buzzdog
Hall-of-Famer
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The Cavs are constrained by a few different things, and they are serious obstacles.
One, there is an obvious reluctance or even refusal for a lot of the teams, especially those in the Eastern Conference, to do anything that will in any way help the Cavs. Exhibit A was what Indy did. We'll see what happens with Carmello and DWade. But be sure that we're paddling against the current trying to make any move whatsoever that makes the Cavs even more dominant in the East.
Second, we've been up against the hard cap for a longer period of time than our competitors, especially the Warriors. That has seriously hobbled any flexibility. We've HAD to re-sign our own players at premium prices because we had NO other choice. We could NOT replace the guys we overpaid with anything close to comparable players because of the cap rules. We've been operating with both hands tied behind our backs ever since we signed KLove, Kyrie and Lebron to what were max contracts at the time of the signings.
Griffin was pretty creative at creating options and player movement with damn near zero assets and he did what he felt was the best he could given his restrictions. Gilbert to his credit has paid out near record amounts of cap tax to facilitate Griffin's moves.
But the downside to the way this has all fallen out is, the moves Griff were never the best moves that he would have done if there were no hard cap restrictions. The moves he made were always less than perfect because they were damn near the only moves he could make at the time. He did the best he could given that we had both hands tied behind our backs.
Now we're suffering the all too predictable consequences of overpaying less than perfect players out of need and the almost desperation created by having to put a team around Lebron to maximize his window and keep him happy. We ended up with older players because they're smart, experienced, but above all, they're cheap and willing to play for less. Younger players with upside always want more money, we can only get guys on the downside of their careers who are already pretty much financially set. Or overpay for the younger guys especially if they're already on our roster, because we can't sign free agents because of the cap.
One, there is an obvious reluctance or even refusal for a lot of the teams, especially those in the Eastern Conference, to do anything that will in any way help the Cavs. Exhibit A was what Indy did. We'll see what happens with Carmello and DWade. But be sure that we're paddling against the current trying to make any move whatsoever that makes the Cavs even more dominant in the East.
Second, we've been up against the hard cap for a longer period of time than our competitors, especially the Warriors. That has seriously hobbled any flexibility. We've HAD to re-sign our own players at premium prices because we had NO other choice. We could NOT replace the guys we overpaid with anything close to comparable players because of the cap rules. We've been operating with both hands tied behind our backs ever since we signed KLove, Kyrie and Lebron to what were max contracts at the time of the signings.
Griffin was pretty creative at creating options and player movement with damn near zero assets and he did what he felt was the best he could given his restrictions. Gilbert to his credit has paid out near record amounts of cap tax to facilitate Griffin's moves.
But the downside to the way this has all fallen out is, the moves Griff were never the best moves that he would have done if there were no hard cap restrictions. The moves he made were always less than perfect because they were damn near the only moves he could make at the time. He did the best he could given that we had both hands tied behind our backs.
Now we're suffering the all too predictable consequences of overpaying less than perfect players out of need and the almost desperation created by having to put a team around Lebron to maximize his window and keep him happy. We ended up with older players because they're smart, experienced, but above all, they're cheap and willing to play for less. Younger players with upside always want more money, we can only get guys on the downside of their careers who are already pretty much financially set. Or overpay for the younger guys especially if they're already on our roster, because we can't sign free agents because of the cap.