DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs/NBA

I've read a lot, not a NBA superfan, but jist I get is there's just not any moves to make.

We've exhausted most and have pieces that other teams could care less about. TT, JR, Shump, a still hurt IT - as others pointed out to me, what's there in value?

LBJ is not worth hurting our future anymore and quite frankly, maybe the future is a lot better without LBJ, his antics and the way his stardom and etc influences and takes control. Was thinking the other night, Kyrie probably saw all the dumpster fire going on and wanted out. We let a young star, not even fully developed yet and did I say, young... for what we have now.

How is our future better without Lebron? He is the main attraction for decent players coming to Cle. Without him, which allstars are going to want to sign in Cle?

None.

Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.

So find a way to make it work with Lebron.

That's all we've done since he's been here ... this is the result.

Making it work with LBJ seems like it's why we're here in the situation we're in the first place. We got a title out of depleting our future and getting the things LBJ wants, and it appears one title was all the doctor ordered for the troubles.

Outside of trading Isiah Thomas for a ham sandwich, trading the Brooklyn pick and any future life for the Cavs after Lebron for a band-aid fix that won't get us any further in the playoffs, or getting a bench warmer for Cavs' own first rounder ... I'm not sure what else the Cavs can do to improve the team even in the slightest.

And the Cavs were a total crap team before Lebron came back. We were going nowhere.

So, please do tell me how we are going to improve if he leaves.

How are we improving with him staying? He got us one title, no one can take that away, but he also got us stuck in the situation we're in now with a future that looks like something the Mayans predicted in a dark prophecy awhile ago.

I mean, I'm not a super Gilbert fan but what the Hell is he supposed to do? Give LBJ the rights of his kids (if he has any?) in hopes LBJ has a 50-50 chance of committing another year?

we would have had core of Kyrie, Wiggins, and 3 more first rounders.

Let's be real, the only all stars coming here with Lebron, are ones that used to be, not current. Hell the one bonifide one we had couldn't wait to get away from lebron, and the other one would probably give his left arm to get away because he gets blamed for everything. Lebron burns it down wherever he goes, tried it in miami and Riley nixxed that and wouldn't dream of letting a guy like lebron have as much pull as he does, thats why they have assets to rebuild now and are semi-competitve with room to grow

That still didn't answer my question.

To start, not tick off the second best player ever who makes the Finals every year.

And the point is, we're going backwards both in the players we're getting (old Wade, hurt IT, etc) and backwards in the players we're paying (JR, TT, etc) and backwards in the players we've let walk (Kyrie) and backwards in our draft capital... how are we improving with a LBJ lead team? We're not.

Heck, some say the damage is really done as-is and we're not going to get better whatever the King does.

If your question is how are we to improve if he leaves, I would say the avenues seem a lot more bright than they look with him here. Currently anyway.

Well, all those players can go. The timing was very bad when Kyrie left, there were no good free agents or trades to make. We were kinda screwed.

So have some patience and see what they can do in the off season.

Clearly things need to be retooled.

But throwing out the baby with the bath water isnt gonna help.

That's the problem. Lebron is probably going to leave anyway because for some reason "Gilbert didn't do enough". He's using that as his excuse to bolt the situation he created in the first place.

BS. LeWhiner has gotten everything he has asked for in terms of having all his buddies join the team. Clearly, he is no GM. Start looking toward the future. LeWhiner has given up on this team and the guys that are on the floor with him. He's just playing out the season and he is gone.

I would NOT trade any picks at this point. If you can get some younger talent to help the rebuild and dump some of these old, slow losers, then fine.

See ya later LeWhiner. Thanks for the title. Enough of the drama. Geezus...didn't Cleveland have enough when Johnny was here? SMH

How do you not tick him off when you do pretty much everything he's asked of you, and still isn't happy?

A few snippets from Jason Lloyd's piece.....

The root of the problems can be traced back to two key issues: David Griffin’s removal as general manager and Kyrie Irving’s subsequent trade to the Boston Celtics.

For the past seven months, the Cavs have been noticeably pivoting away from James’ recommendations. He was vocal both publicly and privately in wanting Griffin to return as GM. Instead, owner Dan Gilbert replaced him days before the draft with Koby Altman...

James recruited Jamal Crawford last summer to come to Cleveland, but instead they ignored him and signed rookie Cedi Osman. James told the Cavs not to trade Irving regardless of how disgruntled he appeared. Irving was under team control for two more years, and James was adamant he had no leverage.

.... About the only move this year the Cavs made to acquiesce their franchise player was bringing on Dwyane Wade, but even that was met with resistance.......

James and Gilbert have no relationship. Neither do James and Altman, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.....

Gilbert said for years after James left in 2010 that he’ll never again let a player hold his organization hostage, and if he had it to do over again, he would’ve traded James with a year left on his contract.

What a mess.

I try not to take sides too much. At the end of the day, Lebron is one of the greatest athletes in Cleveland sports history. Gilbert opened up the checkbook in a way that we have only seen from a few owners. It's unfortunate that it has come down to this. There have been a lot of bad personnel and coaching moves the last few years and as a fan, it's hard to know how much of this is due to ownership, front office, Lebron and crew meddling, the coaches, etc.

Maybe they can pull together one more run. At the end of the day, Lebron is still by far the best player in the Eastern conference and it will be hard for another team to beat them 4 out of 7 games when it actually counts. Get to the Finals and who knows what can happen.

That Irving trade is shaping up to be one of the two worst NBA trades I can remember. The other one was when Brooklyn dumped a bunch of unprotected first round picks on the Celtics in exchange for some has-beens.

Danny Ainge man.. I want to know what kind of dirt he has on the rest of the league.

Good question. Don't be Dan Gilbert is my best answer.

Towns is so freaking good.

Our bench once again showed up tonight. Offensive flow from the starters look better.

Does any other ‘star player’ in the league have a ‘relationship’ with the team owner or GM?

Just don’t seem right.

What sucks is that IT tries on defense, but it just doesn’t matter cause his size makes him terrible and a huge liability.

We desperately need love back, because right now it’s been highlighted that Crowder just isn’t a starter, atleast not a good starter for this team.

Maybe IT could clothes-line more people and just try and do it more discretely.

IT looks like he has no rhythm with the rest of the team on offense. Everything he does looks forced and choppy.

LeBron is still forcing silly passes and turning the ball over.

Everything else considered, we are playing pretty well right now but so are the Wolves.

Cue the second half collapse.

101-99 after 3. I hate these defensive battles, lol.

We are a better team without IT and crowder

Boy if our deep ball guys could do that consistently...

Lues rotations costing us another game

TT just stands 15 feet away as KaT dots his eye from 3

Really think Osman ought to have more time even after Love comes back.

Another stupid decision by lebron. And he wonders why they suck

I'd have driven to the basket. Worst case he misses, best cast he makes it or draws a foul.

Well. That was a hero shot, no ball movement whatsoever.

Overtime it is.

He did just make one without even thinkin' about it on the previous (or previous previous) possession.

We don’t have enough guys that can get their own shot

He just tied the shot clock making that, leaving a shot clock's worth of time on the clock.

What a rejection by Bron Bron!

Osman should get crowders minutes

That was cool!

THERE IT IS!!!