Cavaliers unveil three alternate jerseys for 2015–16 season
The Cavaliers revealed three alternate uniform looks for the 2015–16 season on Wednesday.
After Cavs owner Dan Gilbert trolled fans (quite successfully) with a series of three hideous, fake jerseys, the Cavs rolled out their new threads Wednesday night at the Wine & Gold annual meeting for the team’s ticket holders.
The three uniforms include two throwback-inspired sets, one wine and one gold, as well as a dark blue set with a short-sleeved, v-neck jersey.
Tristan Thompson to re-sign with Cavaliers for 5 years, $82 million
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson have agreed on a five-year, $82 million deal, agent Rich Paul told ESPN.com on Wednesday.
The deal does not include player or team options, and all money is guaranteed.
At $16.4 million annually, it will make Thompson the sixth-highest-paid power forward in the NBA and equal the contract signed by Golden State Warriorsforward Draymond Green over the summer.
It also ends a contract stalemate dating to July that caused Thompson to miss training camp and the preseason.
Thompson, 24, had been seeking a max contract of five years and $94 million or three years and $53 million. The Cavs had previously offered five years and $80 million.
While Thompson settled for less than the max, his deal is larger than many league officials thought he would get heading into the summer.
The contract completes the Cavs' goal of bringing back the core of the team that reached the Finals last season. It cost them heavily to do so -- the contracts forLeBron James, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Thompson total more than $290 million in guaranteed money.
It will also come with a massive tax bill. Though the tax won't be calculated until the end of the season, and the Cavs have only 14 guaranteed contracts, they are now in line to pay in excess of $60 million in luxury tax, which would be the second highest on record.
Including salaries and tax, the Cavs are likely to spend more than $170 million on this season's roster, the second-highest number in league history behind the 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets. The Nets spent $197 million that season, including a record $90.5 million in tax.
The Cavs now have long-term deals locked up with Love, Thompson and young star Kyrie Irving, who is starting a five-year, $94 million extension he signed in 2014.
Thompson was quick to weigh in via social media in the wake of the agreement.
Negotiations between the team and Thompson dragged out for more than a year. Last fall, the Cavs offered Thompson a four-year deal worth $50 million, and Thompson turned it down.
Thompson, drafted by the Cavs fourth overall in 2011 out of Texas, averaged 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds while coming off the bench last season. His considerable value to the Cavs was seen in the playoffs, in which he started 15 games in place of an injured Love. He averaged 9.6 points and 10.8 rebounds in the postseason, helping the Cavs reach the Finals, where they lost in six games to the Warriors.
Thompson is one of the league's best offensive rebounders and averaged 4.4 per game during the playoffs.
Tristan Thompson to re-sign with the Cavaliers: Five things to know
The Cleveland Cavaliers have finally reached an agreement with restricted free agentTristan Thompson. He will sign a five-year, $82 million deal to remain with the team that drafted him in 2011, his agent, Rich Paul, told Yahoo Sports' Marc Spears.
Here are five things to know about our long, (inter)national -- Thompson is Canadian! -- nightmare being over:
1. This really didn't need to take so long: Thompson and Paul were reportedly holding out for a five-year, $94 million maximum contract. The Cavaliers ended up giving him essentially the same deal they reportedly offered at the beginning of this process. The leverage, from Thompson's side, was the threat of him sitting out the season and leaving next summer. According to Yahoo Sports, the team didn't buy it. Thompson's side could have saved itself a lot of stress and uncertainty by coming to an agreement earlier -- for example, Draymond Green accepted the same terms from the Golden State Warriors on July 1.
2. This is still a win for Thompson: There is no guarantee Thompson would have been able to get this kind of contract next year, even with the rising salary cap. While he was great for Cleveland in last season's playoffs, this is still a lot of money for a big man who is not much of a rim protector and does not stretch the floor at all. The Cavs are capped out and have few avenues to improve the team, which meant they were willing to pay up, just not to a crazy degree. In the end, after a whole summer's worth of rumors and posturing, Thompson arguably got more than he's worth, even under the new salary cap. He should be extremely happy, especially considering he should have a chance to compete for multiple titles.
3. Cleveland is going to have a huge luxury-tax bill, and that's OK: The Cavs should have no problem with paying $170 million-plus in payroll, including the luxury tax, as calculated by ESPN's Brian Windhorst -- that's just the cost of doing business when you have LeBron James on your roster. James would not have come to Cleveland if he thought the organization was going to pinch pennies when it comes to keeping core parts of a championship-contending team. That obviously includes Thompson, so the Cavs would have deserved criticism if they didn't lock him up.
4. Thompson should be thinking Sixth Man of the Year, not All-Star: As long as Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov remain healthy, Thompson should come off the bench. That's not the case for most guys who sign $82 million deals, but nothing about this situation has been normal. Cleveland's crowded frontcourt will prevent Thompson from putting up huge numbers, but it also gives him an opportunity to continue contributing on a contender and getting easy looks from James and Kyrie Irving. There won't be a ton of pressure for him to "live up to the contract" -- he just has to keep doing all the dirty work that made James and head coach David Blatt rave about him so much last year. Perhaps it's better to be one of the NBA's best reserves than a league-average starter.
5. The Cavs must wish training camp started now: Thompson isn't the only key piece who didn't get a chance to get in rhythm with his teammates. James just had a back injection, Kevin Love missed most of the preseason, Irving could still be out for a while and Iman Shumpert probably won't be back until January. Cleveland is playing catch-up, and it should be thankful that its early-season schedule is relatively soft.
1 comment:
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