Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Cavaliers lock up Kyrie Irving.

The Cleveland Cavaliers locked up their franchise player as Kyrie Irving accepted the team's maximum contract offer of five years and 90 million for a extension adding to this season,which is the final year under Irving's original rookie contract.

Irving's commitment to Cleveland allows new GM David Griffin to build the franchise around the skills of Irving without the worry of Irving packing up and leaving town at the end of the upcoming season.

The process began with the drafting of Andrew Wiggins,who I think will mesh very nicely with the skills of Irving,will continue with the free agency period as the Cavaliers are rumored to be preparing offers for several players,although which one depends on what you read (I'm hoping for Gordon Hayward of the Jazz,myself) and might end in a trade,if not two.
The person that might be most likely to leave in a trade might be Dion Waiters,who despite being an explosive offensive player has not been able to work well with Irving when both players are on the floor at the same time.
Waiters has been productive enough that he might bring a nice piece to the Cleveland puzzle or perhaps a future number one pick depending on the trade partner.

Kyrie Irving's biggest problem has been health as his 71 games last season was his highest in his three seasons by the lake and that means that he still missed 11 games.
Irving's durability issues goes all the way back to his lone season at Duke,so this is nothing new or a one season aberration,but the Cavaliers are forced to live with them.
Kyrie Irving will have to be the focal point of the Cleveland organization,at least until Andrew Wiggins matures, and this contract allows the Cavaliers to know that he is locked as said focal point.
Now the biggest issues are these-Can the Cavaliers surround Irving with the talent that every team needs to succeed? Can Irving thrive as the franchise player or would he be better suited as the second best player on a contending team?

I don't have the answers to either of those questions,but I do think that this deal was a no-brainer for the Cavaliers.
They had to show that they could keep the star player (s) around after that certain someone took his talents south and that forced their hand,although Irving's performance certainly warranted a contract such as this.

The rebuild continues with two foundation stones in Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins,now the time is here to see how Cleveland is able to add to the foundation.....

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