Well it’s that time of year again when NBA teams are lucky enough to uncover future bargains like Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall and…yeah. Free Agency is where overpaid happens. Period. It’s the time when players usually ask for the stars, the moon, the sky, the planets, etc., and the general managers usually give it to them. It’s often the place where general managers think they can build their team through free agency and when that happens, you get the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So this is year is pretty much like last year: we have two young, restricted free agents coming off of good years. The Cavs top two priorities are getting Delonte West and Daniel Gibson locked up. There’s no doubt about it.

But the Cavs will have decisions to make. What if Gibson or West holdout and wait for the money like Anderson Varejao did? Oh wait, they don’t have Dan Fegan as their agent. Never mind.

The bottom line is that the Cavs will have some tough decisions to make with some key pieces from last year on the free agent market. What will those decisions be? Who knows. But what we do know is that they’ll likely impact our future.

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The San Francisco Chronicle and New York Newsday reported this week that the Cavaliers may be chasing Golden State Warriors restricted free agent guard Monta Ellis, who has blossomed into one of the league’s most dynamic scorer just three years after being a second-round pick in 2005. To be fair, Ellis’ situation is a bit hairy since it is hard to determine his true monetary value based on his size, production, and the system (Don Nelson’s “Smallball”) that he plays in.

But the Warriors just lost unrestricted free agent point guard Baron Davis to the Los Angeles Clippers, and that may apply more pressure on Warriors GM Chris Mullin to bring back Ellis at any cost. (more…)

Whether it spills over to the local media or stems from the media itself is like the chicken/egg theory. But with a few exceptions, you have to agree on one thing: The sports media in Cleveland sucks. All the way from sports radio to the newspapers to the tube. Just flat…out…sucks.

That’s the one positive of not living in Cleveland anymore. Columnists like the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Bill Livingston and Bud Shaw will leave you feeling 30 years older and infinite years dumber - and that’s before you start hating yourself for being a Clevelander as a result of reading their columns. When I left Cleveland, Kenny Rhoda was the most popular local sports radio personality - at least in terms of ratings. And he’s a Steelers fan. When it comes to him, we’ll just leave it at that.

For a city that is used to never being the best at anything, there’s always next year.

Fortunately, Cleveland no longer has to wait for a champion amongst sports media. And that’s because “Waiting For Next Year” decided to ring in 2008 by launching a Cleveland sports blog that has every perspective covered with a fresh new angle that, unlike the rest of the Cleveland media, actually enters the 21st century. Here at Cavalier Attitude, we’re restricted to the Cavs (unless I decide to go off on a random tangent every now and then, and it sounds like I’m about to if I don’t watch myself).

At WFNY, you get a daily fix of whichever C-Town team you want to rock. Browns training camp? Cavs free agency? Indians’ annual rebuilding project? No matter. It’s all right there - with open-minded writers who know what they’re talking about and appreciate the viewpoints of all fans.

Sound too good to be true? I had to find out for myself after having a chance to catch up with one of the blog’s writers, RockKing, who definitely swung back with brass knuckles against the LeBron-leaving-Cleveland media circus that is quickly spiraling out of control. It served notice that “Waiting For Next Year” has arrived. If you didn’t notice WFNY’s work before, then you certainly notice it now. And if you’re still not paying attention, then the joke’s on you.

The following is a one-on-one interview with RockKing about the state of the Cavaliers organization, including the current makeup of the team and the issues that the team will need to address moving forward (You can catch mine with RockKing over at WFNY, as well).

Buckle up. (more…)

If you’re one of those delusional fans who think that it’s a foregone conclusion that LeBron James is going to go play for Jay-Z and the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets (or even think that there’s a strong chance of that happening), the joke’s on you.

Don’t worry, though. You’re reading this, so it’s a good start in the path to becoming educated. It’s a good start to forcing out the B.S. propaganda that the national media, which is always starving for some kind of weird, crazy story, is feeding you. (more…)

Amar already introduced you to J.J. Hickson, so I won’t go in-depth about him since you guys should know about him by now. Although I will introduce you guys to former Kansas teammates and now Cavalier teammates, Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun.

So what was the purpose of drafting 3 big men? Who are they? And what does it mean?

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The New Jersey Nets were having a firesale before the draft Thursday (yeah yeah, some say it’s to prepare for 2010, but let’s hope those people get struck by a lightning bolt soon or dissolve in a hurricane and just go away). Richard Jefferson’s big contract that goes through 2011? Gone. And for nothing more than Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons’ overrated, overpaid ass.

That means that one Vince Carter is the only man under contract past 2010. It may seem counterproductive to help a team that is trying to clear cap room for 2010 in an attempt to make a run at Somebody, but if you can play the Nets - who won’t even be moving to Brooklyn by 2010 - for a fool and take advantage of their comical little firesale, then you have to do it.

Which is why Wally Szczerbiak straight up for Vince Carter - that’s right, straight up - sounded way too good to be true. (more…)

Put it this way: That poll that has been on this site for the past couple of weeks asking you who the Cavs should pick at no. 19 didn’t even include Hickson’s name on it.

But chill out. That in no way means that I don’t support this pick, and there are many good things that should have you giddy about the possibilities such an athletic big man with a good arsenal of post moves and great potential brings. (more…)

Go figure.

That being said, here’s who the best draft experts in all the land are saying the Cavs will take with the 19th pick. Brace yourselves - they all agree to disagree. (more…)

With all those other mock drafts out there at this time of the year, Amar and I decided to get together and do a quick mock draft of our own. Now, we do write for this blog in all but we are far from NBA experts. Let me repeat myself: far from NBA experts. We are just a couple of Cavalier fans who think they know everything about anything (at least I know I’m like that). So when reading over this mock don’t go, “Why the heck would they do that? Are these guys stupid?” We don’t know every little detail about every single team, but we did our best to try to make this seem like a viable attempt at a mock draft. So criticize us all you want but keep in mind who’s doing this (:)). And just remember one last thing: this is what we think these teams would do. Not what we would do if we had the pick.

So what do Amar and I think will happen on draft night? Or more importantly, who will the Cavs draft? Check out our mock and see. You might be a little surprised.

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