T.J. Ward talks about Denver’s winning culture vs. Cleveland experience
July 2, 2014Gordon Hayward is not a fan of Cleveland
July 2, 2014Not only are the Cleveland Cavaliers extremely interested in restricted free agent Gordon Hayward, it appears they could be gearing towards offering the swingman a maximum contract.
Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Hayward is in Cleveland on Wednesday and that an offer sheet could be forthcoming. ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst followed up this report with additional news of the Cavs potentially offering Hayward a maximum offer sheet which would be roughly $14 million per year for at least three seasons. The Portland Trailblazers famously signed Roy Hibbert to a max four-year, $58 million offer in 2013 before it was matched by the Indiana Pacers.
Despite his efficiency being down due to a lack of help, Hayward averaged a solid 16.2 points, 1.1 threes, 5.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals last season. The Suns have also been eager to give him an offer sheet, and the Celtics had expressed interest before agreeing to terms with Avery Bradley. The Jazz, however, have vowed to match offers for their 24-year-old restricted free agent.
86 Comments
I wish the real Tim Hardaway could play in this league. He would have been so perfect for it.
“Trying to turn a 30 win team into a contender over night is a fool’s errand.”
eh hem….. someone begs to disagree.
http://i.minus.com/iG9gWENm1h3q4.gif
They won 47 the year before Lebron and Bosh went there.
and 15 the year before that…. a 2 year turnaround into the Finals.
not exactly “overnight” but not exactly some 4 year build to the 8th seed of the playoffs either.
That’s a good point – “max” is not necessarily the most meaningful distinction. But a look at comparable salaries leads to the same conclusion. There are a few stars (Griffin, Hardin) getting paid in that range, and everyone else seems like busts. And even the disappointing ones had much better resumes at the time. Even David Lee was a 20/10 guy (and is still close).
43 the year before. 15 was the year before that. And were a successful franchise going further back. They had an awful year that they tanked into an even worse record, but that wasn’t a team running off year after year of garbage rosters. And it took maybe the biggest day in the history of NBA free agency. If we can add Lebron and Bosh, I’m in. But Hayward seems to fall a bit short of meeting that goal.
I saw 4/52 mil and the Jazz may not match.
I like this comment a lot.
Or else they trade Dion. I’d prefer to keep Dion as a 6th man who can come in and give some bench scoring, leadership, and toughness, but a lot of people seem to be assuming he’ll get traded. We’ll see.
umm, when you gut your roster so that you can sign 1 existing allstar, another FA allstar, and a league MVP, I think that very much qualifies as an immediate turnaround into a contender.
the argument against is that we are not about to add a LeBron and Bosh talent here.
damn you
where will Jimmy Buss fall on the list of all time “Father was “great”, I’m a foul up” list?
just thinking about that made me stare off into space for a good 30 seconds… that Run TMC team today? Would have been something
way, way, way behind Mike Brown (Paul’s kid, not our eccentric optical frame 2x coach).
and I really dont see parsons coming here anyway, so I’m just spinning my wheels
It sounds all moot now, but I’m really excited the people running the Cavs aren’t planning on squatting on the cap space and are planning on improving this team very soon. I’ve been suffering through 4 years of terrible basketball and I would hope I’m not alone in being ready to be good again. Turning this into a contender, in this conference, is not that big of an accomplishment. See the Wizards. But I guess Ben Gordon is going to be up for another contract in 2 years so we’d better set aside some money!
either Don Nelson version really.
91/92 Run TMC
PG: Tim Hardaway
SG: Mario Elie (Mitch Richmond the year before)
SF: Chris Mullin
PF: Tyrone Hill
C: Billy Owens
Bench: Sarunus Marciulionis!, Chris Gatling, Victor Alexander
93/94
PG: Avery Johnson
SG: Latrell Sprewell
SF: Chris Mullin
PF: Chris Webber
C: Billy Owens
Bench: Chris Gatling, Keith Jennings, Victor Alexander
Marc Davis is going to be pretty high as well, I think. The fact that he dresses the same as his Father either gets him extra points, or has them deducted, depending on how the scoring works
He has a ton of work to do, but acquiring Matt Schaub was a step in the right direction if he wants included on these lists.
Again, they were added to a 47 win team. The huge turnaround happened before they added all those guys.
Apparently the big difference we have is how much we think Hayward improves this team.
They’ll get significantly better, resembling a contender, if Irving and Wiggins make big leaps. I’m sure we agree on that. But adding a .089 WS/48 guy (same as Tristan Thompson) does not make you a contender. And surely you realize that the Ben Gordon line is a ridiculous strawman.
Interesting
Gordon was a joke, but those are the talents you’ll be signing if you only plan to go after cheap contracts.
I don’t agree with your premise that because his performance dropped off last year, he’s not good and wouldn’t improve the team. He was forced to be the #1 scoring option last year and his efficiency numbers plummeted as a result. As the 3rd option on this team, in this system, I believe he would thrive. Jacob ( I believe) wrote a great article on it. You should check it out.
just to be clear: you believe that if we added LeBron & Bosh this offseason that we wouldn’t win the East?
(obviously that is not happening, but, we add those 2 guys and we win the East as easily as Miami has)
Steve, you know better than to use his career WS/48 number here. If we sign him to such a deal, then we are thinking that not only is his .123 WS/48 more his norm, but that we expect him to progress as he gets older (24yo next season – this contract would have him through his prime seasons).
if we do that, then we could be wrong and lose that bet, but let’s present the gamble for what it is.
I would say that Hughes, as a whole, was a better defender than Hayward is now. Hayward’s defensive metrics aren’t all that great. Also, Hayward is a 36% career 3pt shooter coming off of a 31% year. We’re not exactly getting a Ben Gordon or Ray Allen from beyond the arc.
Your point is well made though and I agree that Hayward is a useful/solid player. However, to me, useful/solid equates to maybe 8-10 mil per year and certainly NOT $15 mil. Think of it this way, if the Jazz had Hayward at $15 mil per over 4 yrs, would you give up an asset to trade for him, or would you demand an asset in return for taking on his contract?
$12mil is really the most I think he should be paid. the extra $2mil is the tax to pry him from the Jazz, but it does look like the Cavs FO is not going to pay that.
as mentioned, I prefer Monroe. but, if I fully believe that Gordon would follow his Batum track (Cavs FO would be saying they do to sign him), then I would expect to give up assets for him as I would give up assets for Batum today ($12mil/year).
All things being equal, I’d prefer Monroe as well. Heck, I’d pay Monroe more than I’d pay Hayward.
I think Kyrie will always have trade value where as most guys Cleveland can get in FA don’t/won’t. That makes a max for him much easier to swallow.
Someone has to do something in an NBA game when the other team is blowing you away. Utah was garbage, couldn’t even win at home, so his stats are somewhat misleading.
Yes, given the skills, monroe deserves more
Al had a better haircut!
And if kyrie misses 35 games this year, plays bad D, shoots 36% from 3, and clashes with teammates/coaches, he’ll still have trade value? Deron williams went from being a top 3 PG to the worst contract in the NBA in about 1.5 seasons. He’s still owed ~$60 mil over the next three seasons and is essentially untradable.
Obviously the team thinks that if they offer a max or near max deal. But even then, .123 WS/48 is not quite max worthy, and expecting a guy to continue playing at the highest level he showed seems like a bad bet to me.
We’re throwing a lot of money around at lottery picks, hoping and praying they work out. Good teams don’t do that.
Williams was never that good in my book but that is a viable comparison.