The Cavaliers are in relatively good shape in relation to the salary cap, but will have some challenging decisions to make later in 2021, as Kelsey Russo and Danny Leroux of The Athletic examine.
Russo and Leroux estimate a price range for newly-acquired center Jarrett Allen ($8-12MM annually), who will enter restricted free agency this summer, and try to assess whether or not Cleveland will bring back reserve center JaVale McGee. They also discuss whether or not Cleveland will extend standout guard Collin Sexton during the offseason.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Former Pacers consultant Donnie Walsh, 79, spoke with Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files about his retirement this season. “I don’t have the same energy, I don’t have the same body, I guess, that I used to have,” Walsh said. “I just thought I’d like to spend the complete time with different members of my family and have the ability to do that. So that was the real reason I did it.”
- New Pistons free agent addition Mason Plumlee has emerged as Detroit’s “glue guy,” willing to do the team’s glass-cleaning and interior defensive dirty work, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “Mason is a great facilitator and obviously a great rebounder,” said fellow free agent signing Jerami Grant. “He can finish a lot of plays. We’re still a new team, so he’s getting more comfortable and playing at a high level.”
- The Bulls may have a decision to make regarding star shooting guard Zach LaVine, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times contends. The athletic sharpshooter, currently earning $19.5MM a year, will be in line for a raise on his next contract and could come at a cost higher than what Chicago should pay for a one-way player. Cowley points to LaVine’s ranking as 113th of 113 shooting guards in defensive real plus-minus as a limiting factor to his efficacy on a contender, and suggests the Bulls should think about moving the guard if they’re not comfortable maxing him out.
Hate to think what Pistons record would be without their “glue guy” lol
no windex endorsement deals for “cleaning the glass” or maybe for elmers glue.
What is C.J. McCollum Defensive RPM?
Oladipo?
Lillard & Irving are also probably not very flattering.
It’s a garbage stat.
For qualifiers
Defensive FG, the lower the better
Wiggins 39.3%
Ben Simmons 42.3%
LaVine 43.5%
Irving 45.5%
Wiggins is so much better in defense than Simmons and LaVine
Who is true 3 and D?
If GSW turns Wiggins into the next Kawhi Leonard I’d be very surprised. It would be great to see.
Still would like to see Love in GS. Why is he out so long. Thought it was minor injury.
link to sports.yahoo.com
Saw this story today. Marty is about to go berserk on this Board. Sure would like to see their new arena with a full house though.
Love to GS? That ship sailed practically a decade ago, and for good reason.
Wow Levine is a tough call… I mean being dead last in defensive plus-minus is REALLY bad haha… but at the same time there aren’t many guys that can score 28 PPG. Kind of reminds me of the Celtics situation with Isaiah Thomas (before he wound up getting traded) but yeah that’s a tough decision to have to make. At least at worst case scenario he is under contract for another season beyond this one. So even if he’s not necessarily happy about it… they don’t actually have to offer him an extension this offaeaaon.
Bradley Beal & James Harden are next to last. It’s a useless stat just like Cowley’s a useless columnist.
Neither have won titles
What’s that got to do with anything?
Cavs should def extend Sexton and re sign Allen. They should convince the Knicks to take Kevin Love and they’ll be well on their way lol.
For the record, I only said the Knicks cuz from what I understand they’re the only ones with cap space. Not hating. Though if a Love for Payton/Randle trade materialized, Payton and Randle would be like Dipo and Sabonis, playing for three different teams straight.
Id almost think they could fetch 2 nds for Javale right now with about 7-8 teams needing a rim protector and only about 3-4 guys out there realistically –
Having the 9/10 seeds make it now really cuts down the sellers….should be a sellers market this TD
2 2nds *
McGee should be a hot commodity. I agree a few teams can use him.
.
If I was willing to pay 2 2nds for Mcgee, I’d also be willimg to pay him $10-14 million per season. I don’t know… I wouldn’t give 2 2nds for P.J. Tucker. Thin market, sellers will have buyers likely.
Think theres a lot of buyers, especially on bigs, with not too many sellers, thats why the price will be inflated, if the GM plays the game right at least
I mean I think they got a better market than just one pick in the 55 range unless your adding a young good player, but who the hell wants to give a young good player for Mcgee….
Its really strange Javale is so potentially sought after but it just looks like a lotta teams -West- LAL Por GSW Dal East- BRK BOS TOR CHA MIA could all really use him or someone of his ilk. Basketball kinda went away from the Center but now a lot of contenders realize they dont wanna play 4 on 5 and want a center , strange
The West is gonna shore up its D before the playoffs. Defense is always important, but this season it appears to be paramount for success.
Trae Young, Ja Morant, Kemba Walker and D’Angelo Russell at the worst point guards in terms of Defensive Real Plus-Minus. So I guess they’re all garbage too. Sigh.
levine, beal, young, morant all common denominator is losing teams. walker is the anomaly prop cause he’s barely played. once any one of these players adds defense to their games, they could help carry their teams to a championship if they have bad offensive nights. see harden, you can’t expect to be an unstoppable scoring force in a full playoff series, on those off nights when they’re being zeroed in by the other teams adjustments, playing on the other end of the court is something a player can control. i don’t think any of them are garbage, i just would think that if you wanted to consider yourself elite that being on the all nba defensive team would be a high priority too. oh my god this is to long.
Lots of words to say nothing of importance
Also Morant’s not on a losing team
DRPM is a good metric, but NOT when it’s based on 25 games of a season, particularly this one. Use last year or a number of years. It won’t help Trae Young, who historically bad, some others mentioned wouldn’t (at least by this metric) be deemed subpar defenders.