Should the Cleveland Cavaliers Blow It Up?
Let's be clear about one thing first. This will likely never happen. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been to three straight NBA Finals and won one of them. They have been one of the most successful NBA franchises when they have had LeBron James on their team. I am in no way discrediting what they have done in previous seasons and frankly what I believe LeBron James can do in the playoffs this season, but the thought exercise question of "Should the Cavs blow it up this year?" rings in my head constantly. With the NBA trade deadline coming up Thursday, is it time for the Cavaliers to cut bait and build for the future, even with LeBron James in tow?
I repeat, this will not actually happen, which actually makes this exercise even more fun because I can really go hog-wild. Let's lay a few ground rules before we start:
- All pieces are on the table except for LeBron James (he has recently said he will not waive his no-trade clause and will finish out the season with Cleveland)
- All trades must work via the ESPN NBA Trade Machine (http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine)
- The trades don't necessarily need to be realistic, but in theory there must be a realm of possibility in which the teams might agree. AKA the trades must be "fair"
- The idea is to put Cleveland in the best position to win in the future and therefore cap flexibility and youthful assets will be valued more highly than established players
With that out of the way, here's what I think would work:
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis, Zach Collins, 2018 1st Rd Pick, Lottery Protected 2019 1st Rd Pick
Portland Trailblazers Receive: Kevin Love, Kyle Korver, Ante Zizic
The first order of business is to get rid of Kevin Love. My hope was to be able to package Kevin Love and one of either Tristan Thompson or JR Smith to shed some salary, but there wasn't a way to make that work to a team that actually had a shot of contending. The major assets that Cleveland picks up with this deal are the first round picks and Zach Collins. Collins started off slowly, but has blossomed with an expanded role in Portland and could easily develop into a solid stretch-big. Harkless is signed to a head-scratcher of a deal, but at just 24 years old, he still has the potential to become a decent rotation guy. Aminu's contract isn't great, but will expire after next year and could be a nice bargaining chip a year from now.
Kevin Love has expressed interest in going home to play for the Blazers and he would put Portland into contention for a high seed in the West. The two-man game between Love and Nurkic might be too much for NBA analysts to take in. Korver adds some much needed shooting to a thin bench unit for Portland and Zizic will be able to fill in the minutes Davis and Collins took up. This deal hurts the Blazers future, but gives them a shot to compete in the short term.
With Kevin Love off the team, it's time to work out the brutal cap situation the Cavs have. For that, we enlist the help of the Denver Nuggets and their desperation to find a real point guard:
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Wilson Chandler, Emmanuel Mudiay, Malik Beasley, Richard Jefferson, 2018 2nd Rd Pick (From Sacramento or Portland - less favorable)
Denver Nuggets Receive: Tristan Thompson, Isaiah Thomas
The Cavs don't get much back for Isaiah Thomas due to the fact that they have to basically use IT as a sweetener to get Denver to take on Tristan Thompson's awful contract. The Cavaliers receive in return a young Emmanuel Mudiay and Malik Beasley and another two year contract in Wilson Chandler. Jefferson is simply a throw in so that we can reunite the hosts of the 'Road Trippin' podcasts. Denver gives up little in terms of production and Thomas affords the Nuggets the ball handling and scoring from the backcourt that they desperately need to make a run at the playoffs this year. It's not the haul I would like to get for Thomas, but getting rid of Thompson is worth it.
That leaves one final piece to get rid of; the dreaded JR Smith contract. I'd obviously like to get rid of Iman Shumpert as well (who has seemingly forgotten how to play basketball since winning an NBA championship), but with only two years left on his deal as opposed to three for JR, I've made the decision that keeping Shumpert probably makes the team worse and thus a higher draft pick is yielded. Therefore, we have our final trade:
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Vince Carter, Justin Jackson
Sacramento Kings Receive: JR Smith, 2018 1st Rd Pick (From Blazers), 2018 2nd Rd Pick (From Nuggets)
This was a tough one to come up with. I'm still not entirely sure the Kings would do this deal as they have been getting surprisingly more competent when it comes to trades, but I think the 1st round pick is just too much for the Kings to not take this deal. Basically, the Cavs get a decent young win in Justin Jackson and Vince Carter's expiring contract and best of all, get rid of the brutal contract that is JR Smith. They have to give up picks they received in each of the previous two deals, but that's a small price to pay to rid themselves of JR's awful contract and even more awful marijuana habits.
We Turned This into THIS
Overall, we turned:
JR Smith
Tristan Thompson
Isaiah Thomas
Kevin Love
Kyle Korver
Ante Zizic
Into
Maurice Harkless
Al-Farouq Aminu
Ed Davis
Zach Collins
Wilson Chandler
Emmanuel Mudiay
Malik Beasley
Richard Jefferson
Vince Carter
Justin Jackson
2019 1st Rd Pick (Lottery Protected)
Obviously, this would mean cutting a few guys to make room, but that would be achievable.
What does this achieve?
First off, it makes the Cavs far younger. Jefferson and Carter are the obvious outliars there, but they are only for salary filler and won't be on the team long term. They're both on expiring deals and we won't be renewing them after this season. The cream of the crop comes in the form of Zach Collins and Emmanuel Mudiay. Obviously it isn't the greatest return for giving up three starters, but this is about blowing things up in Cleveland and getting younger is a must. We also don't get rid of the coveted Brooklyn pick and keep our own pick, which depending on how LeBron feels, could wind up at the top end of the lottery.
Secondly, we get a ton of cap flexibility. Getting rid of Thompson, Smith, and Korver frees up our future to be able to pursue free agents in the summer of 2019 with ease as none of the big contracts we brought back will be on the books longer than that. We also still keep Jae Crowder who is on a team friendly contract and it's entirely possible that we can flip Aminu and Chandler for picks or young guys next year as their cap hits will come off the books in 2019.
What about LeBron
If you haven't caught on by now, in this scenario, LeBron is taking his talents somewhere other than Cleveland following this season. Whether that's LA, Houston, or Golden State doesn't really matter because there's not a lot we can do. There's no way LeBron stays around for this massive of a rebuild and there's also no way that this team is competing for a championship, even in a relatively weak Eastern Conference.
Maybe the fact that a ton of new faces are on the court with LeBron will help. I wouldn't be surprised if LeBron just went full beast-mode if this team were to make the playoffs. He's carried worse teams to the finals before and maybe this would breath fresh life into a visibly deflated LeBron. The team certainly gets far more athletic and a glut of skilled wings gives Cleveland a solid small lineup. Sure, the shooting drops off heavily, but if the past month has been any indication, the team currently around LeBron isn't getting the job done.
Obviously, none of these deals will actually happen and this is purely speculation at this point, but I feel as though the Cleveland Cavaliers would be far better suited to truly blow things up and rebuild from ground zero. At this point, they're going to lose LeBron after the season for nothing, so there's no point in mortgaging the future for a hopeful quick fix that could destroy the team for multiple years. That's part of the reason I can't see the Cavaliers trading the Nets' pick simply because it's too short-sighted. The team as it is currently constructed, is at least two to three guys away from being able to beat the Warriors. Crushing the future for one last gasp at Golden State isn't worth it.
My moves plan for success in Cleveland in a few years. By that time, who knows if the Warriors or Rockets will have been able to keep their cores together. LeBron has already won the city of Cleveland a championship. Let him leave on his own terms, but don't mortgage the franchise's future to shoot for one final chance at a championship that won't bear fruit. The future without LeBron will always be bleak, but a future with a LeBron-centric team without LeBron will cripple the franchise for a decade.
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