The Cavaliers continue to place a high value on Kevin Love and won’t deal him cheaply just to get rid of his salary, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The front office doesn’t regret giving Love a $120MM extension that will last for three more seasons, Fedor adds, and they are confident his production will increase now that clashes with former coach John Beilein will no longer be a distraction.
Cleveland is hoping to move back into playoff contention in 2020/21, which will be the third year of the rebuilding process after the loss of LeBron James. The organization believes the addition of Andre Drummond at the trade deadline will help speed up the process, along with improvement from many of the young players added over the past two years. As the Cavaliers’ most accomplished and most experienced player, Love is expected to be an important part of helping the team become a winner again.
- Re-signing center Tristan Thompson could be the team’s most important move of the offseason, Fedor adds in the same story. In addition to his on-court production, Thompson has served as a mentor to the team’s young players, particularly rookie guard Darius Garland. Fedor doesn’t anticipate a competitive market for Thompson given the expected drop in the salary cap and speculates that he might not get any offers above the mid-level exception, which will likely be in the $8-9MM range. The Cavaliers hold Bird rights on Thompson and can easily top that.
- Cleveland also has to make a choice on whether to bring back veteran guard Matthew Dellavedova, Fedor notes in a separate piece. The 29-year-old guard lost his spot in the rotation under Beilein because of poor shooting, but took advantage of a second chance after J.B. Bickerstaff took over. Fedor says the organization still loves Dellavedova and he will likely return on a low-cost deal.
- With the Cavaliers needing help at the wing, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic suggests four free agent possibilities: Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Jackson, Jerami Grant and Maurice Harkless.
Philly should be in on trying to acquire Love. They’d have to send Horford back for salary matching purposes but Milton and a few firsts to aid their rebuild should get talks started.
I think that’s too high a price to pay for Kevin Love. Even first round picks in the twenties can be enough to acquire rotation players.
Almost anything is too high a price to pay for him. He turns 32 soon and will never again be the dominant player he was 6 years ago with the Wolves. Trading him is almost as problematic as trading CP3.
With Simmons and Embiid he doesn’t need to be dominant. He needs to provide floor spacing. He’s still effective from long range shooting .374 this year, which coming from the PF position would be welcomed in Philly.
Philly will have to pay someone to take Horford. The Cavs aren’t interested in a Love for Horford deal straight up, practically no team is interested in Horford, and Philly will need to send assets along with Horford to unload the contract regardless what deal they include him in.
It makes sense only if Al Horford goes to 3rd team. Cavs are trying to improve quickly after acquiring Drummond.
I doubt the Sixers want Love for Horford straight up either.
Cleveland really will have a hard time acquiring or signing mid-range name players. So absolutely they are happy to have Kevin Love and Andre Drummond. They need names on that roster. They won’t be trading away Kevin Love anytime soon unless they’re Blown Away.
“The organization believes the addition of Andre Drummond at the trade deadline will help speed up the process”
Ahahahahahaha
It’s a lose-lose situation for both teams imo.
76ers Big 5 players salary (only 5 players)
2020-21 135 Million
2021-22 141 Million
2022-2023 147 Million (keep J Rich)
Explain to me how to improve the roster?
IMO, Al Horford is only worth 10 million a year.
I am replying to the trade idea Horford for Love.
It will never help Cavs to improve.
If they can spend their MLE on Jerami Grant, great. Not sure he is a great mentor either, but is a great value at the MLE. Tristan should be more popular than he is, a title-winning starter still in his prime, looking at some bench duty, but whatever. It is the times.
Dellavedova had a plusminus of +11, a force for good whenever he comes off the bench and shows the kids how to do it, despite below-average stats elsewhere. Garland seems a long way from Delly, but maybe that’s the problem… Be like Delly!— not like an energy-saving big.
As usual, Love’s going nowhere. He didn’t even catch blame for the Beilein fiasco.
Thompson is not needed in Cle. Let him go away. Larry can back up Love. There’s no rush to move Love. At deadline there will be suitors. Love still has value for a contender. Or team who wants to contend now. His contract is nothing like Paul. Paul is 35 and owed 86 mill over 2 yrs. Love is 32 and owed 88 mill over 3 yrs. Please, Love can be moved. He could work with Sixers. But they have to move Harris. Best to move Harris and Horford. I know Knicks could work in 3way. Thibs could work with Harris. Cavs have a nice pick this yr. They can improve significantly if they do this right. I could see them compete for 8th seed. Cavs could luck out with Edwards. Then it would be best to go youth.