The flurry of moves that kick off NBA Free Agency requires a number of quick-twitch reactions, with responses often emotional or at the least lacking context. Are you excited about your team’s moves? Did they make you queasy?
The Cleveland Cavaliers leaped right into the fray, agreeing to deals for Georges Niang, Ty Jerome and Max Strus within the opening weekend of free agency. Then Damian Lillard was requesting a trade, NBA Summer League was kicking off (and going very well for Cleveland) and the NBA offseason kept churning.
How do the Cavs’ moves look with some time to process?
Now that Summer League is over, and the transaction cycle has slowed to a crawl, it affords an opportunity to look back in greater detail on the moves the Cavaliers made. How do they look after a few weeks to process them? Do other moves made around the league make the Cavs’ signings look better or worse?
While the Max Strus signing has taken up the most oxygen, the Cavs ultimately used a large chunk of their Mid-Level Exception on forward Georges Niang, signing him over from the Philadelphia 76ers on a three-year, $26 million contract. Since early in his career, Niang has been known as “The Minivan” as he gets the job done but isn’t exactly built like a sports car.
As we analyze the signing, we ask the question: what kind of minivan did the Cavaliers get? Did they spend their money on a Honda Odyssey or a Dodge Grand Caravan?