Cavs interested in trading Haywood + Varejao for Joe Johnson?

[Moranis]

BUYING A TITLE?

They're going to try.  Stuff like that doesn't normally work, but with Lebron, it probably would.  Give him talent and depth, and a title is virtually guaranteed.

The thing is moving Varejao actually saves the Cavs a lot of money long term.  Sure Johnson costs more this year, but he comes off the books and won't be re-signed and thus actually saves the Cavs down the road.  Plus that means JR Smith isn't going to be back so they won't have to worry about his contract.  Next summer they will need to re-up Mozgov who will fit nicely into Varejao's salary slot.  It actually makes a lot of sense all the way around.

As for buying the title when Joe Johnson and David West are the only two players you are adding, I have hard time calling it buying a title.  Yeah the payroll is huge but they just re-signed everyone, traded one big contract and didn't re-sign someone else which basically accounts for Johnson, and then are bringing in West on the 3.4 million MLE.

[Roy H.]

BUYING A TITLE?

They're going to try.  Stuff like that doesn't normally work, but with Lebron, it probably would.  Give him talent and depth, and a title is virtually guaranteed.

The thing is moving Varejao actually saves the Cavs a lot of money long term.  Sure Johnson costs more this year, but he comes off the books and won't be re-signed and thus actually saves the Cavs down the road.  Plus that means JR Smith isn't going to be back so they won't have to worry about his contract.  Next summer they will need to re-up Mozgov who will fit nicely into Varejao's salary slot.  It actually makes a lot of sense all the way around.

I haven't done the math, but I'd be surprised if they save money on this.  AV only had one guaranteed year left on his deal, I think.  The extra $14 million in salary, with the huge luxury tax multipliers, will be financially crushing.  That said, I don't think that Gilbert minds at all.

If they're spending the money, they may as well bring Smith back, as well.  The Cavs shouldn't lose his salary spot, regardless of whether they need J.R. the player.  Since it's only money, what's the harm?

As for buying the title when Joe Johnson and David West are the only two players you are adding, I have hard time calling it buying a title.  Yeah the payroll is huge but they just re-signed everyone, traded one big contract and didn't re-sign someone else which basically accounts for Johnson, and then are bringing in West on the 3.4 million MLE.

They're going to have the largest payroll in NBA history.  If that's not flexing financial muscle to buy a title, I'm not sure what is.  Most teams would have to let somebody go.  The Cavs not only don't have to do that, but they'll be adding to their team.

There's no shame in that.  I say good for Gilbert.

[Moranis]

fair point Roy, I just consider buying a title to mean something like what the Yankees and Red Sox do where they bring in free agent after free agent year after year.  I guess the Marlins are the classic example and they did it twice.  I just have a hard time calling a team that basically re-signed their roster as buying a title even with a massive payroll. 

[Jeff]

I'd like to see the Celtics shoehorn their way into a JJ deal.  Something like this:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=olbwtyb

Warriors and Nets save money, Cavs and Celtics upgrade talent.

[MJohnnyboy]

I'd like to see the Celtics shoehorn their way into a JJ deal.  Something like this:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=olbwtyb

Warriors and Nets save money, Cavs and Celtics upgrade talent.

That's a pretty fair deal. If anyone says no its the Warriors because I don't see the Warriors giving up Lee for someone who is going to get paid about 2/3 of what he makes for the next few years. Especially for someone like Varejao who is going to spend 80% on the inactive list. That and the Warriors don't really need him.

[Moranis]

I'd like to see the Celtics shoehorn their way into a JJ deal.  Something like this:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=olbwtyb

Warriors and Nets save money, Cavs and Celtics upgrade talent.

That's a pretty fair deal. If anyone says no its the Warriors because I don't see the Warriors giving up Lee for someone who is going to get paid about 2/3 of what he makes for the next few years. Especially for someone like Varejao who is going to spend 80% on the inactive list. That and the Warriors don't really need him.

yeah don't see that as likely

[Moranis]

looks like Nick Young is on the block, he would seemingly fit the Joe Johnson role for the Cavs and would slot only into Haywood's contract so they wouldn't need to move Side Show in that trade.  Now maybe they want to move Side Show or maybe they'd rather have Johnson, but Young seems like a good fit as an alternative.  Heck maybe it is a 3way with Young going to Brooklyn though that isn't a huge money save for the Nets, but does keep them more competitive.

[MJohnnyboy]

I would be down for getting JJ for our scraps. Anything that makes those Nets pick worse.

I'm a primary Celtics fan and secondary Lebron hater. I'm all for the Cavs doing this even if it means them winning the championship and saving money. Those Nets picks need to be as bad as possible.

[Moranis]

EDIT:  Nevermind wouldn't work under CBA.

[Evantime34]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

[jpotter33]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

We'd have to be pretty certain that this would make the Nets substantially worse to do this, imo.

[Roy H.]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

Screw that request. They can stretch Varejao; they should have to pay some sort of price for that contract. You don't just get to save $40 million for free.

[Moranis]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

We'd have to be pretty certain that this would make the Nets substantially worse to do this, imo.

Why?  Sideshow immediately becomes the starting center for Boston.

[jpotter33]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

We'd have to be pretty certain that this would make the Nets substantially worse to do this, imo.

Why?  Sideshow immediately becomes the starting center for Boston.

Naw, I think it's still Johnson or Zeller. He's 33 and coming off a major injury. I doubt he still has much in the tank, and he just takes off another $10M off of our cap next year.

ProBasketballTalk is saying Cleveland might attach a first round pick to the deal to sway them into taking Andy. That's actually probably a good incentive for pick-starved Brooklyn in addition to their money savings, even if the pick won't be anything better than 25ish.

[celticsclay]

Apparently they need a third team to take on Varejao in order to get the deal done. If it meant Brandon Haywood was the only player the Nets got for Johnson, I would take on sideshow Bob.

We'd have to be pretty certain that this would make the Nets substantially worse to do this, imo.

Why?  Sideshow immediately becomes the starting center for Boston.

Sideshow is literally good for 25 games a year. This is his games played the last 5 years:

31
25
25
65
26

He is not an asset.