Cleveland Cavaliers: Dominos are falling for an amazing Cavs summer

Sometimes we can see a path to greatness. This offseason has been no different. With certain things happening around the association, the Cleveland Cavaliers could be in a great place to dominate in 2017-18.

I am going to talk about what has happened and what could happen as a result of what has already transpired. A number of moves and rumors will be in this post. If everything aligns, the stars could come out in Cleveland sooner than later. Let’s take a look at where we stand on June 19, 2017.

Domino #1: The Miami Heat release Chris Bosh

Oh look! A 32-year old former superstar and LeBron James teammate is all of a sudden an impending free agent looking to compete for a championship. Health concerns aside, Chris Bosh could be the best bench option the Cavs have had in their history if he decides to play for the minimum at something like 12-15 minutes a night.

Domino #1a: The Celtics trade the top pick to Philadelphia

The Celtics have agreed in principle to send the #1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the 76ers for the #3 pick and a first round pick in 2018. That leaves the Celtics with about 150 draft picks in the next two years. Do the Celtics need these picks? No way. What they do need is extra trade fodder for Jimmy Butler.

Domino #2: The Celtics trade the #3 pick and two first round picks in future drafts to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler

Cleveland Cavaliers /

Cleveland Cavaliers

This is the next domino that should fall. While Cavs fans might think, “Jimmy Buckets is awesome; we don’t want him on the Celtics,” it is better to think about the positives of this occurring. If Jimmy Butler leaves the Bulls, there is a really good chance the Bulls blow it up and start over.

Domino #3: Dwayne Wade opts out of his contract with the Chicago Bulls

If Butler leaves, Wade has no incentive to stay. What will he do? He’s getting older, and he just came off his best season since the Big 3 were in Miami. If Wade wants to play a sixth man role and get 20 minutes a night on a contender, there is no better place than Cleveland to do so. He could unite with Chris Bosh and LeBron James to form a new friend team in Cleveland. This gives the Cavs two former superstars with plenty left in the tank to come off the bench.

Domino #4: Larry Bird steps down in Indiana

While, in order, this happened a while ago, it’s important to see this from the post-Butler-to-Celtics trade. Larry Bird is not one who enjoys losing. He also realized that his current core is not going to compete anytime soon. Because Bird stepped down and Paul George’s contract is expiring, there is a perfect storm for Indiana to want to get real value for George before he walks away for free.

Domino #5: Kyle Korver disappeared in the NBA Finals

While this is not on an order of magnitude of importance as the other dominos, it is important because Korver was going to be expensive if he dominated in the playoffs. Now, he’s either going to be gone or a lot cheaper, which will help the Cavs sign some other older ring chasers.

Domino #6: The Cavaliers lost the 2017 NBA Finals

The nail in the coffin, so to speak, was ultimately the Finals loss. If the Cavs win the finals, they have almost no incentive to blow anything up. They add some guys at the end of the rotation and run it back. Most of their roster is under contract until 2019, so they have no incentive to make any real changes. That changed in Game 5.

BOLD Prediction(s).

The Cavaliers are going to make some major changes in July 2017. Here is a rundown of what I think might happen because of these dominoes.

The Cavaliers trade Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, and a pick or two to the Pacers for Paul George and Al Jefferson.
Cavs sign Dwayne Wade with the taxpayer’s mid-level exception for what projects to be around $5.2 million.
The Cavaliers sign Chris Bosh for the veteran’s minimum if/when health restrictions are taken away.
Richard Jefferson retires.
The Cavaliers re-sign Kyle Korver to a 2 year, $15 million contract.
The Cavaliers re-sign Deron Williams to a 2 year, $12 million contract.

If all of this fun stuff happens, the Cavaliers roll out a lineup that looks like this:

PG: Kyrie Irving, Deron Williams, Kay Felder
SG: J.R. Smith, Dwayne Wade
SF: Paul George, Kyle Korver
PF: LeBron James, Chris Bosh
C: Tristan Thompson, Al Jefferson, Channing Frye
Reserves: James Jones, Walter Tavares, Derrick Williams

Must Read: Should the Cavaliers trade Kevin Love?

Can this roster compete with the Warriors? We will find out!

Cleveland Cavaliers: Dominos are falling for an amazing Cavs’ summer

By Duane Rohrbacher | Jun 19, 2017