Tag: CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Cavaliers exercise contract options on Sexton, Garland, Porter Jr., Windler
The Cleveland Cavaliers have exercised the fourth-year (2021-22) contract option on Collin Sexton, and the third-year (2021-22) options on Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr, Dylan Windler, the team announced on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Sexton started in all 65 games for Cleveland last season, averaging a team-best 20.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.0 steal in 33.0 minutes. He joined LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the only Cavaliers to average 20.0 points in a season before age 22. Sexton also had the third-highest scoring average among second-year players in 2019-20, behind only Trae Young (29.6) and Luka Doncic (28.8), and was one of just two Eastern Conference players last season (six in NBA) who averaged at least 20.0 points with a .470 mark from the field and a .840 clip from the foul line (Khris Middleton). Sexton was the 8th overall pick by Cleveland in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Garland, 20, was the 5th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, was the only NBA rookie in 2019-20 with at least 700 points, 225 assists, and 100 three-pointers. Over his 59 appearances (all starts) last season, Garland averaged 12.3 points and 3.9 assists in 30.9 minutes. He ranked second among all rookies in assists per game, behind only Memphis guard Ja Morant.
The 20-year-old Porter Jr. was the 30th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by Milwaukee, was acquired by the Cavaliers in a trade with Detroit on June 26, 2019. Porter played in 50 games (three starts) with the Cavaliers last season, averaging 10.0 points (12th among rookies), 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists (7th among rookies), and 0.92 steals (4th among rookies) in 23.2 minutes. Porter has had his share of issues of the court, including being arrested with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle back in November. Ultimately, the charges were dismissed. Porter Jr. has been away from Cavaliers training camp due to personal issues.
Windler, 24, missed the entire 2019-20 regular season due to a left lower leg stress reaction, was the No. 26 overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers after a four-year career at Belmont.
Cavaliers begin their season on Wednesday when they host the Charlotte Hornets.
Cavaliers sign C Norvel Pelle
Update: As expected, Cavs waive Pelle on Saturday night.
The Cleveland Cavaliers signed former 76ers C Norvel Pelle and converted center Marques Bolden into a two-way contract, the team announced today.
Also, the team waived two-way player Matt Mooney, guard/forwards Levi Randolph and Charles Matthews.
According to cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Pelle signed an Exhibit 10 contract, sources say, that could allow the Cavs to control his G League rights. Pelle will be waived later this evening, so the Cavs won’t be over the roster limit.
The 27-year-old Pelle, who was waived by the Philadelphia 76ers in November, appeared in 24 games for the Philadelphia 76ers last season, averaging 2.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 9.7 minutes. Pelle is a good athlete and a decent shot blocker.
Bolden, 22, appeared in all four Cavaliers preseason games this year and played in one game for the Cavs last season after signing a 10-day contract on Jan. 30, 2020. In 2019-20 with the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers’ exclusively owned and operated NBA G League affiliate, averaging 9.7 points on .596 shooting, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 18.9 minutes.
Cleveland Cavaliers sign former lottery pick Thon Maker
The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed former lottery pick Thon Maker, the team announced on Monday. Maker became an unrestricted free agent after the Pistons decided not to extend a qualifying offer.
The 23-year-old Maker, who was acquired by the Pistons from the Bucks in February, played in 60 games (14 starts) for Detroit last season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 12.9 minutes. He posted two double-doubles and scored in double figures on 11 occasions in 2019-20.
The 7-footer was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft but has had a hard time getting consistent playing time. The four-year veteran owns career averages of 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.9 minutes over 255 games (65 starts) with Milwaukee and Detroit.
This is an opportunity for Maker to turn things around in his career and an opportunity for the Cavaliers to get a player who has potential. We’ll see how Maker does in Cleveland.
In other moves, the Cavaliers added center Marques Bolden and guard Charles Matthews to their 2020 training camp roster.
Why the Raptors need to get to the NBA Finals this year
Over the past few seasons, the Toronto Raptors have had a lot of success. Since 2015, they have put together three straight seasons of 50 plus wins or more, an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2016, and a franchise-best 59 wins this season, which was the best record in the Eastern Conference.
With all that success, the Raptors have to break through and get to the NBA Finals. And the way things look in the Eastern Conference, this season, 2018 seems like the right time to do it.
The two teams that were expected to battle it out for Eastern Conference supremacy are not the same. Cleveland has the one man Toronto has no answer for and that’s LeBron James, but this year’s Cavs team is very beatable. While the Celtics, who are the second-seed in the Eastern Conference, had all the makings of a team that could get to the Finals before Kyrie Irving was ruled out for the playoffs with a knee injury.
However, here’s the real reason why the Raptors need to get to the Finals this year. The Philadelphia 76ers are coming. They have a young nucleus in Joel Embiid, 24, Ben Simmons, 21, Dario Saric, 24, and Markelle Fultz, 19. Philly won 52 games this season, and are ahead of schedule. Plus, according to Spotrac.com, they will have close to $30 million in cap space and a potential lottery pick(If Lakers pick is 1, or below pick 5) this summer, which could make them appealing to a certain King in Cleveland. Based on the way they are playing right now, Philly is going to be a tough out in these playoffs.
Also, the Boston Celtics are going to be another team that will be tough to beat moving forward. They have Irving and Gordon Hayward coming back next season. Plus, they have young studs in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and they have the possibility of getting a top-five pick(Lakers pick via trade if it is 2-5) in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The Celtics and the 76ers look like they will be fixtures at the top of the Eastern Conference for years to come. We might have a 1980’s remix when the 76ers and Celtics battled it out during that decade.
With Cleveland struggling, and Boston depleted due to injuries. The time is now for Toronto. Plus, their two best players DeMar DeRozan, 28, and Kyle Lowry, 32, are not getting any younger. So, If Toronto does not get to the NBA Finals this year, they may not ever get there for years to come.
Derrick Rose to the Cavs?
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, free agent Derrick Rose is in serious talks to join the Cavaliers.
Rose, who had a decent year with the Knicks last season, would sign a one-year deal, according to the report.
LeBron James is reportedly unhappy with the offseason, and Kyrie Irving said the Cavaliers are in a “peculiar place.” Maybe the Rose signing will make “King James” happy, and will take Cleveland out of that “peculiar place.”
The 28-year old Rose averaged 18 ppg with the Knicks last season.
Derrick Rose is in serious talks with the Cavs on a 1-year deal, sources tell @wojespn and me.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 20, 2017
NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith: ‘Any team LeBron is on is a super team’
After acquiring Chris Paul on Wednesday, the Houston Rockets have put themselves in position to challenge for a NBA title. Now, are they good enough to beat Golden State? Not yet, but the offseason is not over. NBA on TNT analyst and former Rockets G Kenny Smith thinks Houston has improved, but they’re not a “super team” just yet.
“Houston is not a super team, Golden State is a super team. You got five (four) all-stars on one team. If they get Paul George, then we can talk about that, but (with) those two guys (Harden and Paul), they just got elevated, but they’re not a super team, yet,” Smith told TMZ Sports.
Smith believes there are two “super teams” currently in the NBA.
“Any team LeBron is on is a super team, and Golden State those are the two “super teams,” Smith said.
Smith added if Houston were to get Paul George, he would call them a “BIG 3,” but not a “super team.”
If you look at what happened to Miami and Cleveland before and after LeBron James, what Smith is saying makes a lot of sense. The Heat before LeBron was a playoff team, but not championship caliber. Once LeBron came, they went to four straight NBA Finals, and won two titles. Cleveland before LeBron James was a lottery team. Once LeBron came, they went to three straight NBA Finals, and won one title.
So, LeBron has played on a “super team” after all!
Larry Sanders missed team bus in Miami?
The Larry Sanders experiment is over in Cleveland. According to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Sanders, 28, missed the team bus that took the Cavaliers to the airport in Miami on Tuesday. Ultimately, Sanders would miss the team flight to Cleveland. He would have to find his own way back to Cleveland.
Here is what Cavs’ GM David Griffin had to say about Sanders:
“He didn’t have any kind of a setback relative to any of the demons he had or any of those things,” Cavs general manager David Griffin said. “He’s an NBA player. He’s kind of flaky. So sometimes you’re late. You’re this. You’re that. None of those things were incidents. But I have to take you in totality as a player and if I know you’re not going to play, then what I’m going to get is everything else. And if I didn’t even feel confident that he’d be a benefit to the group in practice, then it was hard for me to tell coaches, ‘This is a guy you’ve got to keep.’ So they had the conversation on the plane, what else can we do? And we talked about it and we landed and we talked to all the rest of our staff and made a decision.”
This could impact his future in the NBA moving forward. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for Sanders, but maybe he was not ready to handle a “NBA lifestyle” again.
Hawks come back from 26 points to start the 4th Qtr to beat the Cavs in OT
The Atlanta Hawks were able to win in Cleveland on Friday without Paul Millsap, Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schroder. What they did today at Phillips Arena was even more improbable. Down 26 points to start the 4th quarter, the Hawks scored 44 points in quarter to take the game to OT, and ultimately win 126-125 in OT.
Paul Millsap hit a corner jumper at the buzzer to take the game into OT. In OT, the Hawks were able to come back from a five-point deficit.
Kyrie Irving scored 45 points. LeBron James, who fouled out in OT, had a triple-double with 32 points, 16 rebs, and 10 asts. Millsap scored 22 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 21.
Cavaliers and Celtics are now tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
BACK FROM A 26-POINT DEFICIT. #AddTheW pic.twitter.com/JFpOnweBnL
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 9, 2017