The Contenders: A Blueprint

You act like just because we made it to the second round it means we will be back next year.

 

I never said that, no locks to accomplish anything in the west. But if we trade our best player for a draft pick we would be a lock to miss it!

 

Blueprint for being a contender: good solid core of players who play together for years + playoff experience

 

Well, adding some bench production would be a plus.

 

Why would Cleveland trade for a guy who has no interest in playing there, and who would most likely leave to a place he wants to be even if it's for less money?

 

Lance Stevenson isn't anywhere near as valuable to the Pacers as David West is, in both leadership and skill set.

 

We would still have a pretty competive team after trading LA even more so if we signed Love then with the combination of assets we got from the trade and Love we would be in better shape as a team IMO.

 

Maybe they think they can convince him to stay or maybe they think with him Lebron is coming back. I do not know but they have shown repeated interest.

 

Summary: We seem to be moving in the right direction as a franchise, but let's trade our all-star power forward for a guy who scored 4 points in an NCAA Tourney elimination game. Then, let's sign Kevin Love for the contract we could have given our all-star and maintained continuity. After all, it is a guarantee that Kevin Love will sign here.

 

That's a stupid gamble. Love aleady picked LA over Oregon once. We'd have to let other players walk to clear the cap room. Much better to keep LaMarcus. The Spurs are proving how valuable continuity and experience with players is. Your ideas need to stay in fantasy basketball land.

 

Don't kid yourself. Love picked Ben Howard over Ernie Kent

 

That's just because he's racist.

 

I believe i heard he crossed the street when Kent came to recruit him

 

Where do they get the cap space to sign James after maxing out Irving and LMA?

 

Irving extension won't hit cap until 2015-16 season.

 

I realize that, but the larger point is how is Cleveland going to pay three max contracts, and also, is Irving even worth a max, given his injury history?

 

Irving is a guarantee to get the max, either pay it or he leaves. Max contract is 25% of the cap so any team can aford three if the rest of the roster is lower salary.