I think the answer is a pretty obvious, "yes," but I don't follow this stuff like some of you guys. Should the Cavs do that?

I'd do it if he signs an extension. You know what you have in Love. You have a 5ish year window with LeBron, go for it.

The thing I wonder though is if they are just creating the problems LeBron left in Miami. No bench no young legs to eat up minutes.

I know everyone wants to crown the Bulls, but the Cavs are likely going to the finals either way. I'd at least wait until mid season to see what I have in Wiggins and Bennett.

Never underestimate the value of young players with upside playing with legendary players. If Manu and Parker played with Glen Robinson instead of Duncan early on, perhaps they're totally different players. A huge benefit is that the young guys get to focus on supporting aspects of the game while avoiding the bad habits of forcing offense (which the superstar will take of). So if Bennett can give you 10 rebounds and clean up garbage around the rim and Wiggins can lock down on perimeter defense early in the year with Lebron, I'd keep them over Love.

I might think about Kyrie, Bennett, and Tristan Thompson for Love, Rubio, and Ronny Turiaf.

I wouldn't, not yet. Like Pascal said, wait until you see what you have right now. Wiggins takes the defensive pressure off LeBron. Bennett's shot is looking very good. No one is going to be able to match what Cleveland can offer, and Minnesota isn't going to keep Love (I don't think they really want to trade him anyways). The East is so weak that Kyrie+LeBron+defense can carry them to the conference finals, if not the NBA finals.

My vote: No -- at least not yet.

As others have pointed out, the Cavs as presently constructed probably have a floor of the conference finals. Wiggins needs to hone his skills on the offensive end, but he's going to be an excellent defender from day one. And Bron will already have offensive help from Kyrie and some of the role players on the Cavs.

So, at this point, I don't think there's any reason to give up a guy who has the potential to become a superstar. Don't make it easy for Minnesota. If they had another offer that they were excited about, they would have taken it already. And some seem to think that they are at least considering holding onto Love to see if they can make the playoffs next year and convince him to stay.

So, is there a tiny chance that the Cavs could wait a year sign Love on the open market? Maybe. Is there a chance that the Cavs could get him without giving up Wiggins? Possibly.

I would take the wait and see approach. Minnesota isn't going to deal Love to another team without at least going back to Cleveland first to see if they can come up with a better offer. So I'd say Cleveland should wait until their hand is forced to make a decision about Wiggins. Until then, spend as much time as possible trying to figure out what you've got.

I agree with everyone here. Play with what you got until the trade deadline. There's too much talent and potential around Lebron to already start trading it away. I'm in the crowd of not crowing the Bulls. I just can't see Rose making it through an entire NBA season healthy enough to beat a Lebron lead Cavs in the EFC. Pau is great, but he's 33 years old and will probably be getting 35 minutes a game all season long.

Yes do it. Love + Kyrie + Lebron gets them to 4 or 5 straight Finals.

The future first is worthless in the 27-30 range and Bennett isn't any good. If you wait to the trade deadline Minny might not do that deal any more if Bennett sucks it up on the court.

All those "problems" that the Heat had with no depth in Miami got them to 4 straight NBA Finals and 2 titles. I'm sure Cleveland would take that.

Yeah you make the trade for Love. Lebron is a magnet for good, experienced role players looking to grab a ring before retirement. They'll bust their asses and they'll do it for less money than they'd do it on a 'dead end' club. If you're saying 'no' to acquiring Love then you're dealing in 'maybe's' and 'what ifs?' when it comes to Wiggins and Bennett. Pretty sure Lebron would rather have Love than a couple of unproven rooks.

With Love, that defense is worse than the D the Heat rolled out in the Finals. If Rose doesn't come back up to speed, the Cavs cakewalk into the Finals to be blown out by the West team with little financial flexibility to go out and get a rim protector (which they don't have anyways) or a competent wing defender (Wiggins floor is most likely great defender even if he never develops offensively).

As flashy as that team is, Lebron's your only competent defender and they'll have no cap room to bring in much. The Heatles at least starting were all legit 2 way players. Love and Irving are both liabilities defensively.

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The thing I wonder though is if they are just creating the problems LeBron left in Miami. No bench no young legs to eat up minutes.

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Yep.

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I'd at least wait until mid season to see what I have in Wiggins and Bennett.

Never underestimate the value of young players with upside playing with legendary players. If Manu and Parker played with Glen Robinson instead of Duncan early on, perhaps they're totally different players. A huge benefit is that the young guys get to focus on supporting aspects of the game while avoiding the bad habits of forcing offense (which the superstar will take of). So if Bennett can give you 10 rebounds and clean up garbage around the rim and Wiggins can lock down on perimeter defense early in the year with Lebron, I'd keep them over Love.

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And yep.

I wouldn't do it. Yes Love is a hell of a scorer, but the cavs already have a fair bit of scoring punch. They need to depth and D more than they need what Love brings to the table.

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The future first is worthless in the 27-30 range and Bennett isn't any good. If you wait to the trade deadline Minny might not do that deal any more if Bennett sucks it up on the court.

All those "problems" that the Heat had with no depth in Miami got them to 4 straight NBA Finals and 2 titles. I'm sure Cleveland would take that.

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1) Miami had some depth. None of them could carry the team but Miller, Battier, Allen, Anderson, and even Chalmers were integral components of those title teams
2) I don't think we can close the book on Bennett. Prior to his first season, he had shoulder surgery on his shooting arm and then wasn't diligent in his rehab or conditioning during his recovery, so he showed up w a screwed up shot and couldn't play that long. Now he's focused and in shape, which showed during summer league play. I think he'll look a lot more like a high first round pick over the next two years.

Love is a fantastic scorer, a very good rebounder, and a sub par defender. I think the cavs have enough studs on this team to put together a fairly efficient offense and Wiggins and Bennett probably give them much more on D.

[This message has been edited by Deputy Travis Junior (edited 7/19/2014 5:41p).]

Miller, Allen, varejao, Waiters, Thompson would be just as good supporting cast. I'm guessing Ray Allen is going to follow Lebron.

[This message has been edited by Sean_Jones (edited 7/19/2014 7:52p).]

I dont think Love is a great fit for the cavs, mostly because of his lack of defense. Irving is a horrible defender and it is hard to hide two bad defenders. The cavs small ball lineup of irving, wig, miller, lebron, and varejo will be really tough to match up with. Love causes problems because he holds the ball a lot and both irving and lebron already need the ball in their hands. Offense wont be this teams weakness, interior defense will and love just doesnt help there.

Plus that is too much for love

I stick with Wiggins and Bennett. Established best player in the world plus young talented underpaid guys on rookie contracts is a formula for long term success. They have financial flexibility, and if Wiggins is anywhere near his billing you'll have no trouble attracting aging role players to play with Lebron/Irving/Wiggins, only now you have the space to get some actual players instead of Rashard Lewis and Norris Cole.

They have actual players called Irving waiters Thompson Allen miller and varejao. Getting a top 12 player in the Nba for a worthless 1st rounder, and 2 completely unproven players(1 who could already be a bust) should be a no brainer.

...and then you can't pay anyone but Love and Lebron. The superteam doesn't work for long. As is they have tons of good, young, affordable players. They have a chance to create a dynasty here. Why throw that away trying to catch lightning in a bottle for a couple years? IMO, ditching Wiggins and anything for Love is hard to defend unless you already know Wiggins is going to be average to below average.

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The thing I wonder though is if they are just creating the problems LeBron left in Miami. No bench no young legs to eat up minutes.

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What he said^

Their legs are much younger than Miami's

Irving and Love are younger than Wade and Bosh

I know Love gets bagged for his defense quite often, but you are by default really not that awful of a defender when you are as an elite a rebounder as Love is. Defense is about ending possessions leaving a team scoreless. Because of that, I don't think its fair to ever call an elite rebounders an awful defender.

Signing Love and Irving up as a big 3 with Lebron is a bit different than the Miami situation. Both are much younger than what Wade and Bosh were when they did it in Miami.

In terms of that deal itself, I think you do it without hesitation if you are Cleveland if the deal is out there. That said, if the Warriors are still leaving the door open to sending Klay Thompson and a few picks to Minnesota for Love, right now, that's a better package than Wiggins, Bennett and a pick in my opinion.

Part of the reason Love gets so many rebounds is because he doesn't contest shots or rotate. He stays in position to get rebounds. And he's really bad in transition defense. He watches his shot way too long, then has to ask for help on his man as everyone is down the court already while he was too busy watching his shot.

In short, yes Love is an awful defender.

[This message has been edited by Ryan34 (edited 7/20/2014 8:19a).]

Love is a FA next summer, why give up what you have now for him? why not keep wiggins, who'll be a better perimeter defender, and sign love next year?

I think that at the very least you wait until midseason to make a deal. See what you have with Wiggins and an in-shape Bennett before you sell away the future of the franchise.

Make the trade now. The strongest team in the East was Miami and now they're crippled. Washington, Chicago, Indiana, etc. are not winning it this year. Washington is not there yet because they're still too young and are positioning themselves for Durant. They'll be very strong in a few years. Derrick Rose is still at least a year away if not more from returning to form. Indiana got weaker.

If Cleveland gets Love, they'll be the clear favorites in the East this season. Another shot for a ring for LeBron who turns 30 this year.

Didn't LBJ just sign for 2 years?

I understand the reason for waiting, but they have to win, and I don't think you can just throw Love in there mid-season, and remove multiple parts, and be ready by the end of the season.
They couldn't do it in Miami with a full season.


I think Wiggins will be better than Love, but if you only have a two year, you have to win now. So you do the deal.

LeBron signed a 2 year deal to take advantage of the massive leap the salary cap is going to take after the new TV deal. Projections have the cap at $80M+ in 2016 as opposed to the $63M now. He's not leaving.

Edit: LBJ max right now=~$22M, in 2 years ~$28M (under current projections)

[This message has been edited by Twelfthman (edited 7/20/2014 2:56p).]

LeBron signed a 2 year deal for CBA reasons. He's not leaving again.

The only way Cleveland screws this up is if in two years they have to allocate their entire cap to Love/Irving/Lebron and end up with three guys that cruise through the EC but get embarrassed in the Finals because they've got nothing else. Now Lebron has to choose between being a good loser or going to LA.

Superstars make good teams until the money runs out. Superstars + good young players on cheap early career contracts make great teams. If my goal is two Finals appearances in two years, I make the trade. If my goal is to win titles for the next ten years, I keep Wiggins. Lebron is not leaving Cleveland as long as they are contenders. They don't need to be the favorite, they just need to be an actual team, and preferably one that would still be over .500 without Lebron. Is Love, Irving, and scrubs a .500+ team? Maybe in the EC, but neither Love nor Irving have managed a season over .500 so far.

what does wiggins really offer play wise? he seems to be a poor mans Lebron- Bennett is worthless

If i am minnesotta i don't take that trade ever
but if i am cleveland hell yeah

I think Wiggins will be a good player but I do this deal if I am Cleveland for sure. Love compliments Lebrons game very well.

As for Minnesota I would try and get Thompson somehow involved in the deal as well but it's not a bad deal for them considering Love will just walk for nothing next summer.

I wait. Love has just never excited me as a player. Big numbers of a bad team with no help and no defense.

I'd rather wait and see what Wiggins gives you. It isn't like Bron can only play SF. See if they can play together.

Wiggins is a SG/SF. Lebron is a SF/PF. If an NBA coach can't figure out a way to play two versatile 6'8 freak athletes at the same time, he needs to find a new job.

I'd wait for the wolves to get more desperate to get something for Love as he gets closer to becoming a fa...

Not sure I understand why the Bulls are pushing so hard. They got Pau Gasol and already have Noah. You can't play Love on the floor at the same time as those two, so you are basically gonna split the three of them over the two positions through the season but what about in the playoffs? Who is on the floor for the last 6 minutes of the game? I think keeping Butler for defense/all-around game, Gibson for backup post off the bench (great hustle and defense) and McDermott as the new scorer is a better fit.