- The Cavaliers aren’t necessarily assuming it’s a given that LeBron James will re-sign with them in 2018. A move out west – possibly to the Lakers or Clippers – a year from now is “very much in play” for LeBron, according to Wojnarowski.
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Appearing on Fox 5 this week, Knicks owner James Dolan was asked about his involvement in basketball decisions, and maintained that he has no role in that side of the business. According to Dolan, who has been more hands-on with the basketball operations department in the past, people ask him all the time about the Knicks’ roster, and he tells them to “ask Phil [Jackson].”
“It’s all Phil. It’s all [GM] Steve [Mills],” Dolan said, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “I’m working on my music, they’re working on the basketball team.”
Here’s more out of New York:
- The Knicks reportedly have interest in French point guard Frank Ntilikina, and it appears that interest is mutual. Marc Berman of The New York Post spoke to Ntilikina, a probable lottery pick, about his potential fit with the Knicks, the idea of playing with Kristaps Porzingis, and more.
- Former Duke sharpshooter Luke Kennard is another player the Knicks figure to consider with the No. 8 overall pick, and he worked out for the team on Monday, writes Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. Kennard is currently considered more likely to be picked outside of the top 10.
- With the Cavaliers looking to find a way to add more firepower to compete with Golden State, Carmelo Anthony may find his name linked to Cleveland in the coming weeks. However, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, that scenario would probably only be viable if the Knicks bought out Anthony and he was willing to play on a discounted contract in Cleveland. In other words, a trade isn’t likely.
1:10pm: Gilbert’s meeting with Griffin could happen as soon as Wednesday, sources tell Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net. Amico also writes that the Cavs are expected to offer Griffin a “significant” pay raise and possibly a loftier title too.
9:38am: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert confirmed to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com following the the club’s Game 5 loss that he intends to meet with general manager David Griffin within the next few days to discuss his future with the franchise. Griffin’s contract with the Cavs is set to expire at the end of the month.
Despite the fact that his Cavs lost to the Warriors in five games, Gilbert didn’t sound like someone looking to make major changes, telling Vardon that he feels good about “our talent, our personnel, coaching staff, everything.” However, the Cavs owner declined to say whether he’s confident that Griffin would return: “It’s not fair to him for me to discuss that.”
Griffin has been mentioned as a potential candidate in every GM search that has taken place so far this offseason, though clubs like the Magic and Hawks filled their openings without getting a chance to speak to the Cavs GM. The Bucks were also said to have interest in Griffin and haven’t yet made a hire, but they’re reportedly down to two finalists, and there’s no guarantee the Cavs would grant Milwaukee permission to speak to Griffin before his contract is up.
Although the Cavs have yet to extend Griffin, there is reportedly a sense within the organization that the GM is expected to be back. If Cleveland intends to retain the veteran exec, the team will likely need to offer him a substantial raise. As Vardon notes, Griffin is currently earning less than $2MM annually.
A title change could also be a possibility if Griffin sticks with the Cavs — he holds the general manager position, so a promotion to president of basketball operations would make some sense. Vardon reports that Griffin is seeking “some structural changes to the organization,” so perhaps he’d like the Cavs to add a GM for day-to-day duties while he retains final say on basketball decisions as president of basketball ops. That’s just my speculation though.
An NBA general manager typically doesn’t need to confirm in the hours following a championship that his head coach will return for the following season, but in Steve Kerr‘s case, it wasn’t necessarily a sure thing — for health, rather than performance, reasons. However, despite Kerr’s back issues, Warriors general manager Bob Myers is confident that his head coach will be back on the bench for the 2017/18 season, as he tells Chris Haynes of ESPN.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he will return as the coach of this team,” Myers said after Game 5. “I’m confident we’ll have him back. Steve will be our coach.”
Kerr expressed a similar sentiment in a recent interview with Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News, suggesting that even if he wasn’t able to make it back to coach the Warriors in this year’s Finals, he’d be ready for opening night in the fall. Ultimately, Kerr returned to the sidelines in time to lead the Warriors to their second title in three years.
Here are a few more Finals-related odds and ends worth passing along:
- Although it only took five games for the Warriors to dispatch of the Cavaliers, Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue doesn’t believe there’s a “big gap” between the two teams, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com details.
- Within McMenamin’s piece, LeBron James acknowledged that the Warriors will “be around for a while,” but said he doesn’t think the Cavaliers are going anywhere either. “I know our front office is going to continue to try to put our franchise in a position where we can compete for a championship year in and year out,” James said. “Like I said, teams and franchises are going to be trying to figure out ways that they can put personnel together, the right group of guys together to be able to hopefully compete against [the Warriors].”
- The Warriors are already massive favorites to win the 2018 NBA Finals, according to professional oddsmakers. “They’re going to be the highest favorite we’ve ever had going into a season, any team in any sport,” Jeff Sherman of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook tells David Purdum of ESPN.com.
- The Cavaliers need to find a way to get younger and more athletic, according to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net, who writes that the club’s bench is “a mess.”
- After 14 NBA seasons, Matt Barnes finally has a championship under his belt, but he doesn’t plan to ride off into the sunset. According to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), Barnes said that he has no plans to retire and hopes to return to the Warriors.
- Two years ago, David West left $11MM on the table by turning down his option with the Pacers to chase a ring. Dakota Crawford of The Indianapolis Star takes a look at the culmination of West’s hunt for a championship.
The Cavaliers held off the Warriors on Friday night, thwarting Golden State’s chances of sweeping the entire postseason, and delaying the end of the 2016/17 NBA season by at least one more game. However, the Cavs will have their work cut out for them in Game 5 as they try to steal a game in Oakland and send the series back to Cleveland for Game 6.
As dominant as the Warriors have been overall in the postseason, they’ve been even better at home. Outside of a Game 1 blip against the Spurs, when Golden State had to battle back to win a close 113-111 game, each of the Dubs’ home victories in the playoffs have been by double-digit margins. In their last three home games, the Warriors have defeated the Spurs by 36, and the Cavs by 22 and 19.
The Cavaliers showed in Game 4 that they have the offensive firepower necessary to hang with the Warriors, but Cleveland really came out firing on all cylinders in that contest, setting a new NBA Finals record for most points in a half. If the Cavs need to have a performance like that again to send the series back to Cleveland, they’re probably in trouble.
What do you think? Was Cleveland’s Game 4 win just delaying the inevitable until tonight, or can the Cavs win another game and head back to Cleveland down 3-2?
Place your vote below and jump into the comments section to share your thoughts on tonight’s game.
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- A pair of tickets for Game 5 of the NBA Finals has sold for $90K, Darren Rovell of ESPN writes. The Warriors and Cavaliers will tip off in the Bay Area tomorrow. The price point, however, falls just shy of last year’s finale, when two seats to Game 7 went for $99K.
- Never one to shy away from controversy, Warriors forward Draymond Green riled the feathers of Cavaliers fans after Game 4. In the same Joseph article Green is quoted as saying “I really don’t pay much attention to anyone in Cleveland, honestly. They don’t seem to be the sharpest people around.“
- Having nearly equaled his annual income in technical foul fines this postseason, Dahntay Jones is the unlikely benefactor of some generosity from fans. Per Alysha Tsuji of USA Today, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help the Cavaliers veteran cover his costly habit.
LeBron James had opposition within his family when he decided to return to the Cavaliers in 2014, relays Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. James shares the information in an episode of “Uninterrupted,” his web-based production, which was taped during All-Star weekend and posted Friday. Gloria James remained angry about a derisive letter written by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert when LeBron left Cleveland for Miami. “Some people was on the fence,” James explains. “Even my wife was like, I ain’t, my mom and my wife was like I ain’t with that. … I had to finally just be like, you know mom it ain’t even really about [the Gilbert letter]. For me, going back is more of this. It’s more of a bigger picture. It’s more of all these kids, all these people, that need inspiration and need a way to get out. And I believe I am that way out.”
There’s more today out of Cleveland:
- If the Cavs wind up losing in the Finals, it won’t be easy to improve for next year’s run at the Warriors, according to Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The first decision will involve whether to re-sign GM David Griffin, whose contract runs out at the end of the month. Griffin was sought after by Orlando and Atlanta before they hired other candidates, as well as Milwaukee, which trimmed its GM search to three finalists this week. McMenamin and Windhorst talked to several anonymous sources to get player personnel advice, with suggestions including trading away Kevin Love and trying to acquire Paul George from the Pacers. Cleveland’s biggest obstacle in making any roster moves is its cap situation. The franchise paid $24MM in taxes this year and because of the repeater tax would be looking at a $38MM bill if they keep the same payroll next season. The salary commitment could be even higher if the team brings back free agent Kyle Korver, who the authors say can expect a deal similar to the $14MM per year that Jamal Crawford received last summer.
- Coach Tyronn Lue deserves credit for not changing the team’s rotation or style of play in Game 4, notes Bud Shaw of Cleveland.com. After hearing public outcry to slow down the tempo, the Cavs responded with 49 points in the first quarter and 86 in the first half of a 137-116 win. That meant only two minutes for Derrick Williams, who will be a free agent this summer, and no playing time for Channing Frye, who has one year left on his deal at about $7.4MM.
The Cavaliers and Warriors are in the middle of a competitive Game 4 with the NBA title hanging in the balance (for one of them). If Cleveland can’t eke out a victory by the end of the night, they’ll be on the losing end of Golden State’s historic 16-0 playoff run and the offseason will have officially begun.
Such an impressive run, just one season removed from their historic 73-win 2015/16 campaign would put the already legendary Warriors club in even more impressive territory.
This isn’t a post about the Warriors winning the 2017 NBA title, however, as we at Hoops Rumors remain dutifully impartial and simply hopeful that the series will continue and hoops fans the world over get several more games of NBA action.
This is a post about last year.
Earlier this week, notoriously emotional Draymond Green told Zach Lowe of ESPN that he believes his suspension in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals cost his team the title. Green, of course, was sidelined after an incident in which he appeared to take a swipe at LeBron James‘ groin.
Whether or not you agree that the suspension was warranted, the question we’d like to propose is whether or not you think having Green in the lineup for Game 5 last year would have changed the outcome of the best-of-seven series.
If the Dubs had pulled off the 2016 title, they’d be within a game from a threepeat here tonight, which comes with its own place among the league’s greatest dynasties.
The question is, if Golden State were reigning two-time defending champions, would they be perceived any different than they are? Would Kevin Durant still have signed? Would James’ legacy be impacted?
It’ll be a long 15 minutes as we await the third quarter of this fourth game of the 2017 NBA Finals, so join us on a hypothetical journey back to last year.
Many have compared Kevin Durant‘s decision to join Golden State to LeBron James‘ move to Miami back in 2010, but LBJ doesn’t see it as the same situation, as Steven Ruiz of USA Today relays.
“I don’t think our careers are the same, as far as changing teams,” James said. “Their team was already kind of put together. And you just implement a guy who’s ready to sacrifice – a great talent, a guy who’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. But that team, they already knew what they were all about, and he just had to come in and do what he had to do. And that’s what he’s been doing.
“For me, when I left [Cleveland] to go to Miami, we had to build something. We brought in eight or nine guys, and we had to build something. And when I came back [to Cleveland] we had to build something again.”
Ten players were already on the Warriors roster when Durant arrived in town compared to just two—Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem—on the Heat when James came to South Beach.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Former Cavaliers GM Jim Paxson admits that he made moves during the 2002/03 season with the 2003 draft in mind, as he tells Sam Smith of NBA.com. “That season before [in 2002] we traded Andre Miller to the Clippers because he was up for that rookie extension for Darius Miles and some parts,” Paxson recalled. “I told ownership even though there is no guarantee [for the top pick], we need to take one more step back because this [2003] draft is going to be special [Paxson said their draft order was LeBron, Carmelo and then Bosh]. Andre was good enough to keep us in the 27 to 31-win range, which would take you out of that top three to four picks. We tied with Denver [for the most lottery balls] when we won the last game of the season. Then we got lucky to get the No. 1.”
- Paxson added that he knew right away he had to surround James with shooting, Smith passes along in the same piece. The Cavaliers took Jason Kapono in the second-round of the 2003 draft.
- Dan Fegan denies any ties to the new Dynasty Sports Group agency that was founded by former ISE agent Aylton Tesch, according to Liz Mullen of Sports Business Daily. Tesch left ISE shortly after the company fired Fegan.
- CSKA Moscow plans to pursue Brad Wanamaker, who played collegiate ball at the University of Pittsburgh before flourishing in Europe, in the event that Milos Teodosic leaves for the NBA, international journalist David Pick reports (Twitter link).