing. We need to finish things up. I like Royal Ivey because he's big enough to play with E-House but still run the offense (along with Marquis). Plus he's a good defender.

[MaxwellSmart]

if Miami doesn't match---there's something wrong---it's a lousy 3 million....but maybe they'll be too busy trying to get Odom and Boozer.

[Red2]

cleveland? we're talking about Cleveland? Cleveland? gimme me a break

[return2glory]

WOW. If they get Moon, they are hands down the most improved team in the League. They have added Shaq without given up a decent player. They resigned A.V., signed Anthony Parker and now possibly Moon. How are they doing this?

We still haven't resigned BBD. If we sign resignBBD, then it's close. The Cavs are really putting the pressure on us. I like it. Maybe we can now step up and sign BBD.

[The Rondo Show]

WOW. If they get Moon, they are hands down the most improved team in the League. They have added Shaq without given up a decent player. They resigned A.V., signed Anthony Parker and now possibly Moon. How are they doing this?

We still haven't resigned BBD. If we sign resignBBD, then it's close. The Cavs are really putting the pressure on us. I like it. Maybe we can now step up and sign BBD.

It's not really our choice. Varejao was unrestricted and had to be signed right away to avoid letting him get away.

Baby is restricted and restricted free agents play the waiting game until/if they are offered an offer sheet. He won't sign anything until the end of the summer, when he can't get an offer sheet and he'll give in and sign the QO. We could sign him long-term, but he may not want to knowing how limited of a role he'll have for the next 3 years and we may not want to sign him long-term anyways (he's replaceable, has battled weight issues and what's he going to do with the millions we give him?). There's no rush to sign Baby, we aren't in any danger of losing him the way Cleveland was w/Varejao.

[MyInsatiableOne]

whats the deal with everyone here's obsession with him, he is a below average shooter and defender, it took him until he was 28 to break into the league for a reason

he is a glorified high jumper, please bring him in to guard pierce, i believe we all remember how that works out

Thank you for being the voice of reason...

[infinite11285]

Your crazy if you think Moon is going to be the one to guard Pierce.

[Jimmy103]

WOW. If they get Moon, they are hands down the most improved team in the League. They have added Shaq without given up a decent player. They resigned A.V., signed Anthony Parker and now possibly Moon. How are they doing this?

We still haven't resigned BBD. If we sign resignBBD, then it's close. The Cavs are really putting the pressure on us. I like it. Maybe we can now step up and sign BBD.

<<<<<<<<Sheed

[campybatman]

It seems like Cleveland and Orlando are trying to out do one another, it's about them. All the while Boston is biding their time. Ainge is more methodical in his approach this off-season.

[ParticleMan]

well, we got Sheed and Daniels, who instantly become our two best bench players. so it's not like Ainge has been sitting on his duff.

Moreover, we didn't lose anyone (so far). The Magic lost Hedo. So they had more to do.

[campybatman]

I take from this Cleveland is just about finish making anymore moves. I know some Boston fans would've preferred Moon over Daniels, if Daniels ends up in Boston. But, who knows... You won't really know which teams got themselves bargains until the mid-season point.

The Miami Heat has until noon today to decide whether to match the offer sheet restricted free agent Jamario Moon signed with the Cavs last week. The Heat is believed to be hesitant to match the three-year, $8.92 million deal because two years of the Cavaliers' contract are guaranteed, terms that would handcuff Miami from making a splash in the 2010 free agency market.

The Cleveland deal would pay Moon $2.75 million in the first year -- coming from $3.2 million remaining of the Cavs' mid-level exception -- and the third year of the deal is only partially guaranteed, according to a league source.

If the Cavaliers' contract with Moon goes through, they would have about $450,000 of their mid-level exception remaining this year. That would put them in position to sign second-round draft pick Danny Green, the North Carolina guard, to a multi-year contract.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf ... draft.html

[Manny Phresh]

This move is overrated... If anything it adds depth to our team... Everybody in the East still has question marks... Exciting season indeed