u/nbawizard1227

One I am not advocating for the Cavs to trade for Jaylen Brown that is not the point of this point, but I keep seeing people state “there’s not enough ball to go around” if you were to have Harden, Mitchell, and Brown.

I find this comment completely lazy. The Cavs just posted a historic turnover rate in the playoffs. One of the main reasons was that the Cavs basically have ZERO reliable ball handlers outside of Harden and Mitchell.

Are next best ball handler was Dennis Schorder. Strus isn’t great on the ball, Merrill isn’t great on the ball, Mobley isn’t great on the ball, Wade isn’t great on the ball.

I think you can make arguments for both sides on this potential trade but “there’s not enough ball” is not one of them.

If this occurs running it back might be dumber than ever

I see a large portion of this fanbase stating to remain the same next season while banking on the internal growth of Tyson, proctor, and Tomlin.

The issue is you can’t stay the same and offer these players minutes.

Meaning, if you have faith in Tyson and proctor as a players this offseason you need to move on from Strus or Merrill.

There are simply not enough minutes to go around to play all of these players unless you’re playing Strus and Tyson consistently at the 3/4 which does not work.

Strus was great in the playoffs last year but if you have faith in any of the young guys it’s time to move on from him and trade for a position of actual need.

People don’t realize it but a quiet part of the Okoro trade last offseason opened up more opportunities for Merrill and Tyson. Strus being injured also helped this. Especially if we keep Keon there’s just a massive log jam at the 2/3 position.

Convince me that we don’t win the finals this year with a healthy Giannis over Evan Mobley. After watching these two games the Cavs offense actually picked apart this Knicks defense but we missed WIDE OPEN shots from being gassed.

Giannis dominates the Knicks. Don’t believe me? Look at his stats vs them. I believe with Giannis you take out Toronto in 5-6. Take out Detroit in 6. Then you’re looking at a completely different ECF.

I was hesitant of this trade but the more I watch the more I regret not making the move. Mobley had an incredible playoffs but let’s be honest he’s not Giannis.

The nba draft is always a risk, but looking at the contributions teams are receiving from young players throughout the playoffs makes me want to take a swing.

My proposal if we sit back and do nothing roster wise (no major moves) is that we should trade our 2031 first to get into this draft.

Would the thunder accept our 2031 top 5 protected pick for the 12th pick? Knowing they want out of that pick.

Could 12 and 29 get you up into the top 8?

This is suppose to be a legendary draft class. If you’re able to get a true low cost controlled wing (a 3/4) under a low rookie scale contract it could fix massive issues for this team.

It also helps with the two timelines if the teams direction is to keep Evan. I understand the risks involved in trading basically your only asset for an unproven player, but if it hits you solve a problem and solve your cap issue. I’d take the gamble.

I am a half season ticket holder for the Cavs. About two years ago I relocated my seats and this offseason I was looking to do the same.

So I emailed my rep looking for options for relocation and potentially adding additional tickets. For context I moved seats in late June the last time I relocated.

My reps response: “I wanted to let you know that we currently aren’t doing seat reallocation and we currently aren’t accepting new members for season tickets. I will update you when we officially are but I don’t expect it to be late July to early August.”

I’m sure there’s more logical explanations but it’s the offseason so let’s have fun.

The reason I think they won’t accept new members or move seats is because a major trade is coming meaning either Giannis or LeBron. They don’t want to sell new members at a lower rate currently knowing the rate for seats could drastically increase come July.

We are on year three of people not understanding the implications of the second apron in the NBA.

The Cavs did not “tie themselves to Harden” the Cavs became in this position because we went into the second apron.

Meaning even if Garland stayed we’d be having the exact same offseason but even worse. Why would it be worse? Because hardens about to be paid less to get us out of the second apron while Garlands contract would remain/slightly increase.

So what would have happened:
You’d still have the same questions about the core four.
Darius Garland extension talks would need to start. Garlands value would still remain low with the toe injury. “I was playing on 9 toes”
Mitchell’s extension talks continue as they do now.
You’d actually need to dump a valuable piece in order to get under the second apron. We don’t need to do this now.

My point is that this team’s timeline didn’t drastically change when trading for Harden. They were already on this timeline the second they entered the second apron last offseason.

Lastly, if your argument is “well they could have built around Garland and Mobley”. Okay that’s fine, but whatever trade you’re doing for Mitchell and other assets still needs to get you under the second apron. You basically have to gut your team like Boston did without having any of the young draft prospects. You’re also just assuming Garland returns to form when there’s been multiple cases of turf toe essentially being career ending in professional sports.

I really like Mobley as a player but this entire narrative that x,y,z player has held him back from becoming “the guy” is complete bullshit.

If you really are “the guy” it doesn’t matter who’s around you. You quickly show why you’re the leader and the franchise player. Mobley hasn’t done this.

Do you think Ant was held back Karl Anthony towns early in his career? No, ant instantly showed he’s the franchise player.
Do you think Tim duncan was held back by David Robinson? No
Were Klay Thompson and Steph curry held back by Monty Ellis?

There’s countless examples in NBA history where a team drafts a player and he overtakes the current star of the team. This entire narrative is pointless.

For basically all of this teams tenure we have had unathletic role players. Our biggest athlete the past few seasons was Issac Okoro.

It’s actually one of the main reasons this team has been awful in transition defense for years.

I love max strus and Sam Merrill but they aren’t athletic. They’re solid team defenders but they aren’t fast, can’t rebound well, can’t block, and struggle to handle the more physical playoffs because of it.

Tyson also, bigger build but smaller and not some major athlete.

Analyze the championship teams the last few seasons and they are all athletic. Even our own championship team of RJ, JR, Shump. All athletic twos and wings.

So my question is how do we fix this? What are trades or players that fit this mold you’d like to see?

I don’t understand why this team won’t go after Brunson on the defensive end.

He’s currently being hidden on players that can’t create off the dribble. Aka Wade, Strus, Merrill, etc.

Unlike the Cavs. He’s not being left on an island against talented players.

It’s time to go full Kenny and actually start Dennis Schorder. Force another dribble penetrator against Brunson. Force him to guard.

Our defense already sucks. It’s time to make a drastic adjustment and change this series.

I think once the Mitchell trade occurred it divided a lot of the fanbase. This year once Garland was traded for Harden it divided the fanbase even more.

After game 2 comments came flooding in trashing the harden trade. After game 6 comments came in trashing Mitchell.

Hell even in the middle of season people were calling Mitchell Carmelo Anthony.

I am always under the belief that as a fan you’re allowed to criticize players if they underperform. I do not call people on this sub doomers even if they seem that way.

Mitchell struggled a lot of this series but what Kenny said in his post game really stuck with me.

Donavon Mitchell has been the leader of this team since he’s arrived. There’s qualities that don’t always show on the court. Under Mitchell the locker room has overall been great. Outside fans talk about how connected our team looks. He’s been a pure professional and both Merrill and Tyson praise him. Even proctor spoke about his leadership over the summer and how it helped prepare him for this year.

I also think adding hardens leadership and Dennis Schorder leadership were keys to pushing this team over the top. All of these players are actually yelling at each other and holding each other accountable to a level I haven’t seen in the past.

So before we have a roller coaster of emotions of the next series then massive debates on contract extensions and trades this offseason.

I just want to say that Donavon’s leaderships hasn’t been praised enough since he arrived here. I know as a fanbase we’re happy our team is advancing but I was genuinely happy that Mitchell made it to a conference finals.

Don’t let James Harden completely distract you from the fact that Mobley is playing just as bad if not worse.

Fun fact…. Did you know Evan Mobley at solo center has the worst plus minus of any player in the current NBA playoffs

Evan Mobley can’t post up Tobias Harris. He can’t dribble/attack of the dribble (had three turnovers tonight dribbling)

He can’t reliably stretch the floor making spacing with him as a four difficult.

He’s awful at setting screens and has been his entire career. Guess what, this matters for guards against highly physical defenders.

His stat line tonight:
4-10 from the field, 1-4 from three, and 1 REBOUND.

I understand everyone is going trash harden and he deserves it, but this is your cornerstone player. Evan Mobley is paid $45M. His performance in this series is unacceptable.

Anyone stating the harden trade was a mistake and Garland would have been better is a prisoner of the moment.

First, we do not become the four seed with Darius Garland. Garland didn’t return from injury until march second. Mitchell was hurt for a stretch post all star break. Mobley was hurt post all star break. Jarrett Allen was hurt post all star break. James Harden despite having a fractured thumb was our most consistent player post all star break.

Second, if you complain about the small ball lineups based on this roster construction they would be even worse swapping Darius Garland for Harden. You physically could not run a Garland Schroeder backcourt.

Third, we wanted out of the Darius Garland business. There wasn’t some better trade coming this offseason. The market actually stated the Cavs got the best trade possible. Trae young was traded for next to nothing. JA Morant couldn’t be moved. The Cavs got to maintain a higher level player and he’s an expiring contract. Giving you flexibility this offseason get quickly get out of the second apron and retool the roster.

Lastly, Darius Garland said himself “I’ve been playing on 9 toes all years”. He was not healthy and struggled to stay healthy all regular season. Do you really think deep down he would have not reaggravated his toe with the level of physicality we’ve seen the first two rounds?

Harden deserves all the criticism for this series but let’s not be overly dramatic about the trade.

Don’t let James Harden completely distract you from the fact that Mobley is playing just as bad if not worse.

Fun fact…. Did you know Evan Mobley at solo center has the worst plus minus of any player in the current NBA playoffs

Evan Mobley can’t post up Tobias Harris. He can’t dribble/attack of the dribble (had three turnovers tonight dribbling)

He can’t reliably stretch the floor making spacing with him as a four difficult.

He’s awful at setting screens and has been his entire career. Guess what, this matters for guards against highly physical defenders.

His stat line tonight:
4-10 from the field, 1-4 from three, and 1 REBOUND.

I understand everyone is going trash harden and he deserves it, but this is your cornerstone player. Evan Mobley is paid $45M. His performance in this series is unacceptable.

He cost both game 4 and game 6 in the last series by not calling timeouts.

Now despite all odds of us playing awful and having a massive free throw discrepancy we have a Detroit lead of only four.

We then proceed to sub in a lineup that hasn’t worked the entire game with Mobley at center and Wade at the four. Detroit goes on a massive run. One of the worst offenses looks like a well oiled machine.

You know the big man that just won you game 7? Yeah let’s not put in him. Let’s go insanely small against these bigs.

Secondly, if Wade is not getting stops he needs to be benched. He’s an awful rebounder, a bad screener, and is left wide open on offense. It’s very clear this is Strus and Tyson’s series.