Did Jimmy Butler's Trade Expose The Downfall of an Empire??
Will the Cleveland Cavaliers be a champion contending team for 2017-2018 season?
Now that Jimmy Butler is officially traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Minnesota Timberwolves, I think basketball fans might need to focus back on King James and his Cavalier empire. Just like any basketball fan, I would love to see another NBA Finals with Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers especially since LeBron has to prove to himself and every basketball fan that he is still the Number 1 Basketball Player in the world.
However, whenever there are Cavalier players telling a player like Jimmy Butler to "stay away from a suddenly volatile situation" happening in Cleveland, that is never a good sign for a championship caliber team. With James being upset "after [Cavaliers General Manager David] Griffin was let go by Cleveland ownership", everyone (including myself) is worried about the future of big three, Kyrie Irving; LeBron James; and Kevin Love. With Kevin Love severely underperforming during the NBA Finals, I think he will be the first to be put on the trading block. I think Kyrie might be safe, but we have no idea what the Cavaliers' owners and the new General Manager have in mind to improve their chances to beat Golden State and win another ring.
If it were up to me, I would replace Kevin Love with another versatile big man like Paul George or Kristap Porzingis who are good on both offense and defense. They also need to upgrade their bench so LeBron and Kryie can rest and know that the bench can maintain or create lead for LeBron and Kryie to easily transition back into the game.
If the Cavaliers' ownership decide to trade Kyrie, I don't know ANY point guard that can replace him and make the Cavaliers a better team to win another championship. Chris Paul would be a nice bench player to substitute in for Kyrie, but he IS NOT an excellent replacement for Kyrie. He is too injury prone and has not proved at his age that he can make it through the entire playoffs as a starter. Besides Chris Paul, there is no other available point guard that would be an upgrade to Kyrie.
It's safe to assume that the Cavaliers' ownership OR LeBron have any plan to depart from Cleveland. However, if that happens, it is also safe to assume the Cavaliers' chances to make it back to the NBA Finals will drop to almost 0%. That would be the absolute worst case scenario for the Cavaliers. I hope Cavaliers know to keep LeBron happy and not run him away like Pat Riley (the Miami Heats President).
The free agency period will continue to be interesting especially since everyone knows the two teams in NBA land to beat.
Sources: