ESPN: Cavaliers target Irving for #1 pick

[wacobluedevil]

I don't have premium service so I couldn't see the details.

[cptnflash]

I don't have premium service so I couldn't see the details.

The gist of it is Mo Williams is gone, Baron Davis is clearly not the point guard of the future, and Kyrie has moved up to be the Cavs first choice (ahead of Perry Jones). Cavs will likely have two lottery picks and are rumored to be interested in Harrison Barnes with the other. Kyrie and Harrison just can't get away from each other!

[Greg_Newton]

Well if that doesn't scare you into staying in school, I don't know what will.

[DoubleDuke Dad]

I don't have premium service so I couldn't see the details.

Hopefully that should give him an incentive to stay at Duke for another year! :D

[Channing]

lets all channel our inner Andrew Luck.

[moonpie23]

if....and i mean IF*** Kyrie were, shall we say..."on the fence" for one reason or another.....the cleveland situation could be a case of guilt by association where he could SEE from cav's history how they (don't) build around a super-star....

I'm not saying.....i'm just saying...

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

I guess it could have some influence on his decision but there is a degree of inevitability at work here. There's always a chance a great team steals a top lottery position and whisks away a #1 pick from an otherwise miserable situation. But whether this year or next, Irving's chances of ending up with one of the worst teams in the league remains rather high.

[dukebballcamper90-91]

I just played the mock draft lottery game and Kyrie was the number 1 pick every time I played but 1 and that was the Bucks winning the pick and getting perry jones. I played at least 15 times

[elvis14]

I agree with what some others have said. I mean talk about 2 reasons to stay in school:

1) Going to Cleveland
2) Playing with Harry Skype

We need more articles like this and we need to make sure Kyrie sees them!

[SuperTurkey]

I agree with what some others have said. I mean talk about 2 reasons to stay in school:

1) Going to Cleveland
2) Playing with Harry Skype

We need more articles like this and we need to make sure Kyrie sees them!

Well, I think Kyrie is still friends with Barnes, so while 2) would bum us out, I'm sure he would be cool with it.

But 1) could really help given that Kyrie is close with LeBron and Dan Gilbert's meltdown with LeBron left is still fresh.

[RoyalBlue08]

Well if that doesn't scare you into staying in school, I don't know what will.

This was my first thought too, but then again, going to the worst team in the NBA in any year is probably not a great situation. Add that to the uncertainty of who will win the lottery when you have to make the decision about whether to stay in school and I don't think kids can really take what team they might play for into account in any meaningful way.

[Matches]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure whoever finishes with the worst record in the NBA next year will also be a terrible team with poor management. That's true every year unless something really unusual happens. I'd say there's a very good chance Cleveland will be in this same position next year (especially if their plan for improving is to trade for Baron Davis, who has probably gained fifteen pounds since Thursday).

[elvis14]

Well, I think Kyrie is still friends with Barnes, so while 2) would bum us out, I'm sure he would be cool with it.

Kyrie has been at Duke for less than a year and he's still pretty young. One can only hope that he will grow out of this affliction. 9F Don't hype the skype!


Yeah, I'm pretty sure whoever finishes with the worst record in the NBA next year will also be a terrible team with poor management. That's true every year unless something really unusual happens. I'd say there's a very good chance Cleveland will be in this same position next year (especially if their plan for improving is to trade for Baron Davis, who has probably gained fifteen pounds since Thursday).

Kyrie will likely go to a draft choice that's associated with a poor team. But Cleveland is more than just a poor team right now. They really seem to be a complete mess ever since "The Decision". I'm not saying the Cavs won't make strides forward starting next year just that it's a particularly bad time to get drafted by Cleveland. There have been lots of trades this year involving draft picks. So a pick associated with a poor team may actually be owned by a decent team giving him the chance to be picked by a better team than Cleveland.

[dukeimac]

If going to play in Cleveland will be a deterant, then Kyrie will be at Duke for 4 years.

[Oriole Way]

Cavs have to get the #1 pick first. The lottery has produced several unlikely teams for the #1 pick over the past few years.

[elvis14]

Cavs have to get the #1 pick first. The lottery has produced several unlikely teams for the #1 pick over the past few years.

With a new CBA coming next year I've heard at least one pundit question if the lottery system will still be used.

[davekay1971]

Cavs have to get the #1 pick first. The lottery has produced several unlikely teams for the #1 pick over the past few years.

Nah, the Knicks aren't going to be in the lottery. Probably no frozen ping pong balls this year...

Uh oh...wait...Jersey will be in the lottery. Big market, rich owner, star point guard coming home. OK, a frozen ping pong ball may be in our future!

[Oriole Way]

With a new CBA coming next year I've heard at least one pundit question if the lottery system will still be used.

Perhaps, but in theory, couldn't there also be an increased minimum age requirement as well? Lots of uncertainty with the CBA, I just hope it gets resolved soon.

[_TheFakeJWill_]

be nice if fisher retires and the Lakers take him but i am just wishing :) reguardless whoever he goes to trust me they will be one of my favorite teams

[pamtar]

I dunno if I would be too upset if Kyrie went to Cleveland along with Barnes.

Yes, the Cavs are horrible right now. Still, they have a dedicated (but slightly crazy) owner, a good coach, and a great fan base. They also have a great group of role players that could become a playoff team with the addition of a superstar. Kyrie will be a superstar. I also love the idea of Barnes going with him. As much as I loath prince Harry, he has the potential to be one of the best players in the NBA.

"Kyrie to Barnes" could be the stuff of legend. In fact, it could finally end the tireless Duke/UNC NBA argument. I really don't care who does what in the NBA, aside from hoping our guys have good careers. We pull a college team that plays college ball, so please spare me the explanation of how you have the most NBA players all time or how Shane is the most underrated player in the League. I digress.

My point is that Cleveland has shown that they were unwilling to build around LeLe. Bringing in two players with limitless possibilities and shuffling the scrap they have sitting around (Baron, Gee, Graham, Harangody) for 1 or 2 good role players could easily get them back on top. And for the sake of totally killing the Duke/UNC argument lets say they sign Battier as a free agent and trade up for Tyler Hansbrough. The 'small' line-up could at times could look like this:

Kyrie - PG
Barnes - SG
Hickson - F/c
Jamison - F
Battier - F

Two Dukies, two Heels, and a Wolfpack(?), Wolf(?), a player formerly a member of the NC State Wolfpack. You still have Sessions, Samuels, Hansbrough, Parker, Varejao on the bench.

I would root for and wager on that team.

[SuperTurkey]

Perhaps, but in theory, couldn't there also be an increased minimum age requirement as well? Lots of uncertainty with the CBA, I just hope it gets resolved soon.

I'll be shocked if the CBA situation is resolved before the draft declaration deadline for underclassmen.

On the same note, the lottery doesn't happen until underclassmen have to declare, so Kyrie will be making his decision with a lack of tangible information. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that the Cavs will be most likely to win the lottery.

[Devilsfan]

To "someome" (a Dad) that will go unnamed I hope is reading this. They don't call Cleveland "The mistake on the Lake" for no reason at all. If Kobe, Phillip Rivers and Luck didn't want to be in Charlotte, imagine what they would have thought about Cleveland! Don't leave where your wanted for the money your going to receive anyway to be in a place we all want carolina to go. The chant could easily be changed from GTHC to GTCC and have the same meaning. The C being Cleveland. Just my opinion.

[superdave]

Cleveland would still have to win the lottery to get the #1. With their luck lately, that's not guaranteed.

I would like to see the new CBA include a franchise tag and compensatory pick for team's who lose the franchise tagged guy via free agency. Perhaps you could only use the tag once every 3-4 years. Getting an extra pick at the end of the lottery would help a little, but maybe not a lot. It would help with bring some needed parity.

[toooskies]

It's hard to say Cleveland didn't build around LeBron. The fact of the matter is, Cleveland threw as much money around as they reasonably could, and got as many players as they could given that LeBron told every free agent that he wasn't committed to staying in Cleveland. The Cavs were never in a place where they refused to spend more money or didn't make the best short-term decision regarding LeBron. And they had to-- at the time, every "expert" thought the Jamison trade was a good one, the Shaq deal was in Cleveland's benefit, Larry Hughes was a great signing, and so on. The organization had advanced light-years from the teams LeBron played with his first few years (Boozer excepted). They tried hand-picking coaches, surrounding LeBron with players he liked even though they weren't great, accommodating his "posse"...

At the end of the day, it's hard to pick out concrete things Cleveland did which were consensus "bad" moves. They didn't turn their team into the Celtics or Lakers, who honestly got where they were because other teams made lopsided bad trades and were in "destination" cities.

I don't think LeBron was mistreated in Cleveland, and he certainly wasn't begging to get traded like Carmelo or Bosh. He didn't get a gift basket when he left, but it isn't like he didn't just drag the organization and city through a heartless presentation of their inferiority with "The Decision."

If you're a good player and loyal, then Cleveland will treat you well. They're some of the best sports fans I've ever seen. You just have to buy into the city. Ask Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who got huge cheers because he left when Cleveland couldn't compete for a championship. Ask Mo Williams, who demanded to not be traded last summer.

In that sense, Kyrie would certainly be embraced and loved in a city like Cleveland as long as he buys into the city and doesn't let the early losing get him down. That's a hard thing to do in today's NBA.

[SuperTurkey]

LeBron told every free agent that he wasn't committed to staying in Cleveland.

Source?

[ajgoodfella7]

It's hard to say Cleveland didn't build around LeBron. The fact of the matter is, Cleveland threw as much money around as they reasonably could, and got as many players as they could given that LeBron told every free agent that he wasn't committed to staying in Cleveland. The Cavs were never in a place where they refused to spend more money or didn't make the best short-term decision regarding LeBron. And they had to-- at the time, every "expert" thought the Jamison trade was a good one, the Shaq deal was in Cleveland's benefit, Larry Hughes was a great signing, and so on. The organization had advanced light-years from the teams LeBron played with his first few years (Boozer excepted). They tried hand-picking coaches, surrounding LeBron with players he liked even though they weren't great, accommodating his "posse"...

At the end of the day, it's hard to pick out concrete things Cleveland did which were consensus "bad" moves. They didn't turn their team into the Celtics or Lakers, who honestly got where they were because other teams made lopsided bad trades and were in "destination" cities.

I don't think LeBron was mistreated in Cleveland, and he certainly wasn't begging to get traded like Carmelo or Bosh. He didn't get a gift basket when he left, but it isn't like he didn't just drag the organization and city through a heartless presentation of their inferiority with "The Decision."

If you're a good player and loyal, then Cleveland will treat you well. They're some of the best sports fans I've ever seen. You just have to buy into the city. Ask Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who got huge cheers because he left when Cleveland couldn't compete for a championship. Ask Mo Williams, who demanded to not be traded last summer.

In that sense, Kyrie would certainly be embraced and loved in a city like Cleveland as long as he buys into the city and doesn't let the early losing get him down. That's a hard thing to do in today's NBA.

From everything I heard, Lebron tried on numerous occasions to get one of his "guys" to come to Cleveland. But in reality, I think it is hard to get someone to choose Cleveland over some of the other destination cities in the NBA. Lebron played for Cleveland for 7 years and I just think he just came to realize that the team had pretty much reached its ceiling as to what it could accomplish.

It is virtually impossible to win a title in the NBA without having 2 star players. Cleveland did all it could to build around him, but they just never got the pieces to realistically win a title. I don't care who you put in Lebron's place, I don't think anyone would win a title in this day and age with the surrounding players he had.

And I just don't buy into the whole argument that some people make, (not talking about you) that a player owes it to a franchise or a city to stay there even if they are unhappy, or if this player feels they are not getting the most out of the the prime years of their career. Teams choose to get rid of players all the time against their wishes. And I firmly believe that if Kobe or MJ were in the same situation where they felt their team was capped, they would taken off to another team in the same way, I don't care what they say. In fact, Kobe was threatening to leave LA a few years back when they dropped out of title contention for just 2 years.

Obviously Lebron should have handled the whole "decision" thing differently, but that's another argument altogether...

[weezie]

Well if that doesn't scare you into staying in school, I don't know what will.

Seconded! Good grief, Kyrie!

[toooskies]

Source?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4311048

Now, this came at a late point in trying to recruit Ariza to stay, after Ariza had decided to leave.

In addition, LeBron failed to try something like Wade did in encouraging Bosh to sign in Cleveland (or whichever free agent he wanted).

[theAlaskanBear]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4311048

Now, this came at a late point in trying to recruit Ariza to stay, after Ariza had decided to leave.

In addition, LeBron failed to try something like Wade did in encouraging Bosh to sign in Cleveland (or whichever free agent he wanted).

That article doesn't make sense with what you wrote. In looks like James WAS telling Ariza he would be there. Plus, the article states that even though Houston was almost a done deal, LeBron talking to Arize DID make it very tempting to Ariza.

But that's besides the point. It's not a players responsibility to build a team. It's GM, coach, and owner.

I wouldnt mind if Kyrie went to Cleveland, it would be great if he was on a winner but ANYONE who picks Kyrie will have a losing record. Cleveland has a good coach. But they have to get some real talent in there. Jamison/Hickson/Varejao are all roleplayers at this point.

[toooskies]

For some reason I can't edit my last post, but a few final things, including bringing it back to Kyrie...

I still believe had Lebron gone into the playoffs healthy and didn't get emotional (either about an alleged off-court issue w/ Delonte or about criticism of his poor play in select games) the Cavs could've won a title. But I put the onus squarely on Lebron, rather than the team.

But this isn't a discussion of whether Lebron could do it-- it is a discussion about whether the Cavs did everything they could to build a championship team. If you have a concrete example of a move the Cavs should have made but didn't, I'd like to hear it.

And now, you have a team that has arguably the best future draft status in the league, with a stockpile of 1st round picks. They'll have large expiring contracts coming up with Jamison (2012) and Davis (2013). They had to dismantle a lot when they weren't competing for a championship right away, but they should get competitive faster than, say, Minnesota has post-Garnett.

I would like to hear what separates Cleveland from Milwaukee, Minnesota, Phoenix, Denver, Detroit, Indiana, Memphis, or Oklahoma City. Is Kyrie's only realistic lottery option to hope to go to Toronto? Because only them, Cleveland, and Minnesota is really looking for a PG out of the bottom-feeders.