2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Where do the Cavaliers rank in best starts in NBA history ?
2015-16 Golden State Warriors (lost NBA Finals): 24-0
1993-94 Houston Rockets (won NBA Finals): 15-0
1948-49 Washington Capitols (lost NBA Finals): 15-0
2002-03 Dallas Mavericks (lost Western Conference Finals): 14-0
1957-58 Boston C Bags (lost NBA Finals): 14-0
2024-25 Cleveland Cavaliers: 13-0
1996-97 Chicago Bulls (won NBA Finals): 12-0
1982-83 Seattle SuperSonics (lost first-round series): 12-0

 

You take the risk IMO and make him live at the Lebron household.
Honestly this would be the best thing to happen to Zion is he gets adopted and becomes Zonny James Junior so he can be under Daddy James tutelage. Maybe the only way he'll ever take care of his body enough to live up to his potential.

 

i don't think that's based on anything other than money follows the lakers.

i think there are definitely teams that should strongly consider taking the risk, but we're not one of them, mostly due to the really awkward fit with lebron and AD. it's russ-esque (even though zion is much better, of course).

i mentioned miami somewhere, and that one makes sense to me for similar reasons to those you stated. charlotte, washington--any perennial have-nots that have trouble finding stars should try to see if they can get one on the cheap. if you're NO, do you take a kuzma/brogdon/1st package for zion? is that an over or underpay? such a tough market on this one, but i think he needs to move. if we weren't in position to take an immediate swing at contending before lebron retired, i'd want in on the bidding.

 

We have a lot of salary that we could utilize in a trade; however, DLO and Wood are the only expiring, right? So, anybody who hasn't played (Vando and Wood) or been horrible (Vincent, Max) has multiple years left on their deals or something to that effect.

Any competent GM will want to extract assets to take on any of those contracts, IMO. I guess we have another month to see how this shakes out. Just fyi: LaVine has been good. Who knows how long it lasts before he gets injured. I've heard the Bulls want to make the playoffs and given how weak the eastern conference is, I don't think they'll move him. I'm not advocating it, I think it's something Rob might consider down the line if he's available for any reason, IMO.

 

i advocated moving for him this summer when the bulls seemed really motivated to get off his contract. that ship has sailed now, i think.

 

Only issue with Miami is that I believe they still do the fat% check at camp. Zion ain't passing that. Ever.

 

We know one Laker voice who would never sign off on Zion.

 

Garland is 6'1
Mitchell is 6'3

Good luck with that in the playoffs

 

i tend to agree. i think it's kind of too bad that the way the game is played and officiated rules out a team with a huge front court and a back court that's the size of the bad boys pistons backcourt, though.

though it's less about size and more about the fact that garland has historically been a dlo-level defender. mitchell had been trending up (think his numbers are down there early, but garland's are up, so could be a quirk of small sample/lineup configurations).

main issue is the boston has two absolute clamps in the backcourt, each of whom is also a plus on offense.

i think cleveland could, in theory, beat anyone else in either conference.

 

Man..I'd trade Tinkerbell, Rui, and an unprotected FRP, for Zion in a heartbeat. Throw in another top 15 protected FRP. They can have JHS too.

Lebron is about to be 40, Zion is 24. James would be more than happy to adjust his game, to fit that kind of talent. That would still be highway robbery, fat and out of shape as he is. Zion and AD would be a ridiculous combination. In a great way.

I'd give up whatever Orlando asked, for Banchero too(besides James or Davis).

Zion and Paulo are the closest thing to Lebron in the NBA. If Rob passed on a deal to pick up Zion Williamson, he should be fired immediately.

 

If Rob snagged Zion, he'd be at Jerry West status here.

 

i could be persuaded.

orlando won't trade banchero for anything, though. well, they'd trade him for wemby, i guess. maybe jokic or luka. but that's probably the extent of the list.

 

With the way Lebron and AD are shooting. You can run point Zonny James Jr with AR and just cause havoc. Defense would be s*** but I'm not sure there is a defense that has ever existed that can stop that. That is just a lot of mass and power going at the rim. Lob City with Lebron James as Chris Paul?

What helps Cleveland is there roleplayers are playing well. They have good depth along with top end talent. New York just grilled them a few years ago with toughness so they still have to prove it but the talent is there

 

Look at Embid.
Zion would be worse in couple years.Hell no to Zion.He would gain weight in 2-3 months in LA and would be like Shaq

 

7-4 is a nice start but we’re going to have to keep our foot on the gas all season. The Wolves and Mavs, last year’s conference finalists, are each currently outside the play-in at 6-6 and 5-6 respectively. We cannot afford a 3-10ish stretch like we had post IST last year.

The West is insane; right now there are only 3 teams in the conference with a negative avg. point differential. In contrast, there are only 4 teams in the East with a positive point differential lol.

 

https://x.com/levakabas/status/1857062971198849217

 

yeah, and portland and SA aren't cake walks. SA didn't surprise me, but portland has. i thought they'd be as bad as utah has been.

 

Yeah they should be. I would guess they will regress to the norm, but who knows. The West is making regular season interesting, you really can't give away any game.
The Pels are the ones who are in a really tough spot. They already lost twice to Portland, Brooklyn and Atlanta at home. Really bad games to drop in a feisty fight for the play-in. They have a great group when healthy, so maybe they really believe in that and can make a push until January and then make decisions near the deadline

 

Lakers better not trade for Zion.
He will never be healthy for long stretches throughout the rest of his time in the League.