If you couldn't already tell, the Cavaliers won't be making any noise in the playoffs this season, as their 6-23 record places them fourteenth in the conference, only ahead of the lowly Washington Wizards, and seven games back of eighth seed early in the season.
I feel that, although early, it may be a good time to start looking ahead to next season and how our roster and coaching staff will look for next year's tip.
Roster
Our only guaranteed options for next season are the following (going off of Douglar's thread):
Anderson Varejao (9M)
Kyrie Irving (5.6M)
Tristan Thompson (4.1M)
Dion Waiters (3.9M)
Alonzo Gee (3.3M)
Tyler Zeller (1.6M)
We also have team options on CJ Miles (2.3M) and Kevin Jones (790K).
We will also be able to extend qualifying offers to the following players:
Omri Casspi (3.3M)
Jeremy Pargo (1.3M)
Samardo Samuels (1.1M)
Jon Leuer (1.1M)
Donald Sloan (1.1M)
The only players fully coming off of the books will be Luke Walton and Daniel Gibson.
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Draft
If the season ended today, we'd have the third worst record in the league, which would hopefully set us up with a pick somewhere between 2-4.
We also have the top-13 protected Sacramento Kings pick, although, the Kings have a record of 9-18, which is good for only seventh in the league, which means we may have to wait another year to acquire it.
And we have the Miami/Laker pick, which I do not fully understand, and I would appreciate if somebody would let me fully know how that works below.
I haven't been following a ton of the prospects yet, but the following names have been heavily discussed in the Draft Thread and other parts of the forum:
- Shabazz Muhammad
- Otto Porter
- Tony Mitchell
- Cody Zeller
- Nerlens Noel
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Trades
Of course Anderson Varejao has come up as our main trading asset, as have players such as Daniel Gibson and Luke Walton.
Any trades made now would obviously impact our roster next season. What trades do you guys think we should make/consider that would help benefit the team down the road?
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Free Agency
Posting a huge list off all of the potential free agents would make this thread about three times larger than it already is, so I'll just throw this link at you guys:
http://www.hoopsworld.com/2013-nba-free-agents/
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My Final Roster for the 2013-14 Opening Tip
Here is my final projected roster for the 2013-2014 Opening Tip. Be sure to leave ideas of your own below. It'll be interesting to compare and see how it actually is about ten months from now.
Starting Lineup
PG - Kyrie Irving
SG - Dion Waiters
SF - Alex Poythress
PF - Tristan Thompson
C - Tyler Zeller
Bench
G/F - Alonzo Gee
C - Kendrick Perkins
G - Jeremy Lamb
G/F - CJ Miles
F/C - Patric Young
G - Daniel Gibson
F/C - Brendan Wright
Reserves
G - Jeremy Pargo
C - Jermaine O'Neal
F - Jon Leuer
How It Happens:
- The Cavaliers keep Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Alonzo Gee, Tristan Thompson, and Tyler Zeller as their contracts carry over into next season.
- The Cavaliers pick up the contract offer on C.J. Miles (2.25M)
- The Cavaliers extend qualifying offers that are later picked up for Jeremy Pargo and Jon Leuer.
- The Cavaliers trade Anderson Varejao mid-season to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Kendrick Perkins, Jeremy Lamb, and Toronto's 2014 First Round pick.
- The Cavaliers draft forward Alex Poythress with the third overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft out of Kentucky, and later select power forward/center Patric Young with Orlando's second round pick out of Florida.
- The Cavaliers sign Brendan Wright to a 2yr/6.5mil contract and Jermaine O'Neal to a 1yr/1.8mil contract.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and be sure to leave your ideas for next year's roster below.