Curry
Irving
Thompson
Durant
Green

Hard not to get excited about that.

But then they couldn't afford to keep Zsa Zsa

This is a development I wasn't expecting. Kyrie with that "Mamba mentality".

Kyrie to the Spurs, which is one of the four destinations he gave, would be best case scenario. I'd love to see what he's capable of with actual good coaching.

Pretty much the worst case scenario here. Kyrie ends up rotting the rest of his prime for a dysfunctional organization, while Cleveland ends up with Melo's toxicity and becomes even less of a contender.

I'd like to see Kyrie on the Knicks. He'd be an international megastar at a new level, have a nice contending window with Porzingis, and have a decent GM in place. Knicks would become a desirable place for FAs next summer. Hope for a lineup like Irving, Danny Green (FA), player traded for Ntilikina and/or Hardaway, Wendell Carter (draft), Porzingis.

Cavs need to blow it up and go through the Sixers process. They're going to be stuck with Melo and Love dragging them to the 8 seed in the East after next season.

DurhamSon said:

Pretty much the worst case scenario here. Kyrie ends up rotting the rest of his prime for a dysfunctional organization, while Cleveland ends up with Melo's toxicity and becomes even less of a contender.

Click to expand...

Ky must've been definitively told Bron was leaving at the end of the season.

If he were still there, it leaves Kyrie holding the bag w/ a team that was built for Bron, has no assets, and is fucked for the draft for like a century.

It's the right, proactive move for him to make now. Knicks have youth, draft picks, and will have money to build a team around him.

For this season, it sucks.

Going forward, he'll be better off.

Potential Spurs lineup would be Irving, Green, Leonard, Jabari Parker/Aaron Gordon (FA), Cousins (FA). Definitely not good enough next season, but can give the Warriors real problems with Irving and Cousins in place.

Kyrie to the Knicks is awful. He'd be allowed to do what he wanted and they'd win 10 games for eternity. A bunch of lottery picks wouldn't help either.

I hate basketball and Kevin Durant.

They would paint 25/71 on the side.

Sixers should offer Fultz and Okafor. Maybe sign and trade Gerald Henderson or somebody too to get the salaries to match.

Irving / Redick / Simmons / Saric / Embiid.

BTW, there's increasing evidence that this is ALL Bron spin, and it's likely that his camp who coordinated a very anti-Kyrie rollout of this meeting.

RealGM article from tonight:

Kyrie Irving Had Reservations About Cavs' Roster If LeBron James Leaves In 2018
JUL 22, 2017 10:12 PM


Kyrie Irving divulged to Dan Gilbert that he has reservations about how the Cleveland Cavaliers' roster has been constructed to complement LeBron James and that their long-term prospects could be compromised if James leaves in 2018.

James has refused to commit to Cleveland beyond the coming season and that has led Irving to become proactive in controlling his own career arc.

The Cavaliers play at a slower pace to suit James while paying Klutch Sports clients Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith on significant deals.

The Cavaliers have included Irving in trade talks around the NBA following his request and they even considered the possibility of dealing him beforehand.

Irving had wanted to discuss the possible trade scenarios with Cavaliers' ownership and management following The Finals, but the meeting was difficult since David Griffin's own future was uncertain and they've been operating without a new general manager in place. Only recently has Koby Altman emerged as the likely choice to replace Griffin.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/2 ... es-In-2018


That sounds almost the exact opposite of what Windy has reported.


And it appears I was likely right. Ky went into that mtg trying to explain that going Bron-or-bust is gonna end in a bust when he leaves unless they hedge their bets, and Ky doesn't want to be the one left holding the bag. That article doesn't sound like a guy who went into a mtg demanding a trade. Sound like a guy who shared his major concerns about the franchise going forward, and got a 'yeah, uhh, we DGAF.'

Of course, I don't know if they revealed to him or discussed with him the fact that they had shopped him for trades in the weeks prior. But I'd imagine that such news, in concert with the fact that they'd done nothing to improve the team and the fact that they obviously wouldn't be hedging their bets on Bron leaving, was enough for him to say, "fuck it, then. I'd like to be traded if you aren't going to listen to me."


BTW, Kyrie went on a long Asian Nike tour on the 20th. He'll be out of the country for weeks.

Even though Bron has known for more than a week, all this shit breaks while Ky's off in Japan???

Something stinks, and it's LBJ's doing.

Isn't that from the Wojnarowski article? That dude has been putting out LBJ hit pieces for years; of course he's come up with a way to pin this on LeBron.

Yeah, DSon, I had that same thought, too, and I generally have a very low opinion of Woj because of his LeBron and K hit pieces. But I had a lot of cognitive dissonance this time, because I agree with pretty much everything Woj said. The two Klutch deals are literally the very exact thing that makes Cleveland's outlook so bad. There's no reason for LeBron to want to stay, and there's no reason for Kyrie to want to stay either. Still, I wish this hadn't gotten out, since it makes a trade harder to pull off by lowering Kyrie's value.

Still think it would be better for the Cavs if they traded LeBron (see what the market for a one-year Paul George rental was?) and develop a more Houston-style offense around Irving, Love, and shooters.

Except it's being reported Kyrie was interested in leaving as early as a year ago after they won. And this isn't some revisionist bullshit; although obviously not explicit as asking to be traded, I remember reading things to the effect of talking about Kyrie's desire to lead a team and not just be a sidekick months ago. Why is that so hard to believe? As if Thompson and JR getting a few extra million per year even enters into his calculus, LOL

As a reminder, this trade is always available to the Cavs:

Seems like two camps have formed in the Kyrie discussion:

1) Kyrie is dumb, I would be happy going to the Finals, his team would be ass with him as the #1 option, as demonstrated by the numbers.

2) You're not Kyrie, though, he already won a title, has all the money he'll ever want, and now just wants to be the star of a team, can't blame him for having different priorities.

Something everyone who understands stats agrees on is that Kyrie's team would be shit with him as the star, and he's worse than Lillard, Wall, Lowry, Thomas, etc. right now, but has some development left before his prime.

I still think the most logical explanation is that he doesn't want to be left holding the bag in Cleveland after LeBron bolts town.