Windhorst: Towns and Butler pushing for Irving trade

[TheFuture]

I'll add this: trading Wiggins would be a mistake, without even taking into consideration what we could get for teague in a trade. In two years we are guaranteed to at least have wigg and Towns. A trade with Wiggins means we could come out in two years with only Towns who will look for the nearest exit. That can't happen.

[TheFuture]

Keep in mind we are one of four teams on his "list". Does that hold any weight in the cavalier front office? Who knows. I don't see how the spurs, rockets, or Knicks could beat our offer without wiggins..

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

The Cavs are in a tough spot because Lebron can (and I think will) walk after the season. With that in mind trading Irving for a vet is tough because once Lebron is gone you're stuck with very little. At least with Irving on the team after Lebron leaves you could flip him for a pile of assets. I think the Suns are the best trade partner for the Cavs.

[kekgeek]

Keep in mind we are one of four teams on his "list". Does that hold any weight in the cavalier front office? Who knows. I don't see how the spurs, rockets, or Knicks could beat our offer without wiggins..

Might hold little weight in the cavs mind but other teams have to take the risk of Kyrie unhappy and leaving.

In the end wiggins will be the best player possibly available in a trade.

[kekgeek]

I'll add this: trading Wiggins would be a mistake, without even taking into consideration what we could get for teague in a trade. In two years we are guaranteed to at least have wigg and Towns. A trade with Wiggins means we could come out in two years with only Towns who will look for the nearest exit. That can't happen.

First off I want to say I wouldn't do the trade.

But playing devils advocate sometimes you have to risk it and gamble. Adding kyrie means we are one of 2 teams in the nba with 3 players in the top 5 of their positions.

Also I think he will but what happens if wiggins never reaches his potential and is not an all star type player. It is not often that a 25 year old all star player becomes available and we are hoping wiggins can get to that level.

Sometimes you add talent and figure it out later.

Once again I would not do the trade

[Papalrep]

This reminds me of adding Spree and Casell. We get 2 years of WCF contention. Do it. That was the last time this team was interesting.

Kat will leave anyway if we aren't getting anywhere. So the alternative is hope Wigs changes his personality? This is the new NBA. If they leave, find someone else. But build the best contender you can. Now.

[KiwiMatt]

I'm not interested in trading Wiggins for Kyrie.

KAT and Wiggins are the building blocks of this team and we need to keep it this way. We've already traded LaVine. Even with Kyrie we aren't getting past GSW, not to mention Houston and San An. Let those teams run their course and let's focus on keeping KAT, Butler and Wiggins together for the next five years. Teague and Dieng are decent starting calibre players and we have decent 6/7th players in Crawford and Gibson.

I don't want to see this team short circuit its potential for the sake of contending now. Especially in this stacked Western Conference. And let's face it, we aren't getting Kyrie without giving up Wiggins and it just doesn't make sense after the Teague signing.

[Lipoli390]

This reminds me of adding Spree and Casell. We get 2 years of WCF contention. Do it. That was the last time this team was interesting.

Kat will leave anyway if we aren't getting anywhere. So the alternative is hope Wigs changes his personality? This is the new NBA. If they leave, find someone else. But build the best contender you can. Now.

Yes, KAT may leave if we're not getting anywhere. But the Butler trade makes that highly unlikely. With Butler, KAT, Wiggins, Taj and Teague, this team should go from lottery to playoff team by next spring and that's what I'd call getting somewhere. And this team could easily finish in the top 5 and win a playoff series. In any event, making the players would be substantial movement. At that point, it's highly likely KAT signs his 5-year max extension next summer. My point is that we don't need Kyrie to avoid "not getting anywhere" this upcoming season. Things will have to be really bad for KAT to turn down the substantially bigger deal he can get staying with the Wolves. Another 31-win season might be enough to drive him out, but that sort of finish is so unlikely.

[Shumway]

I'm not interested in trading Wiggins for Kyrie.

KAT and Wiggins are the building blocks of this team and we need to keep it this way. We've already traded LaVine. Even with Kyrie we aren't getting past GSW, not to mention Houston and San An. Let those teams run their course and let's focus on keeping KAT, Butler and Wiggins together for the next five years. Teague and Dieng are decent starting calibre players and we have decent 6/7th players in Crawford and Gibson.

I don't want to see this team short circuit its potential for the sake of contending now. Especially in this stacked Western Conference. And let's face it, we aren't getting Kyrie without giving up Wiggins and it just doesn't make sense after the Teague signing.

You nailed it Kiwi. KAT and Wiggins are the building blocks and we don't gain a sufficient premium by trading Kyrie for Wiggins.

I am ecstatic with the Butler trade because we addressed a number of what I consider to be key issues for a successful trade:
1) We significantly upgraded the quality of our roster. Effectively a Quality for Quantity trade.
2) Significantly better fit for us. One of my main concerns with the roster last year was the overlap between Wiggins and Lavine's skillset - scorers and not much else and both playing the same position.

With a Wiggins for Kyrie trade, you get a slight upgrade in premium quality on the roster now, but give up on Wiggins potential. So the trade does meet the first point - but to a much lesser extent than the Butler trade. I don't think Kyrie moves the needle enough in terms of current premium talent to justify the trade on its own. So we also need to consider whether the fit helps us or hurts us.

In this regard, I think Kyrie's fit hurts us given we have signed Teague and we lack Wing depth. We replace one scorer who does little else with another. But we reduce an already shallow position to double up on an established position. We could look to trade Teague for a wing after December, but we'd be a forced seller and so I really question whether we'd get any decent value for Teague on the wing. Would Kyrie and whoever we can get for Teague be better than Wiggins and Teague? Effectively any premium we get from Cleveland being a forced seller would be given up in rebalancing by dealing Teague.

Also add in that I'm a fan who gets emotionally invested in our players, and I'm already sorry to see Rubio and Lavine go... I'm keeping Wiggins and building around Towns, Wiggins and Butler.

Go Wolves!

[Lipoli390]

I'm among those who wouldn't swap Wiggins for Kyrie. And let's not kid ourselves, there is no way we get Kyrie without giving up Wiggins. Why wouldn't I do the deal? I have several reasons:

1. Roster balance: We already lack depth at the wing positions, relying right now soley on the 37 year old one-way offensive player Jamaal Crawford. Trading Wiggins for Kyrie would leave us ridiculously lacking at the wing positions while simultaneously overloaded at PG until at least December when we'd be able to trade Teague.

2. Wiggins upside: I'm among those who have quesitoned whether Wiggins has the competitive drive to reach is star potential. But he's already a prolific scorer who continues to improve as a scorer and long-range shooter. His is so talented that, at age 22 with 3 NBA seasons and only 1 year of college, I just can't give up on him eventually becoming the great player he has the potential to be.

3. Contract and franchise stability. We're in a position to lock up Wiggins for 6 years in a 5-year max deal he's now eligible for in the last year of his rookie contract. In contrast, Kyrie has a player option on his deal after two more seasons. At that point he can bolt or demand a king's ransom to stay. Butler will ave a player option at the exact same time and will have the same freedom and leverage as Kyrie. Even at the max level coming off his rookie deal, Wiggins will be a relative bargain compared to the vet max deal that Butler and Kyrie will be eligible for in two years. After such a long period of irrelevance and instability, this franchise needs to lock in some stability and chart a course for an extended period as a real contender. Swapping Wiggins for Kyrie would be a reckless short-term maneuver.