- The Cavaliers are not interested in tanking and plan to play at a playoff pace the rest of the season, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. “With everybody coming back and guys really coming into their own — myself, Cedi (Osman), Collin (Sexton) has been playing great — I would like to see us, if you start the season today, I would like to see us in the playoffs,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “Look, I know we’re not going to make the playoffs. I know that. I’m talking about finishing top eight in the conference just over the final 23 games.” Despite his honesty, Nance Jr. recognized the importance of continuing to play with a competitive fire until the season ends.
David Griffin‘s name continues to surface when teams around the NBA make front office changes, as he was most recently identified as a potential target for the Pelicans. For now though, Griffin remains without an NBA job, allowing the former Cavaliers general manager to freely share his thoughts on teams around the league.
Griffin did just that in a conversation with Michael Shapiro of SI.com, revisiting his days in Cleveland and weighing in on the challenges facing Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka, who are now the ones tasked with building a title contender around LeBron James.
Griffin made several interesting comments in the Q&A, which is worth checking out in full. Here are some of the highlights from the former Cavs GM:
On the pressure of being the GM for a team with LeBron on its roster:
“It’s not just the pressure with LeBron, it’s that the only mark of success each year was winning a championship. … It was like you’re taking care of the legacy of Babe Ruth. Nobody knows who his general manager was, and nobody really knows if that general manager was successful or not. But because the Yankees won as many championships as they did, Ruth and [Lou] Gehrig and those guys’ legacies are what they are. It was something we felt responsible for. This is the greatest player of his generation, and if you’re not delivering championships, you’re failing.”
On the idea that LeBron was the “shadow GM” in Cleveland (and now in Los Angeles):
“It’s just an asinine assertion that he was a shadow GM. LeBron was one of many people on the team who we talked to, it just so happens he’s a basketball savant. You wouldn’t be doing your job if you didn’t talk to him about the pieces you might want to bring to the franchise. And he’s going to be an alpha leader in the locker room, and if he feels comfortable with certain players you’re bringing in, his opinion matters.
“… The ‘LeBron is the GM, all-powerful, in charge of the franchise’ idea is, to me, preposterous. Now, I’m not in Los Angeles, I don’t experience anything they’re going through, but in my experience, I see a lot of the same nonsense from the media. If you are leading LeBron and you are leading your team, you’re getting incredible input from him because you asked for it.”
On what the Lakers should aim to do with their roster around LeBron this offseason:
“I think way too much is put into the idea that you have max cap space for two max players, and therefore you must land the plane on key free agents. I don’t think that’s the case, and I don’t think you need to land the plane of Anthony Davis. You need to maximize your asset value all the time, and no harm befalls you as long as you don’t use that space poorly. So it doesn’t have to have a name attached to it, their next asset doesn’t have to be Anthony Davis. If they remain flexible they’ll be able to accumulate the right assets for the good of the franchise.”
The Bucks are among the teams that have some level of interest in J.R. Smith, sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic. However, Smith remains under contract with the Cavaliers and an in-season buyout appears unlikely, Vardon adds.
Smith played in just 11 games for the Cavs in 2018/19 before informally parting ways with the team. The 33-year-old said early in the season that he felt as if Cleveland wasn’t trying to win games and expressed a desire to play elsewhere. As a result, he hasn’t appeared in a game since November 19 and has been away from the club, but is still technically under team control after the Cavs failed to find a taker for him at the trade deadline.
While Smith struggled in his limited playing time this season, he’s a career 37.3% three-point shooter and would intrigue some contending teams if he were available at the minimum salary. His current contract situation complicates matters though.
Unlike most players who are bought out by their teams at this time of year, Smith has some guaranteed money on his deal for next season. Only $3.87MM of his $15.68MM salary for 2019/20 is guaranteed, but he probably wouldn’t consider giving up more than about $1MM of the money left on his contract, says Vardon. That doesn’t give the Cavaliers much incentive to make a move, since Smith could still serve as a trade chip this summer.
[RELATED: Why J.R. Smith’s contract could still be a trade asset]
It’s possible that Smith and the Cavs could reach a compromise and agree to a buyout during the season, but time is running out. In order to retain his playoff eligibility for a new team, Smith would have to be waived by Cleveland on or before March 1. That gives the two sides a little over a week to find common ground.
If Smith and the Cavs don’t agree an in-season buyout, he’ll almost certainly be either traded or waived in the offseason, since it’s hard to imagine any scenario in which Cleveland would guarantee his $15MM+ salary for ’19/20.
- With Duke and North Carolina dominating the basketball spotlight tonight, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com talked to Cavaliers officials to get their view of NBA prospects from both schools. One member of the Cavs’ coaching staff compares Williamson to Charles Barkley, while Channing Frye believes Cameron Reddish is the best of the group.
Kevin Love sat out 50 games because of foot surgery, but the Cavaliers‘ star forward doesn’t expect to miss any more, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Love told reporters today that he plans to play in all 24 remaining games, even though the Cavaliers have fallen far out of the playoff race and are in a four-way competition to be among the three teams with the best odds at landing the top pick in the draft.
“I think you’ll see me more on a steady basis and not miss games after the break, I’m hoping,” Love said. “So just continue to improve the minutes and make sure that I’m feeling good and go from there.”
Love has seen brief action since making his return on February 8. He played about six minutes that night against the Wizards, skipped the next game, then played 16 minutes February 11 against the Knicks. The Cavs rested him for the final contest before the All-Star break.
Love will be kept on a minutes restriction until team doctors clear him for full-time duty, coach Larry Drew told Fedor. He was able to play five-on-five today without any physical problems and is working to regain his conditioning.
Love has four years and more than $120MM left on the extension he signed last summer. He has insisted he wants to remain in Cleveland even as the team undergoes a rebuilding process.
- Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com takes an early look at potential candidates for the Cavaliers‘ permanent head coaching job. According to Fedor, Larry Drew should receive consideration if he wants it, but Cleveland figures to cast a wide net and may target an up-and-coming coach that can grow with the team’s players during the rebuild.
- The signing of free agent guard Nik Stauskas technically pushed the Cavaliers over the luxury tax line but they’ll drop below it due to an unrelated acquisition, Marks notes in another tweet. Cleveland will get a $750K credit based on John Henson‘s bonuses being deemed unlikely at the end of the season. That will put the Cavs $722K below the tax line. Henson was acquired as part of the George Hill deal with the Bucks in early December but has yet to make his Cavs debut after undergoing wrist surgery in late November.
- The signing of free agent guard Nik Stauskas technically pushed the Cavaliers over the luxury tax line but they’ll drop below it due to an unrelated acquisition, Marks notes in another tweet. Cleveland will get a $750K credit based on John Henson‘s bonuses being deemed unlikely at the end of the season. That will put the Cavs $722K below the tax line. Henson was acquired as part of the George Hill deal with the Bucks in early December but has yet to make his Cavs debut after undergoing wrist surgery in late November.
- Stauskas is happy he would up back with the Cavaliers, believing he’ll get a chance to showcase his skills, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Stauskas was traded by Portland to Cleveland last week. He was included in two other deals, then waived before re-signing with the rebuilding club. “This team is not in a playoff position right now so they’re in the stage of developing guys and obviously it’s not like you look at the roster and have a bunch of All-Star talent,” Stauskas said. “I’m coming from Portland where I was playing behind guys like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum — established guys. You look at the roster here and you don’t necessarily have that. I look at the opportunity coming in and help this team win some games and maybe help show what I can do as well.”
10:00am: Stauskas has officially signed with the Cavs, the team confirmed today in a press release.
9:14am: Free agent shooting guard Nik Stauskas has reached a rest-of-season deal with the Cavaliers, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. While the Cavs have yet to officially announce the signing of Stauskas, he’ll fill the club’s open roster spot, according to Fedor.
It has been an eventful week for Stauskas, who was initially traded from the Trail Blazers to the Cavaliers last Monday. The former eighth overall pick was rerouted to Houston in a three-team trade on deadline day, then was sent from the Rockets to the Pacers in a separate Thursday deal. Indiana subsequently waived Stauskas, putting him on track to reach unrestricted free agency.
The rules of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibit a team from trading a player, then re-signing him once he’s waived by his new team. However, since the Rockets traded Stauskas again to the Pacers before he was released, Houston was the only team ineligible to re-sign him — Portland and Cleveland faced no such restrictions.
Stauskas, 25, hasn’t developed into the sort of reliable sharpshooter that many league observers expected when he selected in the 2014 draft. However, he has shown enough promise during stints in Sacramento, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Portland to earn a spot on the Cavs’ roster for the rest of the season.
In 44 games (15.3 MPG) for the Blazers this season, Stauskas averaged 6.1 PPG on .419/.344/.889 shooting.
- Brandon Knight has barely played over the last two seasons, and has seemingly become known more for his contract than his play on the court, after the Rockets dangled him in trade talks for much of the season. Now a member of the Cavaliers, Knight tells Ben Stinar of AmicoHoops that he remains confident he can recapture his previous form. “I had a full year off, but I’m still the same player,” said Knight, who averaged 19.6 PPG as recently as 2015/16.
The NBA confirmed today that 2019’s trade deadline set and matched some records. The 14 trades completed on Thursday were the most made on a deadline day in the last 30 years, and the 19 teams involved in those swaps was tied for the most over that same period.
In total, 34 players were involved in those 14 trades — and that doesn’t even count the eight deals completed during the week leading up to the deadline, as we detailed last night.
Needless to say, there has been plenty of roster upheaval around the NBA, so we’re going to use this space to take a look at all 30 teams’ roster situations to see exactly where they stand. Does your favorite team have a full roster? Or is their roster somehow only two-thirds full? Looking at you, Raptors.
Here’s a breakdown of all 30 clubs’ roster situations at the time of this post’s publication (more moves will be made in the coming days or even hours that won’t be noted here, so keep that in mind):
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks entered the week with 15 players, but had to waive Daniel Hamilton to clear a spot to acquire Jabari Bird. They subsequently traded Tyler Dorsey for Shelvin Mack, then waived both Bird and Mack.
They currently have 13 players on their roster, leaving two open spots. They’ll have two weeks to get back to the league-mandated minimum of 14 players.
Boston Celtics
After carrying 15 players all season, the Celtics traded Jabari Bird to create an open roster spot. They’ll explore the buyout market for candidates to fill that opening.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets entered the week with 14 players on standard contracts and one (Mitch Creek) on a 10-day deal. Creek’s contract was terminated a few days early to make room for Greg Monroe, who was waived after being acquired from Toronto.
Brooklyn now has 14 players under contract and could opt to re-add Creek (albeit on a full-season contract), sign another player, or leave that spot empty for now.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets had a quiet week and continue to carry 14 players, leaving one open roster spot.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls created an open spot on their roster by trading Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker for Otto Porter, and are now carrying 14 players.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers acquired two players – Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin – for Rodney Hood, which required them to terminate Kobi Simmons‘ 10-day contract early to stay at 15 players.
Subsequently, Cleveland flipped Stauskas and Baldwin to Houston in exchange for Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight, with Alec Burks heading to Sacramento in that three-team deal. The 3-for-2 move left the Cavs with 14 players and an open roster spot.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks, already at 15 players, acquired two veterans – Zach Randolph and Justin Jackson – in exchange for Harrison Barnes, and had to waive Salah Mejri to make the deal work.
They’re currently at 15 players, but will be releasing Randolph very soon to create an open roster spot.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets didn’t make any moves this week and continue to carry a full 15-man roster.
Detroit Pistons
Both of the Pistons‘ trades this week were 1-for-1 swaps in terms of players, with Thon Maker and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk replacing Reggie Bullock and Stanley Johnson.
However, with the team closing in on a deal for Wayne Ellington, someone will need to be waived to stay at the 15-man limit. That player will reportedly be Henry Ellenson.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors didn’t make any moves this week and still have 14 players under contract, leaving an opening for potential buyout targets.
