LeBron Opts Out (Page 2)

My guess is that Cleveland is just posturing for now.  You'll never know if Minnesota will bite on a deal for Love that doesn't include Wiggins unless you try first....right?  

If I had to guess, I would say that this is what we'll do.

LeBron's letter basically said to not expect miracles the first year or two.  This is a process and it will take time.

So, if we don't get him this year, we'll be in position to snag him next year, and all of our guys will have a year of experience under their belt.

It's a good time to be from Cleveland (did I really just write that?).

Cleveland won't have enough salary cap space to sign Love as a free agent.  They already gave Irving a 5 year $90 million extension.  Combine that with the $22 million that Lebron will make in 2015-16, and there's no room for Love.

The thing Cleveland has going for them is that Love publicly stated that he is willing to sign a long term extension with Cleveland if he's traded there.  He has not given the same guarantee to any other team AFAIK.  So while other teams may have the capacity to offer Minnesota a better deal, they might not actually make that offer if they know they are just renting Love for one year, and he'll go elsewhere in free agency after that.

I know Wiggins has been touted to have tons of potential, but if you're Cleveland, I think if push comes to shove...you have to give him up for Love.  I agree with playing hardball now, but if Minnesota balks, Cleveland has to give in.  This is not about protecting the 10 year future of Cleveland by keeping a promising 19 year old.  It's about winning now.  Cleveland is a city that hasn't won a championship in 50 years.  And Lebron is only signing a 2 year deal...there is no guarantee he'll be there till he retires.  But if you can lock up Irving, Love, and James for the next 5 years...who cares if you end up sucking in 2021 if you end up with a couple of championships and 5 solid years of winning teams?  Maybe Wiggins is the real deal and ready to be a solid championship contributor right now...but compared to Love???

Also, isn't there some goofy rule where if we resign a Max contract player (LeBron next year, or in two years), it somehow frees up a Max contract, which could be used to sign Love as a Free Agent at that time... or something like that? 

In any case... yes, LeBron is here to finish his career. Make no mistakes about that.  Also, I'm pretty sure that we can swing a deal for Love, and it won't involve Wiggins.

In fact, our best move is to sit tight until next year and sign Love as a free agent.  We just added Mike Miller, we keep Kyrie, Tristan, Wiggins, Bennett, etc.... add Love, and we still have three 1st round picks in the 2015 draft.

In the NBA, there is not a hard cap.  One of the ways you can go over the salary cap is to resign a player that is already on your team (an extension), resign a free agent who was previously on your team, or sign the rookies you drafted (there are other ways like the mid level exception, etc).  So once Cleveland signs Wiggins, the other rookies, and whoever they fill out thier roster with (Mike Miller, etc), they will almost certainly be over the cap due to the big chunk that LeBron and Irving take up.  Once you're over the cap, you cannot sign any free agents that were not on your team...like Kevin Love.  If Cleveland made a trade for Love, then he would be a Cav...and when his contract is up after 2015, Cleveland can resign him for the max even though it puts them WAY OVER the cap.  However, they would be subject to luxury tax penalties.

I wasn't aware of the TV contract deal coming up...but that makes sense as to why LeBron did not sign a long term deal now.  Because of the financial security his endorsements offer, he can afford to do this unlike other guys like Melo and Bosh who should take their money while the iron is hot.

Chris also brought up a good point about LeBron's opt out option after 2015.  If he opts out, it might free up enough salary cap space to sign Love...then once Love is signed, LeBron can resign for another 1 year deal thus putting Cleveland over the cap again because it's allowed.  If LeBron signed a 2 year deal without an opt out option, there is no way they can sign another big decent free agent next year.

The one thing we couldn't ever do while he was here the first time, was afford to sign decent talent.

Also, with him here, we were all but guaranteed to never pick him enough in the draft to really gain any star talent that way.

Him leaving really was best for both of us.  We won 3 of 4 NBA lotteries, and acquired a lot of young up-and-coming talent by getting guys like Irving and Ender, we got our cap under control so that we can afford free agents going forward, and he got to go grab a couple of rings.

Honestly, it couldn't have worked out better even if the entire thing had been planned.