I though those contracts became fully guaranteed in August?
If not, who is all unguaranteed and how much can we trade for given there 3 contracts?
Murphy is now technically guaranteed $100K (as of Aug 1st or something like that). He will be guaranteed a total of $200K as of Nov. 1st.
All 3 players become completely guaranteed as of Jan 10th (or whatever the exact date is).
It doesn't make much sense for the Cavs to keep all 3 guys till January only as potential trade chips (those roster spots are too valuable), so I am guessing that they will be traded before the season starts, or else they (at least one or two of them) will simply be cut. MoFlo continues to say they won't be on the team, and I have no reason to doubt him.
I did the calculations during the summer, and no one to my knowledge questioned me so I think I am right....The 3 contracts can bring back around $5M...an important figure because it can be used to get Mozgov, Sam Dalembert, Joel Anthony, or a number of other guys.
I had purposefully omitted Anthony's name from lists of centers potentially available via trade, because I was hoping for something better, but he actually does make sense in that Boston has no use for him and they would conceivably prefer to use his roster spot on a younger player and save $3.8M in the bargain. As someone else said, if the Cavs wanted to upgrade and a better player like Mozgov became available, they could potentially flip his expiring contract at that point.
I suspect an Anthony trade will be out there till late in training camp, so the Cavs can wait to see if something better comes along.
Of course, trading for Anthony would be another step towards reconstituting the Miami Heat. Not sure what LeBron's relationship with Anthony is like. One plus is that he is Canadian.
On Minny/Turiaf. I had thought at the time of the Love trade that the Cavs could get Turiaf as part of the deal since Minny would presumably want to shed a salary so they could sign GRIII. But there was never any substantive rumor connecting the Cavs with Turiaf. Unlike Corey Brewer, for instance, whose name was included in a number of rumors, but who presumably became unnecessary from the Cavs' perspective once it became clear that Marion would sign for the minimum. So anyway, I just think the Cavs had no interest in Turiaf, so we have to live with that and not view it as a missed opportunity.
On the Houston trade of the former Cleveland non-guaranteeds for Jason Terry. It wasn't a great return for those salaries, but they did also get two second round picks. (It hasn't been reported, to my knowledge, which second round picks, and it you go to the Real GM Picks Owed page, you'll see that Sacramento has traded away and traded for so many second round picks that it is difficult to figure out what picks they actually have. So Morey was able to replenish some of the resources he gave away this summer.)
Speaking of Morey and Houston, they now have 16 guaranteed salaries, and others on RCF have wondered whether the Cavs could pry away Motiejunas, but even if he has been a bit of a disappointment I can't believe Morey would paint himself into a corner where he had to give him a big man who may still have some untapped potential, unless he has simply given up on him.
As usually happens, I'm sure there is a case we haven't thought of, but at a minimum the Cavs need to try to get something for these guys, even if it is a second round pick and an expiring, who could then be packaged at the deadline.