My perfect offseason would start and end with LeBron James returning as a free agent. While I'm at it, I'll also wish for a winning Powerball ticket, 70 degree sunshine in Cleveland in January, and for my wife to say "great idea!" after I float the possibility of a threesome with Kate Upton. IOW, stuff that ain't happening.
So I'll keep it realistic:
1. Hire David Griffin as permanent GM. Some fans get so caught up in the idea of "hire a guy with a ten year track record." Uh, the GMs who have long track records are either (a) already employed or (b) unemployed for a reason. I'd rather hire an up-and-coming guy. Worked pretty well for the Thunder with Presti, the Rockets with Dork Elvis, the Raps with Ujiri, etc.
2. Keep Mike Brown as head coach. And with that, I've lost 90% of you ... but kept the 10% who saw this team improve quite a bit over the course of the season. Yeah, they still had some clunkers; and yeah, they missed the overall goal of the postseason. But the team did improve quite a bit over the course of the season, and I like their chances of continuing that improvement under Roker. The reality of fan-dom is that the most popular coach is always "anybody but the guy who has the job now"; the real reality is that if the team keeps changing its coach every season, it will never go anywhere.
3. Offer the max to Kyrie Irving. Bottom line, he's a 22 year old two-time All-Star. He did take a step back this season, but if this is his "bad" season, then sign me up for his "good" years. With him having recently turned 22, the elevator is still going up. Make the commitment to him to be here for the long term. I am OK if he wants an opt-out after three/four years; it still means I have him for at least four more seasons, and have time to continue developing the roster around him, to the point where he won't want to leave.
If he doesn't want an extension, then the summer would take a completely different path. But I'll assume that he will take it (pretty safe assumption; he'd be leaving eight figures on the table if he declines).
4. Let Luol Deng walk. I don't like to type that, because he is a good player and a very stand-up guy. But he never seemed to really like it here, and more importantly from my POV, he's going to be overpaid. He's an above-average player (but not by much) who's going to be paid like a star. In today's NBA, a perimeter player who barely shoots 30% from behind the stripe is a liability. If he gets a serious dose of reality from the market and wants to come back for less, I'd be open to that. But there is no way on God's green earth that I am offering him 3+ years at eight figures per season.
5. Look to trade the first-round pick. The one thing this team does NOT need is to get any younger. Veteran teams tend to win; younger teams tend to lose. It's the iron-clad law of the NBA. It takes players, even superstars, a few seasons before they are winning (unless they land in a great situation, e.g. Duncan in San Antonio). I don't want to take a 19-year-old kid and have to wait three or four seasons for him to really blossom, and the odds are that it will take him that long. This draft doesn't have any LeBrons (not much of a slam, as there have been less than ten guys of that quality in league history).
Understand, I'm not saying "dump the pick for whatever you can get." No Ted Stepien ish here. If the right deal isn't there, then it isn't. I am saying being aggressive in trying to trade it. If the pick lands in the top three, so much the better. The current basketball market over-values first-round picks; take advantage of that inefficiency and land a very good player, maybe a star.
6. Look to trade Tristan Thompson. Nice guy, hard worker ... but hands of stone, overrated defense, little feel for the game, and he's entering the last year of his rookie contract. Hopefully somebody will be enticed by his youth, reputation, and string of empty double-doubles.
Between the lottery pick and Thompson, I would think the Cavs could land a nice player or two in return. (Who, I'm not sure. Trades are just too hard to speculate. That's why I'm keeping it general.)
7. Do NOT look to trade Dion. I'm not calling him untouchable, but I wouldn't trade him unless a bona-fide star were coming back (understanding that it would take more than just Dion to get that star) -- e.g., Love. Even then, I'd think long and hard about it.
8. Acquire a defensive presence for the interior. If Kyrie and Waiters are going to succeed, they need to be paired with a big man who can erase a good number of their defensive mistakes. Asik seems like an obvious target (although there is no way I'd pay the rumored Dork Elvis asking price of two firsts).
BTW, this point is not exclusive of points #5 and 6 above; they may all describe the same trade. Again, I find it very hard to try to pin down specific names for realistic trades, so I won't.
9. Re-sign Hawes ... at the right price. Seems contradictory to point #8, no? Not in my mind. Hawes is one of the best shooting big men in the league. He's also a liability on defense. Bless his heart, he just wasn't put on this earth to move fast. He wasn't even put on this earth to move slow. Continents drift with more speed. But if he is content with being a backup center ... or if the defensive presence (#8 above) plays PF ... then he's more than welcome to return.
10. Acquire a defensive presence at the 3. Again, it's part of the fallout from having Kyrie and Dion playing together. The other perimeter player needs to be a strong individual defender.
Even though I have 10 points listed, I'm not looking to overhaul the entire roster. Half of these points are about staying the course. I want to use the remaining assets (of which there are many, most importantly a top-10 pick in the draft) to improve the team now. Let's get playoffs back at the Q, with a youngish team poised to win for years to come.