While We’re Waiting…Senior Bowl targets, Francisco Lindor, Colt’s raise
January 27, 2013Buckeyes Top Penn State Behind Sam Thompson’s Offensive Burst
January 27, 2013According the the Elias Sports Bureau, Kyrie Irving is just the fifth player in NBA history to score 30 points in 3 straight games before turning 21 years old. Irving’s last three outings of 40, 35, and 32 against Boston, Milwaukee, and Toronto join Kyrie with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Bernard King, and John Drew as the only players to put up 30 points 3 straight times before the age of 21.
[Related: Young and hungry, Kyrie Irving is Cleveland’s new All-Star]
9 Comments
Kyrie Irving might be a starter just yet. Rondo is out for year with torn ACL.
ok, I don’t really care about the Celtics, so while it’s always
sad to see a good player go down with an injury, my first thoughts were how this
might affect our Cavs.
the Celtics championship window with this corps is
now closed. well, it likely was anyway, but with Rondo out this season and half
of next season (and likely not 100% the 2nd half) there is no conceivable way
that the Celtics can even fool themselves into thinking this corps is worth
hanging onto.
so, Pierce and Garnett just hit the market. Jason Terry as
well. (everyone else was already on the market).
how does that affect the
Cavs? well, Phoenix, Houston and Cleveland are the teams with the cap space to
help be 3rd party facilitators in any major deal (and get back some nice assets
in the exchange). The Cavs also happen to hold the golden tickets of future 1st
round draft picks.
So, there is a good chance that the Celtics call the
Cavs to help them make any trade and that if Chris Grant is shrewd (he has been
thus far), the Cavs can help their own rebuild.
This is the type of
reason you build assets. Let’s hope we can take advantage.
John Drew? the REAL Uncle Drew?
no seriously, I would absolutely love to know if the creator of that name was a big Atlanta Hawks fan in the 70s and gave the name as homage. That would be cool.
I agree with this 10000%. But I can’t believe that Houston has as much cap room as us. Between Asik, Lin and Harden, they are already paying more than Cleveland. I think it’s the Cavs then everyone else in terms of needing a third party facilitator
Hopefully Boston misses the playoffs. If Kyrie Irving is not named the starter to replace Rondo, whoever makes that call is smoking something. Williams of Brooklyn most likely to replace Rondo on East roster though. With a real bench, our Cavs are looking like a fringe playoff team in the East this year.
http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm
Cleveland has as much cap space as anyone in 2013/2014, Also, Cleveland’s 2012-2013 # on this list includes Baron Davis amnestied amount that lowers that # down to $54 mil for cap purposes.
thanks for beating me to it. I don’t know why they show the amnestied salary in the generic link, but you are correct on it.
that still leaves Houston at $47mil, which is less than us. I think what people forget is the poison pill provision that they put in Lin (his salary is $5/$5/$15) and that Harden isn’t on his 2nd deal until next season (so he makes $5mil this year as well). And, they gave Asik the same deal they gave Lin.
so, in 3 years, they’ll be paying $45mil for 3 players (and it’s doubtful those players are good enough to win a championship), but for now, they have a really young and really cheap team.
Got ya. This makes more sense
I really like the way you’re thinking, though I’ll admit I still think it’s a bit too soon to be taking on people who will get us to ‘good’ before we have the young players to make us ‘great.’ I would definitely be in favor of us taking on a salary (while leaving enough cap room open for 2014) in exchange for another first rounder, or a younger player on a contender. Perhaps some kind of three team deal where the Heat ended up with Paul Pierce, the Cavs with Norris Cole, and the Celtics with one of our Kings first rounder and some salary relief? Just throwing stuff out there.
I say leave the 2014 as obligation free as possible not just for Lebron, but because that’s when I’ll expect we want to take the leap from growing, young team, to trying to win a championship. If we keep playing like we have the last few games through the end of the season, we still won’t make the playoffs (which is good – we need another marquee player) but we’ll be on an OKC-in their second year-esque run to end the season, setting us up to be possibly the 5th or 6th seed in the East next year. The summer following that we could add Lebron or if not then somebody like Danny Granger (to a reasonable salary given his age), Rudy Gay, or any other number of free agents that could help. Cleveland may not be LA or Miami, but it’s also not Sacramento or Minnesota. We have committed owner and front office, a super star, and some of the best facilities and fans in the league.