Cleveland Cavaliers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Baron Davis, Jeff Green, Magic, Draft

January 14th, 2016 at 2:39pm CST by Chuck Myron

Baron Davis is drawing NBA interest, his agent tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link), cautioning that he has not yet signed with the D-League, as reported, but plans to do so. The Todd Ramasar client has full confidence the D-League will lead him back to the NBA, where he hasn’t played since the 2011/12 season, as Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher details.

“When someone asked me [when I’d make my comeback] before, I didn’t want to answer,” Davis said to Bucher. “If I make it in the NBA or wind up playing overseas, I will be at peace. I know the NBA is the place for me because I have the game and now I have the confidence in my body. The last six years I was hurt and in pain and I wasn’t myself. I’m moving a lot faster and better than I did then.”

Davis spawned confusion two summers ago when he made a film that appeared to poke fun at the idea of him returning to the NBA, Bucher notes. Multiple NBA executives thought Davis wasn’t serious about a comeback, though one assistant GM told Bucher that as long as Davis is engaged and in shape, he merits consideration. The Mavs have been linked to him, but owner Mark Cuban has said the team’s interest exists only at the D-League level. See more from around the NBA:

Jeff Green has frustrated at least one prominent Grizzlies teammate, as a “guy who matters” on the team “wanted to wring his neck” Tuesday, when Memphis lost to the Rockets and Dave Joerger benched Green for the second half, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal said in a podcast. Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk has the transcription. Green has struggled on the court and his attitude “hasn’t been the best,” Tillery also said.
The Magic accepted cash via trade for the third time since July 1st on Tuesday, when the Cavs gave them $934,614 in the Joe Harris deal, but they still have $1,286,686 remaining against the $3.4MM limit for the season, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links).
The NCAA’s rule change to push back the date underclassmen can withdraw until 10 days after the NBA combine is a sensible move because it helps players more than it hurts college coaches, opines Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Bonnell wonders if it will also lead NBA officials to start working out underclassmen at their colleges instead of having the prospects go to NBA sites, since the NCAA probably wouldn’t want NBA teams paying the travel costs for players who could return to play in college.

Cavs Notes: Mozgov, Varejao, Jones

January 12th, 2016 at 7:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavs center Timofey Mozgov is struggling this season, and even LeBron James is at a loss for what it will take to snap the Russian big man out of his funk, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes. “I’m not sure,” James said when asked what’s wrong with Mozgov. “I’m not sure where he’s mentally. Only he knows that. As a leader of the team, you just give him as much positive energy, give him as much positive notion about what he needs to do for our team. But at the end of the day, like I told you guys last year about Kevin Love, you can give a guy so much but at the end of the day, you got to figure it out yourself too sometimes. I think he’s at that point.”

Mozgov’s name has surfaced recently in trade rumors, though the Cavs’ front office prefers to keep the big man through the remainder of the season with the hope that he can turn his play around, McMenamin adds. Cleveland could save between $15-20MM in tax penalties by dealing away Mozgov prior to February’s trade deadline. Here’s more from Cleveland:

Anderson Varejao is averaging a career low 8.8 minutes per game this season, but the center says that he won’t request a trade, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes. “If I go anywhere else and win a championship, it’s not going to be the same,” Varejao said. “I want to win a championship in Cleveland. That’s where I want to stay. I love Cleveland.” When asked why he wouldn’t welcome an opportunity to play more, even with another team, the center responded, “Because Cleveland’s been loyal to me and I’ve been loyal to the team. I had a chance to leave when the team was really bad, going through a rebuilding process when we were losing almost every other game, and it was tough. I said, ‘I’m not leaving Cleveland. I want to win a championship in Cleveland’ and I know now we have a chance.”
Damon Jones, who is currently an assistant coach for the Cavs’ D-League affiliate, credits James for his newfound career path, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports writes. “He’s been very instrumental,” Jones said of James. “He was the reason why I got the opportunity last [season]. He felt comfortable in me helping him in any way possible. It gave me an avenue to get back in the game. Not only right now, but even when I played we had a great relationship and he did a lot of things for my career. Without him, I don’t know if the opportunities I’m receiving right now would be received.”

Magic Waive Injured Joe Harris

January 12th, 2016 at 5:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:04pm: Orlando has waived Harris, the team announced.

3:43pm: The Magic will waive Joe Harris, whom they just acquired via trade from the Cavaliers, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). The shooting guard had been acquired earlier today from Cleveland along with a protected 2017 pick for a future protected 2020 pick. Orlando will be responsible for the remainder of Harris’ $845,059 salary for 2015/16, though Cleveland reportedly included cash as a part of the transaction.

Harris was thought likely to be out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on his right foot, but his recovery timetable could be in the range of six to eight weeks, Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer relays (via Twitter). The procedure took place today, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops (on Twitter). Haynes originally reported that Harris was to miss two or three months because of the injury. Agent Mark Bartelstein had earlier told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com that his season was in doubt.

The 24-year-old only appeared in five contests for the Cavs this season, averaging 0.6 points in 3 minutes of action per game. His career numbers through 56 regular season appearances are 2.5 points and 0.8 rebounds on 39.5% shooting.

Cavs Trade Joe Harris To Magic

January 12th, 2016 at 3:26pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nelson Chenault / USA Today Sports Images

The Cavaliers have traded Joe Harris to the Magic along with a protected 2017 pick for a future protected 2020 pick, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link) and the Cavs and Magic officially announce. The picks going both ways are second-rounders, and the Cavs are also sending cash to Orlando, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer (on Twitter). That cash comes to about $1MM, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The 2017 pick headed to Orlando is Sacramento’s, which Cleveland acquired in a previous trade, while the 2020 pick going to Cleveland is Portland’s, which Orlando had from a prior deal. Both picks are top-55 protected, reports Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

Harris is likely out six to eight weeks after undergoing right foot surgery, Haynes reports (Twitter link), so it would appear the cash is the main asset going to the Magic, who will release Harris, according to Robbins. The $845,059 salary Harris is making was set to cost the Cavs four times as much in luxury tax payments, so even though Cleveland is sending out cash in the trade, the deal is liable to have saved owner Dan Gilbert between $3MM and $4MM.

The Cavs made Harris available in trade talk last month, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reported, hoping to land a second-rounder with greater value than one that’s top-55 protected and, most of all, save money against a gargantuan tax bill that’s poised to push Cleveland’s total outlay past the $170MM mark. The injury to Harris made the effort more difficult. The Cavs didn’t end up netting a pick without heavy protection, but they were at least able to find a taker for Harris, as Orlando used its empty roster spot to accommodate the swingman. A desire to keep Jared Cunningham past the date that his contract would become guaranteed also drove Cleveland to put Harris on the block, according to Lloyd, though the Cavs kept Cunningham past last week’s guarantee date anyway, perhaps confident they could make the trade they’ve just pulled off.

The deal gives the Cavs an open roster spot, an asset they’d aimed for with the idea of having the flexibility to add a player in the buyout market after the February 18th trade deadline, as Lloyd wrote. Harris, whom the Cavs drafted 33rd overall in 2014, wasn’t contributing much at the NBA level for Cleveland this season. He appeared in twice as many D-League games as he did NBA games.

The deal allows Cleveland to create a trade exception equivalent to Harris’ $845,059 salary. The Magic likely used the $1,599,619 trade exception they have from offloading Maurice Harkless to the Trail Blazers this past summer, posits Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Orlando had little choice other than to use the exception, since Harris is on a three-year contract and the minimum-salary exception can only accommodate two-year deals, as I explained last month using Harris as an example. The Magic are just barely over the cap, so they could have opened cap room if they renounced the trade exception, a move that would have allowed them to absorb Harris into that cap space. Doing so would have wiped out the entire trade exception, however. Using the trade exception to absorb Harris would preserve a $754,560 sliver of it that could prove useful if the Magic want to trade for a player who’s making the rookie minimum salary on a contract that runs more than two seasons.

Which team do you think makes out better in the deal? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Eastern Notes: DeRozan, Hawes, Mozgov

January 10th, 2016 at 7:00pm CST by Will Joseph

DeMar DeRozan will reportedly turn down his player option and become a free agent this summer, but the Raptors shooting guard reiterated to Sportsnet 590 The Fan that he wants to stay in Toronto for the rest of his career (h/t Jeff Simmons of Sportsnet.ca). DeRozan is a native of California, but he’s only played for the Raptors. The Nets and Lakers both reportedly have interest in him.

“That’s one you thing you can never question: my loyalty to the city,” DeRozan said. “How much I really love and appreciate the team and the organization. I think all the fans understand that. A lot of times they don’t understand how contracts or things like that.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Center Spencer Hawes, whom the Hornets acquired in a June trade with the Clippers for Lance Stephenson, acknowledged his situation with Los Angeles appeared to be a good fit in theory, but can’t quite put his finger on why it didn’t work out well, Rowan Kavner of NBA.com details. “Sometimes, situations just don’t work out the way you draw it up on paper,” said Hawes, who added he was surprised by the deal.
It would make little sense for the Cavs to trade center Timofey Mozgov, despite his recent struggles and even if moving him could save between $15-20MM in tax penalties, Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal argues. Mozgov is a bargain because he is making close to $5MM and it would be difficult for the Cavs to find another serviceable center on the market, Lloyd writes. The Cavs are obviously all-in for this season and do not have any inclination of moving Mozgov, Lloyd surmises.

Central Notes: Williams, Van Gundy, Dunleavy, Noah

January 10th, 2016 at 12:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

No one in the Cavaliers organization has corroborated Mo Williams‘ claim of a partially torn ligament in his right thumb, writes Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com. Williams announced the injury Friday after visiting with a hand specialist in New York. The team had called it a sprain and didn’t issue a release, which Haynes notes is customary with injuries of this type. Williams, who has undergone two prior surgeries on the thumb, said it should heal on its own within six weeks without another surgery. “It’s just peace of mind, knowing I didn’t rip it off or anything,” he said about the second diagnosis. “It’s just a little partial tear, no different from like when you sprain your ankle real bad.” The injury coincides with Williams’ loss of playing time since Kyrie Irving‘s return. Williams sat out his third straight game Friday in Minnesota.

There’s more from the Central Division:

The Pistons have improved by becoming a Stan Van Gundy team, according to Paul Flannery of SB Nation. Van Gundy built his kind of team over the past year, Flannery writes, trading for Reggie Jackson at last season’s deadline, dealing for Ersan Ilyasova and Marcus Morris and adding free agents Aron Baynes, Steve Blake and Anthony Tolliver over the summer and drafting Stanley Johnson. “It’s pretty clear what Stan wanted to do over the last 15, 16 months with spacing the floor with skilled fours,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “When you think about how impactful Ilyasova and Tolliver are, it may not be on the stat sheet, it’s the fact that those rim runs are a little bit more open by those bigs and the guard driving. It just puts you in such a predicament.”
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg says injured forward Mike Dunleavy is still about a month away from returning, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. Dunleavy has yet to play this season because of back problems.
Coach Jason Kidd, sidelined with a hip injury, joined the Bucks for a shootaround this morning at Madison Square Garden, tweets Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kidd will meet with his doctor in New York tonight to have X-rays taken on the hip. The coach has been out of action since having surgery December 21st.

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround: 1/8/16

January 8th, 2016 at 11:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov has seen himself go from a starter to a reserve this season, which has multiple teams inquiring about his availability via trade, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. Cleveland has not expressed any desire to move the center publicly, but the team’s daunting luxury tax bill, as well as Mozgov’s pending free agency, could eventually persuade the team to deal him, Spears noted.

Mozgov’s role has been diminished by the insertion of Tristan Thompson into the starting lineup, and the results of have been positive thus far for the team. The 29-year-old Russian has appeared in 30 games for the Cavaliers this season, including 25 as a starter, and he is averaging 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per night. While he may be going through a rough patch currently, Mozgov’s addition was most certainly a turning point in Cleveland’s 2014/15 season, with the big man solidifying the team’s interior defense after his acquisition from Denver.

Cleveland is likely concerned about the luxury tax, and parting ways with Mozgov and his $4.95MM expiring contract could help alleviate a bit of the exorbitant sum the team is in line to be on the hook for this season. But is saving money worth the potential risk of parting ways with a valuable defensive asset like Mozgov? Well, that’s the question I’m posing to all of you for today’s topic, which is: Should the Cavs look to deal Timofey Mozgov prior to the February trade deadline?

Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter, as well as to weigh in on what sort of return the team should look to extract if it does decide to trade the big man. We look forward to what you have to say.

Cavs Notes: Cunningham, Harris, LeBron, Love

January 8th, 2016 at 1:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavaliers thought when the regular season began that they’d waive Jared Cunningham by Thursday, the final day they could release him without paying his full-season salary, but they made up their minds weeks ago to retain him, a source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Still, the recent injury to Joe Harris posed an issue, Lloyd writes. The team would still like to somehow open a roster spot in advance of the trade deadline to provide flexibility for the post-deadline buyout market, Lloyd adds, suggesting that trading Harris, as the team has tried to do for weeks, is the only viable way of accomplishing that. The Cavs dodged a bullet today when Mo Williams said that he won’t require surgery on a partially torn ligament in his right thumb and that he’ll play through the injury as it heals over the next six weeks, tweets Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. See more on the Cavs:

LeBron James didn’t mention Andrew Wiggins in his summer 2014 Sports Illustrated essay announcing the four-time MVP’s return to Cleveland because he simply wasn’t familiar with him, James recently told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. Many speculated that the omission was a signal that James wanted the Cavs to trade Wiggins for Kevin Love, a move the team ultimately made. “I didn’t know the kid, really,” James said of Wiggins. “I knew Dion [Waiters]. I knew Kyrie [Irving]. I knew Tristan [Thompson]. I knew all the guys that I was playing with before. I didn’t know the kid, so it wasn’t no big issue to me.”
Wiggins isn’t bitter, telling Lee in the same piece that the trade “put me in a better place.”
The max contract that Kevin Love signed this summer “gave me that little extra edge and push” to recover from the shoulder injury he suffered in the playoffs, Love said to Lee. The power forward’s primary desire in free agency was to remain in a winning situation, as he explained to James. “When I talked to him this summer and when he went over what he wanted, what he needed, the most important thing that came out of it was, ‘I just want to win. And I want to win at a high level because I went through too many losing seasons in Minnesota,’” James said to Lee. “And I said, ‘If that’s the case, we can figure out all that other stuff. If you want to win, we can figure out all that other stuff.’ And he’s been unbelievable from that point on.”

Central Notes: Butler, Christmas, Dinwiddie

January 7th, 2016 at 7:40pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls have gone 10-4 since Jimmy Butler made his controversial remarks about Fred Hoiberg‘s laid-back coaching style, and the team appears to have rallied together while playing some of its best basketball of the season, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune writes. “We’re just playing good basketball,” point guard Derrick Rose said. “On the offensive side the ball is moving. It seems like we know who is getting the ball at certain times. On the defensive side, it’s all about rebounding. If we rebound it’s like a 90-some percent chance we win the game. So it’s all about just communicating when we’re out there and getting rebounds.”

Rose, who has reportedly been at odds with Butler on occasion, was asked if the swingman was the most talented teammate he’s had since arriving in the NBA, to which Rose responded, “I think so, man. Who knows how good he can become? I just love his patience right now. He’s playing with unbelievable patience. He’s not rushing anything, he knows what he’s getting whenever he’s in the pick-and-roll or whenever he’s in the isolation. He’s reading everything the right way now.”

Here’s more from out of the Central Division:

Free agent Dionte Christmas, whom the Cavaliers waived shortly before the season started, has signed with the Greek club AEK Athens, the team announced (h/t to international journalist David Pick). The 29-year-old shooting guard averaged 6.8 points in 19.9 minutes per game over four contests in the preseason for Cleveland.
The return of Brandon Jennings from injury has created a bit of a logjam at point guard for the Pistons, but according to coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, it’s far from the worst thing a team could be faced with, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. When asked if dividing minutes between Jennings and Reggie Jackson could become a problem for him, Van Gundy said, “It will become an issue I’m sure. Anytime you’re dealing with the issue of trying to get enough minutes for more good players, that’s a good issue to have.”
The Pistons have assigned point guard Spencer Dinwiddie to their D-League affiliate, the team announced via press release. Dinwiddie has appeared in nine games for Detroit this season and is averaging 4.4 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 12.3 minutes per game.

Eastern Notes: Mozgov, Lee, Ujiri

January 7th, 2016 at 3:19pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov has seen himself go from a starter to a reserve this season, which has multiple teams inquiring about his availability via trade, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports relays. Cleveland has not expressed any desire to move the center publicly, but the team’s daunting luxury tax bill, as well as Mozgov’s pending free agency, could eventually persuade the team to deal him, Spears adds. The 29-year-old has appeared in 30 games for the Cavaliers this season, including 25 as a starter, and he is averaging 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17.8 minutes per night.

Here’s more from out of the Eastern Conference:

Wesley Matthews “badly wanted” this past summer to sign with the Raptors, who had mutual interest, but the thought of signing a player still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon was too much for the Raptors to bear, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange writes. That led Toronto to DeMarre Carroll, who’s since suffered injuries of his own, though GM Masai Ujiri played hardball, telling Carroll when he met with him that the team’s offer would come off the table if he didn’t commit before the end of the meeting. Carroll, of course, ended up signing with the Raptors for $58MM over four years. It’s much too early to say the Carroll signing was a mistake, but his injury illustrates how even seemingly safe choices carry risk, leaving the Raptors in limbo, Grange argues.
Ujiri said he was “torn” before he made the decision to turn down a “great offer” to stay with the Nuggets to become Raptors GM in the summer of 2013, calling Denver team president Josh Kroenke “like a brother” in an appearance on “The Vertical” podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (audio link at 21:30 mark). “It haunts you for a long time,” Ujiri said. “I know I made the right decision, but sometimes I don’t know if I failed with loyalty there.” Still, the lure of the Raptors, whom Ujiri called a top-three organization in the league, proved too strong.
David Lee chose his words carefully as he expressed frustration and disagreement to reporters about the decision Celtics coach Brad Stevens made to take him out of the rotation, making it clear that he still respects the coach and hadn’t requested a trade, as MassLive’s Jay King relays. Still, Lee said that his lack of playing time is more frustrating this year than it was in Golden State last year. The Celtics are already reportedly making him available in trade talk.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.