DA / Catastrophic Mistake

[freshinthehouse]

i actually love the argument that there were other teams ready to pounce on such a great opportunity...it actually makes sense to me...but...once again...someone PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to the plate...

So in your head if Boston wouldn't have made this move no other team in the league would've?  Cleveland would've just thrown there hands up in the air and said, "Welp, I guess we're not getting Lebron?"

[Cman]

DA opened the door for lebron and love to cleveland with the zeller trade...if you disagree...prove to me that there was another way for cleveland to clear cap space with the wave of a TPE...

Proof: GSW had a TPE of the same size.
Of course, we'll never know the counterfactual, but it seems like a reasonable counterfactual that if Cleveland wanted to create the space they could have. There were (and still are) other teams who could have made it happen.

[rutzan]

so once again...i hear about all these mythical teams like la and gs that were supposedly going to step up to plate...so now you're going to tell me...since it was de facto a done deal...we might as well beat them to the punch...i'll say it again...PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to plate...i just hear conjectures...PROVE it...

Can you describe what you would consider proof?  Signed affidavits from front office officials?

LOL...that is funny...at least i got a taker...i would even take a rumor from a semi-credible source...sadly the fact is that there were none...we all know that...otherwise...i'm sure somebody would have already shoved a fairly reasonable offer in my face by now...

[freshinthehouse]

bron is 29...love is 25...irving is 22...we will not sniff the Finals for 5 to 7 years...barring injuries in cleveland...

I remember these same "The sky is falling!" threads when Lebron went to Miami.  While they were a good team, they were far from unbeatable.  Same can be said about a Love, Lebron, Irving trio.

[RIPRED]

I'll make it simple for you. There was about a 10% (if that) chance that Danny was going to land Love. Danny knew this, and he is just acquiring assets in case there is a move to be made in the future.

[mqtcelticsfan]

If it wasn't the Celtics, it would have been someone else. It was a good move by Danny.

This is exactly what I was going to say.  If it wasn't the Celtics, it would have been a rival that picked up Zeller / #1 / expiring contract.

The only thing I regret is that we couldn't squeeze the #1 that Cleveland owns from Miami out of them.

So Miami owes Cleveland some future picks for getting Lebron. Those could become good picks now!

Cleveland is going to win the 2017 lottery guaranteed.

[rutzan]

just because a team had a tpe means NOTHING...i'm talking about real offers...real negotiations...real talks...smoke...whatever you want to call it...there was NONE...maybe in private there were...we'll never know...

[Tr1boy]

The worse thing that just happened by lebron signing with the cavs now is our 1st from the cavs becomes a near 2nd round pick

[vinnie]

bron is 29...love is 25...irving is 22...we will not sniff the Finals for 5 to 7 years...barring injuries in cleveland...

I remember these same "The sky is falling!" threads when Lebron went to Miami.  While they were a good team, they were far from unbeatable.  Same can be said about a Love, Lebron, Irving trio.

While I do not agree with the OP, I would say getting to 4 straight NBA finals is pretty good. That is 4 more finals than the Celts appeared in in the last 4 years.

[Sketch5]

so once again...i hear about all these mythical teams like la and gs that were supposedly going to step up to plate...so now you're going to tell me...since it was de facto a done deal...we might as well beat them to the punch...i'll say it again...PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to plate...i just hear conjectures...PROVE it...

Nobody on here works for these teams to show you the evidence that teams were lining up to make a deal with the Cavs. It happened so fast no one even heard rumors of Cleveland needing to clear space quick for this to happen. It wasn't until the trade was done, did any know that Cleveland was an actual player for Lebron.

Any team with a TE or cap space was in play to deal with the Cavs. Thats just basic common sense. Some one would have, and DA knew that, so he figured he'd get some thing out of it if he was going to miss out on the Love trade.

 Love was the best option right now, but in no way was he the answer to becoming a contender right now. It was still going to be a building processes.

Who said DA doesn't have some thing else up his sleeve. 

[saltlover]

so once again...i hear about all these mythical teams like la and gs that were supposedly going to step up to plate...so now you're going to tell me...since it was de facto a done deal...we might as well beat them to the punch...i'll say it again...PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to plate...i just hear conjectures...PROVE it...

Can you describe what you would consider proof?  Signed affidavits from front office officials?

LOL...that is funny...at least i got a taker...i would even take a rumor from a semi-credible source...sadly the fact is that there were none...we all know that...otherwise...i'm sure somebody would have already shoved a fairly reasonable offer in my face by now...

I mean, if you want to deny reality, go ahead and do it.  But it happens every year that teams take on bad contracts for draft picks so that other teams can clear cap space.  Last year it was Utah helping out Golden State for 2 firsts and 2 seconds.  The year before it was Charlotte taking on Ben Gordon for a 1st that became #9 overall this year.  I think one of Cleveland's #1 overalls came for taking on Baron Davis from the Clippers.

Would another team have demanded more?  Very likely, since the deal should have gone to the lowest bidder.  But it's happened before and it will happen again -- no one here has a portal to another universe where Danny sits on his hands to see what happens, so it's pointless trying to convince you otherwise.

[saltlover]

so once again...i hear about all these mythical teams like la and gs that were supposedly going to step up to plate...so now you're going to tell me...since it was de facto a done deal...we might as well beat them to the punch...i'll say it again...PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to plate...i just hear conjectures...PROVE it...

Can you describe what you would consider proof?  Signed affidavits from front office officials?

LOL...that is funny...at least i got a taker...i would even take a rumor from a semi-credible source...sadly the fact is that there were none...we all know that...otherwise...i'm sure somebody would have already shoved a fairly reasonable offer in my face by now...

I mean, if you want to deny reality, go ahead and do it.  But it happens every year that teams take on bad contracts for draft picks so that other teams can clear cap space.  Last year it was Utah helping out Golden State for 2 firsts and 2 seconds.  The year before it was Charlotte taking on Ben Gordon for a 1st that became #9 overall this year.  I think one of Cleveland's #1 overalls came for taking on Baron Davis from the Clippers.

Would another team have demanded more?  Very likely, since the deal should have gone to the lowest bidder.  But it's happened before and it will happen again -- no one here has a portal to another universe where Danny sits on his hands to see what happens, so it's pointless trying to convince you otherwise.

For instance, Jeremy Lin found a home:

Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA  ·  50s
The Rockets finalizing Jeremy Lin, a future first-round pick and other draft considerations to the Lakers, league source tells Yahoo.

[rutzan]

bron is 29...love is 25...irving is 22...we will not sniff the Finals for 5 to 7 years...barring injuries in cleveland...

I remember these same "The sky is falling!" threads when Lebron went to Miami.  While they were a good team, they were far from unbeatable.  Same can be said about a Love, Lebron, Irving trio.

While I do not agree with the OP, I would say getting to 4 straight NBA finals is pretty good. That is 4 more finals than the Celts appeared in in the last 4 years.

sadly the East is weaker than it was 4 years agao...so...even if you buy the argument that love/irving is less than wade/bosh...cleveland will do as good as miami did...to me...i easily see them going to 4 straight finals...pacers, nets, bulls, hawks, raptors, etc....are you kidding me...it's going to be a cakewalk...much easier that miami had 4 years ago...

[Celtsfan92]

Okay, I'm having trouble not saying anything mean here, so let's just stick to basketball logic.

Obviously another team would've done this. There was more available cap room this year than at any other time in NBA history. It would have happened.

BUT for argument's sake, let's presume it didn't and because the Celtics didn't help LeBron was forced to stay in Miami...okay, we'll there's still a super team that's reached the finals in 4 straight years there. Between them, a super nucleus of talent in Indiana, a potentially healthy Derrick Rose in Chicago coming back, and a Phil Jackson built team with Carmelo being relevant in the next two or three years, you're STILL not getting a crack at the finals for "5-7 years."

So now that the miami team is essentially dismantled, that basically just moves one good team from Miami to Cleveland. You've traded one for the other. Who cares that we helped Cleveland?! We KNEW the Heat could win. Right now, we don't know about Cleveland. Wiggins could be a bust for all we know. Kyrie could succumb to the injuries that have plagued him. This is a good thing initially, and even better because we get a nice piece in Zeller, another first round pick that who knows if it'll be something really valuable (probably not but maybe a serviceable all star!) or could help trade for something valuable.

It's like trading a player to get something for then before they walk away and you get nothing and screwed. We got something out of a superstar moving, and it's not even our superstar. How is this POSSIBLY a bad thing? Sorry but I don't even remotely agree with the OP.

[fairweatherfan]

so once again...i hear about all these mythical teams like la and gs that were supposedly going to step up to plate...so now you're going to tell me...since it was de facto a done deal...we might as well beat them to the punch...i'll say it again...PROVE that there was another team READY to step up to plate...i just hear conjectures...PROVE it...

Can you describe what you would consider proof?  Signed affidavits from front office officials?

LOL...that is funny...at least i got a taker...i would even take a rumor from a semi-credible source...sadly the fact is that there were none...we all know that...otherwise...i'm sure somebody would have already shoved a fairly reasonable offer in my face by now...

I don't believe Zeller and Thornton were the caliber of players that get rumors published about them, and the deal appears to have come together quickly as soon as the Cavs knew LeBron was interested.  But given that Cleveland was literally giving away young players and picks, it's hard to imagine no one else in the league would've been willing to take that. 

Bottom line, when a team is offering you something for basically nothing, and a nothing that's going to cease to exist in 48 hours, you jump on it, and don't worry about what they do next.  I don't really care even if no other team felt like getting free stuff this week, the deal was good for us.