Cavaliers news, features and notes
- Jason Lloyd: Lottery victory brings Cavs plenty of options through trades and draft
- Cleveland Cavaliers win draft lottery, will pick No. 1 again
- Cavs win draft lottery, will pick No. 1 in NBA Draft
- NBA Draft lottery: Cavs’ third-best odds have history of turning into top selection
- 2103 NBA Scouting Combine: GlenOak graduate C.J. McCollum hopes to be a lottery pick
- 2013 NBA Scouting Combine: Cleveland Cavaliers focus on drafting good players, not overall strength of draft
- 2013 NBA Scouting Combine: Otto Porter seems like perfect fit for Cleveland Cavaliers but no meeting on agenda
- 2013 NBA Scouting Combine notebook: Nerlens Noel won’t play until late December but still interests Cavaliers
- Projected top pick Nerlens Noel won't be ready for start of season, targeting Christmas
- Former Ohio State star Deshaun Thomas refuses to give NBA team his phone number at combine
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Report: Columbus wants an NBA franchise
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman has informed NBA Commissioner David Stern that his city wants an NBA franchise, the Columbus Dispatch reported on Thursday. Coleman sent a letter to Stern this week expressing the city's interest in either an expansion or relocated team, but it won't be easy.
Stern has made it clear in recent times that expansion simply isn't an option right now for the NBA, which already has 30 teams. And even if it was, Columbus would be well behind Seattle, which has fought hard to land another NBA team after the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
With the New Orleans ownership situation settled, the only other team with thoughts of leaving are the Kings, who continue to negotiate with the city of Sacramento for a new arena deal. Kings owners Gavin and George Maloof have threatened to move the team to Anaheim, Calif., if a deal isn't reached, while Seattle is again lying in the weeds to perhaps land the Kings.
While the city of Columbus can certainly try, it's difficult to envision the Maloofs, who own the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, relocating their franchise to the Midwest.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert told the Dispatch he would "have to think about" whether he would try to block the move of another franchise into his back yard. While he might not say it now, the Cavs certainly would not be happy with another franchise in the same state and less than 150 miles from Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers have played preseason games at Value City Arena on Ohio State's campus, although an NBA franchise would be located at the city's downtown venue, Nationwide Arena.
NBA owners would have to approve a relocation, but it's worth noting the only states with more than one NBA franchise are Texas, Florida, New York and California. The Nets' move to Brooklyn will give New York two teams next season, Florida has two, Texas has three and California has four teams (two in Los Angeles).
Columbus' metropolitan area population is about 1.9 million, according to the Dispatch report. Seven NBA cities have smaller metropolitan populations: Charlotte, Indianapolis, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City.
