The NBA season is over L
and the Warriors are the champs but it occurred to me during the finals that
the Cavs and Warriors may have created a rivalry and that we may see these two
teams match up in the finals again. The Cavs are a lock to be in the finals over
the next couple of years since they have the best player in the world and they
play in the worst conference in the world. For the Warriors it will be tougher
since they play in the west but they will get better as a unit, remember this
is only year one under Kerr they should only get better over time. But both of
these team face challenges over the offseason, first let’s look at the Cavs.
The Cavs offseason plan is pretty simple bring everyone
back. A full season of Kyrie, Shumpert, JR, Lebron, Delly, Love, Mozgov and
Thompson is a great top 8 and if you add some pieces around that it’s a
championship team. The Cavs have a first round pick and I would use that pick on
a big man and try to move Anderson Varejao. He makes a lot of money over the next
two years, he can’t stay healthy and the Cavs have too many big men. Love,
Lebron and Thompson all are power forwards and Mozgov is your center. With
Thompson he is on the verge of getting a HUGE contract the Cavs can’t have
Varejao, Mozgov, James, Love and Thompson it’s too much money and the Cavs
aren’t a big market team so they can’t pay the tax bill that the Nets pay.
Moving Varejao would be very tough but it should be something they look to
do. The Cavs have the mini mid-level
exception and Lebron James so they should be able to get a good player to
sacrifice on money to play with Lebron for a title. For the mini the Cavs need
to find another wing off the bench who can shoot. Matt Barnes just got traded
and is expected to get waived, he would be a great fit In Cleveland. If Lebron
is healthy next year they should cruise to the NBA Finals once again. Also Lebron should play like 66 games next
year and not play over 32 minutes a game. He has played so many minutes it
would be wise for Cleveland to keep him fresh and put more of a load on Kyrie
and Love during the regular season.
For the Warriors the road back will be a lot tougher than
the Cavs but with one of the best front offices in the game they should be
okay. All of their core is coming back their top 9 is loaded Curry, Klay, Iggy,
Barnes, Livingston, Draymond, Bogut, Ezeli and Mo Speights. The Warriors have a
pick and also the Mini mid-level exception, I’d like the Warriors to pick up a
shooter off the bench this has been a glaring weakness for them in my opinion
and it showed itself during the finals. If they can find a shooter off the bench
they might be unstoppable. Now the Warriors have David Lee a guy who doesn’t
fit in Steve Kerrs system but is still a good NBA player as we saw in the NBA
finals. The Warriors should trade him but, the problem is he has a huge salary
and the Warriors might not want to trade him. It might be wise to let his
contract run out so the Warriors have cap room for the summer of Durant. If
they can swap Lee for another expiring I think GS should do it, having 16 million
be a bench warmer isn’t what you want.
There aren’t many trades out there that would make sense which means the
Warriors might be the same team next year with a few minor tweaks. Matt Barnes
would be a great fit in Golden State as well. (Matt Barnes and Draymond on the
same team! Please and thank you)
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