The Cleveland Cavaliers are working to sign back Sign JR Smith and Tristan Thompson to contracts this summer in free agency and this comes after the team brought back Matthew Dellavedova, James Jones, Kevin Love Iman Shumpert and LeBron James and the Cavs also signed Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson to help add depth to the bench.
The Cavs saw Smith opt out of his contract this summer and now reports have the team close to signing him Miller to the Blazers helps the Cavs in trying to sign back Smith. ESPN reported that the Cavs signed back Matthew Dellavedova on a one year deal after making the trade and now Smith could be next. The team already signed back James Jones and added Richard Jefferson on a one year deal and that came after the team brought back Williams to Cleveland as well.
LeBron James has said that he wants Smith back and he also said that he thinks Thompson will sign an extension. Windhorst previously reported before the Haywood trade that the Cavaliers remained interested in bringing back both Dellavedova and Smith as free agents. The team likely would have only been able to keep one had Haywood not been traded and now this opens things up. The deals also likely take Jamal Crawford off the table.
The Cavs previously were mentioned in repots about Crawford, as the team wanted outside scoring. Crawford is coming into the final year of his contract and he averaged 15 points per game last season for the Clippers while serving as the primary man off the bench. The Cavs have made numerous improvements and they have kept the bulk of the roster together after making it to the finals last season.
The Cavs wanted more bench scoring and now the team feels that they have it with Jones, Williams, Jefferson and Dellavedova signed. The team was mentioned in connection with Nick Young and Crawford when reports had the team looking for wing help and the Cavs also looked a trade with Joe Johnson. Those talks broke down regarding a Johnson trade and it was due to the money not lining up with the Cavs wanting to trade Anderson Varejao.
Love signed a max extension and it came after numerous rumors that the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and Celtics would chase him in free agency. Love went down in the first round and missed the rest of the playoffs and that means he will be looking to get back to the finals healthy this season. The rumors about Love leaving Cleveland came up long before his injury, but now all that talk is done and he is back on a max deal.
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders reported that Shumpert is back on a four year, $40 million contract and that keeps another key player for the Cavs. James returned last year and the Cavaliers made it to the finals in his first season back before losing to the Warriors and he is looking to go all the way this time around.