Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavaliers Notes: Love, Thompson, Dellavedova, Free Agency

July 19th, 2020 at 12:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

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.

There’s more Cavs news to pass along:

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.

Bickerstaff Favors Bringing Non-Playoff Teams Together

July 10th, 2020 at 7:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There have been discussions about bringing together the other eight teams not invited to Orlando for exhibition games. That would be a positive for the Cavaliers’ youthful roster, coach J.B. Bickerstaff told The Athletic’s Kelsey Russo. “Obviously this offseason is a big offseason for us, and there’s some critical decisions that have to be made, but we need to keep taking steps forward,” Bickerstaff said. “We need to see development in our young guys.”

Ante Zizic Eyeing Move To Real Madrid?

July 10th, 2020 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers center Ante Zizic is entering free agency this fall on an expiring contract that technically won’t expire until mid-October. However, it sounds as if Zizic may already be in the process of lining up his next contract.

According to a pair of reports – one from Chema de Lucas (Twitter link) and another from Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops – Zizic is expected to sign with Real Madrid in Spain. Varlas writes that Zizic has received a verbal commitment from the Spanish club and will sign a multiyear deal once his contract with the Cavs formally expires.

It’ll be some time before Zizic can officially sign with Real Madrid or any other team, but it won’t be a major surprise if he does head back overseas. His contributions in 113 games for Cleveland were modest, as he averaged 6.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 13.4 minutes per contest. The Croatian native played just 10.0 MPG in 22 contests in 2019/20 for the Cavs, and would be unlikely to generate significant NBA interest in free agency.

While Zizic has never played in Spain, he’ll be returning to the EuroLeague if he finalizes a deal with Real Madrid. After being selected 23rd overall in the 2016 draft by the Celtics, Zizic spent the ’16/17 season with Darussafaka in Turkey before making the move stateside.

And-Ones: Gudaitis, Beaubois, Paul, Robinson, Curry, King

July 7th, 2020 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lithuanian center Arturas Gudaitis is expected to leave Olimpia Milano and join Zenit St. Petersburg next season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Gudaitis, who played 19 games last season with Olimpia Milano and averaged 7.3 PPG and 4.4 RPG, had been signed through next season with the Italian club. The Sixers used a 2015 second-round pick on Gudaitis but he has never appeared in an NBA regular-season game. The Cavaliers acquired his rights in 2018 via a three-way trade with the Kings and Jazz.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Former Mavericks guard Rodrigue Beaubois has reached a two-year contract extension with his Turkish club Anadolu Efes, Misko Raznatovic tweets. Beaubois, 32, hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2012/13 season. Last season, the French guard averaged 11.1 PPG over 43 games.
Chris Paul has made a strong impression as NBA Players Association president, as Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman details. Players Association executive director Michele Roberts indicates that not all superstar players like the Thunder point guard command the same respect. “I won’t name any names, but there have been other marquee players that have been on the executive committee,” Roberts said. “They haven’t come close, they haven’t come close to providing and demonstrating a level of commitment and time that Chris has. And he’s not only just there, he’s engaged, he understands the issues. … He does insist on hearing all sides, and he brings in the other players.”
Joe Johnson, Mario Chalmers, Nate Robinson and Eddy Curry are among the former NBA players slated to participate in 3-on-3 pay-per-view tournament later this month, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype tweets. The “5 Tournament” is scheduled to take place July 19-29, just before the NBA’s planned restart.
Former Suns two-way player George King has signed with Bundesliga’s Chemnitz 99ers, Nicola Lupo of Sportando tweets. King, who appeared in one game with the Suns in 2018/19, played in Italy and Poland last season.

Killian Hayes Not Expected To Meet With Cavs

July 6th, 2020 at 11:21am CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on the Envergure podcast (French video link), agent Yann Balikouzou indicated that his client Killian Hayes will interview with the Timberwolves and Warriors, but doesn’t expect to talk to the Cavaliers, since they’re unlikely to draft a guard (hat tip to Darren Wolfson).

NBA Expected To OK Chicago Mini-Camps, Games For Bottom Eight Teams

July 2nd, 2020 at 4:14pm CST by Luke Adams

4:14pm: Within her full ESPN.com story on the proposed Chicago campus, MacMullan writes that most of the bottom eight teams would prefer to hold mini-camps in their own markets, but commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts – who have repeatedly expressed that they believe the Orlando campus will be safer than teams’ own markets – want to create a similar environment for the non-Orlando teams before they approve group workouts and scrimmages.

Seven of the bottom eight teams – all except the Knicks – were on a call today with the NBA to discuss the issue, with the league seeking assurances that teams would send their players to Chicago, per MacMullan. There’s a belief that veterans like Stephen Curry and Blake Griffin may not travel to Chicago for the event, but that younger players would be more inclined to participate.

Participation would be voluntary and the cost of setting up the campus would be split among the NBA’s 30 clubs, sources tell ESPN. MacMullan notes that some of the bottom eight teams want to wait a couple weeks to see how the Orlando plan plays out, while others are in favor of moving forward with a plan as soon as possible, since they don’t believe there’s a ton of time to work out the details.

There’s still work to be done before the NBPA signs off on the plan, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

3:56pm: The NBA is close to signing off on creating a second campus location in Chicago for the league’s bottom eight teams who weren’t invited to Orlando, sources tell ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan (Twitter link via Adrian Wojnarowski).

As MacMullan reports – and Woj relays – the eight clubs not invited to Orlando would be permitted to hold mini-training camps and inter-squad games in Chicago. The goal would be for the event to take place in September.

The news comes as a bit of a surprise. Many of the clubs whose seasons are over have been pushing the NBA to allow some sort of offseason team activities along these lines, in the hopes of keeping their young players engaged and active during a nine-month gap between games. However, a report earlier this week suggested that the NBA wasn’t expected to approve mandatory OTAs, and there was skepticism that the league would go to the effort of creating another “bubble” without its massive TV deals – and its 2020 postseason – at stake.

We’ll have to wait for more details on the NBA’s Chicago plan, but it seems safe to assume there would be more player opt-outs among the bottom eight teams than there have been among the top 22. As Bobby Marks of ESPN points out (via Twitter) that approximately 40 players on the non-Orlando teams could reach free agency in October, limiting their incentive to participate in a September mini-camp for teams they may be leaving a month later.

The Warriors are the only team without any pending free agents on their roster, but Anthony Slater of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that their preference has been to hold a controlled mini-camp in the Bay Area — not to participate in a de facto Summer League across the country.

The Warriors, Timberwolves, Hornets, Bulls, Hawks, Knicks, Cavaliers, and Pistons are the eight teams not playing in Orlando this summer who would be invited to the Chicago campus, assuming the NBA and NBPA finalize an agreement.

Bottom Eight Teams Not Permitted To Start Making Trades

July 2nd, 2020 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

During a typical NBA league year, there’s a freeze on trades between the winter trade deadline and the end of a team’s season in the spring. Once the regular season ends, the 14 non-playoff teams are once again permitted to make trades, with other clubs regaining that ability as they’re eliminated from the postseason.

However, due to the unusual nature of the 2020 NBA calendar, things will look a little different this year. As Bobby Marks of ESPN explains, no teams are currently permitted to make trades, including the bottom eight teams who aren’t participating in the summer restart in Orlando. Even though the offseason has begun for those eight non-Orlando clubs (the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Pistons, Hawks, Knicks, Hornets, and Bulls), a transaction moratorium remains in place for them following last week’s brief transaction window.

According to Marks, the likely outcome is that the league and the players’ union will agree to lift the moratorium once the first round of the playoffs gets underway on August 17. At that point, non-playoff teams – including the six teams in Orlando that don’t make the postseason – would be allowed to make trades, waive players, and sign certain players to contract extensions.

Of course, while non-playoff teams are generally permitted to make trades and other roster moves as soon as the postseason gets underway, we usually don’t see the first trades of the offseason completed until around the time of the draft. So we shouldn’t expect a flurry of moves if the moratorium lifts in August — most of the offseason’s deals will still likely come in October, when the draft and free agent period take place.

For the time being, the only permissible NBA transaction is the signing of a substitute player. The 22 teams participating in the restart can sign a substitute to replace any player who voluntarily opts out or who contracts COVID-19. The player being replaced would subsequently become ineligible for the rest of the season.

NBA Won’t Permit Mandatory OTAs For Non-Orlando Teams

June 30th, 2020 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

Many of the eight NBA teams not participating in the summer restart in Orlando had been hoping to hold some form of mandatory offseason team activities to help bridge the gap between seasons and to keep their players engaged and active. However, the NBA and NBPA won’t allow any OTAs for those clubs to be mandatory, sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post.

According to Berman, the NBA hasn’t ruled out the possibility of “informal group-setting team workouts” this offseason for those bottom eight teams. But any workouts would have to adhere to the state’s social distancing guidelines as well as league safety protocols. Additionally, they could only be voluntary, per Berman. Currently, players on those eight clubs can only conduct voluntary individual workouts at their teams’ practice facilities.

The NBA has been prioritizing getting all the necessary rules and guidelines in place for its summer restart for the league’s top 22 teams, so the eight non-Orlando clubs have taken a back seat for now. However, it should just be a matter of time before the league formally addresses potential offseason activities for those franchises.

Because those teams aren’t expected to play any real games for about nine months, some have lobbied the NBA to allow them to play in a single-site offseason tournament. However, given the level of planning – including a 113-page manual on health and safety protocols – that went into the NBA’s restart, it’s not considered worth it to replicate that process (albeit on a smaller scale) for the other eight clubs, says Berman.

As Berman notes, with no “bubble” being created for the non-Orlando teams, there’s concern about how to safely hold group workouts for players who would be going home to their families from their teams’ practice facilities. In a conference call last week, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts alluded to the fact that replicating the safety protocols in place in Orlando for the bottom eight teams would be a challenge.

“Candidly, while I appreciate that there will be a bit of a layoff, I think there are some things these teams can do to get the guys that are not playing some (benefit) by their not being involved in Orlando. But unless we could replicate in every way the protocol that’s been established for Orlando, I’d be — I’m being tame now — suspicious,” Roberts said.

The Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pistons, Knicks, Bulls, and Hornets are the eight teams not participating in the restart this summer.

Cavs Sign Jordan Bell, Dean Wade To Multiyear Deals

June 30th, 2020 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

JUNE 30: The Cavaliers have officially signed Bell and Wade to multiyear contracts, the team confirmed today in a press release. We passed along more details on Bell’s two-year deal and Wade’s four-year pact right here.

JUNE 29: The Cavaliers are filling the two openings on their 15-man roster with a pair of big men. The club has agreed to a multiyear contract with forward/center Jordan Bell, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link), and is signing two-way player Dean Wade to a multiyear deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Bell, a former Warriors rotation player, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Timberwolves last summer, but didn’t establish himself as a reliable rotation player in Minnesota, averaging 3.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 27 games (8.7 MPG).

Prior to the trade deadline, Bell was sent to Houston in the four-team Clint Capela trade, then was flipped to Memphis in exchange for Bruno Caboclo. The Grizzlies subsequently released Bell, who joined the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. However, the NBA and G League seasons were suspended just one day later, so Bell didn’t see any action for the Go-Go.

Wade, meanwhile, spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with the Cavs after going undrafted out of Kansas State a year ago. The power forward appeared in just 12 games for Cleveland, spending most of the season with the Canton Charge, where he averaged 14.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 1.4 BPG with a .461/.399/.847 shooting line in 30 G League games (31.1 MPG).

Bell got a two-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wade’s new deal is a four-year pact with a $375K first-year salary, followed by three non-guaranteed seasons, tweets Fedor. The two signings won’t take the Cavaliers above the luxury tax threshold, sources tell Fedor.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), since Bell was waived after March 1, he wasn’t eligible to play in the postseason this summer, but that obviously wasn’t a concern for the Cavs.

Meanwhile, because only the 22 teams participating in the NBA’s restart are eligible to sign substitute two-way players this week, Cleveland can’t sign a free agent to fill Wade’s vacated two-way slot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cavs Notes: Wade, Bell, Trier, Drummond

June 29th, 2020 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers, who agreed to new deals with Dean Wade and Jordan Bell today, are using a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Wade to a four-year contract, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details. Wade gets a first-year salary of $375K, well above the prorated minimum, in exchange for two non-guaranteed seasons and a team option in 2022/23 (Twitter link).

As for Bell, it appears he’ll be signed using the Cavs’ mid-level exception as well, allowing the team to give him $250K for remainder of the season. However, his contract is a short-term arrangement — it’s a two-year deal with a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2020/21, Fedor notes.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

The Cavaliers explored the possibility of signing Allonzo Trier when he cleared waivers on Sunday, but the former Knicks guard was seeking more money and a different contract structure than what the club wanted to offer, according to Fedor. Additionally, Fedor adds that some members of the basketball operations department questioned Trier’s fit alongside guards like Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, and Kevin Porter.
While Andre Drummond has long been considered a lock to opt into the final year of his contract, it remains to be seen whether he and the Cavaliers might work out a longer-term deal. Sources tell Fedor that both sides have shown some interest in a contract extension. However, both the Cavs and Drummond may want to take some time to consider their options — especially if Cleveland ends up using its lottery pick on a big man.
Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff intends to make at least one addition to his coaching staff, though it might not happen until later in the year, says Fedor.