In all seriousness....what does the 'value of the franchise' have to really do with the team? Only time that matters is when the owner wants to sell it.
Cavs will still be able to offer max salaries to any FA's.
Its like if a hot woman comes up to ya...tells ya..ill give you two options. 1...you get laid tonite and ill be gone. or 2. you wont get laid tonite, but ill be around the next 5 nights and you may get laid once, twice, three, four or five times....or none at all.
Option 1 gets you laid. Then she is gone but you still have the chance to get laid by some other chicks the next five days.
Option 2.......ya may get it 0-5 times..and to compare it to an NBA championsip....which is hard to win...very good chance you wont get laid at all those five days..........but also a chance ya could....
I agree for the most part that money talks, but that would be the only thing the Cavs would be able to offer. Let's be honest, Cleveland isn't a real desirable location.