Season 3 - Trade Deadline - Cavs make a bold move - cgalligan's Dynasty

cgalligan's Dynasty Blog

Season 3 - Trade Deadline - Cavs make a bold move

Posted on June 8, 2011 at 12:18 AM.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently 30-24 and in 1st place in the Central Division. If the Playoffs started today, they would be the #3 Seed in the East behind #1 Miami and #2 New York.

Even with the 1st half success, it was still apparent that the team was still a few pieces away from being a legit NBA Championship Contender. With that in mind, the Cavs sought out a trade partner in hopes of improving their team for the present and future.

The Cavs front office felt like they had a few glaring weaknesses that would eventually hurt them in the playoffs. On Trade Deadline Day, the Cavs were hoping to fill 1 or 2 of the following needs:

1) They needed a legit Defensive Stopper at the SG/SF position
2) They needed an upgrade at the Center position, as Anderson Varejao and Hasheem Thabeet are not what you would call "skilled" offensive players.
3) They needed veteran leadership. With a combined age of 24.7yrs old, the Cavs have one of the youngest teams in the league. Its no secret that young teams are very inconsistent and usually don't fair too well in the playoffs.

Knowing exactly what their priorities were, the Cavs started calling teams around the league. The Cavs had their types of players in mind, so, it wasn't long before they were able to find a couple trading partners. The Cavs were able to work out a 3 Team Trade with Portland and New Orleans. The deal would give the Cavs that would bring them all Three of their targets.

Here is a breakdown of the trade:

Teams Involved - Portland, New Orleans, Cleveland

Cavs Trade
C - Anderson Varejao - (Portland)
PF - Antwan Jamison - (Portland)
PG - Jarred Byless - (New Orleans)
2013 1st round draft pick - (New Orleans)

Blazers Trade
C - Greg Oden - (Cleveland) - (unhappy with his lack of minutes)
SF - Gordon Hayward - (New Orleans)
2013 2nd round pick - (New Orleans)

Hornets Trade
PG - Chauncey Billups - (Cleveland) - Retiring after this season
SF - Trevor Ariza - (Cleveland) - Final year of his contract
PF - Craig Brackens - (Portland)

The thought process behind the move for the teams involved is as follows...

Blazers
Greg Oden never seemed to "fit in" in Portland. It was just impossible for them to keep him. He was always griping about minutes, and not having a bigger role in the offense, as, mostly everything was run through SG Brandon Roy and PF LaMarcus Aldrige. This deal gives them a very good defensive Center, with less injury concerns than Oden, in Anderson Varejao and a solid backup PF in Antwan Jamison. Portland also gets a young PF/C in Craig Brackens that they could develope into a solid player in the future.

Hornets
The New Orleans Hornets have hit a rough time in their franchise. After basically being forced to trade their Franchise Player Chris Paul last season, in fear of losing him to Free Agency, I think everyone knew this rough patch was coming. Now, the Hornets are sitting at 22-34, the 2nd worst record in the Western Conference, and, its clear that its time to rebuild. The Hornets are losing some good veteran players in PG Chauncey Billups, who is retiring anyway after this season, and SF/SG Trevor Ariza, who is in the final year of his contract. The Hornets front office did not expect Ariza to resign with them, because of their recent lack of success, so, acquiring anything at all for him is a plus...

New Orleans recieves young SF Gordon Hayward, PG Jarred Bayless the Cavs 1st round pick and the Blazers 2nd round pick. The Cavs 1st round pick actually gives the Hornets 3, 1st round picks in this summers NBA Draft, and really positions them nicely and gives them some great flexibility when draft time rolls around.

Cavs
For the Cavaliers, this deal was all about winning now. They know that Chauncey has already said this will be his Final NBA Season, but his leadership and clutch shooting is something that this team desperately lacked.

SF/SG Trevor Ariza is exactly the type of player the Cavs were looking for. He is a legit lockdown perimeter defender that can gaurd the other teams best offensive player. He can play the SG or the SF and he has NBA Championship experience from his days with the LA Lakers.

Possibly the biggest risk/reward in the deal is the acquisition of Center Greg Oden. The Cavs fans know Oden very well from his college days down the road at The Ohio State University. While at OSU, Oden and now Memphis Grizzly PG Mike Conley lead the Buckeyes to a NCAA Championship Game. The Cavs organization and fans are all hoping that Greg can return to that form and help give their team a legit post presence on both ends of the floor.

With the addition of Billups, Ariza, and Oden the Cavs rotation should look something like this...

Cleveland Cavaliers - Post Trade Dealine Rotation Depth Chart - 2012-13
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	Kyrie Irving (34)	Chauncey Billups (21)	Jeff Teague (5)
SG	Reggie Bullock (R)(24)	Brandon Rush (18)
SF	Harrison Barnes (35)	Trevor Ariza (24)	Jon Diebler (3)
PF	JJ Hickson (33)	Hasheem Thabeet (8)	Brandon Wright (2)
C	Greg Oden (33)	Hasheem Thabeet (8)

With the newly acquired players, the Cavs have everything they need to make a legit run through the NBA Playoffs. Only time will tell if they will be able to gel fast enough to make the Championship Dream a reality...

Comments

# 1 Rouchicus @ Jun 8

Keep it up, man. I'll be reading.

# 2 Drewski @ Jun 8

Another good read, looking forward to seeing how those moves pan out

# 3 Da_Czar @ Jun 9

LOVE IT ! I will definitely be checking in. I want to see how those trades work out in the playoff's I like the gamble on chauncy as you have plenty of good young guards and he is more than capable to hit some big shots for you in tight games.

With Thabeet you have some insurance if oden suffers injury. I might look for another reserve center in case he gets Hurt but between JJ and Brandon you have some young options.