Krunch Time With Katelin: NBA Trading Deadline Predictions

By Katelin Marshall, @KatelinKnowsCLE


The NBA trading deadline is one of the most hectic time of the sporting year. And this year is looking like one for the ages. Dating back to January there have been a number of moves that could change the state of teams not just this year but in future years. Starting with the Kyle Korver to Cleveland deal, Serge Ibaka to Toronto,  and the surprise post All-Star game Demarcus Cousins trade to New Orleans to play along side Anthony Davis. But that's all in the past and now its time to make some predictions for what's to come in the next 48 hours.

1. Carmelo Anthony doesn't get traded:
It seems unlikely that the Knicks: A. Finds a deal that benefits them going forward. B. The deal involves a contending team for Carmelo to join. The team the holds a ton of assets for a trade like this is the Boston Celtics. The Celtics have the expiring contracts and the potential top draft pick a team like Knicks would want for someone like Melo. But when it comes to the Celtics I don't see Melo waving his no-trade clause to go to Boston. If reports are true, Melo would only waive his (NTC) for Cleveland (play with LeBron) or the Clippers (play with Chris Paul).

2. The Timberwolves make a Deal involving Ricky Rubio:
    Rubio is a solid point guard, but with the way the T-Wolves play spacing becomes an issue. Rubio's inability to shoot the three consistently ends with defense clogging the paint when defending Rubio. And it doesn't help when their frontcourt; Wiggins, Anthony-Towns, and Dieng all have the same strengths of getting into the paint and finishing. Plus with the season-ending injury to Zach Lavine the T-Wolves now have a giant hole at shooting guard. A trade of Rubio to the Cavs for Iman Shumpert has been speculated for a bit since it fits a need for both teams but I don't see the Cavaliers making a trade like this...or one at all.

3. The Cavaliers keep things "Status Quo":
Like I stated in my article "What Should the Cavs Do Now with Kevin Love Out 6 Weeks?", "Status Quo" just means keeping an open roster spot for a player who is a free agent or someone who has their contract bought-out after the deadline. With the injuries to Love and J.R. Smith the Cavs should focus on getting healthy and learn how to play with the players they have now. We seen it take a month or so for Kyle Korver to fit into the Cavs offense and vise-versa. This shouldn't but much of a surprise and fans should think of Korver as their trading deadline acquisition.

4. The 76ers Deal Jahlil Okafor for a Backcourt Player:
With the emergence of Joel Embid the 76ers now have an overstock of frontcourt players. Per reports Okafor was almost dealt to Portland and was rumored in trade talks to New Orleans. The 76ers lack a young shooter guard, and lets keep it 100... Nik Stauskas isn't a starting shooter guard in the league. As of right now teams interested in Okafor are the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns. So maybe that means Brandon Knight is on the move again.

5. The Knicks Trade Derrick Rose:
If the Knicks trade anyone the smart money seems to be on Rose...and like stated earlier the T-Wolves are seeking to trade away Rubio. Minnesota's head coach Tom Thibodeau is reportedly pushing for a trade that would bring Rose to Minny. It seems unlikely but the contracts aren't too crazy to be worked out and the Knicks might want to get whatever they can for the former MVP.

6. Orlando Trades one (or more) of their Backcourt players:
 The Magic are in a mist of a rebuild...again. And they have a number of player who would seem to fit on multiple playoff teams. D.J. Augustin has played on three playoff teams in his career and its been in a backup role. Augustin is known as a three point shooter who can create his own shot at times and his contract is only $7.3 Million and at the age of 29 the four year deal shouldn't be any cause of concern for teams trading for him. C.J. Watson is older at 32 but like Augustin has playoff experience some teams would want in a backup guard. His contract isn't as bad as Augustin's two years at $5 Million per year. And lets not forget about Jodie Meeks. Meeks is in the last year of his deal

7. Boston Trades for Jimmy Butler:
This one is a long shot but the Celtics should buy into this year and make a big splash. Butler playing along side of Thomas and Horford should give the Cavs an actual series. I'm not saying they could beat the Cavaliers but a Boston vs Cleveland Eastern Conference finals should be an entertain series. The Bulls future is questionable and with the signing of Rondo and Wade they were rushed into contending when in reality that wasn't their plan. So trading Butler for the Brooklyn Nets' pick (which should be a top-4 lock) and expiring contracts is a great place to rebuild.

Full Court Press: 2016-17 NBA Season Preview

By Randy Groce, @ImissWiggins

This upcoming NBA season comes with a lot more intrigue than the last few. Superstars have left. Sidekicks turned superstars are now asked to lead. A third year rookie finally making his debut. A Miami legend going to Chicago, and a hometown Chicago kid going to New York. Hell, the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, who return every single important piece to their championship team, aren't even the favorites going in the season. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, and the possibility of Cavs-Warriors III are just a handful of players and storylines that will make the 2016/17 season one of the most interesting in a long time. 

I like to break down NBA teams the same way I do NFL quarterbacks, by tiers: Elite, Championship contenders, Playoff hopefuls, and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavaliers, Warriors, and Spurs are who I would consider elite. The Raptors, Clippers, and Celtics would fall into championship contenders. The Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz would fall into the category of playoff hopefuls. The Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, and Philadelphia 76ers fall into the dreaded Los Angeles Lakers category. More teams fall into each category, but I chose to give you the most obvious.

It seemed as though we were going to get our first look at seeing if the process that the Philadelphia 76ers told us to trust was going to work, but a broken foot by Ben Simmons will force us to wait until January at the earliest. Joel Embiid has looked good during the preseason, but the biggest question concerning him will be health. Between Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor I expect Philly to only have one of them on their roster when the season ends. This young teams has pieces, but they'll need a little more luck before fans start believing. 

The statement of "do or die season" was meant for this year's Los Angeles Clippers team. They are loaded with veterans. They have two of the top 20 players in the world on their roster. They have an excellent coach, and a high payroll. Too bad they can't make it to the Conference Finals. With Chris Paul and Blake Griffin approaching free agency, I tend to believe this could be their final run together unless they somehow make a trip to the NBA Finals. 

I'm a Laker fan and I plan on closely watching the relationship between new head coach Luke Walton and the young core of Deangelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr., and Jordan Clarkson. Can Walton convince these guys to run a real half court offense and play defense? Will he help a young guy like Nance Jr. reach his potential?  I think I'll be equally interested in seeing the new duo of Anthony Davis and Buddy Hield. A couple of years ago it was suggested that Davis would be the "face of the NBA" by now, but injuries have yet to allow that to happen. Every big man needs a good perimeter guy. Hield might finally serve that role for Davis. 

The team that a lot of people have their eyes on is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Some have suggested that Karl Anthony Towns is the best big man in the game. Add in Andrew Wiggins, rookie Kris Dunn, Ricky Rubio, and new head coach Tom Thibodeau and you would have to wonder how this team doesn't make the playoffs. 

Earlier I mentioned the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and the New York Knicks. Honorable mention is all they deserve. ESPN, FS1, and every other outlet will drool over these non-factors all season for absolutely no reason. I'll pass.

The departure of Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors and the retirement of Tim Duncan has caused the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs to drop off a bit. Both teams will still make the playoffs, but how far they go depends on how well they are led by their stars, Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard. Westbrook undoubtedly has the talent and teammates to at least make it to the Conference Finals, the question is does he trust his teammates and coaching staff enough to try not to do it all on his own. Leonard has LaMarcus Aldridge and coach Popovich, their issue is how much does Tony Parker have left in the tank?

You ever watch a romantic comedy and the guy tries to get the girl for the entire movie? A lot of different things happen good and bad, but when the movie is over and the credits roll they have ended up together? That is how this season is going to play out. Some teams will surprise you and some will disappoint, but when the first week of June rolls around we'll get the ending we felt we'd get as soon as training camp started...

Cavaliers vs. Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals.

Enjoy the show!

Leadoff with Lee 12.13.15 #UFC194 #McGregor #Heisman #Bucks

By @cleeverizon

Derrick Henry from Alabama added another piece of hardware to his trophy case. After winning the Doak Walker and Maxwell awards Thursday night, Henry becomes the 81st winner of the Heisman Trophy. He has been compared to Eddie George, who in 1995 averaged 6.0 yards per rush, 152.2 rushing yards per game and 23 rushing touchdowns. This year in 2015, Derrick Henry averaged 5.9 yards per rush, 152.8 rushing yards per game and also scored 23 touchdowns.

First Place votes: Derrick Henry 378, Christian McCaffrey 290, Deshaun Watson 148, Baker Mayfield 34

- The 116th Army vs. Navy game took place yesterday, with the Navy Midshipman defeating the Army Black Knights 21-17. QB Keenan Reynolds of Navy scored his 85th career rushing touchdown. Most all time in DIV I history(FBS-FCS). Reynolds tied the previous record set by Adrian Peterson. He tied Peterson's record with a 58 yard touchdown run in the first quarter. In the second quarter he secured the record on a one yard scamper. Reynolds also set the school record for career passing touchdowns with 30.

- Penn State hired former Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead as their new offensive coordinator. Moorhead will replace John Donovan, who was fired the day after the team lost its season finale tat Michigan State.

- The Philadelphia 76ers are discussing adding Mike D'Antonio as associate head coach. D'Antonio could join the staff sometime within the next week or so.

- The Milwaukee Bucks snapped the 24 game win streak of the Golden State Warriors, defeating them 108-95. The two longest winning streaks in the NBA history (1971-72 Lakers 33, Warriors 28) were both snapped by the Bucks. The Warriors scored a season-low of 95 points. This was also the 1st game scoring less than 100 points this season and the Warriors average 13 three pointers a night were just 6 of 26 from behind the arc. Greg Monroe led Milwaukee with 28 points.

- Jose Aldo entered UFC 194 at 25-1 (7-0 UFC), and made his 8th defense of the UFC featherweight title and had a 18-fight win streak. But it was Conor McGregor who left as the new undisputed featherweight champion with a victory in just 13 seconds.

All I can say is, it was a two hit fight, McGregor hit Aldo and Aldo hit the ground. McGregor's 15-fight win streak is intact and hasn’t lost since November 2010. Aldo hadn’t lost for 10 years, since losing a lightweight fight in Brazil in 2005, and he was widely regarded as the sport’s best fighter. But there is going to be a new entrant in that discussion.

Leadoff with Lee 12.8.15 #LeBron #Browns #Indians #Heisman

By @cleeverizon

After hanging out with Steve Sarkisian and Johnny Manziel, it's time to get back on the grind...

LEADOFF WITH LEE IS BACK!

- LeBron James has said, 'I'm Nike and Swoosh for the rest of my life'. LBJ and Nike agreed to a lifetime endorsement deal yesterday. Multiple media outlets have suggested James will receive up to $60M annually from his new Nike contract. Other shoe companies have offered lifetime deals such as Allen Iverson with Reebok, Adidas has David Beckham and Derrick Rose, this will be Nike's first lifetime contract ever offered in its 44 year existence. Maverick Carter will manage the deal, which was negotiated by Main Street Advisors' Paul Wachter, who has also negotiated the deal for John Henry to buy the Red Sox in 2002 and represented Beats By Dre in its $3 billion sale to Apple last May.

- The Browns placed guard Joel Bitonio on injured reserve with a ankle injury & sign OL Gabe Ikard to replace him on the roster. Ikard was signed as a undrafted free agent by the Titans in 2014. He was on their injured reserve list for his entire rookie season with a knee injury that he suffered in the preseason. In 2015, he was acquired by the Bills during final roster cuts and appeared in three games for Buffalo.

- BROWNS ON THE BENCH: Joe Haden, Andrew Hawkins, Taylor Gabriel, and Justin Gilbert remain in NFL's concussion protocol. RB Malcolm Johnson's groin injury seems to be severe and may be out for the rest of the season. WR Travis Benjamin is day to day with a shoulder injury. WR Marlon Moore is expected to play Sunday, but is day to day with rib injury.

- Mike Pettine didn't name a starter for Sunday's game against the 49ers, but it's expected that Johnny Manziel will get the start. From my perspective, no matter who the quarterback has been for the Browns they haven't been the problem. Maybe Johnny can bring back the Manziel Mafia and give the Browns a little magic.

- The Cleveland Indians announced Monday that it claimed OF Joey Butler off of waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays and placed him on the 40-man roster. In three seasons with the Rangers, Cardinals and Rays, Butler has compiled a .274 average with a .742 OPS, 8 HR and 31 RBI over 92 games. They designated pitcher Jayson Aquino for assignment to make room for Butler.

In other team news, the Indians have moved from 16th to 15th in first round of June draft because Arizona lost its No.1 pick by signing Zack Greinke.

- The Philadelphia 76ers have named Jerry Colangelo as the Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations. Colangelo will serve as a adviser to team ownership. Colangelo made his reputation as a team builder after more than four decades of work with the Suns. More recently, he has helped rebuild USA Basketball after its bronze-medal finish in the 2004 Summer Olympics. The team has won consecutive gold medals (2008 and 2012) and FIBA World Championships (2010 and 2014) since he took over in 2006.  In 1992, Colangelo founded the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers and owned them until 2005. Under Colangelo's guidance, the Rattlers won Arena Bowl championships in 1994 and 1997. Wouldn't he be a great team president for the Browns?

- The Heisman trophy finalists are Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. Henry led the nation with 23 rushing touchdowns and broke Herschel Walker's SEC rushing record with 1,986 yards. McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders record in all purpose yards in a season with 3,496. Watson finished the year with 3,512 yards passing and 30 touchdowns.

-NFL FLEX ZONE: Week 15 (12/20) The NFL flex schedule is as follows Cardinals vs Eagles moves to 8:30 PM ET on NBC & Bengals vs. 49ers to CBS at 4:25 PM ET. Bills vs Redskins 1:00 PM ET on FOX.

Leadoff with Lee 8.5.14

This feels good right about now. Everytime I turn on any random show on ESPN, NBA TV, Fox Sports 1, MLB network or any other media outlet, Cleveland is the lead story. And for once, it's not all bad news. So let's start here..

-According to ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers have all reached a "handshake deal" on the worst kept secret in the NBA, Kevin Love to the Cavs. Additional details were provided by Windhorst yesterday on ESPN radio and the trade scenario goes as follows: Kevin Love to Cleveland in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to Minnesota. Bennett then will be traded to the 76ers in exchange for Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young going to the Timberwolves. If this is a true trade scenario as reported, the Cavs will not need to trade a 2015 first round draft pick and I'm down with that. I didn't want to trade any future potential talent that could help the Cavs create a dynasty for years to come.

-Where's Johnny? If you weren't paying attention, he was running the first team offense all day in Browns practice yesterday. It seems as if the city of Cleveland is split on who will or should be the starter for Week One against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau stated yesterday "I'm expecting Manziel to be the starter." LeBeau continued saying, "I think he's going to be a handful for all of us". To me, it's obvious that LeBeau will fine tune his defense to Manziel or create a "Johnny package", as Brian Hoyer is more of a pocket passer and won't deviate from the base defense that the Steelers run.

-A camouflage Porsche arrived at the Browns training camp facility yesterday morning. Who's car was it? Who can afford a camo Porsche? Yes it was Josh Gordon and his car. Gordon did practice with the second team offense but was dismissed around 11:15 AM so he could attended his appeal hearing via phone. The phone hearing lasted around 3 hours and was submitted for a desicion. According to a source close to Plain Dealer Browns reporter, Mary Kay Cabot, a desicion could take from one to three weeks. In my opinion, if the Gordon appeal to the NFL is so cut and dry why would this hearing take over 13 hours to complete? And if it does take three weeks for a judgement, this puts the Browns at a serious disadvantage next if his suspension is for one full calendar year. Personally, I believe Gordon and his lawyer Maurice Suh presented arbitrator Harold Henderson with either compelling information about the testing, the testing process or they were working on a reduced suspension.

-Browns good guy and former offensive lineman Jason Pinkston will sit out the rest of the season and possibly retire due to blood clots in his lungs. Pinkston, just 26 years old, missed the last 10 games of the 2012 season with the same condition. Clotting in the lungs is life threatening and Pinkston had symptoms of the clots during training which included spitting up blood, fatigue and shortness of breath. Jason was at the Browns facility yesterday and reached an injury settlement . Jason Pinkston was a true class act and volunteered a lot in Cleveland and northeast Ohio in general. We wish Jason Pinkston nothing but success and hope he stays involved with Cleveland and surrounding communities.

-It's clear the Corey Kluber is the true ace of this Cleveland Indians staff. He improved to 12-6 on the season with his 2.55 era to help lead the Tribe to a 7-1 win against the Cincinatti Reds last night. Kluber pitched 7.1 innings giving up 6 hits, 1 run and 7 strikeouts. Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Jose Ramirez each had two hits for the Indians. With Lonnie Chisenhall and Yan Gomes going yard. Chisenhall recorded 3 RBI, with Gomes and Brantley with 2. The Indians and Reds close out the 2 game set tonight at 7 PM, with Josh Tomlin on the rubber for the Tribe, and Johnny Cueto going for the Reds.