Community Shootaround: NBA Finals Game 6
The sixth game of the 2016 NBA Finals takes place tonight in Cleveland, exactly one year after the Warriors dispatched the Cavaliers in Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals to win their first championship in 40 years. The Cavs are hoping history won’t repeat itself tonight — a Cleveland win would force a Game 7 in Oakland on Sunday.
After the series opened with a pair of dominant wins by the Warriors, the two teams have looked a little more evenly matched over the course of the last three games. The Cavaliers won at home in Game 3, then each team stole a game on the other club’s home court to give Golden State a 3-2 lead as the series returns to Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers have looked excellent at home throughout this year’s postseason, with the lone exception of their Game 4 loss to the Warriors, and they’re coming off an impressive Game 5 win in which LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each exploded for 40+ points. However, the Warriors were missing Draymond Green in that game, and if shots aren’t falling quite so easily for either James or Irving tonight, things could look very different.
Today’s Community Shootaround discussion question is a simple one: How do you expect Game 6 to play out? Will LeBron and Kyrie carry the Cavaliers to another win? Could another Cleveland player to step up to help lead the Cavs to victory? Or is tonight’s game going to be the final contest of the 2015/16 season? Will Green’s return result in the Warriors’ second straight road victory? Will the Stephen Curry and/or Klay Thompson show win out?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on Game 6. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Warriors Worked Out Elgin Cook
- In addition to his previously reported workouts, Oregon’s Elgin Cook has gotten a look from the Hawks and Warriors, and still has workouts on tap with the Jazz, Mavericks, Kings, and Pistons, per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Golden State Warriors
The Warriors, coming off a record-setting season and poised to earn a second consecutive title if they can win one of two games this week against the Cavaliers, are in a pretty good spot. The team’s three most important players – Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Stephen Curry – remain under contract for 2016/17, and their salaries are very affordable, given how much they’ve contributed on the court over the last couple seasons.
Still, Golden State will have some decisions to make this offseason. The team has four players headed for unrestricted free agency, with four more eligible for restricted free agency, including Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli. Is Barnes worth a near-max salary if the Warriors can’t lure top free agent target Kevin Durant to the Bay Area? With Curry due for a max contract of his own in 2017, the Dubs’ core will start to get very expensive very soon, so it’s not a given that pricey complementary players like Barnes, Andre Iguodala, and Andrew Bogut will be around for the long term.
See how Golden State’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Klay Thompson ($16,663,575)
- Draymond Green ($15,330,435)
- Stephen Curry ($12,112,359)
- Andre Iguodala ($11,131,368)
- Andrew Bogut ($11,027,027)
- Shaun Livingston ($3,000,000) — Partial guarantee; non-guaranteed portion listed below1
- Kevon Looney ($1,182,840)
- (Jason Thompson $945,126) — Salary remaining from release via stretch provision
- Total: $71,392,730
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Shaun Livingston ($2,782,450) — Partial guarantee; guaranteed portion listed above1
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- Harrison Barnes ($5,194,227/$9,683,495)
- Festus Ezeli ($3,013,123/$5,021,870)
- Ian Clark ($1,215,696/$1,215,696)
- James Michael McAdoo ($1,180,431/$1,180,431)
- Totals: $10,603,477/$17,101,492
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Marreese Speights ($7,248,500)
- Leandro Barbosa ($3,250,000)
- Brandon Rush ($980,431)
- Anderson Varejao ($980,431)
- Total: $12,459,362
Other Cap Holds
- Jermaine O’Neal ($2,400,000)
- Ognjen Kuzmic ($980,431)
- No. 30 pick ($976,300)
- Total: $4,356,731
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
Footnotes:
- Livingston’s full $5,782,450 salary will become guaranteed if he’s still on the roster beyond June 30th.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
A.J. English To Work Out For Warriors
- Former Iona guard A.J. English has a workout lined up with the Warriors, tweets Camerato.
Warriors Willing To Match Offers For Barnes
The Warriors will stick to their promise to keep the team together, even if that means matching an offer in excess of $20MM per year for Harrison Barnes, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Barnes will be a restricted free agent this summer after turning down a four-year, $64MM offer from Golden State last year. He averaged 11.7 points in 66 games this season and has become an important cog in a team that is one victory away from its second straight championship. Barnes is eligible to receive an offer starting at $20MM per year and could get a max offer in the neighborhood of $23MM. A source in the Warriors organization told Deveney that owner Joe Lacob has not wavered from his promise to hold onto the team’s key players. However, Deveney tweets that if Barnes decides he wants to go somewhere else to have a larger role, the Warriors will try to accommodate him with a sign-and-trade.
- Iowas State combo forward Georges Niang and Manhattan power forward Jermaine Lawrence have workouts scheduled today for the Warriors, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Golden State’s only pick in this year’s draft is at No. 30.
Warriors Consider Tyrone Corbin, Mike Brown
Tyrone Corbin has emerged along with Mike Brown as the top candidates to be the lead assistant in Golden State next season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Brown has been linked to the position before, but Corbin, a former teammate of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, is a new name in the mix. (Twitter link).
Corbin is a former head coach with the Kings and Jazz and has been out of coaching since being relieved of his interim position with Sacramento when George Karl was hired in 2015. He has been working as an adviser to the Kings’ front office ever since.
Brown served as head coach of the Cavaliers and Lakers and has been out of coaching since Cleveland fired him after the 2013/14 season. Brown reportedly turned down an assistant’s position in Memphis last week.
The Warriors’ lead assistant job will be open once the NBA Finals are done and Luke Walton leaves to become head coach of the Lakers. He held the position in Golden State for one season, taking over when Alvin Gentry left to take the reins in New Orleans.
Latest Draft News
- Former Manhattan power forward Jermaine Lawrence will work out for the Warriors on Saturday, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
Kevin Durant Not Considering Rockets
Kevin Durant and James Harden have been spotted hanging out together this week, but their social plans aren’t related at all to Durant’s free agency, reports ESPN’s Marc Stein. According to Stein, despite Harden’s presence in Houston and the team’s reported interest in Durant, the Rockets aren’t a club KD plans to seriously consider in free agency this summer.
Houston is one of many teams expected to make a run at Durant this offseason, joining the Warriors, Spurs, Heat, Celtics, Knicks, Lakers, and Wizards, among others. As has long been the case though, people around the NBA still believe the most likely scenario involves the Thunder star returning to Oklahoma City on a two-year deal with an opt-out after the first season.
Still, Durant is expected to be open to taking recruiting meetings, and we heard on Thursday that the Spurs and Warriors are among the clubs “planning big pitches.” Stein corroborates that report, suggesting that Golden State and San Antonio are considered by many executives around the league to be the two biggest threats to OKC.
While the NBA’s tampering rules don’t prevent Durant’s friends on rival teams, such as Harden, from spending time with him and perhaps making their own pitches this month, clubs won’t be able to formally pursue the seven-time All-Star until the new league year gets underway, three weeks from today.
Free Agent Rumors: Durant, Conley, Whiteside
Within his latest piece for Basketball Insiders, Steve Kyler examines a few of this year’s top free-agents-to-be, taking stock of their situations and passing along the latest notes and rumors he’s heard on each player. Here’s a round-up of some of the key info from Kyler’s piece:
- Even though Kevin Durant is considered most likely to return to the Thunder, he’s expected to take meetings, and Kyler hears that the Warriors and Spurs are “planning big pitches.” The belief around the NBA is that Durant will return to OKC on a deal that allows him to opt out in a year so that his free agency will line up with Russell Westbrook‘s and Serge Ibaka‘s in 2017.
- Sources close to Mike Conley‘s camp have suggested recently that Conley is “more open to new situations” than the Grizzlies would like. According to Kyler, those sources believe that the point guard wants to see signs that Memphis is serious about fortifying its roster with other pieces before committing to the team for the long term. Kyler identifies the “dark horse” in the Conley sweepstakes as the Spurs, who are believed to be willing to make some changes to their core if it means landing another high-level player.
- Hassan Whiteside is expected to land a maximum-salary contract, with the Lakers and Celtics among the teams believed to be interested. The Heat remain the favorites for the big man, but if they “try to play games,” Whiteside will shop around for other offers, according to Kyler.
- The Raptors and Knicks are among the clubs with interest in Nicolas Batum, but Batum will likely be in line for a max contract or something close to it, and the Hornets are viewed as the team most likely to accommodate such a deal.
- DeMar DeRozan is viewed as a near-lock to return to the Raptors on a max deal.
- Assuming they don’t land Durant, the Warriors sound prepared to keep their current roster intact, even if that means matching a “crazy offer sheet” for Harrison Barnes, writes Kyler.
- The odds of RFA-to-be Jordan Clarkson ending up with any team besides the Lakers are slim, but it’s possible his camp will seek out an offer sheet from another club if necessary, in order to get more favorable terms.
Community Shootaround: Cavs Winning The Finals?
The Cavs lost their first two games of the NBA Finals by a combined 48 points. Neither Klay Thompson nor Stephen Curry had monumental games for the Warriors. Instead, it was the team’s depth that mechanically wore down Cleveland. Perhaps there are some adjustments that coach Tyronn Lue can make, but it seems unlikely that this team can compete with all the talent that Golden State has.
So that brings us to tonight’s topic: Is there any way the Cavs can wins this series?
Could they decide to dust off Timofey Mozgov and attempt to recapture some of the success they had during last year’s finals where they went big and governed the paint? Kevin Love is talented, but he’s hasn’t played like a traditional big man since he was in Minnesota. Is it time to reduce his minutes? Love has the ability to be a major force and perhaps the Cavs can make adjustments in order to benefit from their $110MM big man without sending him to the bench. Perhaps there are better solutions to make this series more competitive.
Should Richard Jefferson being playing meaningful minutes at this point in his career? That’s where I’d begin if I were tasked with mustering up a comeback performance for Cleveland during these finals. Tell us what you would do. What adjustments would you make if you were in control of the Cavs?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.