With little-to-no news reports coming out of the Cleveland media about the free agency period and what the Cavaliers are trying to do these days, we do our best to scrape together what information we can to pass along.
Obviously reporting on the Cleveland Cavaliers is the farthest thing from Brian Windhorst's mind these days, as he is still in the hospital fighting illness, but his absence is felt more than ever these days. Without Brian's reports and Branson Wright no longer on the beat for the Plain Dealer, we have been left hanging high and dry, for the most part, in terms of reports of what Danny Ferry is trying to do right now. Either that, or he's simply doing nothing, which, who knows, is always a possibility. But regardless, we still want to be able to let our readers know what's going on, so here's some of what we're hearing...
Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an interesting article today talking about what's going on with the Golden State Warriors in the wake of Baron Davis' defection. What I found particularly interesting was when Janny wrote,
"Golden State vice-president Chris Mullin has the right to match any offer Ellis receives and has vowed to do so. But if the Warriors come in with an initial offer that Ellis' camp deems too low, then they risk creating a sticky situation similar to that of Davis.Few teams can offer Ellis an outright deal worth more than the mid-level exception, but Ellis can push for a sign-and-trade to a team willing to pay him significantly more, which is what Davis was seeking before the Clippers unexpectedly found themselves with cap space.
Possible suitors include the Cavaliers, who could use a dynamic guard to pair with LeBron James, or the Heat, who could offer Shawn Marion in a trade."
Monta Ellis would obvious be a tremendous pickup for the Cavaliers if this were somehow possible. After winning the NBA's Most Improved award in the 2006-07 season, he followed it up last year by having a real breakout season. A 6?3? guard who can play either position, Ellis put 20.2 ppg last year while adding 5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.1 turnovers, and 1.5 steals per game. Ellis is a poor outside shooter, but his raw explosive offensive game would go a long way towards easier LeBron's burden on offense. Ellis' attacking game off the ball would be a huge asset that would mesh nicely with LeBron's passing game. LeBron and Monta could be deadly operating a 1-2 pick and roll game.
Alas, though, it is likely nothing more than speculation, and it's hard to fathom any scenario in which the Warriors would get rid of Ellis, especially after losing Baron Davis. The Warriors don't really have any awful contracts that they could seek to unload on the Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade. If they didn't want to pay Ellis big money and the Cavs wanted to overpay Ellis to the tune of $7-8 million in the first year of a deal, perhaps by offering Daniel Gibson and either Sasha Pavlovic or Delonte West back in a sign-and-trade would possibly be enticing to Golden State, but the problem is that the Cavaliers only have their MLE available, which is only expect to be around $5.5 million. Obviously, in a sign-and-trade the Warriors could use Ellis' Bird Rights to sign him to a higher deal and then trade him to Cleveland, but I just don't see this happening.
It does sound like Cleveland is at least exploring sign-and-trade options. Bob Finnan wrote about some of the Cavs options in the Morning Journal yesterday,
"A league source said the Cavs have been working on some possible deals, including a sign-and-trade.
The salary cap will be announced July 8 and will be worth between $58.8 million and $60.5 million. The Cavs currently have about $82.7 million committed in salaries (about $24 million over the cap)."
There has been no mention of who those sign-and-trade talks have been with, but with Baron Davis already off the market, Gilbert Arenas being thrown way too much money, and Elton Brand rumored to be joining Baron back in LA with the Clippers, the only remaining major unrestricted free agent that Ferry could possibly be looking at doing a sign-and-trade for is Corey Maggette.
Maggette is an interesting option. A 6?6? wing player, he would certainly provide some instant offense for the Cavaliers. Last season Maggette scored 22.1 ppg on 45.8% shooting from the field. There are a lot of questions with Maggette, though. First off, with LeBron handling the 3, would Maggette be able to play the 2? He's a pretty poor outside shooter (think Sasha Pavlovic), and his defense has never been his strongest asset. Maggette has also battled injury issues throughout his career, as he has only played in 75 or more games once since his rookie season 9 years ago, although he has played in at least 70 games in 3 of the last 5 seasons, and only played in fewer than 66 games once over that period. The bottom line is, Maggette's PER numbers the past 5 seasons have been 20.1, 19.9, 18.9, 18.6, and 19.3, which shows a level of consistency that would at least represent an improvement from what the Cavaliers currently have. For comparison's sake, Wally Szczerbiak's last 5 PER's have been 15.3, 17.1, 17.7, 14.8, and 13.9. So clearly Maggette would offer some improvement over Szczerbiak, but would it be enough to warrant whatever the Cavs would have to pay him and give up in a sign-and-trade?
Finally, the Cavaliers are probably looking at a couple other mid-level players that they can use either their MLE or their Bi-Annual Exception on, including Anthony Carter and James Posey. Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News wrote about some of the Nuggets free agents, and he said,
"Regardless, the Nuggets need depth at point. Unrestricted free agent Anthony Carter, who started last season, wants to return, but it's uncertain if he will.
"I'm trying to get a three- or four-year deal," said Carter, saying he wants a raise from last season's minimum contract of $1.1 million.
Carter named Cleveland, New York, Golden State, Dallas and Charlotte as teams he has heard have interest in him. Orlando also is a possibility."
As for Posey, Warren Blatt of The Sports Network wrote about all of the free agents in his free agency preview column, and had this to say about the Celtics' guard,
"After winning a championship with the Celtics, Posey has decided to see if the grass is greener on the other side. He will be seeking the maximum out of a mid-level deal, and the highest bidder will get Posey's services.
The swingman is a solid defender and can knock down the big shot in pressure situations. The 31-year-old Posey averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds during the regular season, and was a big contributor during Boston's playoff run. He is the perfect role player for a team that is on the cusp of competing for the title.
The Cavaliers, Hornets, Mavericks, Pistons, and Lakers should all have Posey on their radar screens. His style of play would fit particularly well in Detroit."
Who knows if Cleveland being his hometown will offer any leverage for the Cavaliers in getting Posey, but he certainly seems like a prime candidate for the Cavs to make some kind of offer for. Posey isn't a guy who's going to light the world on fire, but as we witnessed first hand in the playoffs this year, he's a SOLID guy to bring off the bench who can give you good minutes playing tough-as-nails defense, energy, hustle, attitude, and an ability to hit the big shot when left open.
As always, we will continue to keep you informed whenever we hear anything, but as for right now, per usual, things are awfully quiet on the newsfront regarding the Cavaliers. There are some options out there, the question will remain whether or not Ferry can succeed in getting any of these teams to actually sit down and talk to him about trade options.
Obviously reporting on the Cleveland Cavaliers is the farthest thing from Brian Windhorst's mind these days, as he is still in the hospital fighting illness, but his absence is felt more than ever these days. Without Brian's reports and Branson Wright no longer on the beat for the Plain Dealer, we have been left hanging high and dry, for the most part, in terms of reports of what Danny Ferry is trying to do right now. Either that, or he's simply doing nothing, which, who knows, is always a possibility. But regardless, we still want to be able to let our readers know what's going on, so here's some of what we're hearing...
Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an interesting article today talking about what's going on with the Golden State Warriors in the wake of Baron Davis' defection. What I found particularly interesting was when Janny wrote,
"Golden State vice-president Chris Mullin has the right to match any offer Ellis receives and has vowed to do so. But if the Warriors come in with an initial offer that Ellis' camp deems too low, then they risk creating a sticky situation similar to that of Davis.Few teams can offer Ellis an outright deal worth more than the mid-level exception, but Ellis can push for a sign-and-trade to a team willing to pay him significantly more, which is what Davis was seeking before the Clippers unexpectedly found themselves with cap space.
Possible suitors include the Cavaliers, who could use a dynamic guard to pair with LeBron James, or the Heat, who could offer Shawn Marion in a trade."
Monta Ellis would obvious be a tremendous pickup for the Cavaliers if this were somehow possible. After winning the NBA's Most Improved award in the 2006-07 season, he followed it up last year by having a real breakout season. A 6?3? guard who can play either position, Ellis put 20.2 ppg last year while adding 5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.1 turnovers, and 1.5 steals per game. Ellis is a poor outside shooter, but his raw explosive offensive game would go a long way towards easier LeBron's burden on offense. Ellis' attacking game off the ball would be a huge asset that would mesh nicely with LeBron's passing game. LeBron and Monta could be deadly operating a 1-2 pick and roll game.
Alas, though, it is likely nothing more than speculation, and it's hard to fathom any scenario in which the Warriors would get rid of Ellis, especially after losing Baron Davis. The Warriors don't really have any awful contracts that they could seek to unload on the Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade. If they didn't want to pay Ellis big money and the Cavs wanted to overpay Ellis to the tune of $7-8 million in the first year of a deal, perhaps by offering Daniel Gibson and either Sasha Pavlovic or Delonte West back in a sign-and-trade would possibly be enticing to Golden State, but the problem is that the Cavaliers only have their MLE available, which is only expect to be around $5.5 million. Obviously, in a sign-and-trade the Warriors could use Ellis' Bird Rights to sign him to a higher deal and then trade him to Cleveland, but I just don't see this happening.
It does sound like Cleveland is at least exploring sign-and-trade options. Bob Finnan wrote about some of the Cavs options in the Morning Journal yesterday,
"A league source said the Cavs have been working on some possible deals, including a sign-and-trade.
The salary cap will be announced July 8 and will be worth between $58.8 million and $60.5 million. The Cavs currently have about $82.7 million committed in salaries (about $24 million over the cap)."
There has been no mention of who those sign-and-trade talks have been with, but with Baron Davis already off the market, Gilbert Arenas being thrown way too much money, and Elton Brand rumored to be joining Baron back in LA with the Clippers, the only remaining major unrestricted free agent that Ferry could possibly be looking at doing a sign-and-trade for is Corey Maggette.
Maggette is an interesting option. A 6?6? wing player, he would certainly provide some instant offense for the Cavaliers. Last season Maggette scored 22.1 ppg on 45.8% shooting from the field. There are a lot of questions with Maggette, though. First off, with LeBron handling the 3, would Maggette be able to play the 2? He's a pretty poor outside shooter (think Sasha Pavlovic), and his defense has never been his strongest asset. Maggette has also battled injury issues throughout his career, as he has only played in 75 or more games once since his rookie season 9 years ago, although he has played in at least 70 games in 3 of the last 5 seasons, and only played in fewer than 66 games once over that period. The bottom line is, Maggette's PER numbers the past 5 seasons have been 20.1, 19.9, 18.9, 18.6, and 19.3, which shows a level of consistency that would at least represent an improvement from what the Cavaliers currently have. For comparison's sake, Wally Szczerbiak's last 5 PER's have been 15.3, 17.1, 17.7, 14.8, and 13.9. So clearly Maggette would offer some improvement over Szczerbiak, but would it be enough to warrant whatever the Cavs would have to pay him and give up in a sign-and-trade?
Finally, the Cavaliers are probably looking at a couple other mid-level players that they can use either their MLE or their Bi-Annual Exception on, including Anthony Carter and James Posey. Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News wrote about some of the Nuggets free agents, and he said,
"Regardless, the Nuggets need depth at point. Unrestricted free agent Anthony Carter, who started last season, wants to return, but it's uncertain if he will.
"I'm trying to get a three- or four-year deal," said Carter, saying he wants a raise from last season's minimum contract of $1.1 million.
Carter named Cleveland, New York, Golden State, Dallas and Charlotte as teams he has heard have interest in him. Orlando also is a possibility."
As for Posey, Warren Blatt of The Sports Network wrote about all of the free agents in his free agency preview column, and had this to say about the Celtics' guard,
"After winning a championship with the Celtics, Posey has decided to see if the grass is greener on the other side. He will be seeking the maximum out of a mid-level deal, and the highest bidder will get Posey's services.
The swingman is a solid defender and can knock down the big shot in pressure situations. The 31-year-old Posey averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds during the regular season, and was a big contributor during Boston's playoff run. He is the perfect role player for a team that is on the cusp of competing for the title.
The Cavaliers, Hornets, Mavericks, Pistons, and Lakers should all have Posey on their radar screens. His style of play would fit particularly well in Detroit."
Who knows if Cleveland being his hometown will offer any leverage for the Cavaliers in getting Posey, but he certainly seems like a prime candidate for the Cavs to make some kind of offer for. Posey isn't a guy who's going to light the world on fire, but as we witnessed first hand in the playoffs this year, he's a SOLID guy to bring off the bench who can give you good minutes playing tough-as-nails defense, energy, hustle, attitude, and an ability to hit the big shot when left open.
As always, we will continue to keep you informed whenever we hear anything, but as for right now, per usual, things are awfully quiet on the newsfront regarding the Cavaliers. There are some options out there, the question will remain whether or not Ferry can succeed in getting any of these teams to actually sit down and talk to him about trade options.
Original Story:
