Why is the CAVS OFFSEASON so SLOW?! | Locked On Cavs Podcast

Why is the CAVS OFFSEASON so SLOW?! | Locked On Cavs Podcast

on today’s show is Isaac a coro’s contract situation holding up the Cavs offseason plans we’ll talk about that on today’s edition of lock on Cavs you are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thank you for making lock on Cavs your first listen every day you can find the show wherever you get your podcast Spotify Apple anywhere else be sure to leave us a fstar review write some nice comments you can also check us out free on YouTube you can watch this show every day just search locked on Cavs on YouTube find the channel subscribe give this video a thumbs up um also leave a comment if You’ got questions for the show that is the best place I read the comments every day even if I don’t always respond to them part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as the playoffs wrap up in basketball and hockey there’s still so much to get to this summer and FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started so Isaac aoro is a free agent he’s a restricted free agent everyone knows this this Situation’s been going on for quite some time but what’s the hold up the Cavs off seon hasn’t really been able to get on track outside of extending Donovan Mitchell which obviously was the most important thing the Cavs could do all off season and hiring Kenny Atkinson is as we start to see that coaching staff be filled out we’ll touch upon that a little bit later as well as some thoughts on the summer league Cavs as they had their first availability earlier on Monday as I record this Monday night they had their first availability so we’ll talk about that but I wanted to start by talking about the Isaac aoro situation right so he’s a restricted free agent we all know that and I think that this is something that is holding up the Cavs from really digging any deeper into their off season plans now I’m not going to say that they had huge plans this off season to go out and sign big free agents because I don’t think anyone would believe that I don’t think it’s the truth I think you’re foolish if you believe that but I do think think that before they can really truly operate this is a situation that needs to resolve itself because of the way that the cap works because of where the Cavs are at financially right now before they can do anything else aside from maybe extending Evan Moy I think that is something just because that has no effect on the team this upcoming year aside from extending Evan mbly I don’t think that there’s really much they can do before the Isaac aoro situation does get figured out so so there are a couple of options a couple of Pathways forward here and I want to explain them during this first segment today but one pathway that I think is maybe not the most likely one but it’s certainly the simplest one the Cavs just sign Isaac aoro using his bird rights um when you draft a player and he plays for your team for you need to play for three years to establish bird rights obviously Isaac aoro has been in Cleveland for four years now um you have the right to go over the salary cap to retain that player the Cavs could just offer him a contract tomorrow say I don’t know 3 years and $32 million and there’s no problem doing that they’re fine doing that that is the easiest solution I don’t think that’s the most likely solution I think in all likelihood Isaac auro probably going to end up on another basketball team next year that’s just my read of the situation I think if he were going to be back in Cleveland at this point something would have been worked out so since he’s a restricted free agent option number two another team and we’ve seen this in Cleveland before I think it’s been a long time since the Cavs have been in a situation like the one I’m about to explain but we have seen it before with the Cavs since he’s a restricted free agent another team can sign him to an offer sheet let’s say oh I don’t know the Brooklyn Nets they could offer Isaac aoro a contract we’ll say that same three years $33 million contract that I proposed um that the Cavs could just sign him to well then the Cavs would have 48 hours to match that contract if they decide to match it Isaac aoro stays on the team that’s his contract with the Cavs if they don’t the Brooklyn Nets in this case or any other franchise that could offer him that deal and he would agree to that offer sheet he becomes a player on that team if the Cavs declined to match it that I don’t think is all that likely but that is a possibility to where the Cavs could retain him just because another team signs to an offer sheet if you think back way back to the first LeBron ERA this is the situation that happened with Anderson veral where he was a restricted free agent I believe it was the Memphis Grizzlies signed him to an offer sheet and this went pretty deep into the I not deep into the season but it went into the season to where he missed games as a restricted free agent and that actually that’s funny that’s the the story as to why the only game in LeBron’s career that he didn’t start was Anderson Vera’s first game back with the Cavaliers after that whole Saga but I believe it was Memphis signed him to an offer sheet the Cavs matched it he stays on the Cavs a similar situation that is the ballpark that Isaac Koro is in right now I don’t think it’s going to come to that I would be surprised if that is the final outcome here but that is something that could be the case the third and what I think it’s looking like might be the most likely situation the most likely that this um figures itself out is that Isaac kakuro ends up finding a contract that he likes with another team we will once again use the Brooklyn Nets for this example because there have been rumors here he could sign a a a sign and trade could be worked out to where Isaac kakuro wants to go to Brooklyn he signs a contract with the Cavs and is immediately traded to Brooklyn the Cavs will get something in return um I think having to work out those things can be a little bit tricky we saw this last year in Cleveland that’s how they acquired maxw they didn’t sign Max Tru into cap space they didn’t use exceptions on him Max dreu is a member of the Cavs because the Cavs used a were able to acquire him via sign and trade with Miami um and you remember that’s why Lamar Stevens was shipped out it’s part of the reason cheddy ospen was shipped out was the maxr steel so that is certainly an Avenue in which Isaac aoro could be gone once all those things are figured out once this situation resolves itself I think the Cavs will then just have a clear picture of not not what they necessarily need because I think they know that I don’t think it takes some sort of basketball rocket scientist to know what this team needs but I think that their financial situation won’t be as murky as it is right now I think that this is something that is complicating things just a little bit I want you to keep in mind too the Cavs are not hard capped at the moment there are a couple of things that trigger a hard cap at the first apron which the Cavs are still short of right now but they very well could find themselves as a team that is in the first apron this year that is a very real possibility if you take a look at their cap sheet one of the things that does hard cap a team is bringing back a player in a sign and trade so for instance last year the Cavs were hard capped because of the max stru sign and trade um they were never close to it they weren’t in the tax it was nothing that they ever had to worry about but this year it could be the other thing that I believe is new in this collective bargaining agreement and if it’s not you’ll have to forgive me I’m not going to claim to be an expert on the new CBA I’m not going to claim to be an expert on any of the cbas I know the basics but I’m not going to claim to know it all I I’m not Bobby Marx I’m not any of these salary cap Wizards or gurus those folks know more about it than I do I try and rely upon the information that they have to try and figure it out out for myself but my best read is that if you make a trade and you bring in more money than you send out that’s another way to hard cap you this is something that the Cavs could encounter both of those situations I think are things that could could be encountered by the Cavs and I think that those are things that are worth bringing up as we have this conversation I don’t think that the Cavs are going to do nothing this off season I think that at some point moves will be made but I don’t think that they’re going to make any significant move whether it’s a trade whether it’s using their mid-level exception something along those lines I don’t think that those significant moves moves are going to happen until the Isaac aoro situation is figured out I don’t um one of the things that was brought up today on Twitter uh by a guy by the name of shamid Dua who he covers the Pelicans he’s actually going to be a guest on this podcast later on this week to talk about Brandon Ingram but if Brandon Ingram for instance say that the Cavs pull off a Jared Allen and Caris LT for Brandon Ingram trade Brandon Ingram has a trade kicker built into his contract so if he does not wave that trade kicker the Cavs would then be hard capped because they’d be taking back too much money in that deal if he does weigh the trade kicker Cavs wouldn’t be harda they’d actually be able to sign Isaac aoro back to a new deal without having to worry about any restrictions so that there are things that make this very complicated I’m trying to simplify it the best I can but ultimately I do think that this situation with Isaac aoro is something that is absolutely not holding the Cavs hostage right now now but it’s something that is slowing down their offseason just a little bit and I think that’s something to consider as we take a look at the Cavs the only move they’ve made is resign Donovan Mitchell and if you have if you’re only making one move that was the move to make this summer there’s zero question about that but I think that more moves will be on the way but the Isaac aoro situation needs to figure itself out first um I don’t know what the timeline is it’s going to be for that hopefully it’s sooner than later hopefully this isn’t something that drags on on forever and ever I mean think back a couple years ago where Colin ston was in a very similar situation maybe not the same exact situation but he was a restricted free agent he ended up being part of the da of a Mitchell trade obviously he was signed and traded there to Utah um he was a restrictive free agent the Cavs had not come to terms with him that was all the way into September I don’t expect Isa kakor is going to last that long but these situations can be tricky they can drag themselves out a little bit longer than anyone would like so those are some things to consider as the Cavs off season still a little slow other than the Donovan Mitchell signing other than the coaching staff being filled out we will have Cavs basketball to talk about later on this week summer league Begins the Cavs had their first summer league media availability on Monday I was there I want to talk about what I heard who I talked to and so much from that so that’s straight ahead right here on lockdown Cavs today show is brought to you by better help you know it is helpful to learn positive coping skills and how to set boundaries those are things that Empower you to be the best version of the yourself really they do and it’s not just for those out there that have experienced major trauma certainly if you have experienced major trauma it helps but it’s not only for that certain situation because right now it’s very easy to go online you start to 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think is very important during this process so stop comparing and start focusing with better help VIs betterhelp.com locked on NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA so earlier on Monday at Cleveland Clinic courts the Cavs had their I believe it was their third summer league practice it was the first summer league practice in which they had media availability following so today the media spoke with Summer League head coach Jordan at who I will talk about about coming up next segment as there has been another reported addition to the Cavs coaching staff that we will talk about coming up talk to him we talk to Luke Travers from Australia who I know a lot of Cavs fans are very interested in I think he’s a very intriguing Prospect um I thought he had some really insightful things to say um also mentioned a former member of the Cavaliers that he spent quite a bit of time with down under we also talked to Craig Porter Jr who is back for year number two of Summer League with the Cavs played a a decent Siz role for a rookie last year on the Cavs then we also talked to first round pick Jaylen Tyson crack Porter Jr was the first one at the podium today and I think that he is someone that and I’ve said this really from watching him play for the first time in a real NBA game because I do think it can be sort of difficult to judge with summer league but the first time watching him he stood out to me like a player that you just feel as if he’s going to spend 10 years playing in the NBA I think he’s have a long career and some of the things that he talked about just being in such a better place right now than he was a year ago where he didn’t really come into last season with expectations he didn’t know if he’d have a role I don’t really think he expected to have a role because you know most undrafted rookies even if you are a a multi-year player in college you have an adjustment to the NBA and you’re not someone that finds yourself in a rotation early on but of course due to some injuries particularly to Darius Garland Craig Porter Jr found himself in a role and you know the Ricky Rubio situation last year threw another wrench into that Ty jome getting injured very early on made it so Craig Porter Jr had to step up and ultimately that was one of the best things for him and for his career is that he was forced into action so early on but I do think that we should expect to see him have a really strong summer league um one of the things that coach Jordan at mentioned is that with Craig you can kind of tell that he’s got NBA experience when he’s on the floor because right now he’s serving as the leader of this group which I think is a really good thing developmentally for him as a leader because if he’s going to be a point guard in the NBA for a long time he’s going to be a team leader whether it’s in Cleveland or whether it’s anywhere else he’s going to be important vocally so I think that this is a really good opportunity for Craig to have that vocal say with a group of guys that you know he is it’s crazy to say because he’s an undrafted player he’s going into year two but he’s looked at as one of the veterans here because he’s been through this before because he played so well in Summer League last year he’s looked at as a veteran of the situation so I think that this summer while the basketball stuff is important I think the leadership aspect for him is going to be very important this summer with the Cavs um also worth noting you know he talked about that ankle injury suffered at the final regular season game for the Cavs against the Charlotte Hornets said he’s still not not quite at 100% he said he feels pretty good but there’s some achiness some soreness some other stuff that he has to deal with as he’s still working his way back um that was a really nasty ankle injury cost him a ton of time uh was not available for the entire playoff run I don’t know how much he would have played anyways but would not have been available to play just because of the severity of that ankle injury so it’s still not quite at 100% but he is giving it a go um he’s been a leader from everything I’ve heard at practices I expect that to really carry over into Vegas at the end of this week and throughout next week so that’s an important thing to notice with him up next Luke Travers out of Australia he was a Cav second round pick a few years back has been playing in the NBL for the last few years um he wants to be in the NBA I don’t know if it’s going to be this year maybe it will be maybe it’ll be next year but Luke does not want to be and he mentioned this that someone connected with the organization he plays with in the NBL brought to after his first year of playing in the NBA after he was drafted brought to him a sheet of paper that sheet of paper had all the names of guys who had been drafted in the NBA that were considered draft and stash guys which Luke is that never went over that never played in the NBA and that is it’s a very long list but it’s a list that Luke made mention of specifically because it’s one he doesn’t want to find himself on he thinks that he can be a role player in the NBA I don’t see why he can’t be um and of course we’ll find find out more when he hits the floor for real Summer League games coming up later on this week but that is something that’s very important to him he said he spent a lot of time working on his body he has leaned upon Matthew delova former Cavs guard who was actually a teammate of his this past year he’s leaned upon Delhi a lot for advice for how to get to the NBA um for how to take care of his body that was one of the first things that he mentioned when I asked him about you know what he learned from Deli he mentioned that you know Deli takes care of his body so well and that’s something that Luke is realizing he’s got to do so I I expect we’re going to see good basketball out of him whether or not he comes over to the Cavs I think is an interesting subplot to this off season if the Cavs have an extra roster spot I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a good idea to do that you know if they have an open two-way spot I think it could be something that is a good idea to bring him over if he’s willing to be on a two-way I think that’s something that could make some sense um so we will see summer league I think is going to be very important for him like I said he thinks he can be a role player in the NBA I don’t see why he can’t be a role player in the NBA and also he doesn’t want to be on that list of guys that gets drafted and never ends up playing in the league that’s not what he wants to be um the other guy I wanted to talk about a little bit today Jaylen Tyson so obviously he’s three practices into being an NBA player um what you expect out of him in summer league we will see he says that he wants to make his Mark defensively early on which that’s obviously an important thing um you know the the level of basketball in Vegas during summer league not exactly the NBA Finals I don’t think you’re going to see anyone comparing it to that but at times you can learn about players and Tyson’s going to play hard that jump if whether or not he makes jump shots I think he going to determine how successful he is as a rookie it’s not going to be the Beall end off for his career but if he’s in the rotation this year it’s going to be because he shoots the ball well that’s that’s what it’s going to be he’s got good size um he looks like he’s really strong I think that the form on his jumper needs a little bit of work still but overall I I think that the Cavs are very excited to see what he can do in Vegas this year I I think that they’re excited to see what he’s going to look like sounds like he’s been playing a lot of combo guard where I I would anticipate him being in the starting lineup for them alongside Craig Porter Jr he said that’s kind of the spot that he’s been the most comfortable so far is playing you know we played a lot of point guard at Cal he’s not going to be asked to do that in the NBA he might be asked to do that a little bit on this roster in summer league just because roles are so different and that’s something that uh head coach Jordan a made mention of when he was speaking with us so that is something to keep an eye out but I would expect him to start alongside Craig Porter Jr probably uh ammani Bates Luke Travers will probably start and you know I don’t know who’s going to round out that starting five but that is something that I certainly think is worth keeping an eye on so I’ve mentioned a couple times summer league head coach coach Jordan a we spoke with him for the first time on Monday I want to talk about that conversation plus another addition that the Cavs have made to their coaching staff is Kenny ainson staff starts to shape up into form that’s all straight ahead right here on lock on Cavs Today’s Show also brought to you by FanDuel I love sports you love sports we all love sports if you don’t love sports you wouldn’t be listening to me right now you wouldn’t be watching me right now so we love sports and it feels like this is often considered one of the slow times on the sports calendar right where NBA playoffs over NHL playoffs over yeah you’ve got baseball you’ve got the WNBA but it feels like you’re just waiting for the NBA to come back around or you’re waiting to go back into football season where you’ve got so much but fanduel’s got stuff for you every day right now I made mention on the show yesterday I love the Guardians at plus 1800 to win the World Series they’re back down to plus 2,000 even better odds if you didn’t listen to me yesterday you should be listening to me today even though they lost on Monday night to the Detroit Tigers you should still be listening to me about this because I just I got a good feeling about this team I think they’re going to make moves at the deadline and FanDuel is the place to make that wager this summer they’re hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head on over to fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel the official sport sports betting partner of Major League Baseball thank you again for making locked on Cavs your first listen every day and if you are watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and you have to turn down the volume because all of the shouting will do I have good news for you you can make the switch to lockdown sports today it’s a free 247 sports streaming Channel That’s programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest Sports stories without all the screaming lockdown sports today brings you C Miss analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of lockon podcast Network your team every day so Jordan at assistant coach to Kenny ainson has spent a lot of time around Atkinson in his career I thought he had some interesting things to say at his media availability on Monday so at will be the head coach for the Cav summer league team he was I believe the first reported hire for Atkinson’s staff he SP SP time with ainson I believe he was the video coordinator in Atlanta when ainson was on Mike buholzer staff Cavs fans of course will remember that Hawks team is the one that won 60 games and was promptly swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the Cavs it was funny actually Chris Fedor of cleveland.com asked a today how much he remembers J.R Smith and janning Fry just making three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer in a couple of those series and he goes yeah Kevin Love 2 none of those guys could miss it felt like we just could not figure figure out anything to do with that shooting team so that was a little bit of a funny moment but on a more serious note I spoke a lot about relationships and how important those are to him um not only in being the head coach of the summer league team as an opportunity to forge relationships with some of the guys that will be on the Cav some of the guys that will be elsewhere in the NBA or in the G League or across the globe playing basketball but how important these relationships are to him and he mentioned that with Kenny ainson too um he has known Kenny son and I said I believe that he’s been in the NBA for 11 years and he’s known Kenny Atkinson for 12 years and almost every step of the way Atkinson has been someone that he’s been in contact with and that’s a big reason as to why OD is on this coaching staff because that relationship matters to him so um I’m excited to see what he looks like as a head coach of the summer league team he’s coached in summer league before he’s been a head coach in summer league before um he he mentioned that you know if he could do this every year he would he loves being around summer league he loves the opportunity to be a head coach and I think the thing that was most interesting from this availability was he was asked how similar to expect the summer league Cavs to look like the real Cavs and it’s still a little bit of a work in progress obviously the rosters are so drastically different to where you can’t replicate things one for one the style of play is different just everything about summer league in Vegas is different than a real NBA game and I think everyone knows that but it is they are going to try and Implement some of the things that the Cavs would like to do when they’re the real Cavs next season so that will certainly be a thing worth watching um last note for today according to uh Hoops hype the Cavs are adding Trevor Henry as another assistant coach on Kenny Atkinson staff so just a little bit a brief overview of Henry he spent his entire career from what I could gather with the Nets organization started there in May of 2015 according to his LinkedIn page and has not left he spent some time with the Long Island Nets uh Brooklyn’s g-league affiliate but he has for the most part been working for the Nets in some capacity for nearly a decade now so obviously that relationship with ainson exists from Kenny’s time in Brooklyn with the Nets so he is yet another assistant coach as his staff starts to round into form you’ve got Henry you’ve got Jordan a you’ve got Johnny Bryant who I did not see at the Cavs facility on Monday but certainly is part of the fold and you’ve got deari Carroll who I did see at the Cavs facility working out with some guys so he he looks like you know I mentioned the other day how I like that the Cavs have a a coach on staff that is not too far removed from his playing days and he looks like a guy that could still play um you know I don’t know how effective he could be I don’t know how many minutes he could give you but he looks like a guy that he could still lace him up he could still he could still hoop a little bit so that I I thought was a fun note and certainly a fun way to end Today’s show tomorrow’s show planning on having Martin Rickman on going to continue to talk about this Isaac aoro situation and really where the Cavs need to go from here with the rest of their off season as things start to slow down a little bit across the rest of the NBA but the Cavs are uh I think going to speed up a little bit in the coming days certainly the coming weeks so thank you for making lock on Cavs your first listen every day again I’m Danny Cunningham you might know me from covering the Cavs places like Cleveland magazine 923 the fan some other stops along the way find us on Spotify find us on Apple leave us a fivestar review if you’re watching the show on YouTube give us a thumbs up subscribe to the channel hit that notification Bell and I will be back tomorrow with another edition of lock on Cavs

Is Isaac Okoro’s contract situation holding the Cavaliers back this summer?
On Tuesday’s episode of Locked On Cavs, Danny Cunningham (@RealDCunningham) of Cleveland Magazine and 92.3 The Fan talks about how Isaac Okoro’s contract situation could be holding up the rest of the offseason for the Cavs. Plus initial observations from the first media availability of Summer League.

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