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Originally Posted by Atocep
All signs point to a rebuild in LA. They didn't add any guaranteed money beyond this year and received several pieces that could be flipped for something of value by the deadline.
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Let's just say, not the signs I'm listening to. Even if the goal were to flip players at the deadline, there's almost zero downside (other than the 22nd-richest person in the world having to pay the luxury tax) to re-signing Griffin because with or without him there's too much talent on the roster to lose enough games to be in the running for a really valuable pick. Hell, Lou Williams did enough in half a season that the Lakers needed to blatantly tank down the stretch and get lucky in the lottery on top of that to keep their top-3 pick.
If the Clippers are healthy and keep Blake they should win around 50 games, and even in the worst-case scenario where he gets hurt he'd be making enough money that it would logistically be easy for the Clippers to take on another team's bad contract(s) + some future draft picks.
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Originally Posted by Groundhog
It's a good problem to have I guess, but I'll reserve judgement on their roster until I see what else they manage this offseason, as right now I'd rate them as maybe threats to push Golden State to 5 or 6 games.
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That's about as much as any team in NBA history could ask, and beyond that it's about being able to beat the Warriors if they're not at 100 percent. As the Cavs already showed in the Finals, shooting and hitting a ton of threes is perhaps the most surefire way to mitigate the talent gap, and putting 2 of the top 5 playmakers in the world in a D'Antoni offense is certainly one way of ensuring your team won't have any trouble getting up threes.
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And yes, I bet Cleveland wish they could roll out one of the best PGs in the game with their second unit. I would settle for someone who can defend a little, run the team relatively error-free for spurts, and knock down open 3s though. Williams was definitely not that guy.
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That would be Patrick Beverley, and if the Cavs had traded Kyrie for a similar offer (Beverley + a few more capable NBA players for depth) they'd be much better. Unfortunately Daryl Morey is smart enough that he probably wouldn't have been interested in such an offer if it were on the table, as the difference between Irving and Paul is immense when you already have an offensive weapon like Harden in place.