Tag Archives: Danny Granger

2014 NBA FREE AGENCY WINNERS AND LOSERS

Posted: Jul 14, 2014 by . Filed under Blog Posts, Feature Articles | 31 Comments

WINNERS:

Cleveland Cavaliers –  With LeBron James returning home, the Cavs are by far the biggest winners this off- season. James is the best player in the world and he fills a major void at the small forward spot that’s been vacant since well, when he left four years ago. Forget that he signed a 1 year and an option year contract. James did that so he can cash in on the next TV contract by increasing his max contract dollars. He’s not going anywhere, considering how much money he can make, a young talented roster and he and his family are back home. First year G.M. David Griffin also locked up 2-time All-Star Kyrie Irving to a 5-year max contract and thus has his Batman and Robin for years to come.

LeBron Powder Toss Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

San Antonio Spurs – After Tim Duncan exercised his player option for $10.3 million to return for at least one more season with the World Champs, the Spurs then went and resigned two of their own free agents in Boris Diaw and Patty Mills to team friendly contracts thanks to Duncan taking less than market value. Plus San Antonio announced that head coach Gregg Popovich agreed to a multi-year contract extension. All four moves are big wins for the Spurs.

Los Angeles Clippers – Doc Rivers added two players that will help the team’s depth and offense and he did so without overpaying for either one. Getting Spencer Hawes, a stretch-5 for less than $6 million per season for four years and point guard Jordan Farmar to replace Darren Collison who left for the Kings at about $2 million per year are very good gets.

 

LOSERS:

Miami Heat – Like the Cavs did in 2010, Pat Riley and the Heat felt LeBron’s return was a slam dunk only to be rejected and left shaking their heads. Again no matter what you do, as the Cavaliers found out, there’s no replacing LeBron James. The Heat overpaid Chris Bosh to stay instead of going to Houston. They’re going to overpay an aging Dwyane Wade and two of their other free agent signees are injuries waiting to happen in Danny Granger and Luol Deng.

Los Angeles Lakers – G.M. Mitch Kupchick was shooting for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. When LeBron went to Cleveland he was hoping to team up Carmelo with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Then Carmelo agreed to stay with the Knicks and Gasol left for the Bulls. Plus the “Lake Show” lost Jodi Meeks to OKC. This off-season has been one of the worst in Lakers history.

Houston Rockets – While they’ll still be a good team, the Rockets were trying to bolster their roster so they would become an elite team. They targeted Carmelo Anthony first and lost out. Then they set their sights on Chris Bosh and lost him too. Adding insult to injury, one of their fine young players, Chandler Parsons accepted an offer sheet from Dallas and Houston decided not to match it. So the high flying, long distance shooter is now a Mav. They replaced Parsons with Trevor Ariza which isn’t terrible and are said to be interested now in trying to land Kevin Love in a trade, but so far this off season Houston has had a problem getting the players they wanted.

 

WHO’S ROSTER WOULD BE BETTER, THE CAVS OR THE HEAT?

Posted: Jul 8, 2014 by . Filed under Blog Posts, Feature Articles | 37 Comments

LET’S PUT LEBRON JAMES ON BOTH TEAMS AND THEN COMPARE THE CURRENT ROSTERS.  WHO GIVES THE KING A BETTER CHANCE FOR MORE RINGS NEXT YEAR AND BEYOND?

Cavaliers                                                                             Heat

 

Kyrie Irving –6’3–193-22 (20.8p-6.1a-3.6r)       PG      Mario Chalmers –6’2–190-28 (9.8p-4.9a-2.9R)

 

Andrew Wiggins –6’8-200-19 (17.1p-1.5a-5.9r)    SG      Dwyane Wade –6’4–220–32 (19p-4.7a-4.5r)

 

LeBron James –6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a)         SF      LeBron James -6’8-250-29 (27.1p-6.9r-6.4a)

 

Tristan Thompson -6’9-238-23 (11.7p-9.2r-1a)   PF   Josh McRoberts – 6’10-240-27 (8.5p-4.8r-4.3a)

 

Anderson Varejao – 6’11-267-31 (8.4p-9.7r-2.2a)  C    Chris Bosh – 6’11-235-30 (16.2p-6.6r-1.1a)

LeBron Powder Toss Photo

Cavs Bench – Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett, Tyler Zeller, Brendan Haywood, Sergey Karasev, Matthew Dellavedova, Jarrett Jack, Joe Harris and Carrick Felix.

 

 

 

 

LeBron Disgusted Photo 6-14-14

 

Heat Bench – Norris Cole, Shabazz Napier, Greg Oden, Udonis Haslem, Ray Allen, Chris Anderson, Michael Beasley, Danny Granger and James Jones.

ESPN INDIANAPOLIS RADIO HOST DAN DAKICH ON JOSH McROBERTS AND DANNY GRANGER GOING TO THE HEAT

Posted: Jul 7, 2014 by . Filed under Audio, Podcasts | 32 Comments

Since he saw them play while they were with the Indiana Pacers I figured I’d get the expert opinion of ESPN radio host and college basketball analyst Dan Dakich to see if he thought Pat Riley’s free agent signings of McRoberts and Granger would be enough to keep LeBron James in Miami.

Dan Dakich 2

HAS PAT RILEY DONE ENOUGH TO THE HEAT ROSTER TO IMPRESS LEBRON?

Posted: Jul 7, 2014 by . Filed under Blog Posts, Feature Articles | 32 Comments

Time is winding down for LeBron James to decide on whether to stay in Miami or sign with Cleveland or someone else in free agency. Here are the moves that Heat president Pat Riley has made so far to bolster his roster and try to impress LeBron, as well as Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, in hopes of keeping Miami’s “Big 3” together for a few more years. Is this enough? Will there be other additions? The clock is ticking on Riley to do more, and on LeBron to make yet another decision.

LeBron and Dwyane Wade on the bench

 

In the NBA Draft the Heat traded for the point guard who led U-Conn to the National Championship, Shabazz Napier. Supposedly, Napier was LeBron James favorite player in the draft. Is he good enough to surplant Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole as the starting point guard for Miami? Or is that still a few years away for Napier?

 

 

Shabazz Napier- PG-6’1-180-22–U-Conn stats (18p-6r-5a) (40% – 3FG)

 

In NBA Free Agency so far, Riley has received verbal commitments from free agents Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger after losing out on the likes of Kyle Lowery and Marcin Gortat while getting non-committals from Pau Gasol or Luol Deng. Here’s a look at what McRoberts and Granger did this past season in the NBA. How much of an upgrade are they over who the Heat had on the bench or in the starting lineup last year?

 

Josh McRoberts- PF-6’10-240-27 –Hornets (8.5p–4.8r-4.3a) (36%-3FG)

 

Danny Granger- SF-6’9-228-31–Pacers/Clippers (8.2p-3.2r-1apg) (34%-3FG)

 

The first day players can officially sign their contracts is Thursday, July 10, 2014. Dan Gilbert and the Cavs, along with Pat Riley and the Heat, are hoping to know before Thursday what decision LeBron has made so it leaves time for either team to go after other free agents if LeBron tells them no.

TEN 2014 FREE AGENTS THE CAVALIERS SHOULD CONSIDER

Posted: Jun 29, 2014 by . Filed under Blog Posts, Feature Articles | 46 Comments

1  LeBron James – UFA – SF – 6’8 – 260 – 29  –  27.1ppg – 6.9rpg – 6.4apg ($19mill last season)

LeBron James photo small 11-27-13

2  Carmelo Anthony – UFA – SF – 6’8 – 235 – 30 – 27.4ppg – 8.1rpg – 3.1apg ($21.5mill last season)

 

3  Chandler Parsons – RFA (Hou.)–SF–6’9–227–25-16.6ppg–5.5rpg–4.0apg ($965,000 last season)

 

4  Greg Monroe – RFA (Det.) – C – 6’11 – 250 – 24 -15.2ppg – 9.3rpg – 2.1apg ($5.5mill last season)

 

5  Marcin Gortat – UFA – C – 6’11 – 240 – 30  –  13.2ppg – 9.5rpg – 1.5blk ($7.8mill last season)

 

6  Trevor Ariza – UFA – SF – 6’8 – 220 – 28   –   14.4ppg – 6.2rpg – 2.5apg  ($7.8mill last season)

 

7  Gordon Hayward – RFA (Utah) –SF–6’8–200–24–16.2ppg–5.1rpg–5.2apg ($4.7mill last season)

 

8  Spencer Hawes – UFA – C – 7’1 – 245 – 26 -13.2ppg–8.3rpg–3apg–1.2blk ($6.5mill last season)

 

9  Pau Gasol – UFA – C/PF – 7’0 – 250 – 33 – 17.4ppg–9.7rpg–3.4pg–1.5blk ($19.2mill last season)

 

T-10 Danny Granger – UFA – SF – 6’9 -230 – 31 – 8.2ppg – 3.2rpg – 1apg ($14.3mill last season)

 

Xavier Henry – UFA – SG/SF – 6’6 – 220 – 23 – 10ppg – 2.7rpg – 1.2apg          ($916,000 last season)

DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS FOR DAN GILBERT

Posted: Apr 8, 2014 by . Filed under Blog Posts, Feature Articles | 37 Comments

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.