Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

[Tressel33]

I wonder if okc is one of the teams looking for speights?

I'm sure Speights would have to be in the trade with OKC in order to get that pick that OKC has from Toronto. Let's hope

[supermario21]

Honestly, I'd like to keep Speights. I think we have a good balance of 1st rounders and bench depth. Let's try and make something happen with Casspi, Walton, Miles, etc.

[KI4MVP]

ESPN weekend dime says that Speights could be dealt again by the deadline. Says a number of teams have already inquired about him. Also says Gibson and Casspi are the most likely to be dealt.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...uts-saying-now

the relevant part of the article

Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant has been tracking Marreese Speights since the big man was playing at Florida. And Cleveland could certainly use a boost on the front line after announcing this week that Anderson Varejao would be lost for the season after his recent leg surgery left the Brazilian with a blood clot in his right lung.

All that said ...

Don't be shocked if the Cavaliers decide to move Speights on again before the Feb. 21 deadline.

The Cavs obviously aren't in the playoff hunt and word is they're already receiving interest in Speights, who possesses a $4.5 million player option for next season. The Cavs are also armed with $12 million in expiring contracts and roughly $4 million in leftover cap space for the summer, which means they've got the tools to continue to be active before this deadline.

Daniel Gibson and Omri Casspi, according to NBA front-office sources, are the most likely Cavs to be dealt along with Speights, who had to give his consent to be sent to Cleveland as one of the 13 players in the league this season (see Box No. 6 here for the detailed explanation) who had trade-blocking power related to his Bird rights.

if you assume it takes .500 to make the playoffs, this is clearly true. But #8 Boston may blow it up and #9 Philly is on pace for 33 wins. 21-17 gets us to 33 wins.

As for Speights, I really liked the much needed toughness he brought us last night. I give him as much credit as anyone on the team that we came back to win. The great thing is that even in that one game, his attitude rubbed off on the other players. I wouldn't be in any big hurry to trade him.

Keeping him around at least for a little while could be good for the team and should also increase his trade value.

[petes999]

I'm sure Speights would have to be in the trade with OKC in order to get that pick that OKC has from Toronto. Let's hope

What would happen if we traded Speights and LAL swap for Toronto pick. Then OKC has the ability to tank a game or two to help them get LAL pick but then possibly face them in the playoffs. What would you do? Of course this wouldn't happen. But, it would be interesting if OKC played LAL in one of the final games of the season.

[RTrees]

Any chance Grant gave Memphis assurances that he wouldn't flip Speights to a contender this year?

Andy's out. We need bigs. Now that he's been brought in, anyone less competent than Speights may be a disservice and frankly disrespectful to the team and fans. Can't just pull the chair out from under a team after they start winning a few, what message does that send? I know some/all of our guys want to win now too.

These two possibilities make me think Speights will be here at least until the summer.

In a package for a higher caliber player is the only way I see him going anywhere.

[Kizzle]

Maybe thats all this team needs really....Some new young faces. Energy cant be coached...Heart cant be coached. And sadly I can poinnt out some players on last years and this years roster that had niether

[KI4MVP]

Any chance Grant gave Memphis assurances that he wouldn't flip Speights to a contender this year?

Andy's out. We need bigs. Now that he's been brought in, anyone less competent than Speights may be a disservice and frankly disrespectful to the team and fans. Can't just pull the chair out from under a team after they start winning a few, what message does that send? I know some/all of our guys want to win now too.

These two possibilities make me think Speights will be here at least until the summer.

In a package for a higher caliber player is the only way I see him going anywhere.

none

[tn819]

Wow... this is the first game since the Lebron era where I didn't feel like we were watching a D-League squad for a stretch of the game. The talent on this squad is significantly better after this trade. This hurts our lotto standing, but indicates we have a nice little young squad on our hands. I will take that over a crap shoot in the lotto any day. Let's see what Grant pulls off next.

I voted this an A, but I have to perhaps push it an A+

[EugB23]

17 huge points off of the bench, clearly our best big off the bench and should be playing 30 minutes a night IMHO, this year's draft is pretty weak to be honest. I wouldn't trade him unless it's a top 5 pick....

[AMC]

Any chance Grant gave Memphis assurances that he wouldn't flip Speights to a contender this year?

I don't think they are scared of him doing much for a contender.

[Jack Brickman]

17 huge points off of the bench, clearly our best big off the bench and should be playing 30 minutes a night IMHO, this year's draft is pretty weak to be honest. I wouldn't trade him unless it's a top 5 pick....

The way I see it, you ride the hot hand and just give whichever bigs are making the biggest impact the most minutes on any given night. Speights is going to struggle some nights too, and when he does you give one of the other guys more PT.

Kind of like last night when Byron played the bench for damn near the entire fourth quarter because they were being ludicrously effective.

[Maximus]

Trade him. Let him stuff some stats and move him for a 14 pick.

[Scholar]

17 huge points off of the bench, clearly our best big off the bench and should be playing 30 minutes a night IMHO, this year's draft is pretty weak to be honest. I wouldn't trade him unless it's a top 5 pick....

What part about a player option eludes you? He can opt out. He can leave after the season ends and then we get nothing, nada, zero, zilch. Stop falling in love with role players that are not long term championship pieces. If they get a first round pick for him they should trade him. If he truly wants to play for us, and we want him, then we can sign him as a free agent. You should also consider that he is playing this hard because he knows millions are involved. Never ever base how hard a player gives effort in a year where the off season can net him a new contract with increased earnings. You'll end up disappointed in most cases.

He is going to opt out. He is going to become a free agent. He is worth more then he is being paid. It's just foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity to get assets for him instead of getting nothing.

[Lottery God]

Trade him. Let him stuff some stats and move him for a 14 pick.

FINALLY! Someone with some God-damn sense on this board. In my opinion, Speights can't be gone soon enough.

Like I said in another thread, if we were to keep this guy (and this possibly even includes Ellington), then the extra wins we could potentially get from having them on our team could offset the value of the Memphis pick because our own pick would be worse to the point where our worse pick + the Memphis pick wouldn't even be equal in value to the pick we would've had if we hadn't done the trade in the 1st place. We can't always count on having players fall to us or go underrated like Thompson, and, if that happens and we get our guy and he ends up being what we want him to be, then fine, win away, but I highly doubt that will be the case.

Gotta get Speights outta here for another pick!

[warddj86]

FINALLY! Someone with some God-damn sense on this board. In my opinion, Speights can't be gone soon enough.

Like I said in another thread, if we were to keep this guy (and this possibly even includes Ellington), then the extra wins we could potentially get from having them on our team could offset the value of the Memphis pick because our own pick would be worse to the point where our worse pick + the Memphis pick wouldn't even be equal in value to the pick we would've had if we hadn't done the trade in the 1st place. We can't always count on having players fall to us or go underrated like Thompson, and, if that happens and we get our guy and he ends up being what we want him to be, then fine, win away, but I highly doubt that will be the case.

Gotta get Speights outta here for another pick!

Speights and Walton's expiring to OKC for Toronto pick and one of their bad contracts?