With multiple members of the Cavaliers‘ front office away on vacations over the All-Star break, the plan is for them to reconvene in Cleveland on Wednesday, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. If there’s still no resolution by that point on John Beilein‘s status for the rest of the season, that resolution will likely come shortly thereafter. The Cavs are scheduled to resume play on Friday in Washington.
As we wait to see what Beilein and the Cavs decide, let’s round up a few other items out of Cleveland…
- Beilein apparently isn’t the first Cavaliers head coach to consider an in-season departure in recent years. On an episode of the Tampering podcast, Joe Vardon of The Athletic said that interim head coach Larry Drew wanted to step down at the All-Star break in 2018/19, but was talked out of it by his agent (hat tip to RealGM). That’s not a particularly shocking revelation, considering Drew said in January 2019, “I don’t know if I ever want to be a head coach again after this year.”
- Speaking to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, second-year Cavs guard Collin Sexton expressed enthusiasm about teaming up with newly-acquired center Andre Drummond. “It’s amazing, just knowing that we have a big man down there who’s going to block shots, run the floor and dunk,” Sexton said. “It’s amazing, and it’ll allow us on defense to be a lot more aggressive and be into the ball because we know that we have a big guy back there who can block shots.”
- Thanks to the NBA’s updated 2020/21 cap projection and a flurry of deadline trades, there will be far less league-wide cap room available this summer than initially expected, writes Danny Leroux of The Athletic. Leroux points to the Grizzlies and Cavaliers as two teams that significantly reduced their 2020 spending power as a result of in-season deals. Before acquiring Dante Exum and Drummond, Cleveland was on track to have nearly $36MM in space. Now, assuming Drummond doesn’t walk in free agency, the team projects to be over the cap.
Very informative by Leroux, saying only 5-7 teams project to be using capspace to sign FAs this summer, and anyone wanting more than the $9.8MM MLE will find it tough (without an S&T).
Not really new news, but.
Because the Cavs & Griz will gain an MLE exemption after going over the cap, their effective capspace loss due to their February deals are only $26-36MM (Cavs) and $37-47MM (Griz).
Maybe they just did not predict anything better than what they could get with the MLE.
Wow Sexton’s comment is harsh if you’re Thompson or Love. It’s not like those guys weren’t running, rebounding, and blocking shots.
Maybe they’re not quite as athletic, but come on: they’re both solid all around bigs who have played big in big moments. Sexton seems like a jerk, especially with all the comments about him not passing.