2019-20 Cleveland Cavaliers

2018-19: 19-63
Draft picks: 5,26

Signed for next season ($134.2m): Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, JR Smith (non-guaranteed), Brandon Knight, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance, John Henson, Matthew Dellevadova, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic
I'd be pretty shocked if they go into next year with JR Smith still on the roster. Man, they're still too old and too expensive--the Lebron effect.
They paid Kevin Love (still has 4yrs/$120m) so if they trade him it'll be a big deal--and with Klay and Durant more or less off the market, perhaps he becomes more intriguing to some team out there. I think the plan is to keep trotting him out there as the last remaining hero of the Lebron years until trading him becomes a more heroic story line--could be this summer, but probably next year.
Thompson, Smith, Knight, Clarkson, Henson and Dellevadova are all in the final years of their deals and are now trade chips or the makings of a half-hearted rotation. Any of these guys could be useful to the right playoff team but I don't see that any of them are much use to the Cavs except as trade bait--any 1st round pick will be accepted for any of these guys.
Nance is signed and I think a keeper--although they'd take a 1st rounder for him, too.
I think Osman and Zizic can still be good, they're too young to give up on them yet. I wouldn't expect them to get any playing time until after the trade deadline, when ideally the rest of the roster will be gone.


This summer's free agents: Marquesse Chris, Channing Frye (retired), David Nwaba, Nik Stauskus, Deng Adel, Jaron Blossongame
I never figured out what Chriss does but he's young enough and athletic enough to get another look from someone (Memphis?).
Frye was not a Hall of Famer but he had a good career, a notable career and it's nice to see him get a warm send-off.
They never quite cracked the code of how to use Nwaba but I don't see him coming back, I can see him coming off the bench for a playoff team (Nuggets, Bucks maybe).
I think we've seen the last of Stauskus, cursed by being drafted too high, he's probably off to Europe. Adel and Blossongame will probably be back on 2-way deals next year.


Draft: At #5 I would think they would pass on Coby White (North Carolina) and Darius Garland (Vanderbilt) since they already got a fine rookie season out of Collin Sexton last year. I think they'll aim instead for Jarrett Culver (Texas Tech) or Cam Reddish (Duke). #26 could yield someone like KZ Okpala (Stanford), who would be a worthy addition to the youth movement.


Next year's lineup:
PG Sexton, SG Clarkson, SF Nance, PF Love, C Thompson with a bench of Knight, Dellevadova, Osman, Reddish (?), Henson and Zizic.

Yeah...that's not a super sexy lineup right there. Only Love, Nance, Sexton and the #5 pick are signed past next year, so they got one more overpriced suck year and then they can get into the true post-Lebron phase. Their 2020 1st round pick is top 10 protected, so they've got no need to be any good at all next year. I guess they'd listen to offers for Love but I don't see him moving in the next year unless a can't-miss deal arrives at the trade deadline (ehh, I doubt it).

So is this team any good? Well, they could be if they wanted. That veteran crew right there is not dissimilar to, say, the Pistons; they could take a run at #8 in the East. But why bother? They'd rather suck, keep next year's top 10 pick, shed the dead weight from the roster as the season wears on and start looking at 2020-21 with a whole new eye. So even if this team is any good, I would expect them to trade off every performing player they've got for whatever young players, draft picks and expiring contracts they can get back.