LeBron James

[Tyrone Slothrop]

It just isn’t accurate that LeBron forced TT & JR to get the contracts he did. He said several times he stays out of things like that.

Come on it's more fun to speculate and make yourself think that you're in the know! You and your trusting an athlete's word! How dare you!

 

[Tyrone Slothrop]

LeBron James.

I think it's pronounced, " Lebrooon Jaaaaames". I could be wrong, though.

 

[sleepmaster]

The Pacers are so inept that it's laughable. Lakers tend to push it from an organizational standpoint more so than any other team but tampering is nearly impossible to govern with only minor fines being dished out. Besides the Riley snake move from NY to Miami (cost them a monetary fine plus a 1st round pick) these things are hard to prove. Players often do most of the heavy lifting so unless there is recorded conversation or an email out there from a front office personnel or an owner you're out of luck.

That's all true, but the NBA which will rule on this also has a financial stake in this. Which does the NBA prefer more financially? A revitalized Lakers franchise with Lebron and Paul George? Or if the Lakers are barred from obtaining George, the chance Paul George teams up with Lebron on the Cavs to make the NBA Finals competitive again? Or George staying with the Thunder to keep a small market team in the upper half of western playoff teams?The first one also leads to the West being that much closer to having all of the top 15 players, and with it increased talk about doing away with the East-West playoff format. It will be interesting to see what happens as more comes out.

 

[SanduskyCav]

True. Kevin Love carried us with his...

Game 3 - DNP
Game 5 - 2 pts, 3 rb
Game 6 - 7pts, 3 rb
Game 7 - 9 pts, 14 rb

Andrew Wiggins could never scratch the surface of those numbers

Believe me, I'm one of the biggest Kevin Love antagonists on the forum so I get what you're saying. I just don't believe it would simply be that easy and that the Wiggins Love trade would be the only move that went unmade. The entire roster makeup would probably be different and I believe we are most likely title-less.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

If you want to blame Bron for anything in regards to our cap, it should be for orchestrating the trade for Love ...he pulled for it and was clear from the fact he never included Wiggins or Bennett in his coming home letter. Which that whole letter was a walking contradiction in itself ...he talked about how winning a chip would require so much patience on his end yet his intentions were to ship Wiggins out without even giving him a chance. The Love trade only gave us a 2 year window ...keeping Wiggins, the 1st rd pick (which turned out to be Tyus Jones), and $15 MIL in salary cap would've extended the Cavs window well beyond this year.

The Love trade only gave us a 2 year window? What???? That makes no sense.



The Cavs are still in a title window. We've made 3 straight finals. That's a 4 year window right there. The team as constructed probably could stay at the same/a similar level for at least 2-3 more years (mostly depending on if Bron ever declines).

Sure, the Durant thing makes us big time underdogs. But that has nothing to with the Kevin Love trade at all. If not for the amazing 5+ huge strokes of luck the Warriors had to get KD, the Cavs would most likely be looking for a 3 peat right now.

A 2 year title window is just absolutely wrong. And the Cavs made a GREAT trade to get Kevin Love. Wiggins will like NEVER be as good as Kevin Love. He isn't even on the same planet as Love is right now. Love is a 20/10 all-star bigman who can post up, spread the floor, and is a great passer. He's a better scorer than Wiggins. A better shooter. Better spacer. He's one of the best rebounders in the league on both ends l. He's even a better defender, Wiggins is an atrocity on that end. Most importantly, Kevin Love has proven that he is willing to make any sacrice necessary to win and will forever have my respect for that. And Wiggins is about to get paid a higher salary than Kev gets.

That trade was a fucking home run A++++++++++ deal. And if not for our team coinciding with the best team of all time , we'd likely be a dynasty. We are really really good. Great, even. Hell, our title run was one of the greatest titles ever won in the history of the NBA given the circumstances..defeating a 73 win juggernaut and coming back from 3-1.

Andrew Wiggins is trash compared to Kevin Love.

 

[Mavaliersfan]

Believe me, I'm one of the biggest antagonist of Kevin Love on the forum so I get what you're saying. I just don't believe it would simply be that the Wiggins Love trade would be the only move that went unmade. The entire roster makeup would probably be different and I believe it probably would have us title-less.

I think it's pretty much safe to assume that the Cavs would have had the assets to build a championship caliber team around a core of Kyrie, Wiggins, & Bron. They could’ve used Love’s cap space on cost-effective veterans. And still used their 1st rd pick and Bennett (who still held some value at the time) to acquire another impact player.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

I think it's pretty much safe to assume that the Cavs would have had the assets to build a championship caliber team around a core of Kyrie, Wiggins, & Bron. They could’ve used Love’s cap space on cost-effective veterans. And still used their 1st rd pick and Bennett (who still held some value at the time) to acquire another impact player.

I never see the point of this discussion if the path we took yielded a championship. We can argue about roster moves ad nauseum, but at the end of the day I'd gladly take the 1 guaranteed title and so would you.

Nothing we could have done would have anticipated or properly prepared us for this Golden State team so it's pointless anyways. Just need to fortify a couple positions, pray for an injury and hope it's sufficient for a 2nd title and by extension enough to retain LeBron.

 

[bigfoot5415]

I never see the point of this discussion if the path we took yielded a championship. We can argue about roster moves ad nauseum, but at the end of the day I'd gladly take the 1 guaranteed title and so would you.

Nothing we could have done would have anticipated or properly prepared us for this Golden State team so it's pointless anyways. Just need to fortify a couple positions, pray for an injury and hope it's sufficient for a 2nd title and by extension enough to retain LeBron.

I agree 100%.

We saw one, and additional titles are not out of the realm of possibility. The Durant move changed everything. I have no doubt in my mind, as constructed, we could have slaughtered the KD-less Warriors.

 

[Gus Zing]

Not worth going over the Love/Wiggins debate. No way to argue Wiggins is better than Love. However, I still stand by the fact we could have been more patient and kept our 1st round pick or got back a Lavine or Dieng in the trade.

However, as @gourimoko has pointed the mere presence of Wiggins over an injured Love would have certainly helped us in 2015 in hindsight.

Thats the championship lost because Love was lost. Availability matters. LeBron was on such a role that if we had any player capable of creating their own shot we might have won it regardless. Then again Kyrie was out as well so it just sucks from bad luck.

It is what it is though. Now the issue is how do we figure out how to beat a Durant/Warriors squad.

 

[cavsfever]

Not worth going over the Love/Wiggins debate. No way to argue Wiggins is better than Love. However, I still stand by the fact we could have been more patient and kept our 1st round pick or got back a Lavine or Dieng in the trade.

However, as @gourimoko has pointed the mere presence of Wiggins over an injured Love would have certainly helped us in 2015 in hindsight.

Thats the championship lost because Love was lost. Availability matters. LeBron was on such a role that if we any player capable of creating their own shot we might have won it regardless. Then again Kyrie was out as well so it just sucks from bad luck.

It is what it is though. Now the issue is how do we figure out how to beat a Durant/Warriors squad.

yes, very good post. In general I agree that Love is better than Wiggins, but two things that annoy me in the Love/Wiggins discussion are that A) we didn't get enough in the trade, and B) people just keep omitting that Love was totally absent in 2015 so obviously Wiggins if available would have been really useful that year.

 

[Gus Zing]

yes, very good post. In general I agree that Love is better than Wiggins, but two things that annoy me in the Love/Wiggins discussion are that A) we didn't get enough in the trade, and B) people just keep omitting that Love was totally absent in 2015 so obviously Wiggins if available would have been really useful that year.

That was easily the worst Warriors team and were there for the taking. Extra depth would have went a long way even with our injuries.

I'd also argue if the NBA schedule was spaced out like now we still might have won it. LeBron and Delly were running on fumes because of such a quick turnaround.

Its crazy because if we had won the championship that year I don't think the Warriors would have come back and beat the Thunder the following year. I think they would have folded. Durant took the easy way out, but I'm not sure he leaves OKC after they just went to the finals either.

Could be looking at a 3 peat right now if certain things fell the right way.

I don't care that the Warriors broke the league. I just wish we had 2 championships already by the time they did it.

 

[NorthCoastBias]

Andrew Wiggins would have been given the Harrison Barnes treatment in the 2015 Finals. The fact people think he would have been useful as a 20 year old rookie on that stage is hilarious.

 

[Real Deal]

Ah, jeez, the Wiggins stuff again...

Just let a sleeping dog lie.

 

[Mavaliersfan]

I never see the point of this discussion if the path we took yielded a championship. We can argue about roster moves ad nauseum, but at the end of the day I'd gladly take the 1 guaranteed title and so would you.

Nothing we could have done would have anticipated or properly prepared us for this Golden State team so it's pointless anyways. Just need to fortify a couple positions, pray for an injury and hope it's sufficient for a 2nd title and by extension enough to retain LeBron.

I'm sorry, but I'm not nearly satisfied with one title considering we've had one of the top 3 players of all-time for 10 years.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

I'm sorry, but I'm not nearly satisfied with one title considering we've had one of the top 3 players of all-time for 10 years.

Well, cry to the league about not vetoing the Durant move, curse Ferry's incompetence and be thankful for the one we do have. How would you feel if we had lost in the final seconds of Game 7 and THEN Durant made his move? The title sounds awfully sweet in that scenario.

And I agree with others that we didn't need to punt the pick in the Love trade or at least demand Dieng in return, but with all the bad moves (and good ones) it still netted us a championship. It's easy to be bitter about "only 1" title, but remember what life was like being title-less for over half a century and you'll realize that 1 is better than 0.