We’re in the beginning stages of the Cleveland Cavs‘ offseason preparations, and there are plenty of plots and subplots to follow on the road to the NBA Draft and July’s free agent push. Here’s the Top 3 Cavs Storylines For The 2015 NBA Offseason.
3) Re-sign JR Smith
Re-signing Smith will come with luxury tax implications, but the fact remains that the team is already operating $4 million above the tax line and will only have a $3.4 million taxpayer mid-level and some minimum wiggle room to play with depending on how storyline #2 plays out (more on that below). The question for the Cavs is this — is Smith worth it? Finding a reliable veteran that wants to go to battle with LeBron on a minimum deal won’t be hard, but none of those options will likely have the pure “heat check” upside that J.R. has when he’s cooking.
2) Bring Kevin Love back
Cleveland made it to Game 6 of the NBA Finals without Love, so there will be a contingent out there who term the dynamic big man as expendable heading into free agency on July 1st. However, the Love/Irving/James trio was nearly unstoppable once Love got his sea legs around midseason. Love’s best chance to win and win now is in Cleveland, but there’s still plenty of other factors (location, personality fit, etc.) to consider before we deem him a lock to return to the Cavs.
1) Figure out the David Blatt-LeBron James beef?
By now we’ve all read Marc Stein’s report on LeBron James’ reported displays of disrespect for Blatt throughout the NBA Finals (and before that), so the question is whether or not that’s going to become such a distraction that the Cavs front office is forced to make a move. Blatt did lead this team two wins away from an NBA championship while dealing with a cavalcade of injuries and distractions, so it’s hard to justify axing him after a season most franchises would deem as a success. However, this is and will be LeBron’s team. If he’s not comfortable working with/under Blatt, it might be best just to slash and burn and deal with the ramifications after the fact.
Follow our Cleveland Cavs team page for the latest Cavs news and rumors!
Back to the Cleveland Cavaliers Newsfeed