Over the weekend I was told by a reliable source that the Phoenix Suns are looking to offer Cleveland Cavaliers restricted free agent Alonzo Gee a multi-year contract in the $4 million per season range. I was also told that the Suns were in the lead for Gee's services right now too, and I posted my tweet from Saturday morning below. On Thursday, two days earlier, John Telich tweeted that he "heard at least three teams interested in Alonzo Gee of #Cavs, Phoenix, Minnesota, Detroit". My source didn't tell me who the Suns were in the lead over, but I assumed it meant Minnesota and Detroit with respect to what Telich had said previously. Regardless of what offers do eventually end up coming in for Gee though, the Cavaliers will have the opportunity to match since he is a Restricted Free Agent.

What my source also did not indicate was how many years the Phoenix Suns were looking to pay Alonzo somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million guarunteed however. If I were to generally speculate, I'd imagine the life of this possible contract offer would end up somewhere around three to five years, but probably more like four. The how many years part will be tricky though, when it comes to deciding whether or not the Cavs would want to match a competing offer for him, whenever one does hypothetically come in. The right around $4 million annually doesn't really surprise me at all. Reserve rotation players, 7th, 8th, or 9th men in today's NBA with some promise moving forward, typically sign deals that pay somewhere around $4 million. Daniel Gibson, for example, made $4.4 million this season and will make $4.8 next year. Luke Walton made $5.7 this year, and will make just over $6 million next year too for some additional perspective. Gee is going to be a rotation player in the NBA somewhere next season, and he has demonstrated some promise to be sure moving forward. He's going to command those types of dollars.  


I think the Cavaliers would re-sign him for sure if the contract came in around $4 million over a guaranteed period of three years too. This is me speculating here, because again, my source did not tell me anything about the life of the hypothetical contract offer. To further speculate though, there's no way the Cavaliers would go as far as committing to Gee for as many as five seasons I wouldn't think, nor would I really think they should make that long-term of a committment either. I kinda doubt anyone else would go five years too for whatever that's worth, but four years guaranteed is probably what Gee will be looking for. I'd imagine teams will counter with three years guaranteed, and a club option for the fourth. I'm not sure the Cavaliers should go any further than matching a deal like that too. Four years guaranteed might be too many, and probably unnecessary. 

I'd be glad to run with Gee for the next three years however to be sure though. Alonzo averaged 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 29 minutes per game this season and he always played hard. He's a high flier at the rim, he's down to dig in defensively on anybody too, and maybe even more important than all of his athleticism is his work ethic. The position that Alonzo Gee has put himself in right now, coming up through the D-League, is called working your a*s off to achieve the American Dream. He's offered plenty of reason to believe he'll keep working hard from here too. That's important, and it's also important that Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson get along off the floor with Gee, and play well with him on it too. They do that, in both cases, and that's going to give plenty of reason for the Cavaliers to think long and hard about re-signing Gee. The money and cap space will be there for the Cavaliers to sign him if they want too, so we'll see what happens. If I find out anything else I'll be sure to let you know.

The Cavaliers are looking to become the first team to win the NBA Draft Lottery in back-to-back seasons since the Orlando Magic did so in 1992 and 1993. I wrote about that this morning at Cleveland.com, highlighting the fact that the Cavs also have the 3rd best chance of any team since Orlando to actually do that. There's also a list I compiled which notes the chances each team had since 1994 to pick first following the year they did so, and where they ended up drafting that following season. 

You can check it out by clicking here, and below is an excerpt:

The only two teams since the Magic with a better chance than the Cavaliers have now of winning the Lottery in two consecutive years are the 2000 Bulls and the 1999 Clippers. Each of those two teams had the 2nd best chance to pick 1st one year after drafting Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi that previous season respectively, but they each ended up picking 4th.

Beyond those two teams, only the 2011 Washington Wizards, 2001 New Jersey Nets, and 1997 Philadelphia 76ers had the 6th best chance or better of picking first one year after they did so. The Wizards had the 4th best chance last season, after selecting John Wall in 2010, and they picked 6th. The Nets had the 6th best chance after taking Kenyon Martin and they picked 7th, while the Sixers had the 5th best chance to select first one year after drafting Allen Iverson and they ended up picking 2nd.

Full Article: Cavs looking to do what Magic did in 1993, with much better odds

Update, via The Plain Dealer (1:07pm ET): "USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo confirmed that Irving will receive an invite to participate on the U.S. Select Team, which acts as a sparring partner for the Olympic team and serves as a pool of talent from which future international sides will be drawn. The select squad, comprised of 10 to 14 players, will scrimmage against the Olympic team from July 5-11, a Team USA spokesman said...

The Americans are likely to add a player or two to the 20 finalists for the US Olympic team due to injuries. Point guard Derrick Rose suffered a season-ending knee injury on Saturday that also will sideline him for the Olympic... 

Irving could merit consideration since he’s with the U.S. Select team. But short of another injury or two to point guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams – who are among the finalists for the 12-man roster – Irving won’t be part of the Olympic team...In a text message, Colangelo wrote a youngster like Irving “needs to pay his dues” the way Westbrook, Rose, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love did as US Select members in 2008."

The unfortunate timing of the Derrick Rose injury opened up an immediate vacancy on the Team USA roster heading into the London Games this summer. Despite the fact that Rose is a Point Guard, initial reports seemed to indicate that Coach K and Jerry Colangelo intended to fill his spot with more size. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Russell Westbrook already being on the roster was thought to be why.

There has since been talk of adding Demarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, and even the soon to be rookie Anthony Davis as possible replacements for Rose, and there's also been some interest in Roy Hibbert too. A complication involving the fact that Roy played for the Jamaican National Team in the 2010 Centrobasket will probably keep him out though, but that's besides the point right now. 


If Team USA does decide to go small instead, however, and replace Rose with a guy who plays his same position, the Cavaliers Kyrie Irving is thought to be the direction they'd go. This much at least according to the following tweet from Marc Stein last night:

Nick Gilbert won two more contests of chance last week, as he properly identified which side would be facing up when a couple critical coins first left David Stern's hand. As a result of the more valuable toss, the Cavaliers now sit with the third best chance of drafting Anthony Davis. Or, the second best chance to lose out on AD and get my guy Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

[random note] I've been having this dream lately where Kyrie Irving is playing PG for the Cavaliers, MKG is at the three, Tristan Thompson's at the four, and then after throwing all the money the Cavaliers had under the cap this time next year at a certain bearded Shooting Guard from OKC, James Harden is in Cleveland playing the two alongside those three other guys. A young Zydruanas Ilgauskas also starts at the five in my dream though, and a dramatically improved Vitaly Potapenko is his back-up, so take all that for what it's worth I guess. [end of random note]


What's important for the Cavaliers at the moment, however, their next toll booth along NBA championship highway if you will, is the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery. At the end of this month, on May 30th, the Cavaliers will find out where their first draft pick will be come June. They'll go into that lottery with a 13.8% chance of drafting first overall, a shade better than the fourth seeded Hornets, while also having a 42% chance of picking somewhere in the top-3. ESPN.com's latest Mock Draft has the top-3 going Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, and Bradley Beal as of this morning too if you hadn't heard. Not to infer those guys going one through three should be news to anybody at this point.


Nor would it be a surprise if Nick Gilbert went ahead and did what Nick Gilbert does come May 30th. Again. I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood while I type this, but I'd be lying if I also didn't admit that I've become confident in Nicky G's abilities over the last 12+ months. It's not just me either, people all over the country have taken notice as well. As evidence to that claim, below is an exchange I had on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine from Portland:

Friend from Portland: I really think Anthony Davis is going to end up to you guys in Cleveland.
Me: Why do you say that?
Friend from Portland: Why? Because the little guy's on fire bro. He's like four for four. If they send him to the Lottery again, there's no way he's losing.

Our Draft Coverage Here This Month: Our draft coverage here at Stepien Rules will shift more towards a who the Cavaliers should take standpoint starting on June 1, once we all know where the Cavaliers will be picking specifically, but in the meantime we will be looking at a number of players individually. Starting later this week, we will be first highlighting each of the top-10 players in the draft individually, discussing strengths, weakness, and how they could theoretically fit or not fit with the Cavaliers. After that, we'll be doing the same with the prospects ranked from 20-30, as an introductory preview to that second first round pick the Cavaliers acquired from the Lakers. By the time we're done with that, it'll probably be May 30th.  So stay tuned, ya'll.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were technically in the playoff race with just over one month to go this season by complete accident. Despite the fact that I'd have celebrated an over-achieving run towards first round elimination, even at the expense of a lottery pick, I never really thought they'd actually get there. I picked the Cavaliers to win 23 games before this recently concluded season began, and at the time that prediction was viewed as optimistic. Some people had them winning a little as 12 games, and most people had that total in the high teens. Regardless of number, expectations were deservingly low across this season with good reason. Next year they shouldn't be though.


Byron Scott preached playoffs this year anyways, however, for as long as he could without sounding completely ridiculous. After using just about ever press conference two seasons ago to specifically distance himself from the record setting mark for ineptitude his team set in 2010, I appreciated the fact that he put himself out there to a degree by doing the opposite this time around. He said his goal was to make the playoffs, pushed his team as much as he could in that direction this year, and his team made progress moving forward as a result. It wasn't obviously his fault they ended up completely tanking and finishing with the third worst record in the League in the end, but the fact that he somewhat put himself out there was important I think. 

Heading into next year though, he needs to put himself out there again. Next season's Cavaliers, in year two of the Kyrie Irving Era, should be talking and thinking playoffs from day one. Whether they get there or not remains to be seen, but there should be no more reason to think tanking. Opportunity for dramatic improvement exists in this June's Draft, and from there Byron Scott should have some pieces to work with as his third season in Cleveland begins. Which is why I didn't find it too cool or encouraging to read what he said about the playoffs last week at his end of the season press conference.

That part being the the note Bob Finnan from The News-Herald highlighted on Sunday, where Byron said that he actually didn't think the Cavs would be a playoff team next season:

"There were a few curious comments to come out of the Cavaliers' news conference on Friday at Cleveland Clinic Courts. None were as strange as when Coach Byron Scott, unprovoked, said he didn't expect the Cavs to make the playoffs next year.

Excuse me? The sales staff at Quicken Loans Arena is probably having a tough enough time trying to sell tickets for next year. Even if you think that way, why not keep that to yourself?"

What makes this almost ridiculous to me is that Byron doesn't even know who will be on his team next year. Say lightning strikes twice and the Cavaliers end up with Anthony Davis or Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist for crying out loud, they could be a 6-seed possibly. Even if they ended up with Bradley Beal or Harrison Barnes, I see no reason why they can't at least compete for playoffs. Why could they not at least have the same goal that they did for most of this past season with Anthony Parker as the starting two-guard and Ryan Hollins getting rotational minutes? I'm not asking anybody to go Joe Namath on a playoff run next season, just don't tell me it's impossible quite yet. There's no reason for that.

This whole website thing wouldn't really be that fun if nobody ever actually read what I posted here. The simple fact that people take the time to do so, however often that is, honestly means a lot to me. It also helped make this past Cavaliers season a whole lot of fun for me too, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who stopped by throughout the year. I really appreciate you doing that, more than you'd probably realize.

I didn't watch one second of last night's season finale in Chicago though, and I thought I should talk about that. I did plan to, as I ventured out into the hysteria of Cleveland's NFL Draft celebration, but that didn't end up happening. We first stopped by a bar called Beer Garden on Peal Road, just south of Cleveland, for 92.3 The Fan's Cleveland Browns Draft Party. I had fun there talking with the Animal House Twitter Posse, as well as Anthony Lima, Ken Carman, and Adam the Bull, and it was a good atmosphere inside that bar. Out of the thirty televisions they had though, all tuned into the NFL Draft on two different channels, not one tv anywhere had the Cavs game on. While they were not vocal about it, I am sure Luke Harangody fans in particular were none too pleased about this. I know that, because I am one. 

Shortly after the Cleveland Browns selected future Hall of Famer Trent Richardson from Alabama, we made our way over to Two Bucks in Middleburg Heights to catch up with my friends from Waiting For Next Year. I thought maybe I'd catch the fourth quarter or something when we got there. Rick Grayshock and Craig Lyndall were still there when we walked in, just missed Scott Sargent, and missed the Cavs game there too because it wasn't on. I never mentioned anything to anybody about it though, because by that point I kinda thought I was the weird one. It was the NFL Draft afterall, the Cleveland Browns Christmas, and this is a Cleveland Browns town. The Cavs game was as meaningless as it could ever be too, so I just let it go.

Byron Scott was asked the following question after last night's loss to the Washington Wizards: "If this was the last game for Jamison and Parker at the Q, sad to see them go?" He responded by using "if" as three of his first six word choices, and went on from there to detail the man-crush he has on each of those two guys respectively.


"Yeah, if, yeah. If, yeah, if this was the last game, than it would be sad because both those guys are unbelieveable professional basketball players and they're great people." He also added that they were great with the young players this season, did everything a coach could ever ask for on a daily basis, and that if this was their last game in Cleveland he wanted them to know how much he appreciated them as people and players.

It was that fourth "if" that had me standing there thinking that maybe it's possible one of these two guys do come back next season afterall. Hopefully that's Jamison then, I thought, in a reserve role off the bench where he provides a scoring punch and veteran leadership as a sixth or seventh man on a one-year $5 million deal. Because there's now way he can be referring to the possibility of bringing Anthony Parker back next season with all those "if's", right?

A few minutes later, as the media surrounded Jamison's locker, he said this in regards to the possibility of him returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers next season: "For me, it's time to move on. I don't know what the future holds, but I definitely have a great feeling that this is my last home game and tomorrow will be my last game as a Cav." I then stood there thinking: Hmmmmm. So are we saying AP could maybe be back next year then? No way, right?

Byron Scott told the Cleveland media that Kyrie Irving is sick today, and is listed as doubtful to play against the Washington Wizards tonight in the Cavaliers last home game of the season. Tristan Thompson is not sick, however, and I caught up with him just after shoot-around earlier this morning.

I followed up what I referenced yesterday by asking Tristan about his scoring average increasing on a monthly basis since January, and also asked him what he's learned the most during his first NBA season.

Those two questions I asked are transcribed below, and the other two questions in the video are from our good friend Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 FM The Fan.




Stepien Rules: What do you feel like you learned the most throughout your first season now looking back from where you started?

Tristan Thompson: Probably after every game just looking back and seeing what went well. Keeping notes on the players you went against, what went good for you, what areas to improve in. Just learning something from every game and taking it with you. Having veterans like Antawn and Andy, Antawn's a free agent after this year, so definetely this year I've tried to absorb as much as I can from him, and he was a great vet for me.

Stepien Rules: Your scoring average has gone up in each of the last four months, you feeling more comfortable on the offensive end? 

Tristan Thompson: I think it's just getting the reps, getting up and down the court, and just playing. I think that's the key, especially for young guys. Once you play, you get a feel for it, find out what works for you and what doesn't, and that's what I've been doing and it's working out pretty well.

I understand they both combined to miss 5 of 6 FT's in the final two minutes last night to help seal the win for the play-off bound Memphis Grizzlies, but I don't think that's important right now. As it pertains first to Kyrie Irving, what I was most encouraged by was to see him once again play like the best player on the court last night. This being four games into his return from that shoulder injury, on the second night of road back-to-back, against a grind-it-out defensive attack led by Tony Allen and a frontline featuring bigs like Mo Speights, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph who are typically pretty serious up near the rim. Kyrie never worried about banging that shoulder, or whatever else, and he just attacked the basket again relentlessly last night and got whatever he wanted while he was out there. 



He shot 10 of 16 from the floor in the process, Mike Conley couldn't come close to guarding him, and finished with a game-high 25 points, to go along with 4 assists and 2 rebounds. Nobody else on either team scored more than 17, and while the Cavaliers did end up losing, it's probably not the worst thing that could've happened, even though I do not personally root for losses, technically speaking. The Grizzlies are a legitimately solid, playoff-bound team, and Kyrie Irving almost beat them by himself essentially, that's my main takeaway and what's really important. Next year he'll have more help too. In the meantime though, it's good to see him trying to end his season on that same high note that George Costanza tries to end his converations with. 


Tristan Thompson's Monthly Progression:  If you looked at Tristan Thompson's game logs you'd see the same thing I'm about to tell you. His points per game have increased each month, from January, to February, to March, and now here in April. In January Tristan averaged 6.9 points per game, February he bumped that up to 7.8, in March that number improved to 8.4, and now, after going for 12 points last night, Tristan is  averaging 9.4 points per game through these 14 he's played during the month of April. He's averaging the most rebounds he has at 7.4 this month too, and his field goal percentage has never been higher than it is right now either. 

While his minutes have increased obviously over the last two months, Tristan has been specifically more efficient this month when compared to the 17 games played in March. Or any other month for that matter. He averaged 27.1 minutes per game in March, for example, to total 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on .421 FG %. This month, he's up to those aforementioned totals of 9.4 points and 7.2 rebounds, and his field goal percentage is also up to .468 playing less than one minute more this month (28.0 mpg) than he did in March. That is quantifiable progress, even after going 3 for 12 against that huge starting frontline of Speights and Gasol last night. Just wait until Big Z gets done with him this summer too. 

From the PR Newswire - Kyrie Irving Inked Deal with Pepsi Max today:

You probably heard about how Kyrie Irving only played eleven games at Duke last year, so I won't bother mentioning that. What I will point out, however, is that if Kyrie did not return to the Cleveland Cavaliers line-up last week, to play in these last handful of meaningless games, that would've marked the second straight season he was unable to complete due to injury.


It's that trend of being technically unable to finish two seasons of basketball in a row that I'm glad Kyrie was able to break before it ever actually started. I'm not sure there's anything remotely positive about the possibility of that thought having to hang anywhere in, around, or near his head moving forward either. Which is all why I'm more encouraged than I otherwise would be with the fact that he's back playing right now, even if it means the Cavs might lose a ping pong ball or three in the process.

That win against the Knicks on Friday might've pushed the Cavaliers out the top-five-worst-records in the League category for good maybe, but I'm okay with that even if it did. I'd much rather see Kyrie's season come full-circle here in year-one out on the court, than to watch him sidelined in an overly cautious and tanktastic manner, for example, in response to the threat of injury. I also like the fact that Irving worked himself back into shape, and wanted to close the year out on the floor, even though his team had nothing left to play for and he already won the ROY. I'm sure it wouldn't have been too frowned upon either if Kyrie had decided to just pack it in last week and get ready for the off-season instead, but he didn't do that. 
 
Since missing the nine straight previous games heading into last Wednesday, Kyrie has now played in two more since returning for that home loss to the Sixers. He went for 21-3-3 in 26 minutes on Friday against the Knicks, and then for 19-2-3 in the loss last night to San Antonio. The Cavaliers are 1-2 overall in those last three, heading into the Memphis game tonight, and Irving has averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assist in 25.3 minutes per night since his return. His minutes have increased from 20 on Wednesday against Philly, to 26 on Friday, and then 30 last night too.

From here, it will be interesting to see how much he ends up playing tonight on the second night of a road back-to-back against the Grizzlies, but I'm just glad he'll be out there ready to play regardless. Even if he ends up doing the unthinkable, and helps the Cavaliers actually win another game or two before this week concludes.