Approximately a week after announcing that they were pulling out of plans for a $140MM renovation project to Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers indicated this week that they’ve recommitted to that project. The Cavs’ change of heart came on the heels of critics withdrawing petitions that would have required a referendum on the city of Cleveland’s contribution to the arena’s renovations, writes Karen Farkas of Cleveland.com.
With their commitment to the renovation project, the Cavs have also agreed to extend their lease at Quicken Loans Arena by an extra seven years, ensuring that the franchise will remain a tenant at the arena through 2034. Assuming construction on those renovations begins soon and stays on schedule, the Cavs may once again have a chance to host the 2020 or 2021 NBA All-Star Game, Farkas notes.
The Cavaliers introduced the newest members of their roster at a press conference in Cleveland today, and when the team opened up the floor for questions, the topic of discussion quickly turned to Isaiah Thomas‘ injured right hip. However, Cavs general manager Koby Altman shot down that line of questioning, declining to discuss specifics and suggesting that there’s no set timetable for Thomas’ return, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
“Our responsibility is to get him back to 100% and that’s our goal,” Altman said. “Our performance team has mapped out a great plan, a multi-faceted plan to really attack this thing, and Isiah is deeply committed to that.”
Recent reports have suggested that Thomas is unlikely to be ready to start the regular season, and while Altman didn’t confirm as much, he strongly hinted at it, saying today that his new point guard will be back on the court “at some point” this season. Head coach Tyronn Lue also noted that he didn’t expect to have Thomas to start the year.
Altman indicated that the Cavaliers’ medical staff has an extensive plan for Thomas’ rehabilitation and recovery, but said that plan will be “non-surgical,” per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. During the week last month when the deal involving Thomas and Kyrie Irving still appeared to be in flux, there were reports that Cavs doctors may have been questioning the Celtics’ decision to forgo surgery, but it seems Cleveland will take the same approach with Thomas’ recovery.
If Thomas is out to start the 2017/18 season, as expected, newly-added free agents Derrick Rose and Jose Calderon figure to handle most of the point guard minutes, with LeBron James and others also taking on ball-handling duties.
Dwyane Wade feels misled by the Bulls and hasn’t talked with anyone from the front office for two months, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. Those strained feelings have led to rumors of an impending buyout and the possibility that Wade might be headed to Cleveland, Los Angeles or Miami.
Sources tell Kennedy that Wade asked management for assurances that Chicago would have a competitive team next season before deciding to opt in for $23.8MM. The front office promised him it would, so Wade announced June 21 that he will stay for another year. The next day, the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves and signaled the start of a rebuilding process.
At 35, Wade doesn’t have a lot of years left in the league and he doesn’t want to waste a season playing for a lottery team. Kennedy states Wade’s only discussions with the organization since the deal were with coach Fred Hoiberg and didn’t involve anything related to the team.
Several recent stories in the national media have been negative toward Wade, which Kennedy speculates is the Bulls’ way of angering him so he might be willing to accept less in a buyout just to get out of Chicago. A recent report from ESPN suggested the Bulls’ younger players don’t like having Wade as a teammate. A Fox Sports story claimed Wade and Butler had a strained relationship, which Butler denies.
Even if a breakup is imminent, all public comments from the Bulls’ front office have indicated Wade is staying with the team. Kennedy adds that Wade is preparing to report to training camp if a buyout doesn’t happen in the next three weeks.
A source tells Kennedy the Cavaliers and Heat are the most likely destinations for Wade once a buyout is completed. If he does go to Cleveland, he will probably become a starter, with J.R. Smith being moved to a reserve role. The Cavs see a Wade addition as a way to improve their roster and appease LeBron James before he enters free agency next summer.
Wade recently took his children out of school in Chicago and moved them back to Miami, but Kennedy warns not to read too much into the move. Wade and Heat president Pat Riley have barely communicated since their 2016 breakup, and Wade wouldn’t be guaranteed a starting spot in Miami. Other teams, such as the Nuggets and Bucks, who both tried to sign Wade last summer, could also get involved.
After falling to the Warriors in five games in the 2017 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers entered the offseason intent on making major upgrades to their roster. Early rumors focused on players like Paul George and Jimmy Butler, with Kevin Love mentioned frequently as potential trade bait. But Cleveland’s offseason appeared to go off the rails when the team decided that GM David Griffin wouldn’t be retained.
With Griffin and right-hand man Trent Redden no longer in the Cavs’ front office, the team saw George and Butler head elsewhere, and struggled to make impact additions of its own. Jose Calderon, Jeff Green, Cedi Osman, and eventually Derrick Rose came aboard, but none of those players was viewed as a potential difference-maker in a series against Golden State.
The Cavs finally made their big summer splash in late August, sending All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Nets’ unprotected 2018 first-round pick.
On the surface, it sounds like a massive haul for Irving, but Zizic and the draft pick won’t help much in 2017/18, barring their inclusion in another trade. And it’s possible that Thomas’ impact this season could be minimal as well, if his recovery from a hip injury doesn’t progress as smoothly as hoped. It’s a risky move for the Cavs, and one that probably sets them up more for the seasons beyond 2017/18 than it does for the short term.
Offshore betting site Bovada.lv projects Cleveland’s win total for the coming season at an over/under of 53.5. That may not seem like a significant total for a team led by LeBron James, but the Cavs have only topped that mark once in the three years since LeBron’s return — typically, the club doesn’t push hard for that No. 1 seed in the East, preferring to save its energy for the postseason. If Thomas misses time, or if the new-look Cavs take some time to gel, finishing with 53 wins or less wouldn’t be surprising.
What do you think? Do the Cavs simply have too much talent to finish under 53.5 wins, or will the team once again sacrifice a sparkling regular season record in order to focus on the playoffs? Vote below and jump into the comment section to share your thoughts!
One of the newest members of the Cavaliers, Isaiah Thomas is in the process of parting ways with his current agent at Excel Sports Management, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). With unrestricted free agency looming in 2018, Thomas will be seeking new representation to negotiate his next contract.
It’s an interesting move for Thomas, who has previously expressed a belief that he’s worth a maximum salary investment. Given the questions surrounding the health of Thomas’ hip, along with the diminishing market for point guards – Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Jeff Teague all received less than expected this offseason – landing a max deal will be a challenge no matter who his new agent is.
Thomas will have to show this season that he can replicate last season’s performance – or at least come close to it – and will also have to put any concerns about that troublesome hip to rest. Even then, as this year’s class of free agent point guards showed, a max contract is no guarantee.
Here’s more on Thomas as he adjust to his new team:
As Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com details, Thomas begun to open up about the trade to Cleveland this week, posting an Instagram video that showed his reaction to the deal, along with several clips of him working out.
Thomas went into far more detail in a piece for The Players’ Tribune, expressing a love for Boston, but calling himself and the Cavaliers a “match made in heaven.” The piece – which includes reactions from Thomas’ sons to the trade, along with a post-trade text message exchange with Tom Brady – is worth checking out in full.
One notable excerpt from Thomas’ piece saw him contrast the reaction to his being traded to Kevin Durant choosing to sign with the Warriors: “I want [people] to see how my getting traded — just like that, without any warning — by the franchise that I scratched and clawed for, and bled for, and put my everything on the line for? That’s why people need to fix their perspective. It’s like, man — with a few exceptions, unless we’re free agents, 99 times out of 100, it’s the owners with the power. So when players are getting moved left and right, and having their lives changed without any say-so, and it’s no big deal … but then the handful of times it flips, and the player has control … then it’s some scandal?”
In an excellent article for ESPN.com, Tom Haberstroh takes a deep dive on Thomas’ hip injury, suggesting that the point guard may have actually suffered his labral tear in December, not March.
September 5th, 2017 at 8:34pm CST by marksuleymanov
Following last week’s completed blockbuster trade, the Cavaliers‘ roster — on paper at least — appears to be set for training camp. The only pressing issue is the health of point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is currently dealing with a hip injury that will likely force him to miss the start of the season. If Cleveland’s current roster struggles and Thomas misses significant time, the team could shop the Nets’ 2018 first round pick (acquired in last week’s trade) in search for a starting point guard, Buddy Grizzard of Basketball Insiders writes.
We examined the importance of the Cavaliers’ signing of Derrick Rose in a Community Shootaround last week. The former Most Valuable Player is a diminished player but showed he can still score with authority if healthy. However, Rose is under contract for the veteran’s minimum and not a long term piece. One player Cleveland could target with their draft pick is Suns’ point guard Eric Bledsoe.
“If Rose is not seen as the answer and too many questions surround Thomas,” Grizzard writes. “Bledsoe could be the solution. He’ll have one season remaining on his contract after this season, which could at least entice James to stay on for another two-year contract with a second-year player option.”
Check out other news tidbits from around the Central Division:
Reggie Jackson has not returned to basketball activities yet but Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy hopes he will be ready soon, per Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (Twitterlinks).
Two-time dunk contest winner and new Bulls guard Zach LaVine is a “wild card” on the sneaker market, ESPN’s Nick DePaula writes. LaVine’s rookie deal with Nike expires at the end of September and DePaula notes that moving from the third option in Minnesota to main option in Chicago is a chance for LaVine to cash in on his new deal.
The Pelicans will send $2.5MM to the Bulls as part of the deal that sent Quincy Pondexter to the Windy City last week, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).
In his list of five under-the-radar offseason moves, CBS’ Brad Botkin writes that the Cavaliers will get a perimeter defender, the likes of which they lacked last season, in recently acquired forward Jae Crowder.
The Cavaliers will remain contenders following the Kyrie Irving trade but uncertainty abounds for the franchise. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com dredges up some of the instabilities that the organization will have to address in the coming months.
We’ve written about how the Pelicans have at least a passing interest in Iman Shumpert. Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype has taken things one step further, amalgamating various hypothetical deals that could unfold between the Pels and Cavaliers. It’s unlikely that a Shumpert trade would escalate to the point of DeMarcus Cousins and the Brooklyn first-rounder changing hands but there’s at least some merit to the speculation.
While it’s worth recognizing that little stock should be placed in an NBA player saying they think their team can make the playoffs when asked directly, this is the 20-62 Nets we’re talking about and their success or failure will directly impact one of the summer’s most significant storylines (the Cavaliers acquiring Brooklyn’s first-rounder in the Kyrie Irving trade).
A proposed $140MM renovation of Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena is a good deal for the city, claims Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. He points out that the $70MM in public financing comes mainly from admission taxes on tickets, meaning it will be paid for by people who use the arena. The deal extends the Cavaliers‘ lease from 2027 to 2034.
New Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomaswill begin working with doctors and the team’s training staff on Tuesday, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Thomas, whose lingering hip injury held up his trade from the Celtics for more than a week, says he is “fully committed” to playing for the Cavs this season. Several sources told Vardon that the team will take Thomas’ return to the court slowly, but he is expected to return to an All-Star level at some point.
Dr. James Rosneck, a hip specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, will oversee Thomas’ rehab work with help from orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Parker, who serves as the Cavaliers’ lead doctor. The team plans to gauge how Thomas responds after a week and then a month of the process before creating a timetable for his return. He suffered a partially torn labrum in his right hip in a March game, then aggravated the injury in the Eastern Conference Finals.
There’s more today out of Cleveland:
A source with experience in similar hip problems suggests Thomas may not be able to play until January or possibly after the All-Star break, relays Jason Lloyd of the Athletic. Lloyd notes that the injury hasn’t healed enough for Thomas to begin running.
Jae Crowder plays the same position as LeBron James, but the Cavs don’t view him as a backup, Vardon adds in the same story. Coach Tyronn Lue is developing lineups with James and Crowder on the court together, assuming the new addition remains in Cleveland. Crowder’s versatility, combined with team-friendly salaries of $6.8MM, $7.3MM and $7.8MM over the next three years, could make him a valuable piece in a future trade.
Free agent addition Jose Calderon started working out in Cleveland more than a week ago, Vardon notes. The 36-year-old could be facing an increased role as the primary backup to Derrick Rose if Thomas is out for several months.
It didn’t take long for the Cavs to get calls about the Nets’ unprotected first-rounder for next year, Vardon shares in the same piece. With its own pick as another possible trade chip and several second-rounders and trade exceptions available, the Cavaliers’ front office believes the team is in good position to deal for another title chase or for a rebuild if James leaves in free agency next summer.