Wizards need to let it go. "Rival Cavs" gimme a break. We worked them in the playoffs 3 straight years and that organization has gone downhill ever since. This is why that franchise is in the shape that they are in. It's not working, sometimes you have to lick your wounds and move on. That core of players has never had any real success, why are they so reluctant to accept this and move on? I want Jamison on the Cavs but Ferry should not budge here. If they can get a 3rd team involved thats great, if not then stay put.

The Cavs should not make a trade this season. Leon Powe coming off the injured list should be like our trade. I want to keep Z and Shaq this year because when their contract are up at the end of the season we can get that young "Pippen" player to play with LeBron for years to come.

Hickson is our PF of the future let him stay and play with LeBron and continue to get better. (look at where he was last year and the great improvement he has made to this year, he still is a kid at 20)

Even when this free agent season comes i dont want Bosh or Amare, i would love to see the Cavs go for Joe Johnson and maybe David Lee so help our inside game.
Our lineup would be
PG Mo, Gibson
SG Johnson, Parker
SF LeBron, Moon
PF Hickson, Powe
C Lee, Andy

That lineup gives up everything we would need another scorer for LeBron and a inside player. Plus the best bench in the league

The Cavs will not have enough room to sign any big free agents next season unless LeBron leaves.

BTBalla, Cleveland doesn't have the money to sign both Lee and Johnson let alone one.

http://realcavsfans.com/showthread.php?t=10411&page=9

The only way Cleveland adds a top level player is via trade. The MLE for next season will be below 5.5 million which Cleveland will have to use.

Cleveland Buck wrote: The Cavs will not have enough room to sign any big free agents next season unless LeBron leaves.

Also, if you bring in Jamison...even if Lebron leaves, they are probably still at the cap.

So you would be screwed on acquiring any of the top free agents.

Wooball wrote: I guess I may be the only one on this board that would make the trade for Iggy. I can see why people might see the 2nd coming of Larry Hughes, or why he wouldn't fit in. Here is why I think he would:

The guy is very athletic. He will finish with dunks and draw fouls at the rim. Can you imagine this guy running the break with Lebron? He won't have to handle the ball often, and LBJ is great at finding guys when they move off the ball. He makes 32.5% of his 3's while he is asked to pretty much do everything for that offense. Playing with Bron and Shaq that percentage should go up with more wide open looks. In Cleveland he would be the #3 ball handler, and asked to slash and score. When Hughes was here, we asked him to play pg, and knock down jumpshots. Now we have Mo, Delonte, Parker and Boobie to hit J's, something we didn't have when Larry was here. Also, when that floor tilts toward Lebron in the playoffs and in the 4th quarter, how nice would it be to have guy on the weakside that could beat his man off the dribble and finish at the rim? It is great that we have all these spot up shooters, but what happens when the 3 isn't falling? The Magic shot themselves to a series win against the Cavs, then when the 3's weren't falling against LA had no chance. How about a line-up against the Magic of Mo/Delonte, Iggy, Moon/Parker, LBJ, Shaq?

Great! But we already have this guy in Jamario Moon.

Exactly, to improve the roster it has to be via the trade especially if Z/Shaq choose to call it quits.

Right now Williams, Gibson, Parker, Moon, Hickson and AV are the only fully guaranteed contracts. West, Green, and Jackson are partial guarantees, and Powe is a team option. Z and Shaq's contracts end this season and LeBron is still up in the air.

If LeBron does leave, Cleveland will have money but they will also have a roster full of role and bench players which no big star will come too.

Improve your roster via trade now.

James is not leaving:@. Think positive. There are no "if's"

just_a_swimmer wrote: James is not leaving:@. Think positive. There are no "if's"

Always gotta think though. I don't think he'll leave but I also don't want to be left with cap room, no LeBron, and then be forced to overpay any semi star to come to Cleveland.

Nice comment by Jawad Williams from his mailbag..

Comments: How does the chemistry of this year’s Cavs team compare to your 2005 National Championship Tar Heel team?
First Name: Matt
City: Philadelphia
State: PA

Jawad: That’s a good one. I think this team is closer – which is rare, from what I understand, on a professional level, because you’re dealing with contracts and big-money guys. But this … this team is the closest team I’ve ever played on. Hands down the closest team I’ve ever played on.

Players at UNC are tight. When you go through some of the things we go through as North Carolina basketball players, you realize why. Even the guys who came before us stay close. We have a great connection with those guys.

The ultimate goal is to win and, hopefully, move to the professional level. But even if that doesn’t happen, guys stay together.

LTrain23 wrote:

Wooball wrote: I guess I may be the only one on this board that would make the trade for Iggy. I can see why people might see the 2nd coming of Larry Hughes, or why he wouldn't fit in. Here is why I think he would:

The guy is very athletic. He will finish with dunks and draw fouls at the rim. Can you imagine this guy running the break with Lebron? He won't have to handle the ball often, and LBJ is great at finding guys when they move off the ball. He makes 32.5% of his 3's while he is asked to pretty much do everything for that offense. Playing with Bron and Shaq that percentage should go up with more wide open looks. In Cleveland he would be the #3 ball handler, and asked to slash and score. When Hughes was here, we asked him to play pg, and knock down jumpshots. Now we have Mo, Delonte, Parker and Boobie to hit J's, something we didn't have when Larry was here. Also, when that floor tilts toward Lebron in the playoffs and in the 4th quarter, how nice would it be to have guy on the weakside that could beat his man off the dribble and finish at the rim? It is great that we have all these spot up shooters, but what happens when the 3 isn't falling? The Magic shot themselves to a series win against the Cavs, then when the 3's weren't falling against LA had no chance. How about a line-up against the Magic of Mo/Delonte, Iggy, Moon/Parker, LBJ, Shaq?

Great! But we already have this guy in Jamario Moon.

Really??? Moon can jump high and hit a stand still jumper. Moon is a great bench/role player for this team. AI2 would bring a lot more than that.

Moon is very good on defense and his athleticism is great. For how much he is getting paid he does what he is asked.

Wooball wrote:

LTrain23 wrote:

Wooball wrote: I guess I may be the only one on this board that would make the trade for Iggy. I can see why people might see the 2nd coming of Larry Hughes, or why he wouldn't fit in. Here is why I think he would:

The guy is very athletic. He will finish with dunks and draw fouls at the rim. Can you imagine this guy running the break with Lebron? He won't have to handle the ball often, and LBJ is great at finding guys when they move off the ball. He makes 32.5% of his 3's while he is asked to pretty much do everything for that offense. Playing with Bron and Shaq that percentage should go up with more wide open looks. In Cleveland he would be the #3 ball handler, and asked to slash and score. When Hughes was here, we asked him to play pg, and knock down jumpshots. Now we have Mo, Delonte, Parker and Boobie to hit J's, something we didn't have when Larry was here. Also, when that floor tilts toward Lebron in the playoffs and in the 4th quarter, how nice would it be to have guy on the weakside that could beat his man off the dribble and finish at the rim? It is great that we have all these spot up shooters, but what happens when the 3 isn't falling? The Magic shot themselves to a series win against the Cavs, then when the 3's weren't falling against LA had no chance. How about a line-up against the Magic of Mo/Delonte, Iggy, Moon/Parker, LBJ, Shaq?

Great! But we already have this guy in Jamario Moon.

Really??? Moon can jump high and hit a stand still jumper. Moon is a great bench/role player for this team. AI2 would bring a lot more than that.

Iguadala is a guy who has not improved since coming into the league. Overhyped and overpaid.

The best trade the Cavs can make is....no trade at all. Not Hickson, not ZZ...nobody. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Cleveland sports fans en masse have an inferiority phobia. Myself included.

Enjoy the ride. Just like last year, the Cavs have a great shot of winning the whole thing.

Some more notes on Iguadala. He's below the league average in free throw percentage. His percentage on 3balls is extremely poor. His overall shooting percentage is God awful. This year...42%.

He is a major reason why the Sixers are horrible.

Why anyone would want to add this crudball to this team is beyond belief. He stinks. Discussion/

Foot, where do you think making no moves will leave the roster heading into the summer? As of right now they could lose 2-3 major contributors to the team.

What if LeBron leaves? Do you really think Shaq or Z are going to want to re-sign with Cleveland with very little hope of competing for a title in their last years. Sure that leaves us with cap space but it also leaves us with a weak roster to bring in star players.

Let's say they do not return, you just lost two 7 footers and 20 ppg/13 rpg. This leaves Cleveland with no true center on their roster.

Even if LeBron does re-sign with Cleveland it still leaves us with the possibility of losing both centers to retirement and having no cap room to make moves.

In order for Cleveland to better their roster they need to make a trade using Z's expiring, picks, and possibly JJ if the right deal comes along (would have to get two guys back via 3 way not just Jamison imo). These moves just aren't for this season's run, Ferry knows he'll have little to work with come FA and now is the time to better your roster.

I just don't think you can stand pat and wait for other players to make their decisions. Go out and get players that will be under contract.

devil1197 wrote: Foot, where do you think making no moves will leave the roster heading into the summer? As of right now they could lose 2-3 major contributors to the team.

What if LeBron leaves? Do you really think Shaq or Z are going to want to re-sign with Cleveland with very little hope of competing for a title in their last years. Sure that leaves us with cap space but it also leaves us with a weak roster to bring in star players.

Let's say they do not return, you just lost two 7 footers and 20 ppg/13 rpg. This leaves Cleveland with no true center on their roster.

Even if LeBron does re-sign with Cleveland it still leaves us with the possibility of losing both centers to retirement and having no cap room to make moves.

In order for Cleveland to better their roster they need to make a trade using Z's expiring, picks, and possibly JJ if the right deal comes along (would have to get two guys back via 3 way not just Jamison imo). These moves just aren't for this season's run, Ferry knows he'll have little to work with come FA and now is the time to better your roster.

I just don't think you can stand pat and wait for other players to make their decisions. Go out and get players that will be under contract.

I'm not Danny Ferry....and I think it's his job to figure stuff out. I think it's in the best interest of the Cavs to do 2 things only.

1. Leave this team alone as it stands. Do not make any trade that could weaken the chances of winning this year.

2. Do what's necessary in resigning the best basketball player we've ever seen...at the end of the season.

I don't have a clue as to whose contract is up when or for how long. All I know is that this team, just like last year's team, has a great chance to win it all.

If LBJ stays, I have all the faith in the world in Ferry/Gilbert putting on a contending product year after year. Just as they did in Chicago during Michael's run.

#2 on your list can/should be accomplished by the trade deadline. Ferry needs to have another good player on a contract going into next season, its that simple. Cleveland won't be a big player in the FA and will have less than 5.5 million to work with. LeBron knows that Cleveland will be limited come the summer, the moves need to be made now to assure another player locked in.

You need to understand that Ferry will only make a trade if he knows it won't hurt the team moving forward. He thought that it would hurt the team with Shaq the first time and he missed as we can tell right now. He won't miss again in the next two weeks and he knows that.

I posted this over on the Cavs/Heat thread, but I might as well throw it up here to. Boobie Gibson is not playing tonite due to "personal reasons". Is it possible he is part of a trade that is about to go down? I really did not want to part with him. There was an article on ESPN somewhere this afternoon about the Cavs about making a deal before the Allstar break. I wonder if this has any legs?

I doubt it.

Is anyone else out like Z or JJ?

HighRoller74 wrote: I doubt it.

Is anyone else out like Z or JJ?

Nevermind...Boobies fiance is having complications from her pregnancy.

Gibson will be hard to trade anyways because of his contract.

Everything is quiet on the trade front which is what I like and I am sure Ferry likes also.

Last year we thought for sure that Amar'e, Shaq, or another big name was coming to Cleveland with all the "hot" rumors we received. But nothing panned out. Ferry likes to do his deals secretly and then boom we have a new player or two.

JJ seems to be the main factor in a lot of trades, will Ferry give him up for experienced talent or hope that JJ pans out.

It seems that LeBron and Shaq will both be involved if a trade including JJ were going to happen. They have taken JJ under their wing and their input would be needed. They think JJ will eventually be a star which is nice because that ensures us that LeBron sees future progression with the Cavaliers roster.

W&G is close with JJ and worked with him on his developing game. But he even would include JJ and a possible #1 to get Iggy. He thinks that LeBron and Iggy would be a great combination for many years as both are very young.

From W&G:

I think we have three possible trades that could happen right this minute. But, would rather wait out the process in order to keep our options open for the best possible opportunities to eventually surface.

I believe we've got decent enough fallback options already that we could do if we so wanted. I'm pretty confident of that. Not sure how pleased most would be of them because two of the three would be seen as minor.. the other is a strong upgrade in my opinion...

To me it's clear what our hopes are right now ...I think at this point the one target that would make the team happiest to acquire would be Jamison. But, Washington is tough to read as far as intentions.

Iguodala just appears too cumbersome an ordeal to piece together. The logistics to get it done are mounting and without an extreme drive to get it done, won't happen.

When asked, Lebron James and even Shaq are saying that JJ Hickson is the real deal, and will eventially be the star type piece. That with continued development he has a very high ceiling.

That makes me feel good having the history I do with JJ, but honeslty I see a high quality player in JJ, but a player that needs assisting components around him to achieve successes.

I hang on to JJ in most all the trade offerings out there. But, in the case of Iguodala, I go the extra mile and include JJ, and even a #1 if necassary.

I just feel the high level flexibility that having both Lebron and Iguodala on our roster would be very formidable for many seasons into the future.

I have serious doubts it's going to happen, though. Don't feel the consensus amongst key players and front office execs is the same as mine on this one. Hope I'm wrong.