INDEPENDENCE — Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry is about as tight-lipped as they come regarding contract negotiations, so the answer he gave Monday afternoon when asked if the team would offer LeBron James an extension wasn’t exactly surprising.
Everyone knows the Cavaliers will offer James, who can opt out of the final year of his current deal at the end of the 2009-10 season, the maximum number of years for the maximum number of dollars, but Ferry would not confirm it, saying only that he would discuss the matter with the 24-year-old superstar and agent Leon Rose.
“At the appropriate time, we’ll sit down,” the GM said at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “He knows he’s important to our franchise, to our organization and to Northeast Ohio.”
Ferry also defended James, at least a bit, for not shaking hands with Orlando players Saturday night following Cleveland’s elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“LeBron would never intentionally disrespect another NBA player,” he said. “It was a situation where we just lost a tough series. He’s always conducted himself pretty well on the court.”

Giving thanks

In a season-ending news conference with coach Mike Brown that was very short on legitimate news, Ferry thanked Cleveland fans for packing Quicken Loans Arena all season.
“We created something very special this year with our fans,” he said. “Very few franchises get to experience the energy we had this year.”

Mind-boggling

Before repeatedly trying to put a positive spin on the 2008-09 season, which included a franchise-record 66 wins in the regular season and eight straight double-figure victories to start the postseason, Brown called his team’s loss to Orlando “extremely disappointing.”
“It hurts,” he said. “You have a million different thoughts running through your mind. You wish you would have done this. You wish you would have done that. But it didn’t happen.”
Brown also repeated his refrain that teams “have to have a little luck” in the playoffs and continually pointed to Games 1 and 4 as games Cleveland could have won.
“There’s a fine line between winning and losing in this business,” he said.
What if?
Brown, whose team never did find a way to slow down Orlando, drew huge laughs when asked what advice he’d give Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson if he called and asked for tips on how to defend the Magic.
“It’s a good question, but I don’t think he will,” Brown said.

Roster breakdown

James ($15.78 million), Sasha Pavlovic ($4.95 million), Mo Williams ($8.86 million), Daniel Gibson ($4.09 million), Tarence Kinsey ($855,000), J.J. Hickson ($1.43 million), Darnell Jackson ($736,000), Delonte West ($4.25 million), Ben Wallace ($14 million) and Jawad Williams ($736,000) are under contract for next season. The contracts of Kinsey, Jackson and Williams are not guaranteed, while a fairly large chunk of Pavlovic’s is not.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas ($11.54 million) and Anderson Varejao ($6.2 million) have player options in the final year of their deals. Ilgauskas is expected to exercise his and return, while Varejao is expected to opt out and test the free agent market.
Wally Szczerbiak, Lorenzen Wright and Joe Smith are unrestricted free agents.
Counting Wallace, who is pondering retirement, Ilgauskas, Pavlovic and Jackson but not counting Varejao (at the moment), Kinsey and Jawad Williams would give the Cavaliers a payroll of approximately $65.64 million.

Draft status

The Cavaliers will have the 30th and final pick in the first round of the June 25 NBA Draft. They also own Chicago’s second-round pick, which will be No. 46 overall.
Cleveland’s original second-round pick, which will be the 60th and last choice in the draft, will go to Miami.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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