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Cavs Eye Korver, Evans, Asik; Kings Reject Mozgov

February 9th, 2016 at 11:32am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers are interested in Kyle Korver and also have Tyreke Evans and Omer Asik on their radar, while recent talks with the Kings about Timofey Mozgov have met with rejection from Sacramento, Brian Windhorst of ESPN said in a radio appearance today on ESPN Cleveland’s “The Really Big Show,” according to a series of tweets from ESPN Cleveland. The Cavs have also been showcasing Anderson Varejao for a trade, Windhorst said, nonetheless adding that it doesn’t seem he’s drawing much interest. It’s unlikely that Cleveland lands Korver, Windhorst also said, though the relatively likelihood of Evans, Asik and Mozgov changing teams is unclear. The Cavs and Pelicans had talks earlier that involved Mozgov and Asik, but the Cavs were reluctant to deal, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported last month.

Atlanta has reportedly solicited offers for Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder of late and isn’t entirely certain that Al Horford will re-sign in free agency this summer, and Windhorst speculates that the Hawks could be sellers. They’re in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 30-24, having already lost more games than they did during the entire regular season last year. Korver is under contract through next season, at more than $5.746MM this year and more than $5.239MM for 2016/17. His normally elite 3-point shooting is down to 38.3% this season, but that’s still better than most, and the Cavs have reportedly sought to add long distance shooting and defense to the wing.

New Orleans has reportedly sized up the market for Tyreke Evans and had discussions about trading him, though it’s unknown whether those talks were internal or external. The former Rookie of the Year is out until at least the All-Star break with tendinitis in his right knee. He’s once more been seeing time at point guard, where he’s matching his career high with 6.6 assists per game, though it would seem more logical that Cleveland would have interest in him as a wing player. His salary of nearly $10.734MM is just barely outside the bounds of the $10,522,500 trade exception Cleveland has as a vestige of Brendan Haywood. That’s true even though Evans’ salary for next season, the last year on his contract, is only about $10.204MM.

Asik’s numbers are off significantly this year, having suffered a right calf strain in the preseason that continued to bother him well into the regular season. The five-year, nearly $53MM contract he signed this past offseason looks player-friendly so far, though his more than $9.213MM salary for this year would fit within Cleveland’s exception.

He’d ostensibly offset the lack of production the Cavs have seen from Mozgov, who has also been slow to recover from injury, having undergone offseason surgery on his right knee. I examined Mozgov’s trade candidacy shortly after Wojnarowski reported that the Cavs had begun to explore the trade market for him. Sacramento would be an odd fit for him, given the presence of big men DeMarcus Cousins, Kosta Koufos and Willie Cauley-Stein, though it’s unclear what the Kings would have relinquished in Cleveland’s proposals. Mozgov is making $4.95MM this season on an expiring contract.

Varejao saw 27 minutes of action against the Pelicans on Saturday, but his minutes have otherwise been spotty. The longtime confidant of LeBron James is making $9.638MM this season in the first year of a three-year extension.

Do you see a deal involving any of these names that the Cavs should make? Leave a comment to tell us.

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Cavs Notes: Mozgov, Varejao, Jones

January 12th, 2016 at 7:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavs center Timofey Mozgov is struggling this season, and even LeBron James is at a loss for what it will take to snap the Russian big man out of his funk, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “I’m not sure,” James said when asked what’s wrong with Mozgov. “I’m not sure where he’s mentally. Only he knows that. As a leader of the team, you just give him as much positive energy, give him as much positive notion about what he needs to do for our team. But at the end of the day, like I told you guys last year about Kevin Love, you can give a guy so much but at the end of the day, you got to figure it out yourself too sometimes. I think he’s at that point.”

Mozgov’s name has surfaced recently in trade rumors, though the Cavs’ front office prefers to keep the big man through the remainder of the season with the hope that he can turn his play around, McMenamin adds. Cleveland could save between $15-20MM in tax penalties by dealing away Mozgov prior to February’s trade deadline. Here’s more from Cleveland:

  • Anderson Varejao is averaging a career low 8.8 minutes per game this season, but the center says that he won’t request a trade, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “If I go anywhere else and win a championship, it’s not going to be the same,” Varejao said. “I want to win a championship in Cleveland. That’s where I want to stay. I love Cleveland.” When asked why he wouldn’t welcome an opportunity to play more, even with another team, the center responded, “Because Cleveland’s been loyal to me and I’ve been loyal to the team. I had a chance to leave when the team was really bad, going through a rebuilding process when we were losing almost every other game, and it was tough. I said, ‘I’m not leaving Cleveland. I want to win a championship in Cleveland’ and I know now we have a chance.”
  • Damon Jones, who is currently an assistant coach for the Cavs’ D-League affiliate, credits James for his newfound career path, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports writes. “He’s been very instrumental,” Jones said of James. “He was the reason why I got the opportunity last [season]. He felt comfortable in me helping him in any way possible. It gave me an avenue to get back in the game. Not only right now, but even when I played we had a great relationship and he did a lot of things for my career. Without him, I don’t know if the opportunities I’m receiving right now would be received.”
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Cavaliers Rumors: Luxury Tax, Varejao, Blatt

November 14th, 2015 at 8:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat’s recent cost-cutting moves, such as trading Mario Chalmers this week, are a stark contrast to the Cavaliers’ free-spending philosophy, writes Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal. While Miami trims salary to avoid a hefty luxury tax bill, Cleveland is facing the second-highest payroll/tax figure in league history. However, Lloyd points out that the Cavs are still years away from having to worry about the repeater tax. No team has ever been in a position to pay it, but the Heat could be if they don’t cut salary by about $5MM more before the season ends.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

  • Anderson Varejao has become a very expensive insurance policy for the team, writes Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. The veteran has seen his playing time cut because of Cleveland’s influx of talent, but his contract remains hefty. Varejao is making more than $9.6MM this year, and the figure is set to rise above $10.3MM next season, with more than $9.3MM of that guaranteed. The final year of his deal is non-guaranteed at $10MM, but he will get a $4.5MM guarantee if he remains on the roster on August 1st, 2017. “Do I want to play? Yes. But I can’t take it personal,” said Varejao, who missed most of last season with an Achilles injury. “It’s just the beginning of the season. It’s a long season. I’m still getting better. I know I’m not 100% yet.”
  • Varejao’s chance should come later in the season, contends Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. With Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love taking most of the minutes at center and power forward, there hasn’t been much need yet for Varejao, but Pluto expects injuries and slumps to change that equation before the season ends.
  • David Blatt is happy that questions about being a rookie head coach are finally over, writes Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. After more than two decades of coaching overseas, Blatt didn’t like being treated like a newcomer to the profession.
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Cavs Notes: Thompson, LeBron, Love

October 7th, 2015 at 7:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

During an appearance on Zach Lowe of Grantland’s podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst opined that the contract standoff between the Cavaliers and restricted free agent Tristan Thompson isn’t likely to end any time soon, as RealGM transcribes. “I think it will take a third party event to bridge the gap here,” said Windhorst. “I actually believe it will probably go [on for] months. This will go well into the regular season.” The ESPN scribe also compared Thompson’s current situation with Anderson Varejao‘s prolonged holdout back in 2007 that saw the center remain unsigned until December 5th of that year. Varejao’s contract impasse finally came to an end when he inked a three-year, $10MM offer sheet with Charlotte that the Cavs matched.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

  • Windhorst also told Lowe that agent Rich Paul, who represents Thompson and LeBron James, wanted to get Thompson’s deal in place prior to James re-signing with Cleveland this summer, but plans changed when Klutch Sports realized how difficult Thompson’s negotiation would be (RealGM transcription). “It was my understanding at the outset that their plan, when I say ‘their,’ I’m talking about Tristan’s representation, was to handle Tristan Thompson’s contract first and then do LeBron’s contract,” Windhorst said. “But five days into free agency, they realized Tristan’s deal was going to go very long and they had a choice to make. LeBron could either exercise influence or not. And whether it was Rich Paul’s decision or LeBron’s decision, they elected not to do that. LeBron signed his contract.“
  • Kevin Love has put his difficult 2014/15 campaign behind him and is excited about the Cavs’ chances this season, and he is ready to assume a larger role in the team’s offense, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “It’s just, I think, face everything head-on,” Love said when asked about his outlook for this season. “Relationships with all the guys out there on the court, facing adversity with these guys, or staying on a high with these guys, no matter where the season takes you, it’s just I think facing it head-on and trying to be in a collision course for great things. I think if we all put our heads together, we all continue to work and get healthy, I know I sound like a broken record, but I think we can do something special.“
  • Familiarity with the city of Cleveland played a major factor in Mo Williams‘ decision to re-sign with the Cavs this offseason, Joe Gabriele of NBA.com relays. “That was huge,” Williams told Gabriele. “It wasn’t that long ago [since I was here]. It feels like a while, but it really wasn’t. So, there’s some familiarity here – the same people, a couple familiar faces with teammates, but mostly everyone is new. The front office is pretty much intact, but in a little different capacity. It was definitely a comfort level and an excitement. And the thing about it is, I really enjoyed every single person in the front office. Griff [GM David Griffin] was here before I left. So, with all those things being said, it was an easy decision for me. Watching these guys fall short last year and me – being, you know, kind of a ‘Cav-at-heart’ – I felt sorry, I felt bad for the city. So that was definitely what made my mind up. When Golden State won that final game, my mind was made up – I was coming back. It was just how much money Griff was gonna give me.“
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Cavs Notes: Irving, Love, Bennett

September 22nd, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers are poised to enter the season ahead as favorites to return to the Finals, though that status comes at a cost. They already have about $95MM in guaranteed salary for the season ahead, and a new deal for Tristan Thompson would send that figure, and the tax bill that comes with it, even higher. Thompson on the qualifying offer would give the Cavs a tax bill of roughly $34MM. A max offer, one that Thompson is reportedly insisting upon, would push Cleveland’s tax bill to about $70MM. That would be on top of about $111MM in payroll, bringing the team within hailing distance of Brooklyn’s record outlay of some $190MM in 2013/14. While the Cavs ponder those figures, see the latest from Cleveland:

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Lakers, Suns Talk To Cavs About Brendan Haywood

July 9th, 2015 at 2:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers and Suns are among the teams having discussions with the Cavs about trading for Brendan Haywood and his sizable non-guaranteed contract, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio, writing for Amico Hoops. The Clippers are another, Amico writes, advancing earlier reports connecting the Cavs to Jamal Crawford. Cleveland had reportedly spoken a few days ago to the Nets about trading Haywood, and Anderson Varejao, to the Nets for Joe Johnson, but that conversation has since tailed off, and sources told Amico that Cleveland hasn’t offered Varejao to anyone in its most recent proposals.  Haywood isn’t planning to retire if he’s waived, a source tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

[RELATED: LeBron James To Re-Sign With Cavs]

Haywood’s contract, a vestige of the amnesty clause that’s worth a non-guaranteed $10,522,500 this coming season, has value to teams seeking to clear cap space or avoid luxury tax payments. Cleveland can use it in a trade that brings in as much as $5MM more, or $13,253,125 if that trade leaves the Cavs over the tax threshold. Those figures increase if Haywood is paired with someone else. Haywood’s salary becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster through August 1st, so Cleveland has some time, but a limited amount of it. The 35-year-old center saw only 119 total minutes of action this past season, and, according to Amico, many around the league believe he’ll retire if he’s waived in advance of that August deadline, as seems most likely.

The Lakers appear to be using a large chunk of their cap flexibility to trade for Roy Hibbert, though they may send some salary to Indiana. The major stars are off the market, but the acquisition of Haywood, if executed with sufficient time left before August 1st, would give the Lakers another trade chip. The same would be true for the Suns, who reportedly agreed to trade Marcus Morris and two others to the Pistons in an ill-fated effort to clear cap room for LaMarcus Aldridge. Phoenix is also reportedly shopping Markieff Morris.

It’s unclear exactly what the Cavs are looking for in return for Haywood, though Amico speculates that a wing player would fit the bill, which makes sense, given the rumors linking them to Johnson and Crawford. It appeared earlier that they were looking for either a facilitating guard or a scoring point guard, but that was before they struck a deal with Mo Williams.

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Cavs, Nets Joe Johnson Talks Stall

July 7th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

TUESDAY, 11:28am: Cleveland and Brooklyn haven’t spoken for three days, Broussard said on SportsCenter (Twitter link via Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com). Mazzeo indicates that the talks are dead as the Cavs focus elsewhere.

12:50pm: The Cavs were the first to show resistance to the deal, based on their tax concerns, and now the Nets aren’t all that enthusiastic, either, as a transcription of Broussard’s SportsCenter appearance on NetsDaily reveals. LeBron James, who wants the Cavs roster to be as loaded as possible, is watching as he lingers in free agency, Broussard reminds.

MONDAY, 12:20pm: The Nets have been looking for a third team to take on Varejao’s contract, but the talks with the Cavs are on hold for now, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN (Twitter link via ESPN colleague Mike Mazzeo).

4:55pm: The Johnson trade talks are preliminary and not likely to be productive, Robert Windrem of NetsDaily.com tweets.

SUNDAY, 3:33pm: The Cavaliers are interested in using Brendan Haywood‘s bloated non-guaranteed salary as ballast in a trade that would bring in Joe Johnson, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Cleveland would have to send additional salaries to Brooklyn to make the salary matching work, but Windhorst suggests that Anderson Varejao is a possibility to go to the Nets.

The Nets have been actively shopping Johnson in recent days and they’ve had talks with the Grizzlies about the veteran.  The Pistons and Hornets, also spoke with Brooklyn about him this past season, despite his severely bloated contract.  Johnson, who averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 34.9 minutes per contest last season, is the second-highest paid player in the league at $24.8MM for 2015/16.  He’s not a great value, but he is still a strong scorer and would give Cleveland some additional outside shooting.  While moving his salary would lift a great luxury tax burden off of Mikhail Prokhorov’s shoulders, it would have the inverse affect on the Cavs’ finances.

Haywood has a $10.5MM non-guaranteed deal that has huge financial implications for a team if waived prior to August 1st.  Trading for and waiving Haywood could save the Nets tens of millions in tax payments.  Still, there would need to be more, such as Varejao, coming from Cleveland to Brooklyn in order to make a swap work.

The Cavs are poised to go over the tax threshold by quite a bit if they re-sign most of their free agents, as GM David Griffin has indicated he wants to do, but for now, they’re below the tax line, which is projected to come in at around $82MM when the league sets the figure at the end of the July Moratorium. So, they can take in as much as $15,522,500 via trade using the Haywood contract, which calls for a non-guaranteed salary of $5MM less than that amount, as long as that trade doesn’t take them into tax territory. If they do a trade involving Haywood at a point when it would either cause them to cross the tax line or when they already have crossed the tax line, they could only take in $13,253,125 using Haywood’s salary. The Nets are already well into tax territory, so they can’t bring in more than 125% plus $100K than they send out.

If the Cavs send both Haywood and Varejao to the Nets, it won’t matter whether Cleveland is above or below the tax line, since the salary-matching rules would be the same: The Cavs would be limited to taking in 125% plus $100K. Johnson’s deal would fit within those parameters.

Varejao, when healthy, is a capable rebounder and scorer, but health issues have dogged him in recent years.  Over the last five seasons, Varejao has missed 50+ contests in four of those campaigns.  In his “healthiest” of those five seasons, Varejao played in 65 regular season games.  For his career, the big man has averaged 7.9 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 25. 8 minutes per night.

The possibility of moving Varejao could be behind the Cavs’ interest in free-agent forward David West over the last several days, Windhorst writes. West has indicated he wants to play for a Finals contender, and the Cavs have been attempting to recruit him, sources told Windhorst.

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Cavs Notes: Varejao, James, Irving

June 7th, 2015 at 4:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

A potential comeback during the NBA Finals by Anderson Varejao is extremely unlikely, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com said late last month that Varejao could be activated during the Finals if the Cavaliers were in a dire situation. The 32-year-old center, who played in 26 regular-season games this season, has been sidelined since late December after tearing his left Achilles’ tendon.

In other news regarding the Cavs:

  • LeBron James looks glum about the Cavs’ predicament of trying to win the NBA championship without Kyrie Irving, who underwent knee surgery on Saturday, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News reports. The Warriors seem destined to win the NBA Finals against the depleted Cavs and Cleveland’s somber mood reflects that, Kawakami continues. “I said it’s going to be one of the most challenging seasons of my career from the beginning, and this just adds on to it,” James said to the media covering the Finals. “You know, we’re undermanned right now. But we’ve got guys in the locker room that are ready for the challenge, and we look forward to the challenge [Sunday] night.”
  • J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova and Tristan Thompson will have to ratchet up their production to overcome the loss of Irving, Jarrett Bell of USA Today opines. The Cavaliers’ role players must provide scoring options for James to have any hope of defeating the Warriors, Bell continues. James’ 38 shot attempts in Game 1 were a product of his teammates too often standing around and watching their franchise player rather than looking for open spaces, Bell adds.
  • The raw data suggests the Cavs can be competitive without Irving or injured Kevin Love, Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group points out. Cleveland outscored its opponent by 149 points in 545 minutes when James played without Irving and Love, including the postseason, Vardon adds. It did not matter much whether James was used as the primary ball-handler, on the wing or down low in those situations, according to Vardon.
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Eastern Notes: Skiles, Wizards, Varejao

May 29th, 2015 at 7:33pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The big news of the day is the Magic‘s hiring of Scott Skiles as the team’s new head coach. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports previously reported that Skiles’ arrangement with the team was for four years, and Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link) adds that the fourth year (2018/19) is a team option. Robbins also tweets that Skiles said he would like to keep former interim coach James Borrego on his coaching staff.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Wizards have workouts scheduled for this Monday with Jerian Grant (Notre Dame), Darian Hooker (New York Institute of Technology), Cady Lalanne (UMass), Stefan Nastic (Stanford), Juwan Staten (West Virginia), and Delon Wright (Utah), Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post reports (via Twitter).
  • Cavs big man Anderson Varejao, who has been out of action since suffering a torn left Achilles tendon, could be activated for the NBA Finals if something were to “go bad” for Cleveland, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com said in an appearance on ESPN Cleveland radio (Twitter link).
  • Former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau didn’t deserve the shots he took on the way out the door from the franchise, but he did deserve to be fired because of the team’s lack of offensive creativity and production despite having a potent roster and rotation, Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports opines.
  • Working out for the Sixers today were T.J. McConnell (Arizona), Chasson Randle (Stanford), Jarvis Threatt (Delaware), K.T. Harrell (Auburn), and Gabe Olaseni (Iowa), Jake Fischer of LibertyBallers.com relays (Twitter link).
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Central Notes: Pistons, Varejao, Butler

March 10th, 2015 at 9:55pm CST by Eddie Scarito

While the Pistons have had to adjust their playing style a number of times this season due to trades and injuries, the one constant has been the team’s focus on the defensive end, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. But it’s Detroit’s defense that has been letting the team down during its current six game losing streak, Mayo adds. The lack of stops, turnovers, and rebounds have led to a dearth of fast break chances, which is hampering the Pistons on the offensive end, Mayo notes.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

  • Jimmy Butler is one of the biggest breakout success stories of the NBA season, and it’s a testament to the swingman’s work ethic that he is in line for a big payday when he hits restricted free agency this summer, Ben Golliver of SI.com writes. The Bulls have indicated that they plan to match any offer sheets that Butler receives this offseason.
  • Cavs coach David Blatt confirmed that center Anderson Varejao is out for the remainder of the season and the playoffs, but he added that the team is very pleased with Varejao’s rehab progress, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com tweets. Varejao tore his left Achilles tendon back in December.
  • Derrick Rose‘s quiet demeanor isn’t helping him with Bulls fans, who have grown wary of the star point guard due to his numerous injuries, David Haugh of The Chicago Tribune writes. Though Rose recently sounded optimistic about playing again this season, Chicago fans need a bolder statement regarding his return to action from the player instead of his seeming nonchalance about the matter, Haugh opines.
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