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2016 Offseason Priorities for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Published by Bleacher Report on Wed, 29 Jun 2016


While it should come as no surprise, the Cleveland Cavaliers are quite pleased with their championship roster."We do intend to keep this group together and see what we're capable of," general manager David Griffin said, per ESPN's Marc Stein.Given the Cavs will have no cap space, even with a record-high $94 million salary cap, keeping their own players off the free agent market will be viewed as a success this summer. Fortunately,stars Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and (soon to be) LeBron James are all under contract or committed to Cleveland, so the Cavs will instead turn their focus to the following secondary players/scenarios.With some trade exception help and the retainment of key vets, they'll be in good shape to defend their first ever title.The Mozzy DilemmaI believe we've seen the last of Timofey Mozgov in Cleveland.Following 17 months that rotated from glorious to disappointing, it's hard to judge Mozgov's value in a center-rich market. This, combined with his poor play and the dying need for big men in today's NBA, may make him far more affordable than originally thought.The Cavs probably won't care.The 29-year-old just doesn't fit on this roster anymore. With Love, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye all needing minutes, Mozgov found himself buried on the bench for nearly the entire postseason after Cleveland discovered success against traditional-center lineups with Love at the 5 and James playing power forward.The Cavs were 7.9 points per 100 possessions worse with their 7'1" behemothon the floor in the regular season and a whopping 34.6 points down in his limited playoff appearances.Even though he cost two first-round picks just a season and a half ago, it's best for Mozgov and the Cavaliers to go their separate ways.Cash In the Gift Cards!While Cleveland won't have room to sign players outright, they do have some assets at their disposal.Though they can't be combined, the Cavs own three notable trade exceptions, valued at $2.3 million, $2.9 million and $9.6 million, per Basketball Insiders. These were gained in trades that sent off Brendan Haywood, Mike Miller and Anderson Varejao, respectively.The first two must be used by the end of July or Cleveland simply loses both. The figures aren't substantial by any means, but could be used to take on a player from a team looking to create additional cap space.The third exception, also the largest, carries far more flexibility. The Cavs and Griffin can use it any time this summer or during the regular season until mid-February. Given they won't have anywhere close to $10 million in cap space, and that teams are happy to unload salary around that time of year, Cleveland could get a substantial player (or two) back.Some early targets that teams may be looking to sacrifice for cap space: Jeremy Lamb and Spencer Hawes of the Charlotte Hornets, Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza of the Houston Rockets or Kosta Koufos of the Sacramento Kings.Dust Off the Vets, Look for MoreI'm a firm believer you can't have too many veterans on a championship-bound team, especially those who don't mind sacrificing playing time for trophies.In addition to Dahntay Jones signing on for the playoff run, Cleveland had two such old guys this season in Richard Jefferson and James Jones; both are coming off veteran minimum contracts but contributed in big (albeit different) ways.Jefferson was both James' backup and occasional frontcourt sidekick, able to play a Shane Battier-type role like we saw with the Miami Heat. James can play in the post on offense with Jefferson spotting up, and then switch on the other end with the latter able to guard the opponent's power forward."From Day 1 when we got RJ, I knew I finally had a guy that was playing behind me that I could trust and count on," James said during the Cavaliers championship parade.During his turn on the microphone, Jefferson proclaimed he would be coming back for one more year, despite announcing after Game 7 that he planned to retire. The oldest member of the Cavs at 36, he looked ten years younger during the Finals, giving Cleveland 5.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 51.6 percent from the floor.He and Frye are close friends, and together help keep things loose in the locker room. Getting Jefferson back, especially on another minimum deal, would be huge.Jones' playing time was reduced to mop-up duty for the last few months of the season. Don't think for a second his impact on the team isn't felt, however.Both James and Love have referred to Jones as the best teammate they've ever had, with Love recently sharing his appreciation for the 13-year-veteran on Instagram.With shots hard to come by and a spotlight only so big, Cleveland must keep players like Jefferson and Jones while looking for others who can contribute similar attributeschampionship experience a plus.D-D-D-D-Delly and J.R.Neighbors in the locker room, Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith are both huge parts of Cleveland's roster and need to be retained.The Cavs are expected to extend a $1.4 million qualifying offer to Dellavedova by June 30, making him a restricted free agent. Even with Irving, Mo Williams and new draft pick Kay Felder on board, the team should love to have Delly return.While he struggled throughout the playoffs after a great regular season, there's the important factor to keep in mind: he makes everyone else better.The Cavs had anet ratingof plus-10.0 with Dellavedova during the regular season, second only to James' plus-11.0.For every time the ball gets a bit sticky in Irving's hands, Dellavedova has proven to be the perfect change-of-pace backup. He's always looking to pass, whether it be to an open shooter on the perimeter or to now synonymous lob partner, Tristan Thompson.A poor postseason may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Cavaliers, scaring off potential suitors who would offer Dellavedova a big enough deal (likely $7 million or more annually) that they may be forced to leave unmatched.The true wildcard here is, of course, Smith.The 30-year-old shooting guard opted to become an unrestricted free agent for the second straight summer after turning down the remaining year on his contract.This time, he's got James' agency (Klutch Sports) on his side.It's unclear what kind of numbers are being pumped into Smith's head. If his backup, Iman Shumpert, can get four years and $40 million, it's not unreasonable to think Smith will be asking for more.This is a battle that could draw out all the way into September, much like Thompson's deal (also done by Klutch), did last year.Bringing back Smith is absolutely a priority for the Cavs, however, as his transformation into an above average 3-and-D player has been a pleasant surprise.Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @CavsGregBR. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Stats via NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com.
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