DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs.NBA Discussion Part II

Apparently, Pelinka is working hard to recruit LeBron to LA next year. They can land two superstars, pay them both, and insert them into a young up and coming team. Plus, LeBron's plan to take over the world includes show business. LA is the biggest threat.

If he goes to LA, here's what I think will happen:

1. Cavs fans will be angry but unlike last time also grateful. He brought the elusive championship home.

2. He will be hated and labeled a front runner for about 15 minutes until LA starts winning. Then he'll just be a winner. I find it hilarious how Steven A. Smith ripped into Durant for taking the easy road by joining a team that just eliminated him. Then after Durant wins, Smith does an about face and Durant is now just a winner. Way to stick to your guns Smith. But hey, everyone loves a winner.

You do realize that LeBron hasn't left yet, right?

Lebron doesn't need to move to LA to be able to take over show business. He's got what he needs to be in show business.

Money.

I'm sure everyone that can afford Lebron is/will be recruiting him when the time comes. I'm not gonna worry about it until next off season.

As far as who 'wants' to play with Lebron, maybe they do, maybe they don't. Nothin' we can do, but I can't think of anyone that plays one on one against Lebron that wins against him.

And I can't think of anyone that puts money on the guy playing against Lebron in that game either.

The large market thang is a thing of the past. Tweets, TV sports channels, blogs, internet sites, etc put all star athletes in the limelight.

Players no longer NEED LA or NY to market themselves.

Watch LeBron and Cavs rule next year. He who laughs last....

Yes. I also think it's 51/49 he stays after next year.

I've been thinking about trade scenarios and I don't see any way there isn't a third team involved. There is no team we can trade straight up with that would want Irving yet be able to give us what we would want.

My fear in a third team being involved would result in us losing Love as well.

I do not want to lose Love. I actually would like us to build more around his game. And use him more than a 6'8 SG that rebounds. I think it would help LeBron a lot throughout the season if Kevin was occasionally the focal point.

Especially when your that good.

Exactly, I asked this above or in another thread. Why would the Suns give up Bledsoe and Jackson for Irving? They'd be better, but not enough better to make the playoffs. And with Irving only signed for two more years, they'd have a short window to convince him to stay.

Something tells me we're going to force him to play this season. That's going to be uncomfortable.

Melo at least doesn't know what LeBron what will do and doesn't want to get stuck in Cleveland for a year without him. I don't blame him. Plus, Houston is a great spot for him.

I am guessing only a small number of people know what LeBron is thinking. My guess is only the LRMR guys and that's it. LeBron flew on a private jet with Dwyane Wade and didn't tell him he was going back to Cleveland. Meanwhile Lee Jenkins was writing the homecoming story while they were in the air.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/08/04/repo...r-kyrie-irving/

Phoenix seems to be in the lead, at least regarding teams reported to have an "actual offer"

But the offer stinks. Like most.

Blodsoe is always going to be a part of it.

Miamis draft pick is Top 7 protected next year, but they're probably a playoff team next season, so it's looking somewhere between 14-20. Meh.

And now they have said both Booker and Jackson won't be a part of it, but would trade Dragan Bender, who I had never heard of before this article.

And a super young and not developed PF/C isn't going to do it.

And I'm getting really tired that every time a "3rd team" is talked about, it just leads to us giving up MORE of our own good players...

Dragan Bender could be good, but he's a Kevin Love lite with no promise of being an all star. At worse he's a younger and faster replacement for Channing Frye. He's got an A+ name though. I've been following him for years just because of his name. I thought him, Jackson and Bledsoe would be fair if we couldn't get a first.

It seems like Phoenix and the Cavs are just playing chicken. The Suns want to see if the Cavs will give and take the Jackson free package, while Cleveland is trying to do the opposite.

If I was Phoenix I'd be all over getting Kyrie Irving for Bledsoe and Jackson. Irving and Booker is the start of something nice. Booker and Jackson might be the start of something nice.

Also, watch the Cavs flip Jackson for more short term assets and then LeBron leaves anyway.

I'm gonna miss watching Kyrie play for us, I'm sure most of us are. When he's on? He's incredible.

I still beg the question

Has anyone even actually heard Kyrie say that he wants out ?

Uh. If he didn't. He probably would of said so by now?

Just remember when he was seen with the biggest pacifier chewing, kitty cat, female dog, cry baby, to ever don a NBA jersey Steph Curry that actions speak louder than words.

Given the narrative, this isn't something you just leave simmering. My guess is if nothing comes of the trade then Kyrie can come out and say he's had a change of heart blah blah blah. saying something definitive right now helps noone. I'm thinking he'll speak as we get closer to camp

1. The folks doing the reporting on Irving are pretty reputable, and it's been multiple people on the story.

2. Unless the Cavs just love the drama (which we know they do), then Irving could have come out immediately and squashed this story.


Look, I don't blame Kyrie for wanting to get out from under Lebron's shadow, even if it may not be the best of ideas. The guy wants to become the alpha/leader/etc and have his own thing.

It sucks for us Cleveland fans, because watching Lebron and Kyrie for the last 3 years has been so much fun, obviously 3 straight finals trips, and a championship on top of that shows that it was a successful run.

I'm sure there is more to the story, I just hope for the Cavs' side of things, they get the absolute best deal possible.

If you asked this question two days after the initial report, I could maybe see a debate to its validity. However, so much time has passed. Kyrie, his agent or his friends/family have all had plenty of time to refute the report and they haven't. Heck, even NBA beat writers and the Cavs themselves haven't said the report was bogus.

I know you want it to be fake, but it's not. Kyrie wants out.

Maybe there is some truth to it

But there are also a lot of assumptions being made, including various reports that have had zero verification

So those new Cavs uniforms are something.

Apparently they didn't learn from the Browns Orange numbers on Brown jerseys...

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/features/nike-jerseys-170807

and irving was still used in the ad

i don't know...i love the new jerseys

That video was made a while ago. I assume the marketing department was told to run it as is because there's a chance he's still a Cavalier this season.

I saw the team shop slashed prices on every jersey in stock. It's too bad a basketball jersey is unwearable by anyone over the age of 25. As a 44 year old Caucasian dude, there's almost no scenario I could get a pass wearing one in public, even on a basketball court.

So buy a tshirt. Jerseys arent the only gear out there.

I just wear a tshirt under the basketball jersey.

Oh yeah, I have t-shirts. Jerseys just seem impossible to wear.

I have quite a few football jerseys that I wear for tailgates, games and viewing parties but basketball jerseys don't work the same way, in my opinion.

And yeah, the shirt under a basketball jersey doesn't look right to me.

Oh well, not a big deal.

I think we are beyond questioning whether there is any truth to it... the bigger question, at this point, is what is his attitude if the Cavs can't work out a deal.... does he not show up for camp or for the regular season? Does he show up and half-arse it or cause problems in the locker room? Does he play hard to try to win a championship just assuming he will leave after that?

That is kind of the conundrum he has put himself in.. he thinks he is a lead dog, a guy that can carry the team... therefore, is he going to understand if the Cavs deem these offers unacceptable? Because if the Cavs do that, they are kind of validating what he is saying and... in that he should be flattered... but something tells me he won't think of it that way.

Couldnt you just get a jersey with sleeves?

Kyrie Irving's trade request shows 'courage,' says former Cavaliers GM David Griffin

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/...art_river_index

Updated on August 8, 2017 at 12:58 PM. Posted on August 7, 2017 at 5:35 PM

By Chris Fedor, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin doesn't agree with Ron Harper's classification of Kyrie Irving's trade request as "youth and ignorance," but rather another sign of Irving's maturation.

"I think what Ron was saying is really unfair to Kyrie," Griffin said during a TV appearance on ESPN's The Jump Monday afternoon. "This is a guy who handled the situation exactly like he was supposed to. He went to Dan Gilbert privately and told him that he thought he would be happier somewhere else.

"The absolute worst thing this guy could've done was pretend to be all in and sink the ship from within. Most guys don't have the courage to do what he did. That's not youth and ignorance. That's a little bit more courage than people give him credit for."

In the weeks since Irving's sit-down meeting with Gilbert, many around the NBA have chimed in with their thoughts.

Along with his "youth and ignorance" explanation to the Akron Beacon Journal at the Bridgestone Invitational over the weekend, Harper said he was "shocked and saddened" when he heard the news. Washington Wizards point guard John Wall said, "It was crazy to me," when asked specifically about the timing of the trade. Portland Trail Blazers two-time All-Star Damian Lillard was surprised as well, especially given Irving's reasoning for wanting out, which includes not wanting to play alongside LeBron James anymore.

"I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to play with him," Lillard said in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

But Griffin, who inked Irving to a five-year contract extension in 2014, tried putting the request in context.

"I think this is a guy who wants to know how good he can be," Griffin said. "LeBron casts a very large shadow over an organization and most of it is really, really positive. You know you're expected to win a championship. But what that doesn't always allow is for a player like Kyrie to test his boundaries a little bit and see how good he can really be and can I actually be the front man of a team like that.

"And again, the teams on his list, he would be accompanying other great players and it's not like he's asking to go lead a rag-tag bunch. He just wanted to put himself in a position I think where he could find out exactly what he has as a 25-year-old entering his prime."

Irving reportedly has a four-team destination list, which includes San Antonio, Minnesota, New York and Miami. ESPN has reported at least six teams have made offers to Cleveland, with at least 20 showing some level of interest -- even if they don't have the pieces to match the Cavaliers' high price tag.

While he wouldn't speculate about potential destinations, Griffin said he believes Irving will be traded, an outcome that is best for both sides.

"This is a guy whose list included really good coaching situations," Griffin said. "This is a guy who recruited LeBron, (Gordon) Hayward and a host of other free agents when he decided to stay in Cleveland. Then all of a sudden LeBron came back. So he was sold a totally different situation than he's actually in and he worked very well in, won a championship in, and I see this as him looking for a fit for himself to take the next step in his career."

Still, leaving behind a team that has gone to three straight NBA Finals is a risk.

The Cavs struggled mightily in Irving's first few seasons as franchise centerpiece, with repeated trips to the lottery. James' arrival changed the organizational direction, turning the Cavaliers into a "championship-or-bust" squad. Over the last three years, without James in the lineup, the Cavs have compiled a disappointing 4-23 record, raising plenty of questions about Irving's ability to succeed on his own.

"I don't think he's figured out how to carry the mantle of a team and win games in that environment," Griffin said. "None of the players on that team had learned how to do it before LeBron got there. That didn't grow organically. They didn't learn how to win together. It's very difficult to be all about one thing, have him be out of a game -- by example in the LeBron situation -- and then know how to do it without him.

"I think everything was geared towards (James) to a degree and not so much that (Irving) couldn't have carried the load, but he probably didn't have enough expectation of himself to do it, because everybody just assumed, 'Well if we lose this one it's OK.' And that's really my fault. We had to do a better job of calibrating everybody toward when LeBron is out of a game, that's opportunity to you and we need to grow and evolve. We didn't do that well enough."

Not courage, more like gigantic selfish me first ego.

Anyone can see thats his problem if you looked at how he played.

That article makes me believe Irving was Griffin's pet. He's definitely doing damage control for him.

It seems that Irving might have been why Griffin and Gilbert parted ways as well. Reading between the lines if I had to guess, Griffin wanted to trade Irving and Gilbert did not. It could be the exact opposite but after hearing Griffin's interview and the fact that Irving is still in Cleveland, I'm leaning toward the former.

4-23 without James in the line up since he came back. Kyrie clearly can't carry a team. Even with Kevin Love on the floor as well.

Adidas no longer has the contract, they're making room for the new Nike jerseys.

Yeah, I saw our new Nike jerseys. I guess they're okay, they look a bit "Pro Combat Nike". I liked our plain block lettering jerseys.

I don't mind the Goodyear ad as well. It kinda of fits the look, color and it's region-based. Not a big deal.

As "ads on jerseys" go, it's barely anything.

However if they start adding more. Or go to full "patches" instead of just the logo.. eh.

meanwhile the kyrie saga still continues and lebron subtweeting him

What does subtweeting mean?

I don't do twitter.

It would be like if I said:

"I'm gonna worry about me and not care what other unimportant people say" ... and never mention Kyrie's name ... even though EVERYONE knows it's indirectly about Kyrie. It's passive aggressive.