No deal for Thompson, Cavaliers

The Cavs did not accept Thompson’s most recent offer of a three-year maximum contract that his side put on the table last week.

Speaking at the Cavaliers’ media day on Monday, James said the team were ready and motivated to go a step further in the upcoming season.

But on another note, one has to think if that $80 million offer is still valid.

“We also believe strongly that Tristan loves this team and he loves competing with these guys. I think we’re really excited about him, and he’s probably pretty excited about us”. A few teams surprised me and in a few cases you understand why a team is where they are at in the standings. “One thing that we did that didn’t even need to be talked about after we lost our first year in Miami when we came back, [was] we were angry”, James said.

But James, who is also represented by Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul, is confident an agreement can be reached. We saw James go on a bit of a “sabbatical” last season to nurse a few nagging injuries, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see something like that again this upcoming season.

“My ultimate goal is to win a championship, and it starts now” says James in an interview with USA Today. Unbelievably, the Cavs were able to retain his services for next season for under $5 mil, exorcising the option on his previous contract. “I’ll take all the bumps and bruises that I get when I’m playing because I know that I left it all out on the floor”. He took off two weeks in early January to take his diminished talents to South Beach and came back rejuvenated and mysteriously bigger, stronger, faster. The team re-signed J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert and added veteran Richard Jefferson to help reduce James’ minutes load.

David Blatt, who bristled at repeated questions about being a rookie National Basketball Association coach last season, was more open and revealing when asked how much more comfortable he felt entering his second training camp. This superstar athlete stands at 6 ft 8 and has played both the power forward and small forward positions. “I’m here. I’m good”. However, the reports claimed that Thompson was only interested in a max contract (five-year, $94 million).

The team has minimal additions to the roster with most of the team members (except Tristan Thompson) accounted for.

“We do have the opportunity this year to bring his minutes to reasonable levels and keep him in the best possible physical and mental shape”, Blatt said.