Cavs team age, Dion Waiters interview and quick sports takes … While We’re Waiting
August 7, 2014Watch highlights of soon-to-be Cavalier Kevin Love
August 7, 2014That sound you hear is the most recent detonation of a Woj Bomb. Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports a confirmation of sorts, stating the Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired All-Star power forward Kevin Love in a deal that includes No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins. As if that wasn’t enough, Cleveland is making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension.
The deal, as has been reported elsewhere, has been in place for some time, but cannot be finalized until August 23 when Wiggins’ 30-day trade window closes. Joining Wiggins will be last year’s No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett and a protected first-round draft pick for 2015 (reportedly the one acquired from Miami in the LeBron James trade in 2010).
The three-time NBA All-Star averaged 26 points and 12.5 rebounds for the Timberwolves last season. For his career, he’s averaged 19 points and 12.2 rebounds. Per Wojnarowski, Love, 25, will join superstar LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to create the most devastating trio in the NBA and will instantly make the Cavaliers frontrunners to win the NBA championship.
Soak it in, Cavs fans. It’s going to be a fun ride.
[Related: Watch highlights of soon-to-be Cavalier Kevin Love]
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(AP Photo/Jim Mone)
146 Comments
Don’t be too down RGB.
As with Garnett and Love Minnesota will be unable to properly build around Wiggins.
We’ll get him back after his rookie contract expires.
YES! they had all the leverage and they blew it.
No SAMMY.
No Wiggins.
Grinch! Why do you taunt me so?
🙁
but what are their madden ratings
INFINITY!!!
i was thinking more along the lines of:
But still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting here (Don’t keep me wait), lead me to your door
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/love/default.aspx
Agreed, but Danny still had to swallow his fist and march down to South Beach to say he was sorry to even have the chance at LeBron.
He gets credit for that.
UGH….. Sammy.
Thanks for the reminder.
Conspiracy theory time: This was leaked to get Marion away from the Pacers and convince Allen to sign.
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view6/4741556/you-blew-it-o.gif
Nice. Have you seen the show? I was absolutely enthralled
All the credit in the world to Casino Dan if that’s what it took to get Lebron here. A bit concerned by how quickly he forgot about that promise to not let a player hold a franchise hostage – short term contract for Lebron, who gets to dictate which players are brought in – but still credit nonetheless.
I’ve beat that drum consistently on here; in total agreement that it didn’t take long to toss Bron Bron the keys to the kingdom again.
I guess at least this time he’s interested in building a roster full of all-stars instead of just making sure his dudes get seats on the jet.
didn’t see it.
Dont forget those two memorable weeks of Donald Sloan and Lester Hudson. The Ramon Sessions era, the immortal Earl Clark. Wondering if 3 mil a year was enough for Gee. The Samardo Hollins juggernaught? Do you remember that this time last we were debating what Bynum was going to give us. The losing streak the record number of blown 20 point leads. I remember it all. Somewhere Byron Scott is standing on a beach, arms folded over his chest staring blankly out into the Pacific. A single tear streaks his face. A short distance away Mike Brown is rolling naked in a giant pile of money
Thanks for providing the “Deep Cuts” version of my original comment.
Samardo Samuels…oh the horror…..the HORROR.
and, if we are looking for a tipping point about going all-in on 2015, then the Paul George injury lines up pretty well.
http://www.cool-chaos.com/images/products/173489.jpg
was the Greg Oden arrest staged to scare other teams away from him?
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Gilbert will shut him down!
haha, hey man its the cavs, of course they’re going to mess this up. instead of a young team with financial flexibility you now have miami north: LBJ flanked by two injury prone guys who can’t play D. Ultimately they’re a top heavy team that loses it’s punching power if someone on the front line goes down. you mortgage the future on a two year window realistic window of winning it all. people don’t realize how many things had to fall into place in order for the heat to win those titles:
injury luck- up until wade broke down last year the big three had a hell of run with injury luck (like historically good injury luck).
injury luck part 2- derrick rose’s multiple knee injuries cleared the way for miami. indiana was the lone “challenger” in the east.
conference- there’s no way they make it to 4 straight finals if they play in the west.
the breaks of the game- ray allen’s 3 pointer against the spurs WAS NOT LUCKY, but the ball being tipped to him was. that plus things like the LBJ no call on KD that could have put the thunder up 2-0 in that series were things that just went the heat’s way.
Ultimately the time is now and as usual it’ll come down to injuries, namely:
the health of P. George over the next 2 years
the health of D. Rose over the next 2 years. this is an extremely under reported thing. the bulls are sitting quietly over in the corner and are one healty D. Rose season away from being great (as in the east is theirs to lose).
the health of kyrie and love, both of whom have checkered injury pasts
and last but certainly not least LBJ, who has been nearly indestructible over the course of his career. but does this continue? how will he age? will it be graceful like Karl Malone or ugly like another straight out of high schooler, kobe bryant.
a lot of moving parts…
The Jesus, The
“when the Cavs sign-and-traded LeBron and won the last two lotteries they basically drafted Kevin Love. wow.”
FTFY
“A short distance away Mike Brown is rolling naked in a giant pile of money.”
Possibly the worst words ever strung together.
No one who speaks German could be an evil man.
Too short.
Interesting theory re: Marion. I think Marion would be a great addition to this team, especially on the defensive end, as Love is a bit suspect there.
Yup! His wife-girlfriend is a trooper to go to such lengths.
Gilbert will treat him like a WR and we won’t even know he exists until we see the empty line on the box score.
I’m sorry, I can’t agree with any of this. So you have a young team with Wiggins and Bennett, but that’s not enough to win anything right now and there’s no promise that Wiggins or Bennett ever becomes good enough to be the third star on the team. I think everyone is projecting Wiggins to be an All-Star when the guy hasn’t even played against starting NBA talent yet. He may never develop a consistent jump shot and he may never be very good at handling the ball. His upside is Paul George, but his downside is Marvin Williams. If you can add a top-10 player to the roster along with the best player in the league and a very young rising star, you have to do it… otherwise you may be relegating yourself to Clippers territory where you have great players, but not enough to win a title.
I’m not sure the point you’re making with injuries. They’re a part of the game and they bite just about every team. They’ve bitten the Thunder (Westbrook), they’ve bitten the Spurs (Parker/Ginobli), they’ve bitten the Bulls (Rose), they’ve bitten the Pacers (George), they’ve bitten the Clippers (Paul/Griffin), they’ve bitten the Hawks (Horford), etc. I don’t think you realize how often the best players get hurt and how little you can control that. Who’s to say Bennett doesn’t have injury problems his whole career? Who’s to say Wiggins doesn’t have a freak accident like Paul George? This is a part of the NBA.
Also, 2 year window? Absolutely not. The Cavs have at least a 5 year window with this group. LeBron is 30. Love is 25. Irving is 22. They may have a 7-8 year window. LeBron has been a picture of health and may stay healthy into his late 30s a la Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, and Michael Jordan.
True, the Cavs’ motivation level may have jumped a bit. With the Pacers’ misfortune, it’s really just the Cavs, Heat, and Bulls. And that’s if Wade has a healthy year.
If you wait until the trade deadline, you have a bunch more suitors for Love’s services and you probably have to add more to the Wiggins deal. If you wait a few weeks after the season starts and Wiggins struggles like rookies usually do early on, he decreases his own trade value. I think you have to strike when the iron is hot.
I think Nick Swisher sacrificed his talent on that altar to make all of this possible before we even realized the wheels were in motion. Makes me feel a little better about the last two years of his contract anyway.
the injury thing was mentioned to illustrate the unpredictability that is inherent in sports. you yourself just named a whole bunch more, thus adding to the chaos!
wasn’t really saying they could win now bennett/wiggins. you’re right, there is no promise that they’re going to be good, but at least with wiggins wouldn’t you want to at least see him log 5 minutes of game time before shipping him away? there’s also no promise kyrie and love stay healthy for 82 games + the playoffs. the health issue plus the fact they can’t play D is going to mean lebron has to be the workhorse again on both ends of the court like he was in miami this past year.
by making a decision to trade wiggins you have gone all in on now. you sacrifice a young defensive stud (at the very least) WHO YOU HAD ON A ROOKIE CONTRACT. to have a #1 pick on a rookie contact gives you so much more flexibility that it does with 3 max deals.
you have all this money going to lbj, love, and kyrie, theres not much left to put together a deep team. and if one of the new big 3 goes down what are you going to do, who is young/durable enough to take on that work load thats sitting on the bench.
7-8 year window? you got to effing kidding me. i hope you were joking. this isn’t the 80s where you get a handful of great players and own the decade.
lebron may stay healthy into his late 30s?
allen kidd and jordan were college kids. lebron came right out of high school. his nba aging clock is on a different time table than the guys you just mentioned.
i was under no illusion the cavs could win now with the wiggins/bennett. but don’t give me that garbage you really believe this team as constructed has a 7 year window. i remember the heat doing the “not 1 not 2…” speech during that party. what happened, it fell apart in 3 1/2 years.
don’t get me wrong im pumped about this team. but its win now or it’ll get a lot harder as the years go on. three max deals ties up a lot of money, go ask the heat.
Only EJ Manuel can stop SAMMY.
I said 7-8 years max… it’s possible. 5 years is most likely. Get out of here with 2 years, that’s a joke. I wish I had more time to argue, but this is all pretty silly. This was the right move to make, the only move to make. Half the team is still 24 or under! Waiters, Irving, Delly, Thompson, Harris, etc… these guys will all improve and unlike the Heat, the Cavs still have all of their draft picks because they didn’t have to sign-and-trade for LeBron. The team is fine, don’t worry about tomorrow, it’ll take care of itself.
Swish as St. Nick.
Love.
Bro-Love.
dude you JUST saw this movie down in miami. everyone thought the heat would own the next decade until they didn’t.
This is nowhere near the same. Kyrie is 22. Love is 25. I just explained this to you. Cavs have draft picks where the Heat do not. Waiters, Thompson, Dellavedova are YOUNG. Please find a valid excuse because this is not it.
Stop saying his name… It hurts too much.
SAAAAAAAMMMMYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
http://www.gifwave.com/media/56601/rain-raining-the-shawshank-redemption-tim-robbins.gif
Just have to point out the other parts of this I don’t agree with. A.) They didn’t mess this up. B.) They’re not getting all that much older. C.) The only all stars ever 20 yo & under: Shaq, Isiah, Garnett, Lebron, Kobe. Even if Wiggins has a solid year, he won’t get enough usage on this team to put up big numbers. 3.) They had ZERO financial flexibility before this trade – over the cap 7.) They have Haywood’s non-guaranteed $10.5M contract and future draft picks to pull a major sign & trade next summer on an interior big. I’m looking at MGasol, BroLo, Aldridge, Jefferson, Milsap, Chandler, Hibbert, Jordan, RoLo, Gay, -hell, Wade? X.) There is NO title guarantee, ever. You do your best to fill the best team you can and see what happens. B.) Injuries can happen to any player at any time. Just because Kyrie & Love have been injured in the past it does no necessarily correlate to potential future injuries. Both are young and both are just coming into their prime. 32.) Ultimately the time is now, well… you just summed things up right there.
Begin the beautiful basketball.
I totally agree w/you. But I also can’t help but wonder how high they really are on Wiggins. I have to believe Embiid was the target before he went down again. Has all of the hype around Wiggins only helped increase his value? Will he ever reach those lofty expectations? If he underperforms early in his career does he lose tons of trade value? Is Benett just destined to be a bust? I’d like to think the Cavs sold high on Wiggins, but time will tell.
And B.) A bench of TT, Miller, Jones, RayRay, Marion, Haywood, Billups and Delly, aint bad, although they badly need a C. Plus they have their own 1st round pick next year & probably Memphis’ pick (if they fall in the 6-14 range). We just need to hope Memphis misses the playoffs (quite possible in the West) and the NBA goes ahead and changes the lottery system to give all lottery teams better odds at moving up. Can you imagine ANOTHER top 10 pick next year 🙂 And a bad Memphis team entices a MGasol to want to leave and seek a ring. Can you say sign & trade? Memphis will want to get something back. We can send them picks & non-guaranteed contracts. 4.) What’s not to like?