Tag Archives: Carmelo Anthony

THE 2014 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY HAD AN OLYMPIC FEEL TO IT

When you participate in the Olympic Games, to medal is something special. If you win, or finish first, you go home with the gold. If you happen to be the runner-up, your silver medal helps ease the pain a little. Even if you end up third, it still means you’re one of three best in the entire world and wearing that bronze medal allows you to hold you head high.

The 2014 NBA Draft Lottery was somewhat like the Olympics. Fourteen participants had a chance, some better than others, to finish first, second or third and walk away with a prize. But instead of medals of a different color and worth, the top three teams would be rewarded with the opportunity of drafting a potential franchise changing player. Possibly Joel Embiid, or Andrew Wiggins or maybe Jabari Parker. Which one is truly the gold? That is up for debate right now, but one thing that is not, if you finished first, second or third on Tuesday night, you were walking away a big winner and down the road maybe the biggest winner.

2014 NBA Draft Lottery Order

So congratulations, for the third time in the last four years to the NBA’s Draft Lottery gold medal winner, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Facing their greatest odds in the lottery, G.M. David Griffin and his team defied those odds, a  mere 1.7 percent chance of finishing first, and with the ping pong balls bouncing the right way again, the Cavs for the second straight year made it to the apex of the NBA Draft Lottery. They would have been happy with the silver or the bronze considering their odds, but finishing first is always better.

David Griffin 2014 NBA Draft Lottery Photo

This year’s top honor for one of the worst teams in the Association has people conjuring up memories of the 2003 draft that produced LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Three of those four have won multiple NBA championships. Granted James and Bosh had to join Wade to do so, but a championship is still a championship and Cleveland fans would take one any way they could get one.

Therefor supporters of the “Wine and Gold” are hoping that one of the top three  players in this draft, be it Wiggins, Embiid or Parker could ultimately lead the Cavaliers to a victory in the last game played during an NBA season, instead of winning an off-season lottery. Should that happen, which would mean finishing first when it really mattered, the city of Cleveland would be celebrating the ultimate gold medal, the Larry O’Brien trophy and their first NBA Championship!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS FOR DAN GILBERT

It seems like we say this every year but I really believe this time it’s true. This upcoming off season for the Cavs will be the most important in team history. Owner Dan Gilbert needs to decide which direction he’s going to take the team.

Dan Gilbert Photo@CavsDan has many important decisions to make. Does he make David Griffin his fulltime General Manager or does he go out and bring in new blood? Will he hire a President of Basketball Operations type? If he does, there are rumors circulating that the names atop that list are former “Bad Boys” Joe Dumars, who reportedly will resign his position with the Pistons soon, or Isaiah Thomas. If either one is hired, it’s possible Gilbert could keep David Griffin as G.M. and have him answer to Dumars or Thomas.

Whenever this brain trust is finally put together their first decision will be to decide should they keep Mike Brown on as the team’s head coach? If not, who do you replace him with?

After that decision is made, next on the check list is do you offer Kyrie Irving the maximum 5-year contract? Do you believe in his brittle body, but made skills enough to make him the focal point of your team moving forward? If you do offer “Uncle Drew” the max and he turns it down and wants a shorter contract, then do you avoid getting burned again like you did with a former local high school star turned NBA MVP and try and trade him if he’s sending you messages he could leave ?  If Irving does accept the max contract then you have to figure out if he and Dion Waiters can co-exist on the same team. If you think they can, you don’t do anything. If you think they can’t, then you have to begin the process of trying to trade Waiters and get equal value in return.

After that determination is made, next up on the to do list is which of your own free agents or contract option players do you keep or trade to free up cap space. The important names on that list are free agents Luol Deng, Spencer Hawes and C.J. Miles and team option players Anderson Varejao, Alonzo Gee and Scottie Hopson.

What you do there, then leads into maybe your biggest decision of all and that is do you go after LeBron James in free agency if he opts out of his contract with the Miami Heat. If he doesn’t opt out, or you decide not to target him, then what is “Plan B” and who will you target with all of your cap space in free agency?  Do you go after Carmelo Anthony? Is Gordon Hayward your small forward of the future? Do you go after a veteran like Pau Gasol or Rudy Gay or Danny Granger?

LeBron and Kyrie shake hands at Z jersey Ceremony 3-8-14

You could also go another route and try and make a blockbuster trade to bring in an impact player like Kevin Love, but would you have to give up to get him?

And on top of all of that, unless a miracle happens, you once again will be picking in the lottery. As of now you would have the ninth most ping pong balls in the hopper. You better hope that Nick Gilbert’s bow-tie has a lot of luck left in it to get a top 3 pick if you want to land a projected franchise type player. If not, then your new front office will have to do a better job than they did last year in selecting the right player in the draft to help your struggling franchise. Even if it’s not a top three pick, you can’t afford to swing and miss like you did with Anthony Bennett.

So I think it’s safe to say that this “IS” the most important off season in Cavaliers franchise history and it falls squarely on the shoulders of owner Dan Gilbert to make all the right decisions to turn it around.

POTENTIAL CAVS FREE AGENT TARGETS IN THE SUMMER OF 2014

In looking at the Cavs free agency situation for the summer of 2014 I have compiled my list of the top free agents I think the Cavs should look at. As you can see, they just acquired one of those top free agents in a trade and now control his “Bird Rights” in Luol Deng. Here is a list of my Top 10 potential unrestricted free agents for the summer of 2014 that I would go after, along with three restricted free agents that I would target.

Luol Deng Cavs Uniform

 AP photo courtesy of George Frey

My rankings were based on ability, age (how old they’ll be for start of 2014 season), salary (what they’re making this year), fit and need for the Cavs. Danny Granger is the biggest reach on this list because of his recent injury history, but if he proves to be healthy again, he could be a bargain.  It’s unlikely players like Duncan, Wade and Nowitzki would leave the only team they’ve ever played for, but you never know. Also to me the only true max players on this list would be LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons.

 

Potential Unrestricted Free Agents – Some have an early termination offer, others a player option.

LeBron James –  SF/PF  – 29  –  $19.1million  –  26ppg-6.5rpg-6apg -59%fg-40%3fg-75%ft

Carmelo Anthony – SF  -30  -$21.5 million -26.6ppg-8.3rpg-2.9apg -45%fg-40%3fg-84%ft

Luol Deng –    SF –        29  –  $14.3 million  –  18.7ppg-6.6rpg-3.5apg-45%fg-27%3fg-82%ft

Rudy Gay –  SG/SF  – 28  –  $17.9 million  –  20.0ppg-6.6rpg-2.5apg-44%fg-33%3fg-80%ft

Chris Bosh –  F/C  –     30    – $19.1 million     –    15.4ppg-6.7rpg-1ap-52%fg-33%3fg-80%ft

Danny Granger –SF  –  31  –  $14.0 million  –   9.1ppg-3.6rpg-1.3apg-36%fg-30%3fg-95%ft

Zack Randolph –  PF  – 33  – $17.8 million –  17.2popg-10.5rpg-2.7apg-45%fg-0%3fg-75%ft

Dwyane Wade –  SG  –  32  –  $18.5 million  –  19.6ppg-4.9rpg-4.8apg-54%fg-4253fg-70%ft

Dirk Nowitzki –   PF  – 36  –  $22.7 million –  20.8ppg-5.9rpg-3.0apg-49%fg-40%3fg-89%ft

Tim Duncan –     C  –      38  –  $10.4 million  –  14.5ppg-9.8rpg-3.0apg-46%fg-0%3fg-77%ft

 

Restricted Free Agents

Gordon Hayward – SG  – 24 – $3.5 million  –  17.1ppg-5.4rpg-4.9apg-41%fg-32%3fg-83%ft

Chandler Parsons – SF  – 25 – $926 thous.  – 17.2ppg-5.4rpg-3.6apg-51%fg-37%3fg-72%ft

Evan Turner –   SF  –     25  –  $6.7 million  –  19.1ppg-6.3rpg-3.9apg-445fg-29%3fg-82%ft

(Parsons is a restricted free agent, but Houston has a team option on him)

Mike Brown Post Game After Beating New York 109-94