While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Must read interview with former Cavalier Ron Harper- “RH: Wayne [Embry, Cleveland’s then-GM] had his ideals, and I had mine. I was a young kid who came to play every night. You could see all my stats—I was in the top five in scoring, I was in the top-five rebounding guards, I was top-three in steals, I played more minutes than any first-year guy. Wayne said, “You need to go home and go to bed more.” I said, Well, if my stats show my being the same basketball player, what’s wrong?
SLAM: I think something people might not remember from those days is that you were in that Jordan mold.
RH: When I played against MJ, he always gave me my respect and I always gave him his. But he had the ultimate green light. I always had guys on my teams who were great, too. I had a Brad Daugherty, a Mark Price. I played with Hot Rod. So it’s not like I could shoot as much as him. I’m not saying if I did shoot as much as him what would have happened. I always told my teammates, MJ gonna score 32-35, and I’ll be within 10 points. So I need one of you guys to outscore his teammates.” [Bengtson/SLAM online]
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A vote for signing Batum- “Anderson Varejao – 9.1 million, Kyrie Irving – 5.9 million, Tristan Thompson – 4.3 million, Dion Waiters – 4 million, Tyler Zeller – 2 million. We can add in the Cavaliers two guaranteed first round picks at 6 million dollars, which is actually more than they are likely to be. Add in Alonzo Gee at 4 million, and the Cavaliers have 35.3 million dollars wrapped up in eight players. Add in Batum, in the second year of his four year deal at 13 million more, and the Cavaliers still have 12 million dollars to add another impact player, assuming the salary cap is 60 million dollars, which is conservative. The Cavaliers won’t have the opportunity to extend Kyrie until the end of what would be Batum’s third season, and wouldn’t have to significantly go over the cap in order to do so. By the time Waiters and Zeller are eligible for extensions, Batum will already be off the books.
In other words, the money the Cavaliers spend on Batum the next four years won’t hurt them. It isn’t until 5 years from now that the team will have to make serious decisions about who it can extend and who it should extend. Furthermore, after four years of playing together, the Cavaliers will have a better idea about which players they should invest in and who they shouldn’t invest in.” [Zavac/Fear the Sword]
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“June was a month in which Shin-Soo Choo started swinging like the star of seasons past, Justin Masterson began looking like a No. 1 starter again, Ubaldo Jimenez began turning in his best outings as a member of the Tribe and Asdrubal Cabrera continued his emergence as one of the game’s elite shortstops.
Unfortunately, it was also a month in which a lot of other things went wrong. The pitching suffered — throughout the rotation and especially in middle relief — and the offense went through drastic spurts of feast or famine. Cleveland lost its hold on first, regained it again and then slipped back into second place in the American League Central.” [Bastian/MLB]
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“Secondly, the Cavs want to maintain their flexibility at the trade deadline in February and next summer. This time next year, a punitive or “super” luxury tax kicks in. The tax will be assessed at different levels based on the amount that a team is over the threshold. This year, it’s a dollar-for-dollar tax. Starting next year, teams could pay $1.50 on the dollar, and up to $3.50. Experts predict teams will want to dump players — perhaps some very good ones — to stay out of that tax threshold. Teams with cap space could benefit greatly.” [Finnan/News Herald]
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Finally, some banter by Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus got a UniWatch mention. [Lukas/UniWatch]
