Before LeBron went home Irving had commitments from Hayward, Ariza, and Frye

[Moranis]

So says former Cavs GM David Griffin.  I would assume Utah would have matched on Hayward but assuming not what would that Cavs team have been over the last few seasons.  They likely don't make the Love trade or the Smith/Mozgov trade so they would have been Irving, Waiters, Hayward, Wiggins, Ariza, Thompson, Frye, Varejao, Bennett, Delly.  Does that team eventually make the Finals (let's assume LeBron stays in Miami at least for a couple more seasons) or would they peak more like the Raptors?

[nickagneta]

Other than Irving, Hayward and Ariza, I don't like any of those other players. I think they top out as a 2-4 seed.

[Roy H.]

Yes, Utah would have matched, just like they did with Charlotte.

[Erik]

The key takeaway from the story is Irving wanted to play with Hayward

[PAOBoston]

The key takeaway from the story is Irving wanted to play with Hayward

Exactly. Not sure why that wasn't legit the first connection people made on this. Utah matching was irrelevant. Irving convinced Hayward to come to Cleveland to play together.