LeBron James: I'm coming back to Cleveland (OFFICIAL)

[lilteapot]

Quote: Originally Posted by The 24th Letter

"Just deal with what you have?" Come on man, lol I didn't interpret the letter as not trying to get better if the opportunity presents itself at all...

If you look at my posts ITT i keep flip flopping between "I'd love to see Love play with Lebron" and "but would they give up too much?!" i can't decide which side i'm on lol.

but then again this might all be just pure speculation and these trade talks may not have even happened at all.

[wwharton]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilteapot

I gotta say I kind of agree with people having a problem with Lebron allegedly trying to recruit Love at all costs. I don't think this Cavs team is a title contender (different from being an EC Champion contender) but I don't think Love is necessarily going to make them one especially when you give up depth in order to get him. Also it pretty much contradicts what he wrote in that essay about being patient and not being ready to win now. obviously he does want to win now, and any basketball player that has aspirations wants to win now, but man just deal with what you have. You left Miami which was your best chance to win immediately in the east, you made your bed now lay in it and wait it out; after all, you still have quite a few years left in your prime.

In Lebron's defense, all he did was tell Love he'd love to play with him. Something he absolutely should do, but I don't remember reading that he said he wanted Love, made demands to management, etc. He also said Wiggins looks intriguing. People are reading way too much into this stuff.

[cavsfan2]

If they trade Wiggins, the defensive ineptitude of Kyrie, Waiters, Love, and the complete absence of a real center seems like a team that cant win the championship. Just my opinion.

I feel as if Wiggins will be Lebron's best friend in that Lebron will no longer have to chase around the other teams best player. That HAS to keep him fresher for the postseason, right?

If Im the Cavs, I would look for a cheaper player that can stretch the floor.

[antixnette]

Dion was one of the better Cavalier defensive players last year. He definitely shouldn't be grouped with Kyrie.

Wiggins is vastly overrated. He plays defense, but what else does he have to offer beside that? I just see an athletic freak that plays defense. His lack of ball handling is what make him so passive. He's a poor finisher at the rim, and his jump-shot is suspect.

I would definitely give him up for Kevin Love.

[cavsfan2]

By what measurement is Waiters vastly better than Kyrie at defense? Kyrie has more steals per game, his defensive rating (estimated points given up per 100 possesions) is 108 compared to Waiters which is 110. Kyrie also had a higher defensive win share and steal percentage.

So by what measurement is Dion better? Because statistically, Kyrie is actually better than Dion.

[BraedenG33]

If I'm running the Cavs I don't trade for Love if I have to give up Wiggins.Just wait for next offseason and sign him, or wait for Minnesota to get desperate and fold at the trade deadline and give him up for nothing. Make the same power play that Golden State is playing with Klay Thompson. Minnesota can't afford to lose him for nothing, and Cleveland can afford to wait because if they do wait, they can see Wiggins in action first before deciding either to trade him or that he is untouchable. I think Bill Simmons did a good piece on it on Grantland yesterday. Here's an excerpt with his part of it (it was a group of writers)

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons: With my beloved Celtics stuck in Rebuilding Mode, I find myself rooting for LeBron’s Cavaliers to give Cleveland its first championship in 50 years. How they handle a hypothetical Kevin Love–Andrew Wiggins trade is crucial for that quest. What should they do? Here at Grantland, we couldn’t resist passing along our advice. I’m writing an expanded take, and then we’re turning it over to some of our other writers for their quickie takes. Lemme just say, it’s an honor to be hypothetically working for Dan Gilbert, one of the luckiest men in professional sports, as well as someone who did just about everything wrong for five solid years … only to be rewarded by winning the lottery three times in four years while also improbably winning back LeBron James. I really hope some of his luck rubs off on me. Here’s my Love-Wiggins plan in three parts: First, I’d convince Gilbert that, instead of doing the wrong thing every time and improbably having it work out in our favor, we should attempt to make the right decision for once. This would be part of a bigger game plan that I’m tentatively calling “Don’t Do the Wrong Thing Every Time Anymore.” Second, I’d convince Gilbert that the Timberwolves don’t want to trade Love yet. If they did, they would have traded him before the 2014 draft, when they could have scored the biggest package of draft picks for him AND picked at least one of those players. They’d much rather just keep leaking out that they’re continuing “talks” with Golden State about a Love–David Lee–Klay Thompson deal even if the Warriors have done everything short of putting up billboards around the Bay Area that read “WE ARE NEVER TRADING KLAY THOMPSON.” My theory: Minnesota GM/president/coach/pooh-bah/czar/second-luckiest man in professional sports because how the F is he this powerful???/head honcho Flip Saunders has been in job-preservation mode ever since he snookered Glen Taylor into giving him that job. Let’s say you trade Love, one of the league’s 10 to 12 best players, and he comes back to haunt you on another team. Or let’s say you land a young “stud” in that trade who doesn’t turn out to be exactly what you thought he’d be, or you make a high lottery pick that isn’t as sure of a thing as you thought he’d be. Well, you’re done. You’re out. You’re in Bristol doing Coors Light Cold Hard Facts. But if you bring Love back for his contract year, now he’s playing for a mega-deal on a Minnesota team that underachieved last season — thanks to a ridiculously competitive conference, poor coaching from Rick Adelman (since retired) and historically bad luck in close games. Couldn’t your team blossom like the Blazers did last season? Remember when we thought LaMarcus Aldridge was fleeing Portland … right until it turned into a playoff team and made the second round? What if that’s Minnesota next season? It’s not inconceivable, right? Trust me — Flip keeps playing that Aldridge-Portland scenario in his head. More importantly, he can’t even find a poor man’s Godfather offer for Love, much less an actual Godfather offer. (Golden State wouldn’t even pony up Thompson for him!) Flip wants no part of this generation’s one-sided “Charles Barkley for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry” trade that was horrible at the time and looks even more egregious 22 years later. My guess: He’d rather keep Love for now, roll the dice with the Aldridge-Portland scenario, and then, if Minnesota starts off slow, he can always deal him before February’s deadline. That brings me to the third thing I’d bring to Gilbert’s attention: You know who else doesn’t need to make a move right away? The Cleveland Cavaliers! What’s the rush? Why do we have to finish our roster in July? What’s wrong with riding out the current nucleus for a few months, getting everyone in a training camp with LeBron, then seeing how everyone meshes with him? What if Wiggins shows signs — day after day after day — of becoming the Pippen to LeBron’s MJ? What if LeBron is throwing him crazy alley-oops left and right and gushing, “I’ve always wanted to play with a freak athlete like this”? What if Wiggins and LeBron are roaming around defensively like coyotes, stripping dudes at midcourt, jumping passing lanes and basically looking like mid-1990s Pippen and MJ reincarnated? What if sending Wiggins to Playing With LeBron Camp turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to Andrew Wiggins? What if this single-handedly altered his professional destiny? What if LeBron turned him into his basketball clone, much like Jordan brainwashed Pippen into evolving into his perfect sidekick? Here’s the point: THE CAVALIERS HAVE TO FIND OUT. And they’ll know, or at least have a really good idea, by December or January. And guess what. That same Wiggins-for-Love deal will still be sitting there after Christmas. None of the other 28 teams are trumping it. If it has to be done, then it has to be done — the Cavs can’t waste the rest of LeBron’s prime if Wiggins isn’t close to being ready yet, not with LeBron passing 40,000 career minutes during the first quarter of his first 2014 Cavs game. There’s a shelf life here. The Cavaliers can’t take their sweet time and wait for their supporting cast to catch up with the greatest player of his generation. They can’t. At the same time, I need to see LeBron and the young’uns for a few months before I swing a mega-deal. I want to see how Kyrie Irving and Wiggins blend with LeBron — if they figure out how to run with him, space the floor for him, ease some of his playmaking burden and let HIM be the guy taking advantage of everyone else’s young legs for once. I want to see if Dion Waiters can become this generation’s Vinnie Johnson, a.k.a. Microwave 2.0. I want to see if Anderson Varejao can stay healthy for the first time since 1975, and I want to see if Tristan Thompson and Anthony Bennett jump a level because they’re suddenly playing with one of the league’s best passers. I mean … is it OK that I see this for 45 to 50 games? Is that fine with everyone? Best-case scenario: Wiggins proves to be untouchable and Bennett shows signs of becoming a late bloomer/belated keeper, followed by Flip begrudgingly settling for a February deal of Love for Bennett, Waiters, two unprotected first-round picks (including Miami’s first-rounder that’s unprotected in 2017) and one pick swap over the next five years … a deal that, by the way, is still better than any other offer they’ll get. Yes, including the right to overpay David Lee and eventually overpay Klay Thompson. Worst-case scenario: Wiggins suffers enough growing pains that you no longer feel fearful or guilty about flipping him for Love in February … which means Cleveland would be trotting out one of the seven best basketball players of all time and one of the league’s 12 best players as his sidekick. In summary, the Cavaliers can’t lose no matter what happens. I look forward to them screwing up the final decision and somehow having it work out. In Gilbert We Trust.

I generally agree with what he said, except I'm not rooting for the Cavs. I will be actively rooting against them actually.

Link to the article

[gerald88]

Lebron James is my favorite player I just wish he would make up his mind who he wants to stay with atleast he has Irvin this time around.

[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by cavsfan2

If they trade Wiggins, the defensive ineptitude of Kyrie, Waiters, Love, and the complete absence of a real center seems like a team that cant win the championship. Just my opinion. I feel as if Wiggins will be Lebron's best friend in that Lebron will no longer have to chase around the other teams best player. That HAS to keep him fresher for the postseason, right? If Im the Cavs, I would look for a cheaper player that can stretch the floor.

I'm %60-%70 in agreement with you. I was on the fens last week. The more I think about it. The More I say keep Wiggins. And just sign Ray Allen.