Cleveland Cavaliers

Having already made some notable roster moves this offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly not giving up on possibly adding Ben Simmons. 

Per NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Cavs are continuing to keep their "hat in the ring" for the Philadelphia 76ers star. 

On an episode of The Mismatch last week (h/t Kevin McCormick of Sports Illustrated), The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor noted he has heard Cleveland is "a team to watch out for for Ben Simmons."

That came on the heels of Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that Simmons told 76ers team brass, including co-managing partner Josh Harris and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, he doesn't want to be with the team anymore. 

Pompey added Simmons doesn't intend to report to training camp if a trade can't be worked out before then. 

Tensions have been simmering between Simmons and the 76ers since the team's Game 7 playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks on June 20.

Simmons struggled to score throughout the series, but it was particularly egregious over the final three games when he attempted a total of 14 shots. The 25-year-old also passed up a potential game-tying layup midway through the fourth quarter of Game 7. 

After the Sixers loss, Joel Embiid told reporters the turning point came when Simmons passed the ball off to Matisse Thybulle rather than attack the basket. Thybulle was fouled and converted one of two free throws to tie the score at 78. 

Ben Simmons did not just pass this up... https://t.co/4JyM7ZHNkJ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 21, 2021

Head coach Doc Rivers gave a telling response after the game when asked if he thought Simmons could be the point guard for a championship team. 

"I don't know the answer to that," Rivers told reporters. 

The Cavs have been loading up on power forwards this offseason. The team still has Kevin Love under contract, drafted Evan Mobley with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NBA draft and acquired Lauri Markkanen in a three-team sign-and-trade deal with the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers on Aug. 30.

Cleveland's front office has been trying to move point guard Collin Sexton, who is eligible for a rookie extension this offseason. Love has also been on the trade market, though Sam Amico of Hoops Wire reported last month there is "no market" for him right now. 

The Sixers are in a tricky spot with Simmons. He's a 25-year-old, three-time All-Star who is signed through the 2024-25 season. But his value has likely been depressed because of his performance in the playoffs. 

It also doesn't help Philadelphia's leverage that Simmons isn't hiding his desire to play elsewhere. 

Simmons is still a very good player who should net a big return—if the 76ers can find a trade partner. He has been named to the All-Defensive first team each of the past two seasons and averaged 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game in 58 starts last season.    

The Cleveland Cavaliers are adding Tacko Fall to an already enormous frontcourt, signing the 7'5" center to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, according to Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic:

The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with 7-foot-5 center Tacko Fall, agents Bill Duffy and Justin Haynes of @BDA_Sports told @TheAthletic @Stadium. Fall played his first two NBA seasons in Boston.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 1, 2021

Fall provided sporadic minutes for the Boston Celtics over the last two seasons while spending time in the G League as well. In 19 NBA games last season, he averaged 2.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks over 7.2 minutes per night.

Assuming he makes the Cavs roster, he'll have to contend for minutes alongside Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Love and Dean Wade.

While Fall can be a shot-blocking, paint-clogging menace in certain matchups versus slower, Boban Marjanovic-like big men, he's often a liability on the perimeter and in space, though he's been working on that aspect of his game, telling The Athletic's Jared Weiss:

"I think I let other people's perception of how bigs should be affect me. I knew that I could do it, but you always hear that guys as big as me can't move on the perimeter. And I feel like I let those things, before, affect how I was looking at myself. The moment that I started believing that I could do it, then things just changed."

For the Cavs, there weren't too many better depth options still available in free agency. DeMarcus Cousins, Aron Baynes (possibly out for the season with a neck injury), Harry Giles and Bismack Biyombo top the list of UFA centers, and each carries a higher price tag than Fall.

  

Kevin Love is not interested in being bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers, agent Jeff Schwartz told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

"There have been no talks with Cleveland on a buyout, nor is there any interest from Kevin in doing a buyout," Schwartz told Wojnarowski.

Those comments come after cleveland.com's Terry Pluto reported that one NBA source said Love and the Cavs were "making progress" toward a buyout; however, the Cavs and other NBA sources have "strongly denied it."

The veteran big man has two years and $60 million remaining on the four-year, $120 million extension he signed with Cleveland in 2018.

Love, who's entering his 14th season and is just days away from his 33rd birthday, has been the subject of trade and buyout rumors in recent years. There could now be more truth to them than ever before.

The Cavs re-signed center Jarrett Allen and selected center Evan Mobley with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft. On top of that, Cleveland acquired 24-year-old power forward Lauri Markkanen from the Chicago Bulls in a three-team trade Friday.

The 7-foot Markkanen has a similar stretch-big skill set.

In four seasons, he's averaged 2.2 three-pointers made per game and shot 36.6 percent from three. Love, meanwhile, has averaged 1.7 trifectas made and shot 37 percent from beyond the arc.

Love played a key role in the Cavs winning their first championship in 2016, and he was once one of the NBA's premier bigs. But injuries limited the five-time All-Star to just 25 games last season, and when he did play, his 12.2 points per game were his lowest since his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2008-09. His 7.4 rebounds per game were a career low.

While Love could still be a useful player for a contending team as a big who can spread the floor, he doesn't fit with the Cavs' timeline.

Moving on from Love would give Allen, Mobley and Markkanen more opportunity, plus it would put more focus on Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro as new faces of the franchise. However, if the Cavs are going to part ways with Love, it appears it won't be through a buyout. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies are not currently involved in trade talks, per Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.

Earlier Wednesday, Evan Dammarell of Right Down Euclid reported that the Cavs were interested in Grizz wings Dillon Brooks or Kyle Anderson and that "things remain fluid in trade discussions."

Brooks is entering his fifth season. He averaged 17.2 points per game for the Grizz, who were the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Anderson, who will begin his eighth campaign, posted 12.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game for Memphis.

Memphis has a solid core and foundation to build off, especially with budding superstar Ja Morant leading the way.

The Grizz also have a good mix of talented young players (e.g., Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Clarke, Desmond Bane) and veterans (Patrick Beverley, Steven Adams, Rajon Rondo).

It's a deep roster, and if their current group stays healthy, then the Grizz could do damage in the playoffs.

Memphis would ultimately be better off keeping Brooks and Anderson and seeing where this group goes after a promising playoff push last year.

As for the Cavs, they're fully in rebuilding mode. They have some talented young players to build around, such as rookie big man Evan Mobley, wing Isaac Okoro and guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. The talent is there for the Cavs to return to the playoffs someday, although the 2021-22 season may be too early for a postseason run as the team develops.

Cleveland could use some help on the wing, and Brooks and/or Anderson would help in that regard. At the same time, the Cavs could also stay put, work with the young talent they have and watch them grow together.

For now, the Cavs and Grizz have their sights set on the beginning of the 2021-22 season. They just so happen to be facing each other to start that campaign with a matchup in Memphis on Oct. 20.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have had discussions about using Kevin Love as a backup center, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com:

The Cavs owe Kevin Love $60 million over the next two years—and there’s no easy way out of that situation. There’s been conversation about limiting his role and minutes to maximize effectiveness. The organization has also discussed the possibility of using Love as the backup center -- a la Blake Griffin in Brooklyn—to boost shooting and spacing while allowing rookie Evan Mobley and Nance to gobble up most of the minutes at 4.

Either way, Love is still on the roster. He will have a role.

Love averaged 12.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 24.9 minutes per game last year as a right calf strain suffered during the preseason lingered through the campaign and held him to just 25 games. His point-per-game total was his lowest mark since his 2008-09 rookie year, and he had never amassed fewer rebounds per game.

When healthy, Love is a double-double machine, averaging 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds the year before.

The issue is that Love is an outlier on a young and rebuilding Cavs team. He was a key piece of the Cavs' dominant mid-2010s teams with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, winning four Eastern Conference titles and one NBA championship. That team has since broken up, but Love stuck around.

Now, Cleveland is looking into a new era featuring young players such as rookie big man Evan Mobley and the backcourt of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland. The Cavs re-signed center Jarrett Allen to a five-year, $100 million deal, and he'll be locking down the starting 5 spot.

A frontcourt featuring Mobley and Allen with Love coming off the bench may be best for everyone involved. Love would provide excellent depth behind the pair and could stay fresher as he plays through his 14th NBA season following an injury-marred 13th campaign.

Cleveland opens the regular season Oct. 20 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Cleveland Cavaliers passed on the opportunity to select Cam Reddish when they chose Darius Garland with the No. 5 overall pick of the 2019 NBA draft, but they are reportedly interested in acquiring the Duke product heading into the 2021-22 campaign.

According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, the Cavaliers have "been in contact with" the Atlanta Hawks regarding Reddish "even though the price remains high."

Fedor called the small forward "a Cleveland front-office favorite since the 2019 draft."

Reddish ultimately fell to the Hawks with the No. 10 pick of that draft, and he has been a solid secondary contributor through his first two seasons.

He averaged 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game during those first two seasons while shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 30.9 percent from three-point range. While the shooting numbers leave something to be desired, Reddish has used his length at 6'8" on the defensive side and can slash into openings offensively.

Perhaps the biggest issue has been health, as the 21-year-old played just 26 games during the 2020-21 campaign.

As for Cleveland, Fedor noted the team is attempting to "thread a needle" by improving for the immediate future all while keeping an eye on the long term as a team that isn't ready to realistically compete for a championship.

Reddish is someone who could theoretically help it do just that considering his age and the fact his contract includes a club option for 2022-23 and the possibility for a qualifying offer for 2023-24.

The Cavaliers are coming off a 22-50 season and missed the last three playoffs, but there are some promising young pieces with Collin Sexton, Garland and Jarrett Allen on the current roster.

Reddish could represent another building block as the franchise looks to reestablish itself as a contender in the Eastern Conference.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. continues to generate interest on the trade block, but Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported that "it would take a lot to deal him."

Fedor noted the Cavaliers turned down a package for Nance at the trade deadline that would have returned multiple late first-round picks. 

The forward averaged 9.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season, although injuries and an illness limited him to just 35 games (27 starts).

When healthy, Nance is a productive two-way player who is a favorite both among fans and within the locker room.

"It’s his leadership and versatility," head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in March. "He’s willing to take whatever role we give him. Whatever we need him to do, he has the skill set and the tools to do it, and the competitive edge as well. When you’ve got a guy who is in a leadership position and is willing to do uncomfortable things, it makes it easier on us as coaches to ask other guys to do it as well."

Adding in the fact Nance's father played seven years in Cleveland, earning two All-Star selections, many don't want to see him leave town.

The 28-year-old has two years remaining on his current contract with a reasonable $20.4 million owed in that time. Keeping the veteran would give the team a significant boost as it looks to turn things around after three straight losing seasons. 

On the other hand, the high trade demand could provide an opportunity to add further assets for the rebuild. The current young core is promising, but frontcourt prospects like Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro all need minutes and could take away playing time from Nance.

Kevin Love also remains on the roster and will likely have a role when healthy.

The Cavs front office must figure out how to best handle its valuable trade chip.

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, wallowing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference won't cut it in 2021-22.

The Cavs have won 60 games and cycled through four head coaches in the three seasons since LeBron James left for a second time. Now, they seemed poised to turn a corner.

Collin Sexton averaged 20-plus points per game for the second consecutive season. Darius Garland (17.4 points, 6.1 assists) made nice strides in Year 2. Cleveland has the services of Jarrett Allen for a full season and now has Evan Mobley to pair with him inside.

Handing Allen a five-year, $100 million extension and adding Ricky Rubio were two moves that symbolized ownership's expectations for progress in the year ahead. Anything short of qualifying for the play-in tournament will be a disappointment.

             

2021-22 Cavaliers Schedule Details

Season Opener: at Memphis Grizzlies, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. ET

Championship Odds: +25000 (via FanDuel)

Full Schedule: NBA.com

       

Top Matchups

Detroit Pistons (First matchup: Nov. 12)

The Detroit Pistons had a great offseason by virtue of the fact they landed Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. The 19-year-old averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in his only season with the Cowboys.

Cunningham can serve as the foundational cornerstone to guide Detroit's future.

Rookies don't often transform a team overnight, though, especially when they are put in a role where they have to initiate the offense.

Because of that, the Pistons might struggle to climb out of the East cellar. Detroit is a team the Cavaliers need to beat in order to improve upon their 22-50 record.

Beyond those implications, it's always fun to watch top-five picks such as Cunningham and Mobley face off.

      

Charlotte Hornets (First matchup: Oct. 22)

When it comes to earning at least a play-in bid, one issue for the Cavs is that a lot of the teams above them in the standings last season either improved or didn't take a big step backward.

The Chicago Bulls, for example, finished 11th and signed Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan. The Toronto Raptors lost Kyle Lowry but still have a solid playmaker in Goran Dragic alongside Fred VanVleet. The Washington Wizards may be collectively stronger after swapping Russell Westbrook for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell.

The Charlotte Hornets might be the most vulnerable of the playoff contenders from 2020-21. 

Opposing defenses could have more success in slowing down LaMelo Ball having had more time to study his weaknesses. Gordon Hayward has missed time due to injuries in each of the last two seasons. Kelly Oubre Jr. is a bit of a wild card on the heels of a disappointing stint with the Golden State Warriors.

Heading into 2021-22, the Hornets look like a better team than Cleveland. Maybe the Cavs can prove the skeptics wrong.

            

Season Forecast

Rubio is the team's biggest veteran addition, so the Cavs must be counting on a lot of improvement from their young players to catapult them up the standings. Nobody could be more important in that respect than Isaac Okoro.

Okoro struggled as a rookie, shooting just 29.0 percent on three-pointers while allowing opponents to hit 40.5 percent of their long-range opportunities, per NBA.com.

Part of the latter number is the product of a below-average defense collectively and the fact the 6'5" wing often had to guard the opposition's No. 1 or 2 scoring option.

"It's fun for me," Okoro said of those assignments. "I've been doing it my whole life. So I mean, it's nothing new for me. I'm always having fun playing defense. That's what I'm here for. I take the blessing of guarding the greatest players in the world every single night."

He has drawn comparisons to Jimmy Butler, and the Miami Heat star had praised him last season. Butler didn't have his breakthrough until his fourth season, so perhaps Okoro's development could be similarly slow burning.

If Okoro becomes more of a genuine three-and-D threat, though, it unlocks a lot for the Cavs on both ends of the floor. On defense, he can cover some of Garland and Sexton's flaws, and on offense, he'd bring much-needed spacing since Cleveland seems primed to go big at times with Allen, Mobley, Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. all in the frontcourt.

In general, failing to get to 30 wins will likely mean something went terribly wrong for Cleveland. A .500 season, meanwhile, would require a leap that probably isn't possible with this roster right now. Somewhere in the middle is the likeliest outcome.

Record Prediction: 35-47

          

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Evan Mobley's third Las Vegas Summer League appearance may have been his most forgettable.

That's also a compliment. The big man's skill set is already refined enough that his eye-popping plays already look like normal possessions for him. 

Mobley's eight points in an 87-74 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday was his fewest of his exhibitions so far and still showcased the footwork and strength that helped convince the Cavs to draft him No. 3 overall earlier this summer. 

The USC product displayed notable patience and poise in the paint, pump-faking around defenders and creating space for easy looks at the rim where none existed otherwise. His agility also helped him grab 11 rebounds to go with his three assists, one steal and one block. 

Tough, @evanmobley. #CavsSummer pic.twitter.com/HpqoK2i1wl

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) August 13, 2021

Evan Mobley shows off the footwork on NBA TV 👀#NBASummer x @cavs pic.twitter.com/C5WBcsUhHl

— NBA (@NBA) August 13, 2021

In 28 minutes, the center went 4-of-11 from the field, including 0-of-3 from behind the arc. He'd previously scored 14 points against the Orlando Magic and 12 against the Houston Rockets in Summer League play. Each of those outings also saw the rookie take a high volume of shots.

It's clear Cleveland wants Mobley to stay aggressive on offense as he transitions to the NBA; it just wasn't enough to overcome a New Orleans squad led by second-year guard Kira Lewis Jr. 

The Alabama alum dropped a game-high 22 points, while fellow sophomore Naji Marshall added a few highlight-reel moments himself. 

Kira Lewis never disappoints 🤩🤩

Watch with us LIVE on NBATV pic.twitter.com/DtsM0Y0Bsf

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) August 13, 2021

NAJI MARSHALL WITH THE BLOCK 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/Z9RHlYD4Xb

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) August 13, 2021

HERB JONES WITH THE REVERSE JAM 😤🤯💪🏽👏🏽 #SummerPelicans pic.twitter.com/NNjabD5Tci

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) August 13, 2021

Marshall finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Pelicans improved to 3-0 in Vegas.

Cleveland will be back in action on Saturday against the New York Knicks on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET. New Orleans returns to the floor on at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday against the Golden State Warriors also on ESPN2.

Dwyane Wade spoke with Carmelo Anthony on the latest episode of "What's in Your Glass?" and expressed regret and remorse over a previously reported incident between him and ex-Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love.

Sam Leweck of Cavaliers Nation relayed the quotes from Wade, who played with the Cavs for more than half the 2017-18 season and said he wasn't aware of Love's struggles with his mental health:

I had an incident in Cleveland with Kevin Love where I didn't know that he dealt with or suffered from any mental health issues.  I was on him, because I'm an old dude trying to—this is my last ride to win a championship, and I didn't know what he was dealing with mentally. So we had a very ugly incident as a team that happened that came out in the papers and all those things about it, and then once I left Cleveland, Kevin became more outspoken and became really a voice for mental health. And I didn't have any idea.

The Athletic's Joe Vardon, then for Cleveland.com, broke news on the aforementioned incident on Jan. 30, 2019. The incident occurred in Jan. 2018, when the then-floundering Cavaliers were struggling midway through the season:

As things started heading south for the Cavs in January, Wade was an instigator in the infamous team meeting Jan. 22, hours before they flew to San Antonio.

Yes, Thomas was upset that Kevin Love went home with an illness before a 24-point loss to Oklahoma City had concluded on Jan. 20, and that he was not at practice the following day. But, sources said, it was Wade who first made an issue of it on Monday, challenging Lue to disclose where Love had been. Numerous players verbally attacked Love, who eventually explained his absence as part of a wide-ranging, heated discussion in which virtually no one was immune from criticism.

Two months later, Love went public with his own battles with mental health in a Players' Tribune piece, revealing among other things that he had suffered a panic attack during his team's Nov. 5, 2017 game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Wade expressed his remorse for what happened during the team meeting and said he hoped he could apologize to him in person someday:

“Kevin Love may not like me as a person because of that moment, but if I ever got the opportunity to see him again, I'd just want to apologize to him because I didn’t know what he was dealing with, and I was just trying to say, 'We need you, we need you,' but I didn't know that he was dealing with something that was so serious that I could not fathom or even know what he had to deal with.

Wade's time with the Cavs was over after 46 games, as the team traded him back to the Miami Heat, where the NBA legend spent his first 13 seasons. The 13-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion retired following the 2018-19 season.

Love, who spent six years with the Minnesota Timberwolves before joining the Cavs in 2014-15, is entering his 14th NBA season. He's a five-time All-Star and was part of Cleveland's 2016 championship team.