Cavs Blog: Ferry wants Lee

by Tommy Dee on August 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

A Cleveland blog called Cavalier Attitude is churning out speculation that contradicts all logic, but answers the “big man” the Cavs were asking about. According to the report, the Cavs inquired about David Lee, not Zach Randolph or Eddy Curry, and may have been offering Anderson Varejao, or Delante West. Before I get into the crux of the blog post, let me say that this Cleveland blogger is braindead if he thinks he has a clue about the Knicks and their needs. Delonte West a perfect two guard for D’Antoni?

Nice try.

So how can the Cavs get (Lee) him? Well, the deal would have to be structured around a Varejao-for-Lee swap, but not only is that deal unfair even if done straight up, but Varejao is due to make $5.8 million this season while Lee is on the books for $1.8 million. Not only would Ferry have to take back a bad contract, but he’d have to take back a subpar player, as well. Or both in one.

Doing a sign-and-trade involving Delonte West is a possibility, especially since West could be a good fit in the fast-paced offense of new head coach Mike D’Antoni. New York just signed Chris Duhon to a multi-year deal, but West could be a good fit as a shooting guard alongside Duhon. It also offers the Knicks the opportunity to rid themselves of the Stephon Marbury era and start two young guards whose best days could be ahead of them.

Although Ferry is reluctant to give West “Daniel Gibson money” (five years, $21 million), West might get that in New York in a sign-and-trade. West’s status as a “Base Year Player” would also reduce the value of his outgoing salary in sign-and-trades, possibly just enough to do a trade with New York centering around Varejao and Lee.

A potential bad contract that Ferry could take back would be the one of Jared Jeffries, who is signed through 2011 with a player option and is due about $19.5 million until then. Jeffries wouldn’t be completely useless – he could be used as a defender off the bench. But it should be no secret that Jeffries’ main purpose would be to enable the Cavs to swap Varejao with Lee, a move that, combined with the Mo Williams deal, could put the Cavaliers over the top in the East.

For New York, they can use Varejao as a stop-gap for Gallinari as well as a big man off the bench as they bring the Italian along with no expectations of paying Varejao after 2009. That takes $5.7 million off the books for next summer. If West is signed to a Boobie-like deal (or even slightly more), that would be at least $1 million less than what Jeffries is due for 2009-10, shaving a combined $7 million from the cap for the offseason of 2010.

Knowing what we know now – the Cavs’ reluctance to add massive salaries on contracts that go past 2010 – we can hope to eliminate Zach Randolph ($48 million for next three season) and Eddy Curry ($30 million for next three years with player options for both 2009-10 and 2010-11) from that list. Also consider that both Curry and Zebo are starters, and the Cavs have their starting bigs in place with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace.

That’s when you shift your eyes to the Knicks’ bench. And that’s also when your eyes light up. Especially after you consider this take from the New York Post following the draft in late June when the Knicks took 6′10″ Italian Danilo Gallinari with the sixth pick:

So begins the Knicks’ Italian Stallion Era, and possibly the end of David Lee…Gallinari’s addition means the Knicks likely will trade Lee this summer for a point guard. Charlotte reportedly is interested, with Raymond Felton. The Knicks nearly dealt Lee to Memphis for their fifth pick, with Walsh saying a deal was “close”…The new regime apparently feels Lee is limited and are hesitant [to] want to give him a lavish contract extension by October because it could hurt their ability to get under the cap in 2010.

As we just mentioned, Lee is being shopped, but this deal isn’t the right one. There’s absolutely no need for West, and a Varejao-for-Lee spot makes little sense. Felton is a name we floated on draft night but that ship has sailed apparently. Any way you slice it talks will continue to surround Lee.
  • Loveofthegame05

    Once Larry Brown took over in Charlotte I lost confidence in Felton being traded. Felton is the kind of PG that hasn’t lived up to his potential yet, And we all know Larry Brown should be nicknamed “Build-a-Point Guard”