Hope is not lost in Cleveland

[Eric_Suede]

Yeah Lebron is gone & they'll probably cry for another week or 2 but they can build a nucleus. #1 they got byron scott who I think is a good coach. There's other free agents that are good that aren't getting any press. If I were Cavs my thing right now would be reuniting Richard Jefferson with Byron scott. You got Richard Jefferson (or possibly the other jefferson Al), they can make moves & try to get their hands on Arenas via trade (probably only would have to give up picks & telfair), Pick up AI & Al Harrington. Right now as is their roster has NO-one that sparks interest or has a name that can be marketed. So that's why I'm High on the idea that cleveland can become a "wasteland" of guys who are/were allstars with a chip on their shoulders. Even if it doesn't work and they aren't a winning team , they have nothing to lose , they weren't expected to win anyway...

Proposed starting 5

PG- Gilbert Arenas/Mo Williams/gibson
SG- Allen Iverson/West/Parker
SF- Richard Jefferson/Moon
PF- Antawn Jamison/Harrington/Hickson
C- Varejao/Ilgauskas

Championship Squad...NO
Scrappy team that would be tough with the "running" style of Coach Scott.... YES indeed
Good way to fill some seats with departure of James (getting Allen Iverson).... Oh yeah

So hope in Cleveland resides in thinking Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas can play nice together and suddenly become something they have never been in either of their careers, unselfish players that make all their team mates better?

Best to just go jump in Lake Erie now and be done with yourselves Cleveland fans. There is no hope for you making a title contending run anytime in the next decade.

Worth a shot. Better than the alternative. AI, Arenas both have a chip on their shoulder. Both have Names. At the very least can sell tickets. Something noone on cleveland's roster can do right now.

They are better off dismantling the team and sucking wind for 3-4 years in hopes of once again winning the lottery and landing another trans-formative star.

First thing I would do is do everything I could to dump Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison on anyone that will take them for expiring contracts and first round picks.

Second, I would trade Anderson Varejao for younger players. If Minnesota would do a trade for Kevin Love, I would do that. If not I would see if San Antonio would want him for George Hill and DaJuan Blair. If not then New Orleans for David West and Darren Collison. Something along those lines.

Third, I would do everything I could to tank games from the get go. This franchise will need top 5 picks for the foreseeable future. Looks like the 2013 draft class could be exceptional.

That's how they will get better. They need to build in the mold of the Thunder and hope for a little luck and be smart about their drafting and always keeping tons of cap space available. But to do that they need to break stuff down now and get bad now!!!

Fire sale the current team but be smart about it and come out of it with some assets like a young PG of the future(Ty Lawson, Darren Collison, George Hill, Jonny Flynn, Ricky Rubio), a young SG(Anthony Morrow) and/or lots of first round picks, wherever in the first round they may be. Look what the Thunder have done accumulating picks and packaging them to move up and down to grab the player they most desire.

Adding washed up has beens that have egotistical, selfish, inefficient offensive game that can not play defense is the single worse thing this franchise could do.

Well that's where we disagree dude. I totally hate the "puppy building method" I've NEVER known it to work. The thunder AT BEST will be a fringe playoff team. You keep pointing to OKC as a success story. Does OKC have a legit shot @ a title? Hellll NO. They'll never have a legit shot until they pick up some Quality Vets to get the young stars over the hump. They have no chance Neither does Portland. This is what I don't understand about you guys with the "grab all the young players and hope for the best" philosophy. WHEN HAS THAT EVER WORKED and made a champion? WHEN? That's why the Clippers have consistently sucked. Clippers franchise didn't start winning until they wised up and got supposedly "washed up" players such as Mobley,Cassell.
 Veteran Teams win titles, NOT young teams. Had we held on to our "future" and relied on Al jefferson ,telfair,Green (who you guys touted so much), Gomes & West. AT BEST we'd be an 7th seed. Nowhere near competing for no.18. In order to remain somewhat relevant & sell tickets and one day be able to attract would be free agents , they need some Vets with a NAME who can win games. It's the Veteran teams , with a sprinkle of good young players that win. Not a total puppy young squad. Again i'm not suggesting overpaying these guys and mortgaging all future picks but what the hell do the 2010/2011 Cavs have to lose. EVERYONE I mean EVERYONE expects them to suck next year. Why not an experiment.
  Ok , Ok i'll let go of the AI thing for right now but explain to me how bringing in solid vets such as Rich Jefferson & Al Harrington & Arenas will be the "worse thing the franchise can do"
 Imagine you're a cavs fan. You'd honestly be more excited to pay to watch young pups who you KNOW will lose as opposed to doing an experiment that May pay dividends. Well we'll agree to disagree. Given a choice to watch a Minnesota/2009-2010 New Jersey team or to watch "egomaniacs" on the court display skill . I'm picking the Latter EVERY Time. Again At least it sells tickets. Something i'm sure the owner wouldn't mind doing.

[Celtics Fan]

Yeah they do.........NOT! Give us Side show Bob Now!

[nickagneta]

Yeah Lebron is gone & they'll probably cry for another week or 2 but they can build a nucleus. #1 they got byron scott who I think is a good coach. There's other free agents that are good that aren't getting any press. If I were Cavs my thing right now would be reuniting Richard Jefferson with Byron scott. You got Richard Jefferson (or possibly the other jefferson Al), they can make moves & try to get their hands on Arenas via trade (probably only would have to give up picks & telfair), Pick up AI & Al Harrington. Right now as is their roster has NO-one that sparks interest or has a name that can be marketed. So that's why I'm High on the idea that cleveland can become a "wasteland" of guys who are/were allstars with a chip on their shoulders. Even if it doesn't work and they aren't a winning team , they have nothing to lose , they weren't expected to win anyway...

Proposed starting 5

PG- Gilbert Arenas/Mo Williams/gibson
SG- Allen Iverson/West/Parker
SF- Richard Jefferson/Moon
PF- Antawn Jamison/Harrington/Hickson
C- Varejao/Ilgauskas

Championship Squad...NO
Scrappy team that would be tough with the "running" style of Coach Scott.... YES indeed
Good way to fill some seats with departure of James (getting Allen Iverson).... Oh yeah

So hope in Cleveland resides in thinking Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas can play nice together and suddenly become something they have never been in either of their careers, unselfish players that make all their team mates better?

Best to just go jump in Lake Erie now and be done with yourselves Cleveland fans. There is no hope for you making a title contending run anytime in the next decade.

Worth a shot. Better than the alternative. AI, Arenas both have a chip on their shoulder. Both have Names. At the very least can sell tickets. Something noone on cleveland's roster can do right now.

They are better off dismantling the team and sucking wind for 3-4 years in hopes of once again winning the lottery and landing another trans-formative star.

First thing I would do is do everything I could to dump Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison on anyone that will take them for expiring contracts and first round picks.

Second, I would trade Anderson Varejao for younger players. If Minnesota would do a trade for Kevin Love, I would do that. If not I would see if San Antonio would want him for George Hill and DaJuan Blair. If not then New Orleans for David West and Darren Collison. Something along those lines.

Third, I would do everything I could to tank games from the get go. This franchise will need top 5 picks for the foreseeable future. Looks like the 2013 draft class could be exceptional.

That's how they will get better. They need to build in the mold of the Thunder and hope for a little luck and be smart about their drafting and always keeping tons of cap space available. But to do that they need to break stuff down now and get bad now!!!

Fire sale the current team but be smart about it and come out of it with some assets like a young PG of the future(Ty Lawson, Darren Collison, George Hill, Jonny Flynn, Ricky Rubio), a young SG(Anthony Morrow) and/or lots of first round picks, wherever in the first round they may be. Look what the Thunder have done accumulating picks and packaging them to move up and down to grab the player they most desire.

Adding washed up has beens that have egotistical, selfish, inefficient offensive game that can not play defense is the single worse thing this franchise could do.

Well that's where we disagree dude. I totally hate the "puppy building method" I've NEVER known it to work. The thunder AT BEST will be a fringe playoff team. You keep pointing to OKC as a success story. Does OKC have a legit shot @ a title? Hellll NO. They'll never have a legit shot until they pick up some Quality Vets to get the young stars over the hump. They have no chance Neither does Portland. This is what I don't understand about you guys with the "grab all the young players and hope for the best" philosophy. WHEN HAS THAT EVER WORKED and made a champion? WHEN? That's why the Clippers have consistently sucked. Clippers franchise didn't start winning until they wised up and got supposedly "washed up" players such as Mobley,Cassell.
 Veteran Teams win titles, NOT young teams. Had we held on to our "future" and relied on Al jefferson ,telfair,Green (who you guys touted so much), Gomes & West. AT BEST we'd be an 7th seed. Nowhere near competing for no.18. In order to remain somewhat relevant & sell tickets and one day be able to attract would be free agents , they need some Vets with a NAME who can win games. It's the Veteran teams , with a sprinkle of good young players that win. Not a total puppy young squad. Again i'm not suggesting overpaying these guys and mortgaging all future picks but what the hell do the 2010/2011 Cavs have to lose. EVERYONE I mean EVERYONE expects them to suck next year. Why not an experiment.
  Ok , Ok i'll let go of the AI thing for right now but explain to me how bringing in solid vets such as Rich Jefferson & Al Harrington & Arenas will be the "worse thing the franchise can do"
 Imagine you're a cavs fan. You'd honestly be more excited to pay to watch young pups who you KNOW will lose as opposed to doing an experiment that May pay dividends. Well we'll agree to disagree. Given a choice to watch a Minnesota/2009-2010 New Jersey team or to watch "egomaniacs" on the court display skill . I'm picking the Latter EVERY Time. Again At least it sells tickets. Something i'm sure the owner wouldn't mind doing.

The getting real bad to accumulate young talent works in a couple of methods. One is the OKC/Portland model. Portland has been undone due to injuries but when they get their crew all healthy, watch out for a deep playoff run. OKC just took the champs deeper into a seven game series than any other team but the Celtics. They are young and unbelievably talented and have probably one of the three best players in the league on their team. You might be one of the few people in this country that don't see them as a future powerhouse team in this league.

Then there's the model that you collect tremendous talent over a few years and then trade some of that talent for superstars. It takes a few years of being really bad but as Boston proved, it can definitely pay dividends.

Then there's the getting bad to draft young talent while at the same time maintaining tons of financial flexibility. Miami did well with this this year.

But what you are suggesting is to tie up mediocre talent and add that to mediocre talent in order to attempt to keep people in the stands. That usually ends in what we like to call the Philly or Milwaukee syndrome of being marginally good but pretty much always a fringe team that is never a real threat. It's been done before and the results are always the same, decades of mediocrity.

[FatjohnReturns]

Hope is lost in Cleveland. Lebron is a once in a lifetime talent. Cleveland basketball will never recover its over.

[Cman]

Here's what the Cavs have, assuming West is released to free up cap space:

PG- Mo Williams/Gibson/Telfair
SG- Parker
SF- Moon
PF- Jamison/Hickson/Powe
C-  Varejao

With $13 million in cap space yet to use.

I would keep Jamison until next year, when his contract enters its final year. Can he play SF? I'd think about moving him there, to allow Hickson to get as many minutes as possible.

I'd look to move Williams with expiring contracts (Telfair, Moon, Parker) to acquire picks and prospects at the PG and SF positions. Build around Hickson and Varejao, and hope to catch lightning in a bottle via the draft.

I'd look to bring back Ilgauskas as well, for one more year. Psychologically speaking, I think it would be good for the team and the fan base to devote next season to a farewell tour of Z, the consummate Cavalier (his loyalty to the organization making him the perfect foil to LeBron).

Use remaining cap space throughout the course of the year to essentially rent out to other teams, acquiring draft picks and prospects.

In a top-heavy East, Byron Scott can motivate this team to overachieve and contend for a playoff berth. With luck, they might even face Miami in the opening round. What great drama that would be.

They also have a big trade exception ($14.5M) and 2 future Miami 1st round picks.  They have the ability to make some moves.  The question is whether Gilbert wants to make those moves now, or wait until after the lockout (of course, the trade exception will have expired before then).

[Vermont Green]

There are various paths to NBA team success and many of the sucess stories include some luck along the way but I think Cleveland targeting Arenas makes some sense.  I would probably also try and get Richard Jefferson and then with Jamison and (funny to think of him back with Arenas in another city), Varejao and their other spare parts, they are pretty good.  Not Boston or Miami good I don't think, but contending.

Then they are in a position to get lucky.  Maybe Wade gets hurt again, maybe KG's knee goes gimpy, maybe Arenas actually plays like a winner.  Maybe they get someone else that over achieves.  Maybe some one does a Gasol type trade with them and by some miracle they get Chris Paul or some one like that.

That is a lot of maybes but if they don't at least try to be in position to do something, there won't be any maybes.

[Mike-Dub]

Hope is not lost!  It's a new beginning for Clevelander's with LeLoser!

[Eric_Suede]

Yeah Lebron is gone & they'll probably cry for another week or 2 but they can build a nucleus. #1 they got byron scott who I think is a good coach. There's other free agents that are good that aren't getting any press. If I were Cavs my thing right now would be reuniting Richard Jefferson with Byron scott. You got Richard Jefferson (or possibly the other jefferson Al), they can make moves & try to get their hands on Arenas via trade (probably only would have to give up picks & telfair), Pick up AI & Al Harrington. Right now as is their roster has NO-one that sparks interest or has a name that can be marketed. So that's why I'm High on the idea that cleveland can become a "wasteland" of guys who are/were allstars with a chip on their shoulders. Even if it doesn't work and they aren't a winning team , they have nothing to lose , they weren't expected to win anyway...

Proposed starting 5

PG- Gilbert Arenas/Mo Williams/gibson
SG- Allen Iverson/West/Parker
SF- Richard Jefferson/Moon
PF- Antawn Jamison/Harrington/Hickson
C- Varejao/Ilgauskas

Championship Squad...NO
Scrappy team that would be tough with the "running" style of Coach Scott.... YES indeed
Good way to fill some seats with departure of James (getting Allen Iverson).... Oh yeah

So hope in Cleveland resides in thinking Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas can play nice together and suddenly become something they have never been in either of their careers, unselfish players that make all their team mates better?

Best to just go jump in Lake Erie now and be done with yourselves Cleveland fans. There is no hope for you making a title contending run anytime in the next decade.

Worth a shot. Better than the alternative. AI, Arenas both have a chip on their shoulder. Both have Names. At the very least can sell tickets. Something noone on cleveland's roster can do right now.

They are better off dismantling the team and sucking wind for 3-4 years in hopes of once again winning the lottery and landing another trans-formative star.

First thing I would do is do everything I could to dump Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison on anyone that will take them for expiring contracts and first round picks.

Second, I would trade Anderson Varejao for younger players. If Minnesota would do a trade for Kevin Love, I would do that. If not I would see if San Antonio would want him for George Hill and DaJuan Blair. If not then New Orleans for David West and Darren Collison. Something along those lines.

Third, I would do everything I could to tank games from the get go. This franchise will need top 5 picks for the foreseeable future. Looks like the 2013 draft class could be exceptional.

That's how they will get better. They need to build in the mold of the Thunder and hope for a little luck and be smart about their drafting and always keeping tons of cap space available. But to do that they need to break stuff down now and get bad now!!!

Fire sale the current team but be smart about it and come out of it with some assets like a young PG of the future(Ty Lawson, Darren Collison, George Hill, Jonny Flynn, Ricky Rubio), a young SG(Anthony Morrow) and/or lots of first round picks, wherever in the first round they may be. Look what the Thunder have done accumulating picks and packaging them to move up and down to grab the player they most desire.

Adding washed up has beens that have egotistical, selfish, inefficient offensive game that can not play defense is the single worse thing this franchise could do.

Well that's where we disagree dude. I totally hate the "puppy building method" I've NEVER known it to work. The thunder AT BEST will be a fringe playoff team. You keep pointing to OKC as a success story. Does OKC have a legit shot @ a title? Hellll NO. They'll never have a legit shot until they pick up some Quality Vets to get the young stars over the hump. They have no chance Neither does Portland. This is what I don't understand about you guys with the "grab all the young players and hope for the best" philosophy. WHEN HAS THAT EVER WORKED and made a champion? WHEN? That's why the Clippers have consistently sucked. Clippers franchise didn't start winning until they wised up and got supposedly "washed up" players such as Mobley,Cassell.
 Veteran Teams win titles, NOT young teams. Had we held on to our "future" and relied on Al jefferson ,telfair,Green (who you guys touted so much), Gomes & West. AT BEST we'd be an 7th seed. Nowhere near competing for no.18. In order to remain somewhat relevant & sell tickets and one day be able to attract would be free agents , they need some Vets with a NAME who can win games. It's the Veteran teams , with a sprinkle of good young players that win. Not a total puppy young squad. Again i'm not suggesting overpaying these guys and mortgaging all future picks but what the hell do the 2010/2011 Cavs have to lose. EVERYONE I mean EVERYONE expects them to suck next year. Why not an experiment.
  Ok , Ok i'll let go of the AI thing for right now but explain to me how bringing in solid vets such as Rich Jefferson & Al Harrington & Arenas will be the "worse thing the franchise can do"
 Imagine you're a cavs fan. You'd honestly be more excited to pay to watch young pups who you KNOW will lose as opposed to doing an experiment that May pay dividends. Well we'll agree to disagree. Given a choice to watch a Minnesota/2009-2010 New Jersey team or to watch "egomaniacs" on the court display skill . I'm picking the Latter EVERY Time. Again At least it sells tickets. Something i'm sure the owner wouldn't mind doing.

The getting real bad to accumulate young talent works in a couple of methods. One is the OKC/Portland model. Portland has been undone due to injuries but when they get their crew all healthy, watch out for a deep playoff run. OKC just took the champs deeper into a seven game series than any other team but the Celtics. They are young and unbelievably talented and have probably one of the three best players in the league on their team. You might be one of the few people in this country that don't see them as a future powerhouse team in this league.

Then there's the model that you collect tremendous talent over a few years and then trade some of that talent for superstars. It takes a few years of being really bad but as Boston proved, it can definitely pay dividends.

Then there's the getting bad to draft young talent while at the same time maintaining tons of financial flexibility. Miami did well with this this year.

But what you are suggesting is to tie up mediocre talent and add that to mediocre talent in order to attempt to keep people in the stands. That usually ends in what we like to call the Philly or Milwaukee syndrome of being marginally good but pretty much always a fringe team that is never a real threat. It's been done before and the results are always the same, decades of mediocrity.

Well again, I respect your opinion but I still disagree. Method 1, OKC model is what I was talking about. It doesn't work. At best it makes you a good playoff team but I can't recall a situation where that brought a title. Without picking up quality vets. Name an example of a team that started young, developed that young core, added nothing but more younger players & then won a title in a few years. What happens is what constantly happens to the clippers. The young superstar gets sick of losing & 90% bolts elsewhere. OKC has a little flavor and are surprisingly good but IMO their focus should be to get some good vets to get them over the hump. Them getting even younger is just prolonging their stay in mediocrity. Bring in a Good Vet Center & a solid Ray Allen type consistent shooter they'll be contenders.
 Method 2 works in spurts when you tend to luck out. I'm of the opinion that Ainge Lucked out. Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled but I don't think it was "all part of the plan". Meaning I think he truly believed (As did many on this board) that Al Jeff was our future to build around. Thanks to Seattles commitment to be a puppy squad at the time. They unloaded Great Vet (Allen), that alone got us KG.
  Bottomline. If i'm not mistaken the cavs have done some sign & trades and have draft picks. Again i'm not suggesting breaking the bank to bring in washed up talent but they can get quality "bad boy" vets pretty cheap.Guys who just want to prove they still have it, without sacrificing next season. Imagine if it works out. Then they're are in good position to be a player in the 2011 FA class. But if they're a puppy losing squad , Noone will want to go there. Even though you consider OKC a success story and a "powerhouse" What Superstar FA wants to go there? Just saying. Cleveland at this point needs some excitement. they're Very down as a community. Doing an experiment JUST FOR 2010/2011 season will not kill the franchise. As with the Experiment ML Carr did bringing in Nique. Didn't work but at least we smelled the playoffs that year and had something to cheer about. Unlike the following years.

[erisred]

Richard Jefferson isn't Lebron James, but he isn't chopped liver either. All the Cavs need to do is sign Jefferson and they are, relatively, close to where they were last year. Not the 1st seed, but probably 4th, 5th or 6th.

If they give Scott time and make good use of draft picks and expiring contracts to build talent I think they'll be okay...on the court. OTOH, getting fans back in the stands is likely to be their biggest problem. If they can't do that, no matter what happens on the court, the franchise is doomed in Cleveland.

[GreenEnvy]

Richard Jefferson isn't Lebron James, but he isn't chopped liver either. All the Cavs need to do is sign Jefferson and they are, relatively, close to where they were last year. Not the 1st seed, but probably 4th, 5th or 6th.

If they give Scott time and make good use of draft picks and expiring contracts to build talent I think they'll be okay...on the court. OTOH, getting fans back in the stands is likely to be their biggest problem. If they can't do that, no matter what happens on the court, the franchise is doomed in Cleveland.

I wonder if fans will grow actually fall in love with this Cavs teams.

If they all walk away, that would be the biggest group of bandwagon fans ever. I know it's difficult for some to watch a terrible team, but this group is different than most. They were abandoned. This wasn't ownerships fault. It's not like any other team going from great to bad. This is an exception.

I hope they bond with this team, that people will feel for them and root for them. I know of at least one game they will definitely sell out lol... Prepare to hear someone booed unlike any player probably ever has in the history of sports.

[guava_wrench]

Richard Jefferson isn't Lebron James, but he isn't chopped liver either. All the Cavs need to do is sign Jefferson and they are, relatively, close to where they were last year. Not the 1st seed, but probably 4th, 5th or 6th.

If they give Scott time and make good use of draft picks and expiring contracts to build talent I think they'll be okay...on the court. OTOH, getting fans back in the stands is likely to be their biggest problem. If they can't do that, no matter what happens on the court, the franchise is doomed in Cleveland.

I wonder if fans will grow actually fall in love with this Cavs teams.

If they all walk away, that would be the biggest group of bandwagon fans ever. I know it's difficult for some to watch a terrible team, but this group is different than most. They were abandoned. This wasn't ownerships fault. It's not like any other team going from great to bad. This is an exception.

I hope they bond with this team, that people will feel for them and root for them. I know of at least one game they will definitely sell out lol... Prepare to hear someone booed unlike any player probably ever has in the history of sports.

Cleveland fans would still support the team. It is the Lebron fans who will lose interest in Cleveland.

Still, Clev will sell less tickets because less people will be willing to spend the money to commit to tix. This is reasonable behavior, even for devoted fans, since attending games for a bad team can be grueling.

[GreenEnvy]

Richard Jefferson isn't Lebron James, but he isn't chopped liver either. All the Cavs need to do is sign Jefferson and they are, relatively, close to where they were last year. Not the 1st seed, but probably 4th, 5th or 6th.

If they give Scott time and make good use of draft picks and expiring contracts to build talent I think they'll be okay...on the court. OTOH, getting fans back in the stands is likely to be their biggest problem. If they can't do that, no matter what happens on the court, the franchise is doomed in Cleveland.

I wonder if fans will grow actually fall in love with this Cavs teams.

If they all walk away, that would be the biggest group of bandwagon fans ever. I know it's difficult for some to watch a terrible team, but this group is different than most. They were abandoned. This wasn't ownerships fault. It's not like any other team going from great to bad. This is an exception.

I hope they bond with this team, that people will feel for them and root for them. I know of at least one game they will definitely sell out lol... Prepare to hear someone booed unlike any player probably ever has in the history of sports.

Cleveland fans would still support the team. It is the Lebron fans who will lose interest in Cleveland.

Still, Clev will sell less tickets because less people will be willing to spend the money to commit to tix. This is reasonable behavior, even for devoted fans, since attending games for a bad team can be grueling.

Well how many are Cavs fans and how many are LeBron fans? I'm saying maybe some LeBron front-running fans from Ohio will feel for this team and become actual fans.

They showed a graphic on ESPN a few nights ago that the Cavs averaged ~11,000 fans a night the year before they drafted LeBron. They are gonna need more fans than that otherwise they need to be relocated or contracted.

[thedawg]

Why should all hope be lost because Lebron is gone? He´s just one player, player that most probably was the reason why they didnt win the title last year and the year before.

To fill up the space Lebron left would be important for Cavs to get squad players and start preparing a basketball team that relies more on the whole squad not one player. Not sure which players they should go for but I can see JJ Reddick play anywhere with his positive attitude.

[Papatrichs]

Cavs get future picks for LeBron

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ArsLCvzy5UA_2NPNyAgx7bWLvLYF?slug=ap-heat-cavalierstrade

 for a minute there I thought LB and the Heat just screwed them straight up.... oh wait they did.

[Eric_Suede]

Richard Jefferson isn't Lebron James, but he isn't chopped liver either. All the Cavs need to do is sign Jefferson and they are, relatively, close to where they were last year. Not the 1st seed, but probably 4th, 5th or 6th.

If they give Scott time and make good use of draft picks and expiring contracts to build talent I think they'll be okay...on the court. OTOH, getting fans back in the stands is likely to be their biggest problem. If they can't do that, no matter what happens on the court, the franchise is doomed in Cleveland.