Posted by Dan Labbe/cleveland.com

The Cavaliers have a problem.

Imagine you're the owner of an NBA franchise. It's July. Tickets haven't gone on sale yet. The schedule's not even out.

Got it?

Now imagine what it would do to your bottom line if you traded an All-Star caliber player for a bunch of expiring contracts. Sure, in the long run it might be the right move, but you're in a high-stakes business. You've got tickets to sell and a fan-base to appease and essentially throwing in the towel in July or August isn't going to do it.

And therein lies the problem for Danny Ferry and the Cavaliers.

Those expiring contracts he has aren't worth much in July. And the best talent he has to trade is either unsigned (Daniel Gibson) or has complications when it comes to doing a deal (Anderson Varejao). Meanwhile, Philadelphia just landed Elton Brand. Baron Davis is off the market. Corey Maggette's staying on the West Coast. Milwaukee traded for Richard Jefferson, so how much sense would it make for them to trade Michael Redd? Jermaine O'Neal was traded north of the border.

 

What, exactly, can the Cavaliers do? Sign James Posey? Sorry, but that doesn't really motivate me to go stake out my spot along the championship parade route.

Don't get me wrong. The Cavs are still a good team. They've got the best player in the league. They have a center that can score. They've got Daniel Gibson who, when healthy, is one of the best shooters in the game. They have a young point guard that is at the very least good enough for now. This is the same roster that dragged the Celtics to seven games.

But I don't need to tell you that losing in the second round just doesn't cut it.

When all is said and done, the Cavaliers just might have to wait until February. Good luck convincing a team to trade an All-Star for expiring deals in July. Even Kevin McHale was smart enough to get some real talent back in the Kevin Garnett trade. Besides, no one's ready to declare the season over before it begins. The Cavaliers offseason, however, may be a different story.

 

Posted by Dan Labbe/cleveland.com

Here's the latest from around the Internet on what's happening today in NBA free agency. (All links will open up in new windows.)

• Jose Calderon, a point guard that could have drawn interest on the open market, resigns with Toronto according to the National Post. ESPN also is reporting this.

• Antawn Jamison will stay a Wizard. Chris Mannix of SI.com says Gilbert Arenas is not far behind.

• Baron Davis surprised some folks by opting out of his deal. This ESPN story suggest perhaps the Clippers could have an interest.

• Elton Brand and Corey Maggette opted out of their deals. Brand, at least, has indicated he'd like to stay with the Clippers.

• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer talks about the Cavaliers offseason options.

• The Morning Journal's Bob Finnan lets us in on what he's been hearing about the Cavaliers. This from the article: "A league source said the Cavs have been working on some possible deals, including a sign-and-trade."

• Chad Ford of ESPN ranks the the best available free agents.

Are the Knicks looking at Chris Duhon? Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News looks into that.

The Boston Globe reports that the Celtics are focusing on bringing back possible Cavs target James Posey.

Come across anything good in your daily Internet surfing? Post it below in the comments or e-mail it to me at dlabbe@cleveland.com. I'll keep this post updated if I find any other links of interest.