With $125 million in guaranteed salary, the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have a hard time finding new recruits for next season’s championship hunt. Adam Fromal of Bleacher Report thinks the Cavs would only hope for LeBron James’ drawing prowess as the only way to convince the veteran player to take a major pay cut.
“With just LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson on the books, the Cavs will already be close to the luxury tax, leaving them unable to sign players with more than exceptions and veteran minimum contracts.
Not only does that make it hard to retain Kyle Korver and Deron Williams, but they'll also find it impossible to make any significant free-agency splashes,” Fromal said.
Again, the 36-year old Korver and Williams will hit the free-agency market this summer, hoping they can land a relevant deal with teams looking for veteran contributions off the bench.
Korver averaged 10.1 points on respectable 46 percent FG clip and 45 percent from beyond the arc. Williams, on the other hand, put up 11 points and 5.6 dimes during the regular-season and stabilized the Cavs’ backcourt rotation.
Magic looks to steal Cavs GM
The Orlando Magic are reportedly serious in their pursuit of Cavaliers general manager David Griffin.
According to Brian Windhost of ESPN.com, the Magic is willing to give Griffin the top front-office position and perhaps more salary than he’s currently earning with Cleveland.
However, LeBron James wanted the Cavaliers ownership to keep the GM, as he credited Griffin for building a championship-caliber roster around him last season.
Griffin was also instrumental in trading for Kyle Korver and nabbing Deron Williams and Derrick Williams off the buyout market midway into the season.
“The Magic continue to focus on Cavalier's general manager David Griffin in their search for a top basketball executive, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, who reports that Orlando intends to offer Griffin a position as the club’s president of basketball operations,” via Hoops Rumors.
LeBron’s minutes
Cavs’ head coach Tyron Lue talked about managing LeBron James’ playing time this postseason. The three-time Finals MVP averaged 43.8 minutes per game – 5 minutes more than his regular-season playing time at 37.8 mpg - during their first-round series match-up with the Indiana Pacers.
“Bron today just said he feels worse when he doesn’t play. Like right now, he said he feels worse, so, we just got to gauge it and see how he feels. Everyone else’s minutes were great outside of LeBron,” Lue said in the interview ahead of the Cavs’ series vs. the Toronto Raptors.
