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Tony Dejak / Associated Press
With LeBron James leaving again, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in a much better place than eight years ago. This 2010-11 team had no other stars named that year, few young talents to build and no picks from the June draft.
Now, Cleveland still has 29-year-old Kevin Love, potential building blocks at Larry Nance Jr., Rodney Hood (restricted free agent) and Cedi Osman, and Collin Sexton, recently selected playmaker in Alabama
however, the Cavs still exceed the $ 101.9 million salary cap thanks to George Hill's inflated contracts, JR Smith, Tristan Thompson and Jordan Clarkson
C is a team that could still compete for a playoff seed Low in a Conference Is Low, But Should It Do It?
Reasons to Win [19659004] As teams like Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics have shown in recent years, reconstructions can be advanced or skipped completely.
After Kevin Durant left the Thunder in 2016, Oklahoma City made the playoffs in 2017, traded for a star to Paul George, did the game again in 2018, and then locked him in a contract of $ 137 million over four years
. The Celtics quickly changed from the Paul Pierce era, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to a team that takes it to the East. writing, some great free-agent and trade signatures for Kyrie Irving. This and destroy the Brooklyn Nets in a trade, as well.
Could Cleveland draw something similar?
After all, Love has proven that he can put an offense on his back when given the opportunity. He had an average of 27.4 points and 14.9 rebounds with a 30.4% use rate by 36 minutes when James was on the bench this season. In her final year with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2013-14, Love had 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 badists. With no James around to carry the offensive charge, look for the numbers of love to point again.
Tony Dejak / Associated Press
Hood should be back and with a better offensive opportunity. If head coach Tyronn Lue is smart, he will make Hood the first shooter next to George Hill in the backcourt of the Cavs. He was playing an average 14.7 points per game between Utah Jazz and Cleveland, and he would greatly benefit from a full Cavaliers training camp.
Kyle Korver, Clarkson, Smith and Hill are all average two-digit candidates. Sexton remains the wild card and should immediately play a reserve role.
Cleveland could enter the 2018-19 season with playoff goals like Oklahoma City and then attempt to make his big move next summer.
the combined salaries of Hill ($ 18 million), Smith ($ 15.7 million) and Korver ($ 7.5 million) include only $ 1 million in guarantees, 3.9 millions of dollars and 3.4 million dollars, respectively. General Manager, Koby Altman, can convert $ 41.2 million in capital gains into just $ 8.3 million, if he so desires.
If Love decides to leave last year, the Cavs could have more than $ 50 million on a projected cap of $ 109 million, not to mention a new contract for Hood. If Love opts for her $ 26 million contract, the Cavs will only have to move an expiring contract (Clarkson or Thompson) to open a max salary bracket.
The list of free agents of 2019 is impressive. The names could include Kawhi Leonard, Durant, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Marc Gasol, Al Horford and, yes, Irving.
Cleveland might hope that one of these players would be quite interested in playing alongside love and a fledgling star like Sexton for maximum pay and doing reconstruction without James a short.
Reasons to lose
In a perfect world, the Cavs could remain competitive for a year and then make the leap next summer with an agent without impact and development from Sexton, Nance, Hood and
From a realistic point of view, however, which free agent on this list goes through the door? Leonard seems destined to Los Angeles, Durant and Thompson will probably be back with the Golden State Warriors, and Butler should reach the maximum with the Timberwolves. As for Irving, well, there is no meeting.
Oklahoma City had a full year to drink and eat George before being free. Otherwise, he would probably be a Laker at the present time
Cleveland could follow a similar route with a disgruntled star, but that would mean parting from what possess little commercial badets that the Cavs possess.
They can not They exchange a first-round pick until 2021 and have to be pretty bad next season to retain their pick in 2019. If that choice does not fall into the overall top 10, it will be sent to the Atlanta Hawks through the Korver trade. 19659004] In short, it's time for Cleveland to rebuild once more.
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This does not does not mean that Altman should try to sell each player for 25 cents on the dollar. It may be advantageous to keep Love until the trading deadline, letting it inflate its stats to its Minnesota levels and then sell it to the highest bidder.
Hill's contract basically functions as a $ 19 million expiring contract, and he will make a good mentor for Sexton for the time being. The Clarkson playoffs were a disaster (4.7 points, 0.7 badists, 30.1% shooting), but it was pretty good for Cleveland during the regular season. The Cavs would be clever to hold the 26-year-old as a sixth man and see if he can regain his pre-playoff numbers (12.6 points, 40.7% three-point shooting).
If anyone offers so much Altman can not say yes fast enough.
Cleveland's best screenplay now becomes next summer with a choice of top-10 and a core of Sexton, Nance, Hood, Osman and all it can be obtained by Love, Korver and others veterans.
Although ceiling space can not attract a great free player, it offers other teams a place to empty one of their existing players with a draft choice. The Nets have recently used this strategy to acquire former No. 2 choice Angelo Russell and the first round of the Toronto Raptors in 2018 (the small Bosnian striker Dzanan Musa).
Former General Manager David Griffin In 2014, the organization would move from the "badet accumulation mode " to the "target acquisition mode".
Under Altman, Griffin's former badistant, the Cavs should go back to accumulating badets and start the slow and often painful process of rebuilding . The focus should be on storing as many draft picks and young players as possible after years of trading both in hopes of attracting a star in the future not so far away.
After all, there are only three years left before James can become a free agent again.
Greg Swartz covers the Cleveland Cavaliers and the NBA for Bleacher Report. Statistics provided by NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise stated. Contract numbers by Spotrac.
