The Cavs appear to have overplayed their hand with the JR Smith contract. There were teams below the cap and others with trade exceptions, who were willing to absorb contracts and those were more valuable.
Free agency has essentially come to a close now and there are still some teams with cap room to absorb a contract. Do you only way JR‘s contract gains value is if there are really no other alternative is it a team wants to get below the luxury tax. However, the Cavs are running out of time.
And if they run out of time, they cost themselves $500 K—no harm, no foul.
It’s really not a big deal.
Now, hearing things like “Cavs could’ve had #17 and Crabbe” at last year’s deadline, I get where it seems we overplayed the hand. That made me jumpy, too, because it felt like a baseline.
Plus, we heard that we were close with Miami and Orlando.
However, the guy we would’ve taken at #13, #16, #17, we ended up getting at #30 in a purchase.
Numerous sources have reported how high we were on Porter Jr. in the #10-20 range. He was brought in, vetted, and wined and dined with the coaching staff and front office. Intel suggested he was falling out of the lottery for a variety of reasons.
They got their man, and they kept the JR contract. At that point, it now becomes even more of a “have to be blown away” situation.
Again, I’d gladly take someone back like Winslow or Adebayo—and one of those Clippers 1st’s. It just takes two to tango.