Cavs Draft Dilemmas

What kind of market are the Cavs looking to explore in July? They have a mid-level exception, which could net a solid role player. They also have the famous $30 million in expiring contracts that they could get rid of. Resigning Daniel Gibson to a nice 3 or 4 year deal would be another thing on the checklist for Mr. Ferry. Here's where I see the Cavs standing at this point:

Damon Jones (4.4 mil), Wally Sczerbiak (13 mil), Eric Snow (7.3 mil) and Joe Smith (4.7 mil) are the expiring contracts. Delonte West will make 2.7 mil as a restricted FA but I don't see much interest in anyone swooping in to give him a big offer sheet. All of these guys can be traded and sought by teams looking to open up cap room after the 08-09 season. Jones and Snow are basically useless to this team, making their tradeabilty greater. Snow needs to apply for the insurance to get that 7 mil off of the Cavs cap. With that being potentially erased, the Cavs would have more money and leverage to deal with in this offseason, as opposed to waiting until next. Plus, no one is going to trade for Snow, even if he comes off the cap in a year. Maybe they can trade him in February but no one wants that 7 mil on their cap for a whole season.

In terms of the draft, the Cavs need to be resourceful in trading up. I haven't heard much about this other than the 14 and ??? for the 19 and Varajao deal that keeps popping up here and there with Golden State. There's a possibility of getting Brandon Wright, a solid young big guy who can eventually replace Smith and Varajao in the lineup. Andy is due to make 12 mil over the next two years in his contract. For the limited minutes and offensive potential, he certainly isn't worth it in my mind (I thought that throughout the holdout and continue to believe the Cavs made a mistake resigning him). The bigger mistake and more untradeable is Mr. Pavlovic. While he is due less than Andy (9.4 mil over the next two years), he is untradeable until his contract is expiring (aka next summer or Feb. 2010).

For the Cavs, I would suggest one of two things: Trading back in the first round and getting a 2nd round pick (Trading a future #1 pick is another possibility; also in the NBA, you can literally buy a draft pick for 3 mil...maybe we can do one of these two). The Seattle Sonics have the 32, 46, 50 and 56 picks in the 2nd round. Does anyone really believe that this cash hungry team won't sell or trade away at least one of these picks? They have the #4 overall as well so adding five players (potentially; second round picks aren't guaranteed contracts) is outrageous. They have 12 players under contract right now with 8 of them having at least 2 years left. They've been rumored to be trading Wilcox (6 mil, expiring) while trying to move up. But, who knows what they'll do? The only thing I can say for sure is that they have multiple first round pick in future years, Durant, Green, the #4 pick (as of now) and many second round picks. Not to mention all of the grossly overpaid, multiple year deals they still have left (Collison, Ridnour, Watson). I believe the Cavs can trade for a second round pick from Seattle, add that player to the roster for less than a million dollars and have a quality player on the bench.