LeBron James‘ call this week for the Cavaliers to add a playmaker to their roster represented the latest development in his full-court press on the club’s front office, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Although he clarified that he doesn’t intend to criticize GM David Griffin or the job the club’s front office has done, James’ comments are meant to apply pressure to Cleveland’s decision-makers, as Windhorst details.
Cavaliers executives aren’t the only ones who took notice of James’ comments. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando notes, multiple veteran free agents made an appeal to LeBron and the Cavs after the Finals MVP asked for another playmaker. Nate Robinson posted a message on Instagram imploring James to call him, while Jordan Crawford posted a similar message on Twitter. While Robinson and Crawford may be available, they probably won’t be the first players the Cavs pursue as the team looks to fortify its roster.
Here’s more from around the Central division:
- The Cavaliers aren’t the only Central team whose point guard situation has been in the news. Reggie Jackson‘s name surfaced in a a trade rumor last week, but Rod Beard of The Detroit News makes the case that there just aren’t many point guards on the trade block that would be an upgrade over Jackson if the Pistons wanted to make a move.
- With Kentavious Caldwell-Pope back in the lineup, the Pistons have a healthy roster for the first time in a while, creating some interesting decisions for Stan Van Gundy, Beard writes in a separate piece for The Detroit News.
- The Oshkosh Common Council has approved plans for an arena that could serve as a home for the Bucks‘ D-League affiliate, according to a report from Fox 11 News. However, the Bucks have yet to commit to a specific city for a new D-League affiliate, and organizers say they won’t move forward and start building the $15MM arena until Milwaukee makes a decision. In addition to Oshkosh, the cities of Racine and Sheboygan are also believed to be in play for a D-League franchise.
I hope that GM David Griffin and President of Basketball Operations Lebron James are gonna get together and discuss the various personnel options available and come to a mutual decision by the end of the week.
Cavs should 100% trade Kevin love. He is having his best year so far since he has been in Cleveland so his stock will be at its highest. The fact is they don’t need what Kevin love brings to the table. They could trade him and get back 2-4 very above average to good peaces in return.
Here is the reasoning. Even though the cavs have struggled recently they are in all likelihood going to make it back to the NBA finals against the warriors most likely. Kevin love in the 2.5 years he has been in Cleveland has been dead weight to the cavs when they play the warriors. You can’t have a member of the big 3 being a non factor now the warriors have added Durant.
Cavs, Celtics, and Suns would make sense in a trade. The cavs ship Kevin love to the celtics. Boston gets what they have been trying to get for the last year a true no 2 option to play with Isiah Thomas. The suns send Eric Bledsoe, pj tucker, and Tyson chandler to the cavs. Lebron gets his back up play making point guard in Bledsoe who he also happens to be close with, a risk protecting and rebounding stud in chandler and a gritty defender in tucker. The suns get the nets pick from Boston and Amir Johnson. The suns get move on from the veterans and there contracts get a solid player in Johnson and most importantly get another draft pick to add to Booker, Chriss, Bender, and Ulis as there young core. The way I see it this helps every team involved. I only snag is Boston not wanting to trade the nets pick but if they want to compete now the nets pick is what is going to get it done. Finally I have checked the money on this trade exactly so the cavs may have to add another contract in there somewhere.
I’m not usually a big hypothetical trade guy but this just makes way too much sense to me not to bring it up.
Cavs get exponentially better, Boston adds a useless piece, and phoenix gives away their best player for some reason, as well as a valuable 3 and D player….lol
Dude you are delusional, Eric Bledsoe off the bench? What kind of trees are you smoking?
Somehow, it must be better than mine, which must be crazy b/c I have top tier fire lol. Perhaps moonrocks?
Eric Bledsoe just had a 40 point double double the other day, I highly doubt the Suns would move him, or Booker. What I could see the Suns do is trade Kevin Love to Phoenix for Brandon Knight, and Tucker and possibly some sort of pick. Cavs get a backup defensive forward and a backup pg in Knight.
I guess understand why you guys don’t like the trade. Maybe Bledsoe is too much and knight would make more sense. But to say the cavs are the only ones that benefit from this is just wrong. The celtics add 22 pts and 12 rebs a game. The suns get a pretty much guaranteed top 3 pick between there own and the nets which in this draft with the top 3 point guards is damn near worth gold. Oh and Bledsoe off the bench being ridiculous, if the suns get one of those 3 point guards in the draft Bledsoe will be coming off the bench. Like I said in the original post the cavs and celtics may have to give up more that just Love or Johnson for it work but as far as I can tell every team benefits. Unless the celtics aren’t willing to do it because it benefits the cavs.
That isn’t bad, actually, but I don’t really see a fit with Kevin love in phoenix. They are really bad defensively, and I would think the cavs would want something else, like a pick, b/c Tucker is a free agent. And the Cavs would still need a big in that scenario
Also the cavs would have more problems guarding PGs b/c Kyrie and Knight are terrible on that end
Love isn’t going to the suns in the trade I proposed he is going to the celtics. The suns would get the nets pick from the celtics as well as Amir Johnson and maybe a Marcus smart.
I wasn’t replying to you
you said Westbrook will the championship this year, wtf are you smoking?
Cavs roster was perfect before birdman got injured, and they traded for Korver. Now they need to fix that mistake b/c their defense isn’t as good for obvious reasons. This is what happens when you make trades to make trades that make no sense. Now they need a big that can defend pick and roll, protect the rim, and catch and finish at the rim, and they need another wing that can defend, shoot the 3, and be a facilitater at times (that literally describes Mike Dunleavy). Since its really hard to do that in this league, it might make sense to add a guard that can defend and shoot. Norris Cole, Toney Douglas, and Mario Chalmers make some sense in that regard, and all have played with LeBron
Nobody is trading Love for Bledsoe (who’s inefficient and lacks any passing kill, though still overkill for a backup PG – also he has to come off the bench since he’s proven he can’t play alongside another PG, twice, first with Dragic and then Knight) and two guys that the Suns are trying to move. Doesn’t work under the cap either, and the Cavs have no other contract of that size they can easily move. Funny how the Celtics keep winding up with the best player in the deal and not giving up a starter.
They aren’t trading Love for Bledsoe. They would be trading Love for Bledsoe who is averaging 20pts and 6ast funny how he has no passing skills and is averaging 6asts per game on a bad team. Chandler who is averaging 12 boards a game and is an outstanding rim protector and pj tucker who if you look at the defensive analytics should be in the running for defensive player of the year but he won’t be because the suns are bad and as a team are pour defensively. The celtics are getting the best player but are giving up what could be the no 1 pick in a draft class that has 10 potential all stars and possibly 3-4 super stars. As for the money like I said earlier you may have to thrown in Shump and another player or two to make it happen. But that type of deal gets everybody what they want. Suns get rid of big contracts and add another great draft pick to there young core, celtics get the co star they’ve been trying to get to go with Isiah Thomas, and the cavs get better defensively and a playmaking backup point guard.
Eric Bledsoe is a really good 2 way combo guard. Not his fault phoenix can’t play defense, with the exception of him. I don’t know what player you are watching