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Is it just me or is Lebron rubbing anyone else the wrong way? Not on his on the court play or leadership, and certainly not his talent, but the way he's dealing with the business side of the NBA.

First off, I understand that it's not a conflict of interest that he's part owner of the agency that represents other players on teams he plays for since they're all on the same side of the desk, but his not signing until another of his client's gets a deal? That's pretty bush league. Especially since he's lining his own pockets even further with the commission from those deals.

Then, there's the idea that he's going to demand max money now on a 1+1 deal so that he can max out again next year when the cap goes up. I get that he deserves to make as much money as possible and Gilbert doesn't have to sign him if he really doesn't want to but comeon man, the way the luxury tax structure in the NBA works, it's going to be impossible for Gilbert to pay the tax after a year or two of being over because of the escalators built in. So when's the firesale going to happen? Just after Lebron's retired? I felt like this is what happened the last time. He demanded that they do certain things and when those things failed he bailed because "he wasn't supported".

Again, I'm not dogging on him as a player, I'm super excited that he's here and that he's brought us the best possible chance for a title we've had in decades, but would it hurt to show a little class and not leave the franchise a burnt out husk once you're done building your legacy and taking as much of Gilbert's money as possible...

It'll be interesting to see what happens from 5 years from now. Management is gonna choose a Kyrie in his prime over a 35 year old Lebron. If that happens, Lebron might retire at that point. He seems like the kinda guy who'd do that.

That's only what the professional muck-stirrers at ESPN are speculating. I think part of the reason is that Lebron is "holding out" is that the deal he plans to sign is going to be a lot more than the salary cap hold that his current contract is counting against the cap. This might allow us to wiggle in a few more contracts and such depending on where the Cap apron and such ends up at. It doesn't really do us any good if he signs for his maximum value now and firmly sets his contract into our cap number. All those raises that everyone else is getting also don't get factored into the cap number until they officially sign, so it's possible that if the cap number gets set larger than expected, we could potentially come in under the tax apron and maybe have a larger mid level exception available to sign someone else. It's a long shot, but it still keeps cap flexibility if we happen to need it.

At any rate, I don't think anyone can "officially" sign until the two week moratorium is lifted anyway so this whole thing is probably a moot point anyway.



The cap is slated to go way up after next season, so even if it's a painful tax bill this year, it really won't be that bad next year. Especially since we seem to be locking everyone else into long-term deals. Besides, Lebron doubles the value of the franchise, fills seats, moves merchandise and gets people leaving the Q over into the Horseshoe Casino. Gilbert is going to make his investment back plenty.

For one, Lebron is doing the right thing for himself as well as the union. He's the best player in the league. This team, albiet with several other improvements, went from a lottery team to 2 wins away from a parade.

Also, the Cavs reupped this year with FSO, a deal with around 35-38 million per year through 2021. It's a 12-13 million dollar increase, so there's money flying through. Tickets will go up. There are influxes of other money coming in. You'll never know how much Dan Gilbert will truly pay, but for a guy who is going to put up his second casino, why would you or anyone else feel bad? Enjoy this. The guy is willing to spend to win. This is what we have complained about for years.

I would be willing to guess that when the NBA TV deal with TNT and ESPN gets finished, our payroll won't look so crazy, and aside from that the Cavs will profit a little more as well. Everything will smooth out.

LeBron makes about a third or a quarter of what he's worth in terms of salary from the Cavaliers. Nothing he's doing rubs me the wrong way at all. If he were to get into a career-ending auto accident tonight, do you think Dan Gilbert would pay him eight figures to say "Thanks for the memories"?

I couldn't care less about what's best for the union and only care about what's good for Lebron and for Gilbert as far as their ability to bring wins to this team. What I do care about is the city and how important it will be in the long run for us to have a competitive franchise to keep this momentum going. The luxury tax is set up so that it's impossible for teams to keep paying it year after year, even if we're only "a little bit over" in some. With the deals that we have if Lebron keeps playing this 1+1 game we'll have to have a firesale within a couple of years at which point is he going to say "I'm taking my talents to Los Angeles where I have a better chance to compete for titles. I got you one (hopefully more) Cleveland, be grateful 'cause this team's cap is garbage for the next decade..."

I see both sides to this debate and I don't think there is one clear-cut answer.

It's so nice having an owner who wants to win this badly at any cost. Yes we got lucky that Lebron decided to come back. He didn't have to. He could have gotten the max anywhere. Yes the window may not be open that long, but who cares if they get at least one! This is our only shot in probably the next freaking half century to win a title in any of the professional sports. Just win one for us poor fans of Clevaland who have suffered too damn long....JUST ONE!

Love what's going on with Jordan right now.

Just thinking out loud- Resign the rest of our guys and offer what's left of the MLE to Amir Johnson. I actually like him, but don't know if he'd sign for so cheap.

Can't wait to see the Hack-a-DJ that happens this season when DeAndre plays the Mavs.

It might be "Mame-A-DJ".

It's good for the league, drama in the offseason and great ratings for a few regular season games.

Although, he's a jerk for breaking the oral agreement he made with the Mavs. It's a very Boozer-like move. #BadForm

Salary cap up 7 mil.

Max deals all around!!

Wouldn't the teams have wanted to know that last week? Especially for guys like David West that signed with the Spurs for $1.5m.

I guess it doesn't matter much to the teams that were already way over, but still, news like this should be released BEFORE free agency starts.

Although, I guess free agency did officially start today.

n Love officially has his max now.

Kevin Love: My contract with Cleveland Cavaliers is 'inked and official' | cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2015/07/kevin_love_my_contract_with_cl.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kevin Love agreed to a deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers on the first day of free agency and now that the league wide moratorium has expired, Love's new contract is "inked and official."

The three time All-Star revealed the official news in a video on the Player's Tribune website, the same site he used to make his announcement on July 1.

Love spoke with many -- friends, family members, teammates -- about what he called "the biggest decision of his life," but when weighing the pros and cons he kept getting tugged back to Cleveland, a place where he feels he can compete for championships.

"I just felt Cleveland was and has been the right place," Love said.

He will reportedly receive a five-year deal, which was offered to him as soon as free agency opened, but happiness was his main motivation.

"Chase what you love and everything will chase you right back," he said. "That's happiness. Now I can focus on the game I grew up watching. I love the game."

He also revealed in the video that he had heart-to-heart talks with Cavs head coach David Blatt and general manager David Griffin during exit meetings where they spoke about how Love felt about his at-times tumultuous first season in Cleveland and what he could do better moving forward.

Love, who was acquired last off-season in a blockbuster trade involving No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins, averaged 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in the postseason before exiting Game 4 in Boston after suffering a dislocated shoulder that required season-ending surgery. He was a spectator as the Cavs chased a title without him, a gut-wrenching feeling, especially as he watched the Warriors hoist the trophy.

"After we lost there was a sense of unfinished business," Love said.

Before making a commitment to stay in Cleveland, Love and LeBron James had a well-publicized poolside meeting in Los Angeles, something that helped Love's decision.

"We talked a lot of stuff out," Love said. "It was very honest. We came to a really good place and agreed on a lot of things."

Thought this was funny:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/mark...E?OCID=twmsnspt

Broussard making crap up again, so Cuban called him out on it.

It's embarrassing this guy is from NE Ohio and got started with the Plain Dealer & Beacon Journal.

He is one of the worst "journalists" in the NBA. More like a "professional tweeter of made up/incorrect information".

so glad i didn't have to get rid of my Love jersey.

The ABJ is starting to get a reputation for turning out reporters that flee to ESPN to just make things up.

I really like Lloyd.

I think that they get really good access to the players as a local reporter, and get the big stories before everyone else ....... and they they feel that they have to try to maintain those "scoops" when they go national ...... so they start throwing anything against the wall to see what sticks.

I'll circle that game on my calendar and be there with animosity in tow... should be fun.

I wish I still had access to seats two rows behind the visitor bench, They were great for ribbing the other team, good naturedly of course... I remember telling Jerry Sloan ( coach of Utah) some years back that he had enough east Europeans on his team to do a movie about the attack on Moscow and that was why they sucked so bad...( stole that from Fred Sanford), the blacks thought it was hilarious, Sloan, not so much.

He did throw a towel at me in the 3rd quarter...

If Lance Stephenson gets his crap together, the Clippers look very good for next year.

j/c:



https://twitter.com/AmicoHoops

Phew *wipes brow*. Because for a moment there,.....

Yeah, guys on Twitter reporting:
LeBron James signing 2-year contract with Cavs: $22.97 million for 1st year, $24 million for 2nd. Player option in 2nd year.

I guess TT is on his own.

This is kind of an interesting development. Most chatter had Lebron waiting until TT was taken care of, right?

Most chatter ... from ESPN. Like I said, Nick Swisher has a better batting average than these guys at this point.

Fair point.

So, basically another 1 year deal?

Yeah, which was expected. He'll either sign next year for the max when the salary cap figure goes way up or he'll wait till the next year when it could potentially go up even further.

I'm very glad that I was wrong on him waiting on TT but my concern about where we're going to be in a couple of years in fire sale mode still exists. Look at that tax bill (scenario 2 is supposedly the udpated one) and that's as a first year tax paying team!

Cavs current salaries

So we get out from Haywood's contract, but then add a least one more player who's not making chump change, one more at what's left of the MLE and presumably have to minimum guys filling out the roster spots but what the heck are we going to do next year when we're $12mil over the cap before Lebron gets his raise, the max contracts go up their amounts and Mozgov comes due?

Exactly. One year at a time with no further commitment.

Probably pay a much smaller tax bill and ride our guys towards another title run? What sounds bad about that? Most of the contracts we're signing are for younger guys. We're basically saying, "This is our team and we're sticking with our guys".

You're probably right, I really shouldn't worry about it and frankly I was wrong about Lebron holding out until TT signed so I'll just hope I'm wrong about the rest as well.

Something I heard on PTI, the Celts own the Mavs first rounder as long as it's not a top-5-something pick. Also, Cuban said on the radio, when he thought they had DeAndre, that the team would have gone into tank-mode if they didn't get Jordan. AND Dirk signed that hometown discount deal recently to make room under the cap to make deals like this, that just went away. Soooooo....

Should the Mavs deal Dirk? He deserves to finish his career as a winner and the Mavs can rebuild with that great first rounder. He makes $8.5 for the next two years. Can we pry him loose for Haywood?

I don't see any way Cuban gives the best player his franchise has ever had to a favorite full of big names.

Well... unless they can sell him on "it will keep SA and LAC from winning the title." Maybe you're onto something there.

We can also remind him of this:

Yeah, I'm not suggesting it will happen, but it would benefit Dirk, the Mavs, and us alot. Of course, it might be easier for him to be traded to the Spurs so he wouldn't have to move his family up to NE Ohio for two years.

Fun to think about.