Cleveland Cavaliers at Top of LaMarcus Aldridge's Destination List

[gourimoko]

OK, maybe a one-to-one comparison to Dirk isn't accurate. A mixture of Dirk and Pau Gasol would be though.

Maybe more Pau than Dirk?

And do you really think Aldridge operates closer to the basket than Kevin? Take a look at their shot selections for this past season. Kevin was shooting so many threes and still posted a higher percentage in "close" and "inside" shots than Aldridge.

Maybe we're talking past one another? But by close I mean distance and by post I mean both low and high. Also, I dunno, but if 92% of someone's shots are closer than the three point line compared to someone who takes only 58% of shots that close; how can one say, that the one with shots from a farther distance operates closer to the basket?

I think you're saying Kevin operates more in the low post and at the 3-pt line, whereas Aldridge's game from the low-post to the high-post? I would agree with this..

I mean we're both looking at the same data, so we shouldn't really disagree on these points as they're observational not really subjective right?

But both players space the floor, and neither really gets in the other's way I think.

 

[godfather]

Gour, he's 30 years old. I didn't say he can't play it at all (or let me clarify since I did actually say that), but it's not ideal to do it all the time. It's going to wear him down, a lot, going forward. I doubt he wants to do it, and frankly, it's not that wise either.

Why would you even want Kevin Love then? He wouldn't fit at all. You want to put Aldridge next to Mozgov. No disrespect to Kevin, but this team would be better with LMA. They'd be a hell of a lot better defensively.

And when Tristan came in, instead of having him play the 5, which he's usually over matched, then you switch Aldridge to the 5, Tristan plays the 4.

You play him minutes at the 5, but you don't start him there.

Our front line would be unreal. We'd have length, size, and athleticism, all rolled into one. I think we'd become a great defensive team to be honest.

Personally, I don't know why you'd want to give up Tristan and Mozgov, given they'd both blend in so well next to LMA.

But, you don't do this to Kevin, unless he absolutely wants it. Obviously, you can't.

It's cool Aldridge wants to come here, and oh boy would he really fit in too, but it's likely not happening.

That's not an insult to Kevin by the way, saying we'd be better. Offensively we'd be about the same, but defensively we'd take a big leap forward.

 

[col63onel]

So can you walk me through this, my CBA understanding is a bit rusty.

Hasn't it always been the case that a team can always make a trade where the salary exchange is equal to or greater than the amount of incoming salary?

I'm also guessing that LMA's salary would be maxed out? So we'd need to match that?

Can you think of a combination of players that would make this work?

This was new addition added in the latest lockout. Somewhat ironically, it was championed by small market owners like Gilbert to stem super teams.

This ONLY applies to sign and trades. If a guy is under contract, you still only need to "match salary" (there's a piecewise formula for how much you need to send out versus how much you take in)

So we could match salary for Boogie Cousins, because he'll be under contract. We couldn't match salary for LMA because he's a FA and would require a S&T.

 

[spydy13]

I am not Kevin, but if he were to leave, wouldn't he want to go to Portland? The Lakers are God awful. He just asked to leave the shitty T-Wolves, why would he want to go to another shitty team?

Now, Portland, Oregon, a place where grew up, and a winning team already, would have to be appeasing to him.

And if he really wanted to go home, and that's where his heart is, then I wouldn't fault him.

Making a LMA for Love switch would/could be feasible for each party. Given if that's what Kevin wanted.

Not going to lie, I love Kevin, and I hope he stays because he's a good guy, and I think he's better than what he showed.

I am a huge LMA fan though, seeing him on the Cavs would be pretty tempting to me.

I think this would actually make a lot of sense for all parties.

Love gets to go back home and be a bigger piece of a winning team.

Portland gets a more or less one to one replacement for LMA.

LMA gets his money, goes to a team that has more of a chance to win it all, and the team's success is not dependent on him.

Cleveland doesn't lose Love for nothing and may actually improve in some ways.

Now, do I think this happens? Hello no. Mainly because I don't think Love has any interest in leaving, and I personally would rather keep him because he's younger and is better at shooting the three so will open up more space than LMA will shooting 18 footers.

 

[Photon]

If nothing else, this senda Love a message... If you are not willing to win in Cle, let me do it.

 

[gourimoko]

This was new addition added in the latest lockout. Somewhat ironically, it was championed by small market owners like Gilbert to stem super teams.

This ONLY applies to sign and trades. If a guy is under contract, you still only need to "match salary" (there's a piecewise formula for how much you need to send out versus how much you take in)

So we could match salary for Boogie Cousins, because he'll be under contract. We couldn't match salary for LMA because he's a FA and would require a S&T.

And so that I understand you correctly, there is no formulation of players excluding one of the big three, wherein we could take back LaMarcus Aldridge?

 

[col63onel]

And so that I understand you correctly, there is no formulation of players excluding one of the big three, wherein we could take back LaMarcus Aldridge?

Not this offseason.

 

[godfather]

Not this offseason.

Dan Gilbert's wishes might have came back to bite us. So we couldn't even do a Love for Aldridge switch at all?

Blah, oh well, I think Kevin is coming back here either way, so this is all for not more than likely.

I didn't need to read that report that LMA would have us at the top of his list though to torture me.

His fit would be amazing on this team.

 

[gourimoko]

Not this offseason.

Thanks for walking me through it!

 

[Ohio]

Cleveland, where too many superstars want to play.

 

[PIP]

Id trade Love in a NY minute for LMA

 

[gourimoko]

Not this offseason.

Okay.. so, just so I understand this better.

Why can't the Cavaliers trade Anderson Varejao + Brendan Haywood + (whatever) for LaMarcus Aldridge? (This trade is hypothetical for salary cap evaluation purposes only)

Wouldn't this satisfy the following conditions?

If a team is hard-capped, it cannot exceed the apron under any circumstance. If the team subsequently needs to sign a player (for example, to replace injured players) it must first create room under the apron by waiving player(s) with non-guaranteed salary, waiving player(s) with guaranteed salary and utilizing the stretch provision, trading downward in salary, etc.

I took a look at the CBA FAQ to get a better understanding, and I can't seem to understand why we couldn't take back Aldridge's salary simply by sending more salary out then we were getting in ("trading downward in salary"). I thought that was always allowed, or at least, in most general circumstances.

And I guess I'm missing something here, but I thought the tax level for next year would be $81M placing the apron at $85M? We're supposed to be somewhere around $89M going into next season, but we can't end up below that?

What about the stretch provision on Anderson Varejao, plus additional trades sending out Shump, Mozgov, Haywood and Thompson?

This isn't about a realistic scenario, but just a possible one, because I don't think I fully grasp the limitations imposed on the Cavaliers.

Thanks again for walking me through this..

 

[gourimoko]

Btw, I went back and looked and saw that Portland is already setup to be well below the cap next year (likely because the wanted to be ready if Aldridge walked). So they could take back salary, right?

 

[Walter White]

Lamarcus could be a decent backup for Love.

 

[bigfoot5415]

I have no idea how that would work. It'd be like having the first year Wade/LeBron thing except with two Chris Bosh's trying to find their role.

2 Boshes in the same room, and we may just open a multidimensional vortex.