Series Thread: ECF: Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavs

[WiggyRuss]

But possibly in a better position to rebuild than when he left the first time.

They may be able to trade Love for picks and end up with another lottery pick to go along with this years #8.

Then, they may be able to start unloading some of their bad contracts as expiring deals.

oh if LeBron leaves they are so far ahead of where they were last time. Last time they owed picks out, had very little to no young talent....

now they have a few interesting young players like Nance Jr., Osman, Hood, Clarkson --- they have the Brooklyn pick----- and like you said- JR is expiring next year (since his contract is mostly unguaranteed the following year)

the following year TT and Hill will be expiring and then its practically clean books. They would prob do a 2-3 year rebuild if what i would think/hope........take 2 years to clean the books, add a couple high lotto picks.....get some assets for Love, maybe Korver, maybe Hill as an expiring the following year....

Id actually take their position over quite a few other teams if lebron leaves since they at least have positioned themselves where they will have some assets and young players and cap space in 2 years.

 

[DJ]

only problem is they cant keep all these guys....next year is the only year

then kyrie is up for a max contract---- Horford and Hayward already have maxes--- you can only have 3 maxes in this league right now.

Rozier will be restricted next year, Brown is getting closer to restricted free agency.....

they have a window of contention coming up- but they cant keep everyone. Smart is gonna be gone thats for sure. Rozier will prob be gone after next year.

I'm sure all of Ainge's draft picks aren't gone.

 

[flyerhawk]

you are making my point for me. The Cavs intended on guys like Hood and Hill to be starters-- and Nance and Clarkson to paly more minutes than Smith and TT- but the time frame just made it entirely impossible to pull off.

Do you really think Rodney Hood went from a promising young player to complete garbage?

Rodney Hood isn't complete garbage. But he is at best a league average player right now.

Continuity is so important that the Cavs are running out the lineups that actually have some...for you to think its not a big deal in the playoffs blows my mind. Rodney Hood is not a garbage player- but he had no time to learn a system and is a fish out of water.

You act like Hood showed up in Cleveland a week before the playoffs. He played in 21 games for the Cavs.

The Cavs right now are basically like an Olmypic team- thrown together with a few weeks to work out all the kinks--- that is simply EXTREMELY hard to do - and without LeBron it would have been impossible.

So you think that simply having more continuity will make this Cavs team better than the Celtics with Kyrie and Hayward and better than the Sixers with a Paul George?

 

[DJ]

Well yeah. The Cavs only out up 81 shots. 18 turnovers and Love was awful and had 5 fouls early. They didn’t very well for 3 quarters and played awful for 2 quarters. Glad to still win with no Love basically.

When did the NBA expand to 5 quarters?

 

[WiggyRuss]

It hasn't made sense to me since I first heard about it.

its one of the reasons why Cleveland is the favorite....there really isnt that obvious landing place for LeBron.

Griffen says he highly doubts its Philly. The Lakers arent near ready unless they just traded all their young guys and added 2 max guys WITH LeBron. In houston Harden, CP and LeBron sharing the ball seems rather nuts. A dark horse like the Knicks was destroyed with Porzingis' injury...the Heat have no cap room for years and years....

 

[DJ]

If he leaves the Cavs I hope he ends up in Houston. I don't want to see him in a Philly uniform.

From what I understand they'd have to do a lot to be able to get him.

CP and Capela are both FA's as well.

 

[trojanfan12]

If Lebron stays they are essentially going to have the same team as they have this year. Lebron played more minutes than anyone else in the league as a 33 year old.

Do you think he wants to do that again next year? Do you really think that the Cavs are the presumptive favorite to win the East again next year if Hayward and Kyrie are healthy and someone like Paul George goes to Philly? I sure don't.

Nance and Clarkson are, at best, supplementary players and at worst negative impact players. George Hill is getting paid 17 million next year to be about the 20-25 best PGs in basketball. JR Smith is essentially stealing paychecks these days. Korver is Korver.

Maybe if Tristan Thompson elevates his game to one of the top 10 big men in the game, it's possible they could beat those other 2 teams but that's a big ask.

I'd also add that even if the Sixers just stand pat and the Celtics get Kyrie and Hayward back, those will the top 2 teams in the East and the separation between them and the rest of the East will be pretty big.
Nance and Clarkson will almost certainly be better than they were this year, but as you said, they are supplemental guys. They are players you need on a contender, but they are fairly easily replaceable (Clarkson moreso than Nance). That shows in the fact that, once the initial shock the other young guys felt over them being moved wore off, they weren't really missed on the court.

So, I expect they'll both be better, but not better enough to close the gap between the Cavs and the Celtics/Sixers.

 

[Wamu]

LOL.

The Sixers have been so shitty for so long, even before the process they were a mostly harmless team, that I kinda forgot how much I really hate the Celtics.

Maybe not Yankees hate level. But it is high on my list. Currently my power hate rankings are..

1. Yankees(2500 weeks at No.1)
2. Celtics
3. Cowboys
4. Duke
5. Penguins
6. Rangers
7 Chelsea
8. ManU
9. Niners
10. Knicks

Niners could make a climb up the rankings this year. Their harmlessness over the past 4 seasons really dropped them down.

Here's my list of teams I don't really care for. No real order except that # 1 spot.

-meeeechegan (fuck them!)
-dook
-nevada reeeeno
-BYU
-Kent State
-duh Bronx Bozo's
-LaLa Land Lakers
-Tommy Boy & the fantastic Pats (Boston's # 1 boy-band)
-Golden State
-Cincinnati Bungholes

 

[DorianRo]

Cavs will probably sneak out the next game in Boston and close it out in Cleveland. Boston is big time fatigued. Their defense continues to get worse as the series goes due to the absence of the big 2 and of course their offense... D-league personified.

Not like it matters though. BOTH teams are just playing for 2nd place even if they do win. Cavs should at least be able to steal a game at home vs. the Warriors I would assume due to LeRef love and the Warriors tendency to mail it in one game

 

[Wamu]

From what I understand they'd have to do a lot to be able to get him.

CP and Capela are both FA's as well.

Oh crap. Well now I hope he stays in Cleveland.

 

[flyerhawk]

its one of the reasons why Cleveland is the favorite....there really isnt that obvious landing place for LeBron.

Griffen says he highly doubts its Philly. The Lakers arent near ready unless they just traded all their young guys and added 2 max guys WITH LeBron. In houston Harden, CP and LeBron sharing the ball seems rather nuts. A dark horse like the Knicks was destroyed with Porzingis' injury...the Heat have no cap room for years and years....

I would imagine that Lebron already has a plan for what he is going to do in the offseason. I sure as hell don't know what it is. But to argue that there are no obvious landing places presumes that you know what Lebron wants.

If Lebron still wants to have the offense run through him for most of the game then that defines a certain list of teams that makes sense for him. Cleveland. The Knicks. The Clippers. The Spurs. They all make sense.

However, if Lebron wants to win championships and NOT have the offense run through him primarily the list changes completely. Philly. The Lakers. Houston. They all make sense.

I don't pretend to know which path he wants to take. We'll find out in a month.

 

[DorianRo]

I would imagine that Lebron already has a plan for what he is going to do in the offseason. I sure as hell don't know what it is. But to argue that there are no obvious landing places presumes that you know what Lebron wants.

If Lebron still wants to have the offense run through him for most of the game then that defines a certain list of teams that makes sense for him. Cleveland. The Knicks. The Clippers. The Spurs. They all make sense.

However, if Lebron wants to win championships and NOT have the offense run through him primarily the list changes completely. Philly. The Lakers. Houston. They all make sense.

I don't pretend to know which path he wants to take. We'll find out in a month.

Im sure the "path of least resistance" knowing Lebron


Houston or New Orleans would be my bet. They would be the two best bets to take down the Warriors next year.

 

[trojanfan12]

It hasn't made sense to me since I first heard about it.

Same here. There are already 2 ball dominant players and they add a 3rd?

This has always felt more like someone in the media trying to have a hot take than something that would actually work.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

its one of the reasons why Cleveland is the favorite....there really isnt that obvious landing place for LeBron.

Griffen says he highly doubts its Philly. The Lakers arent near ready unless they just traded all their young guys and added 2 max guys WITH LeBron. In houston Harden, CP and LeBron sharing the ball seems rather nuts. A dark horse like the Knicks was destroyed with Porzingis' injury...the Heat have no cap room for years and years....

The Heat wasn’t obvious until he put a plan in place to also add Bosh.
Any team that James wants to go to will move whatever piece(s) they need to.
Its already happened twice.

#notrocketscience

 

[Raw_Bee808]

Here's my list of teams I don't really care for. No real order except that # 1 spot.

-meeeechegan (fuck them!)
-dook
-nevada reeeeno
-BYU
-Kent State
-duh Bronx Bozo's
-LaLa Land Lakers
-Tommy Boy & the fantastic Pats (Boston's # 1 boy-band)
-Golden State
-Cincinnati Bungholes

I'm with you on the Duke and Yankees hate though...fuck them.

 

[flyerhawk]

I'd also add that even if the Sixers just stand pat and the Celtics get Kyrie and Hayward back, those will the top 2 teams in the East and the separation between them and the rest of the East will be pretty big.
Nance and Clarkson will almost certainly be better than they were this year, but as you said, they are supplemental guys. They are players you need on a contender, but they are fairly easily replaceable (Clarkson moreso than Nance). That shows in the fact that, once the initial shock the other young guys felt over them being moved wore off, they weren't really missed on the court.

So, I expect they'll both be better, but not better enough to close the gap between the Cavs and the Celtics/Sixers.

Exactly right. The problem with the Cavs isn't Clarkson or Hood or Nance.

The problem is the starters. JR Smith is a paycheck thief at the salary he is making. George Hill is wildly overpaid. Kevin Love still is super hot and cold as his game is defined almost exclusively on whether his jump shot is hitting.

So it comes down to Lebron being super human every game. That is not a recipe for rings.

 

[trojanfan12]

oh if LeBron leaves they are so far ahead of where they were last time. Last time they owed picks out, had very little to no young talent....

now they have a few interesting young players like Nance Jr., Osman, Hood, Clarkson --- they have the Brooklyn pick----- and like you said- JR is expiring next year (since his contract is mostly unguaranteed the following year)

the following year TT and Hill will be expiring and then its practically clean books. They would prob do a 2-3 year rebuild if what i would think/hope........take 2 years to clean the books, add a couple high lotto picks.....get some assets for Love, maybe Korver, maybe Hill as an expiring the following year....

Id actually take their position over quite a few other teams if lebron leaves since they at least have positioned themselves where they will have some assets and young players and cap space in 2 years.

Yeah, if they can entice Lebron to stay, they obviously have to. But the best thing for them long term may just be for him to leave and get started on rebuilding.

 

[flyerhawk]

Here's my list of teams I don't really care for. No real order except that # 1 spot.

-meeeechegan (fuck them!)
-dook
-nevada reeeeno
-BYU
-Kent State
-duh Bronx Bozo's
-LaLa Land Lakers
-Tommy Boy & the fantastic Pats (Boston's # 1 boy-band)
-Golden State
-Cincinnati Bungholes

That is a really interesting and random list of teams.

BTW, honorable mention for is is the Fuckeyes. College football is pretty low on my list of sports which is why they aren't higher.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Yeah, if they can entice Lebron to stay, they obviously have to. But the best thing for them long term may just be for him to leave and get started on rebuilding.

lol lets not get crazy

the best thing taht can happen is if lebron retires as a cav 15 years from now at age 50

 

[DJ]

Yeah, if they can entice Lebron to stay, they obviously have to. But the best thing for them long term may just be for him to leave and get started on rebuilding.

Especially since the #8 pick the Cavs have isn't going to bring much back....it it were top 4-5 yes...even in a draft like this. The Cavs pick just isn't as valuable as originally thought.