Cavaliers lost in Finals and now lose offseason | John Smallwood

The other day, I reached the conclusion that the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves were the biggest winners in the NBA so far for the offseason.

Now let's take a look at the losers.

Again, trades can still be made before the start of the 2017-18 season, so I reserve the right to adjust my views at a later time should things warrant, but, for right now, these are the teams that have had the worst offseason.

Cleveland Cavaliers – That the runner-up in the NBA Finals ranks worse than the "clown show" in New York shows how bad Cleveland's offseason has been.

LeBron James is still the best basketball player on the planet, and the Cavs are still the dominant team in the Eastern Conference.

The problem is that's where the good news ends.

For the second time in three seasons, the Cavaliers got beaten in the NBA Finals by the Golden State Warriors.

Many argue that if not for a questionable flagrant foul that caused Warriors forward Draymond Green to be suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 Finals, Cleveland would be 0-3 against Golden State.

The point is that the Warriors showed again that they are superior to the Cavaliers. They've kept all of their best players and added a few more useful pieces.

When you have James and the second highest payroll in the NBA, the sole objective is to be the best team in the NBA.

Anything short of a title is a failure.

Cleveland's response to Golden State's getting better has been put its house into disarray.

Three days before the draft, the Cavaliers parted ways with general manager David Griffin, who was running things when James decided to come home from Miami and was in charge as the team went to three consecutive Finals and one championship.

To make things worse, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert apparently lost his first choice to become the team's new president of basketball operations when former NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups turned the job down, reportedly because Cleveland tried to "low-ball" him with a salary way below the going rate.

Cleveland had no selections in the draft and has made no trades. Signing journeymen Jose Calderon and Jeff Green won't get them closer to the Warriors.

All-Star Kevin Love, who is owed $71 million over the next three seasons, can't be feeling much love after his name was again attached to trade rumors.

James, 32, left Cleveland in 2010 for the Heat because he didn't think at the time that the Cavaliers could build a championship team. He can opt out of his contract after the 2017-18 season and become an unrestricted free agent.

New York Knicks – Where to start? It doesn't matter because, just like the city on a steamy-hot summer day, everything about the Knicks smells bad.

James Dolan could be the only owner who could dismiss Phil Jackson as president of basketball operations for incompetence and have things get worse.

The Knicks were in negotiations with Griffin to take over as general manager, but the former Cleveland head man pulled his name from consideration, reportedly because the team could not define his role in the hierarchy.

It's no secret that the Knicks want to unloaded All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who is owed more than $50 million over the next two seasons, but he has a no-trade clause, and thus far says he will go only to Cleveland or the Houston Rockets.

With the No. 8 pick in the draft, the Knicks drafted French 19-year point guard Frank Ntilikina, who is a high-reward/high-risk prospect.

Crazy salaries for marginal players has become normal in free agency, but everyone turned their heads at the Knicks signing guard Tim Hardaway Jr., whom they traded two years earlier, to a four-year deal worth $71 million – about $35 million more than anyone else was offering.

"Surprised," Hardaway, who has averaged 11.2 points for his career, said when asked about the amount his deal.

Not surprising, because it was the Knicks who did it.

Utah Jazz – This is a case of a minor mistake from the past catching up. In 2014, before forward Gordon Hayward had established himself as an All-Star, the Jazz let him become a restricted free agent. Utah matched the four-year, $63 million deal offered by Charlotte, but Hayward got a player option after three seasons, which he used.

Despite being offered considerably more money by Utah, Hayward signed with Boston Celtics for $128 million.

With Hayward, Utah won 51 games, a division title and a playoff series in 2016-17.

The Jazz aren't a disaster but without Hayward, one of the ascending young teams in the league will likely fall back into the pack of an even tougher Western Conference.

Portland Trail Blazers – Because their payroll was the highest in the league and over the salary cap, the Blazers couldn't sign any free agents, much less an impact one.

Zach Collins and Caleb Swanigan were smart draft picks, but Portland desperately needed to make a trade to get some cap relief.

When you can't do anything about having the highest payroll but are the only eighth best team in the Western Conference, it's a bad offseason.