DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NBA Finals: Avoiding the Sweep

They have to get Brandon Ingram too.

Boston definitely has the assets to outbid anyone, but it doesn't seem like Kawhi wants to go there.

What's to say he can't be enticed to CLE? Juzt not sure of assets that would go in return. We're not that young anymore. 8th pick and a couple of players?

There are no assurances that LeBron will be around long term. They have no cheap, tradeable assets besides the 8th pick. He would have no chance at a title. . .

Leonard goes to LA I could see lebron pg13 and Paul all figuring out how to get there together

They can basically only get three guys. They can sign two free agents and use their young guys to trade for one more. If one or more guys want to take a pretty big pay cut then it is more doable, but I don't think that's realistic.

If Kawhi wants to go the Lakers, then LeBron, Paul George, and Leonard is very realistic (they would also have no other players).

Could you imagine the Lonzo/Lavar Ball circus with Pop?

I have the feeling that one of them would not survive.

Don't believe for a minute that SA would deal to make LA any better. They'll ship the dude easy if anything.

so it looks like

Lebron
Kawhi
George


and whoever else in LA

If you layed out a road map for Lebron to stay in Cleveland, one of those stops would be Kawhi staying in San Antonio.

Lebron staying in Cle took a sizeable hit today.

Interesting point of view. I tend to agree.

Maybe so, but the rift in SA with Kawhi has been brewing for long time. Regardless of Lebron, Kawhi was going to be playing in a new town in 2019. I don't think there was even the slightest possibility he would be staying.

So if Kawhi's departure is the key to all of this, that was set in motion long before our most recent trip to the Finals.

I think San Antonio, if they trade Kawhi, will take the deal that makes them the best.

here's the deal though: would anyone BESIDES the lakers even try to trade for him now? he's basically just said he's signing with the lakers when he's an UFA next year.

so would Boston (who can offer the most in a trade)really even try to one-up the lakers?

Looks like Kawhi manipulated to go exactly where he wants

Which might not happen if the Lakers eat up all their cap space this year signing free agents.

Leonard doesn't have a no trade clause, i can't see Leonard staying in the west if they trade him..give them Love and the 8 after he signs an extension. Alot of lebron's buddies are FA this year which makes it so screwy. PG13, CP3 and melo are all FA, throw in lesser guys like middleton and Jordan a team with enough cap and collusion they could put together a pretty good team

I'd have zero problem jettisoning Love. Guys the softest athlete I've ever seen...

This is what Kyrie Irving did. The Suns and Nuggets has better offers on the table but he told them he wouldn’t re-sign.

yep, he's basically shot down san antonio's leverage and options

Players run the league. Nothing surprises me.

Could always back down from exploring trade options, make him sit out again, and play the game during the year to see who gets antsy and wants to make a deadline deal.

I mean, if they trade Kawhi away, or they retain him and he refuses to play, San Antonio isn't doing anything in the West either way.

They don't get paid if they sit even though they're able to play right?

More or less. Kawhi would have to file a grievance if he thinks he is hurt and can't play. Otherwise, there could be a bit of a legal battle: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/03/bad_sports.html

It would be great to see San Antonio do this, and they get lauded for it, meanwhile, if the Cavs had done that with Kyrie Irving, they would have been put right over the coals.

I don't think the Lakers can sign LeBron, George AND trade for Kawhi.

I don't think that really makes too much sense either. They all play the same position, SF.

I wonder if who we take in the draft will have any impact on LeBron's decision. I know he is high on Trae Young.

If that happens, I wonder if there is ANY chance that LeBron says "Get Kawhi and i'll stay.".

Could we trade Love and a first round pick + insert player here for Kawhi?

Young
Hood
Leonard
LeBron
Thompson

I think that Young will be gone before we pick.

I don't know why San Antonio would want Love. I think the guy has value, but it will be as a third option on a pretty good team.

I hope if Lebron stays (which I don't think he is) Love sticks around, and the team can just somehow find a way to get better.

I'm of the belief that we aren't in the sweepstakes for Kawhi or any other big name player who's name might get dangled out this summer. We just simply don't have the resources. If our #8 pick were higher, we might have been able to put together something for San Antonio, but at 8, I can't see us having something that the Spurs can't turn down.

That's not to say that the Cavs can't get better, but it's just not going to be with top tier talent.

There are two scenarios (well, three) where all three get to LA, and all are highly dependent on what San Antonio does.

1) Luol Deng's terrible contract inexplicably gets traded to SA (or a third team), with two of these three: Ball, Kuzma or Ingram going to the Spurs for Kawhi. If this happens, Koby Altman should be off the hook for the lopsided trade of Kyrie, and I would probably question the integrity of the league in general with two terribly lopsided trades in favor of the Celtics and Lakers (Kyrie and Kawhi) happening 10 years after two other terribly lopsided trades to the Celtics and Lakers (Garnett and Gasol).

2) No trade is made before Free Agency (no reason why the Spurs should rush this), and the Lakers would have to waive Deng and use the stretch provision to spread his contract out over 7 years. This would give the Lakers enough room to max out Lebron and George Paul, but would pretty much cap them out and force them to match salaries in any trade. At this point, if they wanted Kawhi, they would almost be required to trade the Spurs everything they have left on the roster just to get salaries close enough to even make the trade legit. The Lakers might have George, James and Leonard, but that would be it. They could use an MLE for maybe one other decent guy, but the rest would be league minimum guys.

3) The Spurs could just hold Leonard and force him to play the rest of the year. They could ship him to any team (preferably in the East) looking for a quick fix in a playoff run situation, or they can just ride him out for the season. If he refuses to play, they could sue him for breach of contract and get $20M back. At the end of the year, he could opt out and look to sign with the Lakers again, but he'd be in a similar situation, where they would have to release pretty much their entire roster, just to get him in on a max deal. (And I think with Deng's stretched contract plus whoever they draft this year added to their cap, they might not even be able to max him.) SA could also push the Lakers into an opt-in-and-trade, and get even more assets back in the deal, not to mention see another year of the Lakers' young guys to see if it would be worth it to trade for them.

Kawhi's efforts to move to LA have basically squashed our hopes of relevancy next year. IMO, Lebron asked Kawhi to go public about going to LA to ease the pain of his own annoucnement.

Well lebron has been confirmed touring two private schools in Houston yesterday

Kawhi's efforts? All I've seen is that he's asked to be traded, preferably to LA. He hasn't even pressed the issue yet or demanded that it's LA-or-else, and for all we know, Pops could meet with him this week and convince him to stay in San Antonio.

The Spurs still hold a large amount of leverage here. They're under no obligation to trade him.

What LeBron does certainly doesn't effect me in the least. If he goes West (HOU) will only incite GS to continue to recruit the best players out there. LeBron will be lucky to see a finals again.

Thanks for posting, that could be a good clue.

Linky:

https://www.12up.com/posts/6091190-repor...ton-area-friday

As if positions matter. George and Leonard play very well of the ball and LeBron is basically a point guard. Stagger the minutes and it makes even more sense. Leonard and George carry the defense during crunch time and LeBron carries the offense. This is not that hard. There would be way more fit issues if LeBron goes to Houston (and even then it wouldn't be a real problem).

jc

Any word on what Lebron is going to do? I ask because the NBA draft is tomorrow night and the Cavs do have the #8 pick. I have to think that the Cavs strategy would be a lot different if he stayed (trade the pick for an established NBA player, or at least pick a college player ready to contribute soon) compared to if he left (high upside kind of guy.)

It seems like no news is bad news. I seem to remember neither the Cavs in 2010 nor the Heat in 2014 knew of Lebron's plans on draft night. I can't remember how every off-season has transpired but has there ever been a time when Lebron's plans were up in the air on draft day, and he stayed with his current team?

From what I've heard, they are sort of leaning towards moves that will improve the team going forward, as in "no Lebron". I think they learned their lesson the last time he left them high and dry.

They've sort of been in that mode since January. The trades they made were for younger players, and they held on to the Brooklyn pick.

Sounds like the Cavs would like to package Kevin up for a trade.

I would think just about anything is on the table, but you should be wary of any "rumors" flying around this time of year. Adrian Wojnarowski is about the only somewhat reliable source.

I'm not believing anything until it happens. So much sports click bait going around it's not funny.

The draft is on! I almost forgot about it.

That's got to be a blow hard extravaganza!