Links to the Present: Follow Up Edition
2014-07-14
LeBron James is officially a Cleveland Cavalier, since he has signed a contract for $42.1 million that has an opt out option after only one season. There’s no reason to fear he is going to leave though. Like many decisions in life, this one was all about the money.
Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer explains why LeBron structured the contract with an opt out option.
The salary cap rises 7-10 percent most seasons. The moment you sign a long-term deal, you are locked into that deal. Those close to James estimate that the starting salary for the maximum deal next season could be at least $22 million. So they want to keep their options open when it comes to the contract.
LeBron wants to stay in Cleveland, which is obvious after reading his letter. However, as a Cavs fan, the journey was anything but easy. Zack Meisel, on a piece for Cleveland.com, details the journey Clevelanders went through to get to LeBron signing on his home state’s team. He recalls the cupcake post, the Instagram picture, flight gate, the personal trainer with inside information, the three team trade, and the Riley meeting. I will always remember possibly wearing out the upper part of my Iphone refreshing Twitter.
Bill Livingston, also of The Plain Dealer, gives a summary of LeBron coming 
home by comparing him to Odysseus. It’s wonderful writing, especially enjoyable for English majors. Livingston has another piece that reminds fans that LeBron isn’t Michael Jordan, but that that isn’t all bad.
Chris Sheridan, founder of sheridansports.com, has been left out of the national conversation about LeBron, but he is the first person who said LeBron was coming back. Mike Mayers of Fear The Sword interviewed Sheridan about the event. Here’s Sheridan’s answer about how it felt putting out news no one believed.
Chris Sheridan: There will always be disbelief and skepticism when you report something no one else is reporting. I do not get offended. I was trained at ESPN to have a thick skin. Seriously, they told me that, and it was great advice. At first, I did not feel vindication … But I have been over the past couple of days because of all the messages of support I received. I knew what was going to happen, so I was calm, but I don’t THINKI realized exactly how much skepticism there was out there. People thought I had made it up! That would have been suicidal for my career.
And, he has some advice for the Cavs: The Blog Bloggers and sports bloggers world wide looking to make a career in sports writing.
Find another career, or prepare to spend the rest of your life being a slave to the 24/7 news cycle. It screws up your work-life balance in a major way.
Make sure to check out Kirk’s LeBron homecoming piece at Waiting For Next Year. The go ahead has been given for unbridabled optimisticness.
As cautious as we are in Cleveland to be confident, as closed off as we all were for fear of getting hurt, I’m not afraid anymore to talk about it. Larry O’Brien’s trophy is no dream to laugh at when stacked up against the long odds of everything that just happened….
Our own blogger, Robert Attenweiler, has a piece running at Triangle Offense about the homecoming of not only LeBron but the rational Cleveland sports fan.
Well, this is sports. This is entertainment – it’s entertainment that I and many others share a participatory interest verging on mild obsession with. So even when we feel bad, it’s a much better bad feeling than actually having to feel bad. Trying to track this back to actual feelings of self-respect and self-worth is like making a real apocalypse out of every Michael Bay film. Which, granted, is entirely easier for a Cleveland fan to say now than if South Beach had retained James’s talents for another few contract years. Sure.
Bill Simmons put out a piece about LeBron that contends James is a genius. Furthermore, he not only came home because he missed home but also because he thinks that he can play the brand of basketball he wants to with Cleveland. He wants to make the perfect piece of art from the Cavs, so my thinking is at least it’s the Cavs this time as the canvas.
Brendan Bowers has a piece up about a former Ohio basketball standout, Chet Mason. Mason works in the Cleveland area with kids through basketball camps and has played basketball overseas. He has a relationship with LeBron and has been on the edge of the Cleveland franchise for years. The piece makes you feel good about some of the off the court things LeBron is going to bring back to Cleveland.
While the Cavs still have to fill out the roster with some free agents, it is relieving to see theformer number one pick, Anthony Bennett, improve so much. Micah Peters at USA Today has taken notice of Bennett’s weight loss and grabbed shots of his monster dunks in the Summer League.
Fellow number one pick from this season, Andrew Wiggins, is safe from being traded for now according to reports. The Cavs seem to have their priorities straight and want to build organically as much as possible. We will have to wait and see what happens to the team’s chances of getting Kevin Love without wanting to trade Wiggins.
Things are looking up for Cleveland right now and I feel comfortable saying, “God Loves Cleveland.” I also feel comfortable saying that Cleveland may actually be the “center of the universe” for the next few years, basketball wise, at least.
Is anyone else getting the sense that Dion is coming off as arrogant. He wants to play now and isn;t interested in being a 6th man. I guess that could come off as strong confidence, but I am worried about his team skills. We saw a lot of that with Kyrie last year. Hopefully Blatt finds a way for them to co-exist and maybe LeBron would help keep him in line, but his comments of late seem to have a general attitude of being better than the team.
I think he wants to start because he believes hes that good. I think if Wiggins really ‘proves’ to be that much better – that’s when veteran leaders help him realize how best to accept and excel in that role. This is a hard thing for any player but. Many transition well.
Honestly, Bennett can be Love in 3 years, with the condition that Lebron is around. Nobody looks better than a stretch 4 who can rebound on a team with the offense running through Lebron. Let’s not repeat the Miami mistake…three max players taking pay cuts lasts only so long. As we are planning on playoffs and not a championship this year, let’s be a little more patient. As someone said above, the opportunity to play on a team with Lebron will be a bit of a proving ground for our young guys. The one’s who see what it really takes… Read more »
you go, scotch!
I am 100% on board with your theory! It might be optimistic, but guess what? We got LeBron, and they don’t. That could be the greatest force for young players developing of all time.
If you really think Bennett is on pace to be Love in 3 years – then Scotch is more than your name its what you’ve been drinking too much of. Love is a top 5 player in the league (arguably) I don’t see AB even arguably being that level.
Ima start the love talk here I want him but he is not worth losing wiggins over now before y’all yell about that listen wiggins is a better value than love in regard to contracts and skill combined now that doesn’t mean dont get love I want him I just want irving wiggins lebron and love to be a fearsome foursome (yes I took that from the rams on draft night) I think with waiters tt and bennett something could be done especially with the 3 first we have next year but I would like to keep bennett because I… Read more »
What you are forgetting is that Waiters + TT + Bennett >> Love, by a long shot, and a lot cheaper. I mean, we are short handed as it is, and you want to trade our maybe forth, fifth, and sixth best players for someone to be the third best player, has weird injuries, doesn’t play much D, and needs the ball all the time so he can chuck away? Yikes! Also, the PD’s resident buffoon, Chris Fedor, wants to include Wiggins in a for Love trade. Where do they find these people? He is dumb enough to be on… Read more »
Is ur full stop key broken lol?
We will definitely keep Hayward. His contract is awesome for a sign and trade next year, or simply a trade to cut another teams pay roll.
Summer League just finished. Great show today. Despite back-to-back nights the Cavs played hard most of the night. Delly was great and carried the team to the win when they needed it (along with Shane Edwards). AB and Wiggins did their thing and showed confidence. Wiggins did the spin-move dunk that got us all to think he was the next LeBron back in high school. It still is an amazing thing to behold.
Felix hit 2 threes but was otherwise not much of a factor. 3-0!
Dumb question – ESPN thinks that the Pelicans will waive Omar Casspi. Would Blatt be interested? (Would Casspi?)
No need anymore. You’ve got Lebron, Wiggins, and Bennett who can all sare time at SF. The Casspi window has closed.
Hopefully the idea of gutting the team for Love is dead in the water.
Absolutely need a big. It would be nice if somehow we could get Zeller or Henry Sims back. Phily drafted about a dozen guys and have two high pick centers, so they might cut Sims (although he was actually one of their top scorers last year).
The roster is pretty short, some walk-ons might make the team. Another Bobby Phils would be nice! Or, Delladedova.
If Henry Sims is our worst case scenario – I’d actually be ok with it (given our cap situation). I like Sims.
Me too, I was sorry to see him go.
The 76’s NBA web site shows 21 guys currently on the team. Sims is not on the rookie league team. I think he might be a third year player. Anyway, there is a decent chance for a usable player to be cut somewhere. And these guys wife’s are not going to be telling them not to go to Cleveland. For someone just cut, the chance to go to Cleveland and play with LeBron will be a big deal, so the Cavs should get top pickings.
nupe very good pts.—never thought about the 2nd option ——–heard on the radio today that LeBron’s coming to Cleveland will increase revenue appox 500 million—-all the business people need to ” kick in ” some bucks to cavs/ LeBron —–yeah I think blatt and lue are going to do some exciting things this year
Two things come to my mind about LeBron signing such a ‘short’ contract: 1) He must be really confident he won’t get injured or have any issues continuing to perform at such a high level. Locking up a long-term contract ‘protects’ you should your game slip for any reason. I’m sure he has insurance, but still, it’s a risk to not get a max guranteed contract for as long as you can. 2) He can use the short term nature of his contract to potentially opt out and take less IF that means they can attract one of his superstar… Read more »
Really digging coach Blatt. I think this guy is going to be solid.
is greg Monroe out of the picture —could we still pursue him and pay the luxury tax ? —se Detroit has been busy signing free agents —-Augustine/ butler——is brooke lopez an option with less to give up with a trade
I’m not complaining, considering we just signed LeBron freaking James, but I wonder what the plan is with free agency. Maybe nothing is happening because they’re still trying to finagle a deal for Love without giving up Wiggins. Cavs need a rim protector and shooters. Looks like Mike Miller got a better offer financially from Denver, and he’s still mulling it over. Wonder if Ray Allen is still interested in playing. Any super tall guys left in free agency who could man the middle a bit and not be a disaster?
“but I don’t THINKI realized exactly how much skepticism there was out there. People thought I had made it up!”
Only because you had been wrong so many times before Chris, and your petty fights didn’t help your image either. The boy who cries wolf and all that.
And of course, Sheridan had more than a few key details wrong on the Lebron return. It absolutely reeks of a guy who had little more than a good hunch, closed his eyes and swung for the fences and connected. What was the downside? Sheridanhoops.com was an afterthough before, and would still have been if he was wrong.
That’s my sense, too.
For our sakes, I hope Lebron is still as excited about winning titles. There is no reason we can’t develop the consistency of San Antonio and win 2 or 3 out of 5 or 6. We don’t have to win 3 in a row to equal Jordan’s achievements.
I’d like to comment on Simmons’ piece. First, what a great job he did portraying the genius of legendary athletes, how the mind is what separates the greatest from the rest. I also love the notion that LeBron has transcended basketball as a “game” where to goal is to win championships, and treats it more like an art. This is a perfect metaphor. The goal is no longer winning titles at all costs — LeBron will never equal a Michael Jordan or Bill Russell in that regard. But he can still create a uniquely great piece of art. The Essay… Read more »
Calling all cap gurus – Are the Cavs limited by the salary cap in who they can sign at this time? Or can they exceed the cap now and pay a luxury tax? If they can’t exceed the cap – how are they going to pick up a back up post? Or sign Mike Miller? The thing that bothers me about Love is that we couldn’t even trade Wiggins straight up for him – even if Minnesota would accept that. We have to clear $15.7MM in cap room . . . which would be Wiggins, Bennett, & a couple of… Read more »
If we trade everyone for Love then do we have to watch someone just like Gee playing shooting guard or small forward when someone goes to the bench. Bull and Fox show they were arguing that lots of good players want to come to cleveland but we had a bunch of Damon Jones here and not much else when Lenron was here. I don’t see them lining up to come here this week. Please keep our bench so Lebron can play under 35 minutes a game. Delly, Dion and Wiggins playing when Lebron and Kyrie are on the bench could… Read more »
We have that $2.6M, and then would have to pay guys minimum salaries.
We would only have $2.6M to spend, the mid level exception we get for having had cap room. We cannot just go spend beyond the cap and pay a luxury tax.
Yes, the biggest issue to getting Love would be clearing enough salary to send back to them.
I agree about keeping Wiggins and other young pieces. I’d like to see the Cavs bring in some rim protection, even a guy like Samuel Dalembert. Kyrie, Dion, LeBron, and hopefully Bennett and Wiggins (plus various spot-up shooters) should provide enough offense to allow for a center who only needs to worry about blocking shots and rebounding.
Love would be a great fit shooting-wise, but I worry about his defense, injury history, and what his contract would do to the team’s flexibility.
Exactly! This team’s #1 concern is rim protection. Adding K-Love not only fails to resolve that issue, it hamstrings us from fixing it once 9/10s of our cap space is tied up in 3 players. The new CBA is set up so that max contracts are essentially 33% of a team’s salary; there was a STRONG emphasis by owners on preventing Big Threes from forming…
As our owner pushed so hard for that restriction hopefully he remembers that it exists!
^^^You would prize draft because it costs the least amount of money of the three options (realistically you would not get a player of Wiggins caliber in free agency for the rookie wage) and it presents the most control for management (typically 6+ years for a 1st rounder).
But yes James, using all 3 is definitely a must. I was just defending the “build organically” comment as I think there is some merit to it.
The only merit is money though. And even that is overrated. Build however you can to get a title. It doesn’t matter how you get it. The Heat got two by free agency. The Celtics got one by trading. The Spurs got quite a few by good drafting and luck that Duncan is still able to play at a high level at an old age. The Mavericks got one by free agency. The Lakers used drafting, free agency and trades to get their recent 5. Use whatever you can. There’s no such thing as a title having more meaning because… Read more »
I would actually disagree with your last sentence. To me, the way the Spurs have been built and have an identity and a legacy and investment in each other makes them such a better representation of sportsmanship. Winning is important, but sports is about more than winning. It’s in a lot of ways metaphorical for life, and in that way the Spurs championships are more meaningful than the Heat’s. To me, at least.
Um what? Both of those teams evolved into pretty much the same type of offense that highly valued making the extra pass to take a great shot instead of just a good shot. The idea that the Spurs title means more than the Heat’s is ridiculous and you only think that because you were rooting for them to win.
It’s insane to believe that one title is worth more than another team’s title. And it’s crazy talk to think so.
You’re missing my point, as I sort of guessed you would. Sports is a microcosm of life in a lot of ways. I’m not talking about how they play the game, I’m talking about the way the team was built. One was built through hard work, development and learning, fastidious scouting, loyalty, and personal sacrifice. The other was built by gaming the system. Again, I’m just trying to say that sports is so much bigger than the results, at least to me. Maybe it isn’t to you, but to me it’s as much about the narrative as it is about… Read more »
They should keep Wiggins because Wiggins being around LeBron James gives him a better chance to turn into the star everyone think he will be. Not because of some random “build organically” whatever that means.
There are 3 ways to improve a team, trades, draft, and free agents. There’s absolutely no reason to prize one over the other in the NBA.
Bennett looks great. Wiggins looks great so far. It’s going to be a super fun season.
Yep and the best teams use all 3 techniques. One could even argue that the best teams HAVE to use all 3 as it is very difficult to get a winning team using just one acquisition system. Even Miami needed to add pieces around the core through the draft and in trades. OKC did better than probably anyone in history in the draft over a 3 year stretch – shame they can’t trade or pick up quality free agents. We’ve drafted a ton of assets. Have a solid core. Now to add a couple of pieces and improve the existing… Read more »
I wouldn’t necessarily say building through trades, draft, and free agents are all equal ways to build a team. Improve a team, maybe, but not build. A group of 19-22 year olds who start their pro careers together on the same team are apt to develop in a more cohesive, unified fashion than if that same group were assembled on the same team in their primes through free agency. Even LeBron and DWade took a year to learn how to play together. #1 pick Wiggins having the chance to play next to LeBron from Day 1 is exactly how I… Read more »