Free Agency Recap
GM Jacob West and
Assistant GM Owen Masters again would make a splash and change the landscape and would bring back the belief that the Cav's can get into the playoffs, but if you think that they were the shining stars in free agency you would be wrong. There is a new superstar team and as of right now, and it seems they are the favorites to just win the finals for at least the next two years. Yes, the power has shifted back to the East it seems. Now we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Cav's Free Agents
UFA C Andre Dummond 86 OVR
RFA SG/PG Collin Sexton 81 OVR
UFA C Tristan Thompson 79 OVR
RFA SF Cedi Osman 75 OVR
RFA SF/SG Kevin Porter Jr. 75 OVR
RFA C/PF Jordan Bell 74 OVR
RFA PG Darius Garland 74 OVR
RFA C Ante Zizic 73 OVR
RFA SG/PG Dante Exum 73 OVR
RFA SF/SG Dylan Windler 71 OVR
UFA PG/SG Matthew Dellavedova 70 OVR
RFA SG/PG Matt Mooney 68 OVR
Everyone...from fans, scouts, fellow GM's , analysis's said that Cav's needed to resign Andre Dummond who was the leading rebounder in the league last year, and keep team options on their two previous first round picks in guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. With the free up space from the trade of Kevin Love they could go out and try to get someone else if the Cav's didn't resign Thompson (which seemed to be a given before the year was over) and Dante Exum which the Cav's brass liked.
Moratorium Signing
Cav's would go all out and put offers to four players: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Anothony Davis. New GM and assistant already seemed to do well for swinging for the fences, but this seemed to daunting of a task. Still the rumors of Giannis going to the Lakers to play with LeBron, got Davis to back out and most thought it was to take a little less to get both to the Lakers. In the end the Lakers would miss out on Giannis and all the talk would push A.D. away. With that the Cav's get Anthony Davis and more surprising was that Davis agreed to a No-Trade clause.
Sadly with that move it all but spelled the end of getting Dummond on the team since they didn't have the money to sign him. And with the drafting of Toppin it looks as if Davis will be going to play center for the Cav's. From that signing the Cav's would release everyone but all the RFA they would resign which would be:
Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Kevin Porter Jr., Darius Garland, and Dylan Windler. From that they would have to release:
Andre Dummond, Tristan Thompson, Jordan Bell, Ante Zizic, Dante Exum, Matthew Dellavedova, and Matt Mooney.
Now the question was with the Brow, Toppin, Larry Nance Jr. at Power Forward would that mean that Nance Jr. with his 10 million contact would be the next player to be traded from the Cav's this off-season?
Free Agent Signing
Who saw this coming? Another player who was disgruntle from how the team was being run more than how the media was dictating from the team standpoint than from the GM. Rumor was all last season that the disgruntled Bubby Hield would be the guy gone and yet they lose out to Fox and the Cav's with the cap space came swooping in to get him.
Free Agency Trade
Well everyone thought it would be Nance Jr. that would be traded off the team, and yet everyone was right there would be another trade. Although with the signing of Fox, it all by spelled an end of the rookie last year.
Winner: Pistons hands down. Going into free agency the Pistons have a second round pick in Christian Owens as their starting guard. Now they get a rival team guard who showed a lot of promise in his rookie year before it was cut short of the shutdown. While the Cav's do get first round pick in the upcoming and next draft, it was mostly to shave off some salary going into the new year.