Cleveland Cavaliers: The summer of 2014 provides the blueprint for the Cavs’ future

Moving forward, the Cleveland Cavaliers have their blueprint for success.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to land Gordan Hayward thanks to the help of Kyrie Irving in 2014. Instead, the Cavs settled for LeBron James, a guy Irving didn’t recruit, and four straight Finals appearances.

According to former GM David Griffin, Hayward was possibly locked into going to the Cavs. The Cavs were apparently going to offer him a max contract, and the Jazz were hesitant to match that offer considering the contract they had just shelled out to Derrick Favors.

If Utah did match the max contract, it appeared that the Cavs were still interested in the possibility of a sign and trade featuring Dion Waiters.

Besides Hayward, the Cavs were planning to also bring in Trevor Ariza and Channing Frye to help Cleveland become a playoff team for the first time in four seasons.

In this scenario, it’s unknown whether the Cavs would have traded for Kevin Love or not. Even though Love just signed a long-term deal in Cleveland, it’s unlikely that this would have been his preferred destination if LeBron didn’t return.

In a situation where the Cavs were able to sing Hayward and trade for Love, the Cavs would have had a starting lineup that would have been Irving, Ariza, Hayward, Love, and Anderson Varejao with Waiters, Frye, and Tristan Thompson coming off the bench.

Even if the Cavs didn’t trade for Love, a lineup featuring Andrew Wiggins isn’t a terrible consolation prize.

As it turns out, the Cavs lucked out and LeBron returned to Cleveland leading them to a title and four straight trips to the Finals. The Charlotte Hornets signed Hayward to an offer sheet under the max which the Jazz matched.

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This timeline is interesting because it would have given us the chance to see what the Cavs as an organization could have done if they hadn’t been bailed out by LeBron which is the exact situation they fact today.

This iteration of the timeline shows that things could have worked out very well for the Cavs considering how Hayward blossomed into one of the best wings in the league. A team featuring Irving, Hayward, and Ariza would’ve been perfect for the current pace and space NBA.

This alternate timeline for 2014 can serve as a road-map for how a team like the Cavs can compete in the NBA. Cleveland will generally never be in a position to land the top free agents each year. However, the Cavs can still improve their team through free agency.

This means that the Cavs will need to take risks on less than proven commodities and pay more than many thing their fair market value is. While we know Hayward is an amazing player now, the consensus wasn’t that he would develop into an all-star player.

The summer of 2014 shows that Cleveland can also recruit top-end talent if they have a young player in place like Irving. Collin Sexton is the natural player that seems to be able to take that position, but we don’t know if he will ever to be able to reach Kyrie’s level of play.

Sexton’s development will be the determining factor in how this franchise moves forward in the next five years. If he develops into an all-star level player, the Cavs might have the opportunity to bring in players like Hayward to play a supporting role.

Next off-season will be critical for the Cavs. Cleveland could have cap space to spend next summer depending on how they manage George Hill, JR Smith, and Kyle Korver’s contracts. If everything goes according to plan, they could have the opportunity to repeat the formula from 2014 in 2019 by offering a large contract to a high upside player.

If they make a move like the one they attempted to do in 2014, the Cavs could return to the top of the Eastern Conference.