I accept that Lebron James is gone and thank him for his time in Cleveland, but I go into full-on tear down and asset acquisition mode, specifically aiming to offload Love.
Call up Memphis and offer this deal:
Memphis: Love, Korver, Top-4 protected 2022 pick
Cleveland: Parsons, Rabb, #4
This is a deal that works pretty well for both sides if Cleveland isn’t trying to sway Lebron.
For Memphis: Given that Memphis is still wanting to compete now (for whatever reason) and take advantage of this unit in the last two to three years of their time together, getting a bonafide scorer in Love is a good way to fulfill that need. A lineup of Conley, Evans, Brooks, Love, and Gasol with a decent bench is actually a really good two-way unit if healthy (big IF), and they present some real matchup and size problems for teams like Houston and GS. They also get to dump Parsons’ contract in the process, all while picking up another first round pick down the line.
For Cleveland: This gives them a good jumpstart to their rebuild. Being able to add two top-8 prospects in a deep and talented draft will be an excellent start to their rebuild. They’ll have to eat Parsons’ money for now, but they can probably offload enough salary this offseason anyways to make it palatable. Furthermore, the Cavs lose their pick to Atlanta if not in the bottom 10 in 2019 and 2020, so this allows them to tank and take advantage of the next two drafts in their rebuild.
So who says no?