Cleveland Cavaliers: Constructing the dream offseason

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not had a smooth landing after the departure of LeBron James three years ago. They went through the various stages of collapse, clinging to hope of the playoffs before bottoming out but never clearing the books.

The NBA Draft has given the team some real talent, but no home run picks yet. Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro are all talented, but different selections available at each pick could have instead stocked this team with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Keldon Johnson and Tyrese Haliburton.

The Cleveland Cavaliers can’t have another mediocre offseason: it’s time to seize the bull by the horns

The Cavaliers just watched two teams, the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns, make at least the Conference Finals after not making the playoffs the year before. There is a path ahead for the Cavaliers to make a win-now move if they want to jump up in the standings, but the odds of the right move appearing are slim.

Instead, the Cavaliers should view this offseason as the time to be aggressive in setting up their long-term future. They are not going to win a title or even get into the conversation for one unless LeBron demands a trade back to the Cavaliers. Resetting their timeline and finally starting to clear out cap space can be a real step towards building a team that can contend in the future. They have a roster with some intriguing trade chips and the third overall pick to start with.

To that end, what would a dream offseason for the Cavaliers look like? How can they be active and bold in shaping this roster for the long-term? Without straying into the “pipe dream” scenarios of flipping Kevin Love for Damian Lillard, what would an excellent but realistic sequence of events look like? Let’s walk through the different stages of the offseason step by step.