NBA Off-Season: LeBron to Recruit Players Aggressively
The Cleveland Cavaliers season just ended but the NBA Off-Season is coming at us full steam with the NBA Draft next week. Shortly after the NBA Finals ended thoughts of the Cavs future came rolling in. Some wonder about David Blatt’s future and others wondered about the numerous free agents, restricted free agents and possible free agents that litter the Cavs roster.
The thought of the Cavs keeping the core of the NBA Finals roster and adding Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao is enough to make our mouths water in anticipation. Yet the Cavs also have a chance to add players via free agency, the draft and the trade market.
That is where LeBron James “The Recruiter” could be huge. LeBron never recruited in his first stint with the Cavs. We saw the benefit of him doing so this year with the additions of Love, Mike Miller, James Jones and Shawn Marion. While only Love really worked out, the other 3 came to Cleveland primarily because LeBron recruited them.
This year LeBron and the Cavs have the entire off-season to work together to create the best roster possible. Rumor has it that LeBron has already started the process and will be aggressive in trying to get players to Cleveland:
I'm telling you right now: LeBron will stop at nothing to get more players to Cleveland in the next few weeks. Nothing.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 17, 2015
Well that is exciting: “Nothing.” My guess is that one thing he will stop at is taking a drastic pay cut, but besides that LeBron is planning to do whatever it takes. Does that include Dwyane Wade? According to our good friend Sam Amico, James has already started the process:
A truth that is already in motion. https://t.co/ZWrgQ5EDfY
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) June 17, 2015
Wow! So even while dragging the leftovers of a great roster to two wins in the NBA Finals, he also was stirring the pot of the upcoming NBA Off-Season. For the LeBron and the Cavs next season is a Championship or bust season but will the Cavs be open to LeBron’s input? According to Brian Windhorst they will be:
"James’ foreseeable future is in Cleveland. With the ability to opt out of the two-year deal he signed with the Cavaliers last offseason, James must now decide just how much he wants to influence the Cavs as they enter a summer full of uncertainty and potentially massive spending.The Cavs prefer he give a lot of input.Ideally for the Cavs, James would come into his exit meeting with strong opinions: Sign this guy at any cost; don’t worry about this guy; try to keep this guy, but don’t break the bank."
So it looks like they are on the same page. LeBron is recuiting and the Cavs want him to play a big role in who is brought in. Looks like the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James are on the same page.
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The question becomes this: “Who can the Cavs reasonably get?” We will address this in a variety of ways here on King James Gospel over the next few weeks. It will be important to understand the details of the Brendan Haywood contract, the salary cap and players that are available.
We expect the Cavs to be heavily involved in the free agent and trade markets. They will at minimum have to fill Haywood, Kendrick Perkins and Shawn Marion‘s roster spots. Still other spots may be opened up for a variety of reasons.
The Cavs are likely to pursue a point guard, wing and spacing power forward to fill in those roster spots. Whether they can get those type of players is a different question.
Wasn’t isn’t questioned is that LeBron James “will stop at nothing” to get more players to Cleveland.
Can’t wait to see that happen.
What do you think about this report regarding the upcoming NBA Off-Season?