The 2023-2024 Off-Season Thread

Watch dame end up in Orl

foucault87 said:

Watch dame end up in Orl

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As funny as that would be. Orlando has zero reason to try and get Dame. Because even with Dame they would still suck. I still don't know why the Magic gave Ingles 2 years 22 Million. So maybe they go all in and get Dame and try for a shot at the play in.

According to Aldridge, the Heat is the only destination for Lillard, and there's been no other suitors right now. I find the latter surprising. But if he said only Miami, then it'd make sense.

One guy I mentioned elsewhere the past few days is Darius Bazley. He is an unrestricted free agent and just turned 23 years old. There were rookies in the NBA older than Bazley last year, but he's become a depressed asset.

Phoenix traded Saric and a second rounder for him at the deadline because he showed some promise to start the season for OKC as a power forward and small ball center. Unfortunately he immediately landed in Monty's doghouse and only saw action in seven games. The problems are clear: he is a poor decision maker on offense and puts up some ill advised shots. He is also a plus defensive presence who is switchable and protects the rim. His three point shot has been improving steadily.

As we carry on and some more established bigs go off the board, remember the former first rounder from outside Cincinnati.

godfather said:

According to Aldridge, the Heat is the only destination for Lillard, and there's been no other suitors right now. I find the latter surprising. But if he said only Miami, then it'd make sense.

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I thought Riley was one of Woj's sources? Of course Miami is the only destination.

Kyrieville said:

Dame for Garland.

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Done! Portland would be getting absolutely fleeced on that deal

I guess another person is saying the trade is going to center around Herro, picks, and Portland may want Heat to take back Nurkic in the deal. According to Lillard, he loves the city and is great friends with Butler. Seems Riley knew this in advance.

Because Lillard has been in talks with plenty of heat players days before. Makes sense why Riley is letting guys go, and not sweating over it.

godfather said:

I guess another person is saying the trade is going to center around Herro, picks, and Portland may want Heat to take back Nurkic in the deal. According to Lillard, he loves the city and is great friends with Butler. Seems Riley knew this in advance.

Because Lillard has been in talks with plenty of heat players days before. Makes sense why Riley is letting guys go, and not sweating over it.

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damn, Nurkic too? Adding Herro to that deal seems like a lot of guards for Portland. But I get it.
Dame to Heat just feels inevitable.
Would be nice to follow this on demand but Elon is a diamond mine turd baby who needs to be flushed.

Dr No said:

I think we got better. My concern is how much better. Like you say, these deals kind of lock us in for a few years - unless we move one of the core 4. (I also think Wade and Okoro could be moved, but neither is bringing back an impact player). So is this enough to move us up significantly? I like that we are better on offense - should be considerably better. Of the 10 guys we know are playable and are most likely to get minutes, we have DG, DM, Struss, Niang, Vert, & Wade that all demand attention to the 3 point line. This leaves only Allen, Mobley, Okoro and Rubio as non-shooters. We should have shooting in the starting unit and shooters off the bench (please don't start Okoro alongside Allen & Mobley). Nice change. Our defense and rebounding is going to be worse. Okoro and Wade are the two best perimeter defenders we have and both are likely to see less playing time this year (and if Okoro's minutes stay high we've gone back to multiple non-shooters on the floor together). Struss and Niang are not plusses on the boards or on defense. Vert is an decent defender. DM & DG are bad. Rubio has been good, but I suspect his playing time is going down. With DG, DM, Struss, & Niang we are slow and/or small. Like I said, I think we got better. But how much better?

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Green Lantern thinks we got marginally better. I am a little more optimistic. We didn't lose much defensively because Stevens didn't play much and Cedi kind of sucked on defense, IMO. He wasn't a rebounder, either.

Looking at the Knicks' series, the Cavs used seven players. The starters averaged 34-41 minutes. Cedi and Okoro averaged 19 and 15 minutes, respectively. Danny Green averaged 8 minutes and that was it.

In this year's playoffs we will have the same starting five with Strus and Niang replacing Cedi and Okoro. Not a marginal upgrade, IMO. Substantial upgrade.

Okoro and Cedi combined for 12.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 34 minutes in that series. They were mostly non-factors.

Rubio did not score a point in 17 minutes. He should be 100% by next spring.

So with (hopefully) better versions of Mobley and Rubio and with the two new outside snipers replacing Cedi and Okoro, the Cavs should be significantly better. A lot will depend on how much Mobley improves from his second to third year and how well JBB can integrate the new snipers with the current core to maximize the talent.

The thought of having the same team for at least two years in a row is exciting. These guys will learn each other like the back of their hand and the offense should be flowing smoothly by the '24 playoffs.

The rebounding, or lack of it, which killed us against the Knicks, is basically unchanged. Cedi averaged 3 rebounds in 19 minutes against the Knicks. Stevens barely played. We're not losing any rebounding or defense but we're picking up a lot of outside shooting.

The biggest vulnerability is still defensive rebounding, especially when Allen or Mobley is out. Niang is not much of a rebounder - on the defensive glass he's in the 19th percentile among forwards. Same for Okoro, LeVert, and Strus at the 3. This is going to be a frustrating team to watch on defense since a lot of missed shots are going to be rebounded and put back.

It's discouraging to see your team play great defense for 22 seconds, force a contested, low percentage shot, have the shot miss, but then there's an offensive rebound and a follow for two points and sometimes three.

Niang and Strus are going to be splashing 3s for us.

Getting Strus for Cedi and Stevens without giving up Wade or Rubio is outstanding.

Wish we didn't give up those two second round picks though.

JB is now forced to have floor spacing. Getting rid of Stevens, thank you. If he honesty starts throwing minutes to Wade, just fire him mid-season. Wade sucks, but I don't think JB will go to him. I don't think JB himself was a fan either.

Jscc said:

Getting Strus for Cedi and Stevens without giving up Wade or Rubio is outstanding.

Wish we didn't give up those two second round picks though.

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Cedi has way more value than both players. Giving up Cedi made sense, given he'd be out of the rotation anyways.

godfather said:

Cedi has way more value than both players. Giving up Cedi made sense, given he'd be out of the rotation anyways.

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I think we learned yesterday afternoon that GMs don't agree with you. There were plenty of teams interested in Strus and we couldn't give Cedi away without a pick attached.

Cavs fans know the reasons. Cedi has a desired frame for a small forward but never put it all together. Stevens is also a great guy... just a terrible roster fit without three points range. I hope Cedi and Stevens thrive under Pops and their incredible staff. They are solid rebuilding team contributors. I wish them nothing but continued improvement in their careers.

Randolphkeys said:

I think we learned yesterday afternoon that GMs don't agree with you. There were plenty of teams interested in Strus and we couldn't give Cedi away without a pick attached.

Cavs fans know the reasons. Cedi has a desired frame for a small forward but never put it all together. Stevens is also a great guy... just a terrible roster fit without three points range. I hope Cedi and Stevens thrive under Pops and their incredible staff. They are solid rebuilding team contributors. I wish them nothing but continued improvement in their careers.

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I think teams with cap space weren't willing to take on Cedi without an asset attach to it. Absorbing a player into cap space is the new way to gain assets, you don't take on a player into cap space without an asset unless you really like that player. Miami didn't want an expiring contracts and wanted a TPE back in the Strus deal, that limited who Cedi could go to. The Spurs knew that and made sure to get an asset with Cedi, any good GM would do that.