As the Cavs attempt to move forward ahead of the July 1st LeBron James free agency, the picture is getting less and less clear. As we learn about more teams’ desires and positions and draft needs, it makes the world awfully complicated. I mean, we are talking about the same league that is capable of producing three team deals with relative regularity. With that in mind, I will not try to predict what the Cavs will do. I will just state a few basic assumptions based on previous rumors. Mo Williams is available. Delonte West is available and a valuable trade piece because his buyout is only $500k. J.J. Hickson is probably available for the right deal and despite Cavs’ fans concerns, he still has value. With those things and Dan Gilbert’s spending history in mind, here are the rumors. I could try and connect the dots in putting the Cavs involved in every one of these rumors, but it seems like a pointless exercise. I’ll let Chris Grant / Dan Gilbert do their thing and hope for the best.
- San Antonio wants to add a big man to their roster, possibly in the draft. They haven’t reportedly been shopping Tony Parker, but the 28 year-old point guard is no longer considered untradeable. The latest rumors have him possibly going to the Knicks, maybe even for David Lee. Of course another way they could go is to trade with Philly who has the #2 pick and reportedly will consider trading it. There the Spurs could take Derrick Favors.
- Speaking of Philly and the #2 pick, rumors were that Philly would use the leverage of having the #2 pick to unload Elton Brand’s $15 million per year contract. It was later rumored that Philly might have to back off that stance because people wouldn’t be willing to take Elton Brand’s contract under any circumstances.
- Minnesota and Oklahoma City are automatically included in this conversation because they have multiple first round picks. Minnesota has the 16th and 23rd picks. Oklahoma City has 21st and the 26th. These picks could be used for those teams to trade up. These picks could be sold to teams who want to buy into the draft.
- Toronto is generally just a wildcard. Nothing seems to be sacred in Toronto. It almost seems as if they have resigned themselves to getting their superstar Chris Bosh to agree to a sign-and-trade so they can get something for him.
- Many have speculated that if Bosh is going to be gone that Toronto would want to unload Hedo Turkoglu’s contract. As recently as yesterday it was reported that Hedo Turkoglu wants to go back to Sacramento.
- The New Orleans Hornets aren’t necessarily hot in the rumor mill, but still people can’t seem to keep Chris Paul and David West’s names out of their posts. Obviously, people are trying to connect dots between Chris Paul being unhappy and potential trades. Combined with NO’s shopping of west in the past…
So there are the rumors that abound. No conclusions on anything just yet. The Cavs have a few pieces so they can make a few trades. They can also buy draft picks as Scott talked about earlier in June.
