Commentary: Cavaliers need to swing for the fences with Giannis

Honk if you knew that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is also a pretty big deal in Milwaukee, but only for basketball, not football or baseball. So far, anyway. I will be frank: I did not know this. I was not aware that the owner of the Browns is also a big shot when it comes to running the Bucks. Who knew? Probably just about everybody but me. A Cleveland professional sports owner is also now an individual who sits in on, and, presumably, dabbles in, decision-making decisions on basketball board meetings involving the team in Milwaukee, and, we can only assume, in other cities as well. This raises a lot of questions, the first of which to this amateur layman is this: Who is in charge here? Does NBA commissioner Adam Silver know about this? If so, what has he done about this ... so far? Especially now, given that the Bucks, as far as we know, are suddenly professional rivals to a second professional basketball team, namely the Cavaliers, who are not football players. I don't know about you, but I am getting a little dizzy here. Do we really need cross pollination in the sports of basketball and football, much less, involving the millionaire owners who apparently are now competing in at least two of the sports, with another one apparently waiting backstage. It's a jungle out there, kids! And did I mention that the biggest fish in this NBA offseason is the one who either wants to stay with the Bucks or go hunting for some other big game. For now, the Big-Boy Big Game is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is expected to switch to another team sometime during the offseason, either by trade or, you know, just to have a little fun. The Cavs, meanwhile, aren't exactly Division I funsters, themselves, especially now, after having been embarrassed on national television by the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. That hideous romp left everyone scratching their heads, including the Cavs, who for most of the final game of that series with the Knicks, set a new standard for ineptitude by basically quitting in the second half. That left spectators scratching their heads, and forlorn coach Kenny Atkinson sitting on the team's bench in the manor of a coach who was totally out of ideas. All of which sets the table for this coming hoops offseason of, well, let's be honest: who knows what? For now, here is what's what. Antetokounmpo: Who wants him, besides everyone? Answer: Wo can afford him? And would the Cavs swap Evan Mobley and a batch of friends in order to bring to Cleveland the NBA's most unspellable giant, who figures to be the biggest fish in the pond on the NBA's come-and-get-it day. This isn't brain surgery. It will start with the attempted revamping of the Cavs' roster. Which ones stay? Which ones go? And how much would the Cavs have to pony up in order to bring a healthy Antetokounmpo, and potential run at a championship season, to Cleveland? Every decent team in the NBA wants a crack at bringing the big man to their team, no matter, in some cases, what the price would or could be. Let's face it. At these prices, who cares? Another factor is the current Cavs roster, which is shaky at best, unwatchable at worst, especially come playoff time. Anyone who saw the Cavs' disgraceful attempt at trying to cobble together a playoff-worthy team like the Knicks missed that boat completely. Most NBA and NFL owners are swimming in money. Whatever the price tag is for Giannis, it's doable for Dan Gilbert, who never saw a pile of money he couldn't spend. Shouldn't an owner that allegedly is trying to build a winning team after far too many losers be willing to do whatever it takes to stop the ineptitude? Orchestrating a trade of this magnitude would, by itself, be enough to not only give Gilbert's checkbook a fighting chance, but it would also give Browns and Cavs fans a chance to dream. But if you are the Cavs, who do you trade? Do you start with the nobodies and work up to the big-ticket items? Neither. You start by swinging for the fences, and hope you land another Donovan Mitchell. Do you start making outrageous offers to teams that are already better than the Cavs? Or do you swing for the fences by trading Mobley and hope that Jarett Allen can hold the fort for another year? This is not just a team that needs a makeover, the whole roster does, because the Cavs almost certainly are not going to be able to scare anyone with this year's roster, which is not worth touching, unless accompanied by a certain Antetokounmpo. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.