The Cavaliers are actively shopping 26-year old SG/PG Delonte West. He will make $4.6 million bucks for the 2010-11 season unless he is cut but August 5th in which he would only get $500,000 bucks. West played in 60 games (3 starts) for the Cavs last season and he averaged 25.0 minutes, 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He has now played in 150 games (93 starts) in his three years with the Cavs and he is averaging 29.8 minutes, 10.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The Cavaliers likely won’t get much back for West as he could be facing a suspension for acting like the Terminator last summer. The Cavaliers are also looking to buy a draft pick in this June’s NBA Draft.

24-year old point guard Sebastian Telfair appeared to be little more than a throw in when the Cavs made the big deal to land Antwan Jamison last February. But he has picked up his option valued at $2.7 million bucks to stick around with the Cavs for this season. Telfair played in 4 games (0 starts) at the end of the year for the Cavs and he averaged 19.3 minutes, 9.8 points, 1.0 rebound and 3.0 assists per game. He played in 43 games (1 start) overall for the Cavs & Clippers last season in which he averaged 15.3 minutes, 4.8 points, 1.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He has now played in 392 games (181 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 23.6 minutes, 7.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. Telfair will have to battle his way up the depth chart to get any playing time in 2010-11 for the Cavs.

First and foremost the Cavaliers have to bring back LeBron James. If they don’t the Cavaliers won’t likely be a playoff team in 2010-11 because even without LeBron they would be too close to the cap to bring in any quality free agents. If they decide to sign and trade James to get something back for him so that he could get a max contract from another team they would have to get a monster haul to be a good team in 2010-11. Shaquille O’Neal always likes to keep his options open but I only see him considering to return to Cleveland if James returns. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has said that he would rather leave Cleveland than waste away on the bench. He should reconsider Cleveland especially if LeBron and Shaq leave as he might be able to start at center for the Cavs in 2010-11. Backup point guard Sebastian Telfair is going to pick up his player option for this season without much doubt as he won’t get that kind of money on the open market. SG/SF Jawad Williams is a restricted free agent and the Cavs would likely like to bring him back as long as the price isn’t out of line.

A lot of teams were asking for 21-year old PF/C J.J. Hickson at the trade deadline but the Cavs were smart to resist as he has a huge upside. Hickson played in 81 games (73 starts) in his second season with the Cavs and he averaged 20.9 minutes, 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Hickson got stiffed in the post season as he didn’t get much P.T. but that will not be a problem in 2010-11 with the Cavaliers who aren’t expecting either Shaq or Big Z back. Hickson has now played in 143 games (73 starts) in his career with the Cavaliers and he is averaging 16.8 minutes, 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. The best is yet to come for J.J. Hickson.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have fired 40-year old head coach Mike Brown. Brown led the Cavs to a 61-21 (74.4%) record this season during the regular season but he was 6-5 (54.5%) in the playoffs and he clearly got outcoached by Doc Rivers of the Celtics. In his five years with the Cavs, Brown compiled a 272-138 (66.3%) record during the regular season and he was 42-29 (59.2%) in the post season. Brown was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2008 and he got the Cavs to the NBA Finals in 2006-07 when they were swept by the Spurs. Despite Brown being a solid coach during the regular season he got fired for being repeatedly outcoached in the playoffs. He blew his big shot as the next gig he gets will be with a team that is rebuilding from the bottom up. The Cavaliers will likely be looking for a high profile coach with some rings on his fingers.

25-year old small forward LeBron James should wake up and smell the coffee. The Cavs can offer him $30 million more dollars than any other team and owner Daniel Gilbert has the cash to add more pieces. The Cavs could easily circumvent the salary cap by letting Ilgauskas and O’Neal walk and then sign a big time free agent. After the free agent signs with the Cavs then they use the Larry Bird exception to re-sign James. The Cavs wouldn’t be rebuilding around James….they would be reloading. Add a new coach with at least one championship ring (like a Larry Brown) and then roll on. James played in 76 games (all starts) last season for the Cavs in which he averaged 39.0 minutes, 29.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game as he won his second NBA MVP Award. James has now played in 548 games (547 starts) for the Cavs (7 years) in which he has averaged 40.3 minutes, 27.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocked shots per game. James is the Cavs’ all time leader in both points scored (15,521) and steals (955). He also is #4 in games played with 548 (tied with Brad Daugherty), he is #2 in assists (3,810), #4 in rebounds (3,861) and he is #2 in blocked shots (936) in Cavs’ history. James should stay in Cleveland without a doubt as they have proven already that they are more than content to make the moves needed to give him a chance to win it all.

If he does decide to walk away I would absolutely be against any sign and trade deal that included a team from the Eastern Conference no matter what they got offered. I think any offer for LeBron James would have to include a All-Star caliber player like Chris Paul, a good player like David West and at least 2 or 3 first round picks. So if the Hornets are willing to give a package up like that they should call the Cavs.

The Cavaliers have exercised their team option for the 2010-11 season on 26-year old forward Leon Powe worth $915,000 bucks. Powe played in 20 games (2 starts) for the Cavs this season and he averaged 11.8 minutes, 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He has now played in 209 games (16 starts) in his four years in the NBA and he is averaging 14.3 minutes, 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game on 51.7% shooting from the floor. This was a smart move for the Cavs to bring Powe back and he should get more playing time in 2010-11.

The Cavaliers only shot 38.4% from the floor tonight and that trumped the fact that they outrebounded the Celtics 48-37. LeBron James came to play tonight as he finished up with 27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot. But he was a tad sloppy with the ball as he had 9 turnovers in this game. Mo Williams pitched in with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Shaquille O’Neal only played 24 minutes and he finished up with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. The Cavaliers lose this series 4-2 to the Celtics and I think some heads are going to roll because of it. I fully expect Mike Brown to get fired over the weekend as there is no reason why the Cavaliers should have lost this series.

LeBron James looked almost like he was uninterested during the Cleveland Cavaliers embarrassing 120-88 loss to the Boston Celtics in game five of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.  He only hit 3 of 14 shots, with all but only three shots coming outside of the paint.  Now that is not the LeBron we have grown accustomed to seeing over the years, who usually is an aggressive force taking it to the hole almost at will.  He settled for contested jumpers, including four missed three-point attempts.  During the second quarter, with the game still close, LeBron was aggressive and drawing fouls, taking 10 of his 12 free throw attempts in that quarter.  When the Celtics started to take over in the third quarter, that LeBron disappeared.  He took six jumpers in the third quarter and only connected on one.  It was the type of game where LeBron had to at least try and take matters into his own hands and keep attacking, but he kept settling for jumpers.  His half-hearted comeback attempt makes this LeBron’s worst game of his career in my opinion.  It wasn’t just because of his poor numbers, but it was the seemingly lack of effort that LeBron portrayed out there on the court, making it more than just an “off” game.  LeBron did not bring the same kind of intensity and aggressiveness he usually brings and it allowed the Celtics to jump all over the Cavs and not let up all game.  If LeBron doesn’t wake up and bring it like he can in game six, the Cavaliers are done and we could be seeing LeBron in a Cavs jersey for the last time.

The Cavaliers looked like they didn’t want to play last night. They were outrebounded 41-31 and they didn’t play any D as the Celtics shot 55% from the floor. After the Cavs came out of the locker room at the half they quit as they were outscored 70-44! Shaquille O’Neal was the only Cavs’ player who really came to play as he finished up with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocked shots in only 27 minutes. LeBron James had one of the worst games I can ever remember him having as he finished up with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists on 3 of 14 shooting from the floor. Anthony Parker pitched in with 14 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist last night. The Cavaliers are now down 3-2 in this series with Game #6 in Boston tomorrow.