With all their recent turnaround and six-game win-streak, the Cleveland Cavaliers look like a new team. After a big 108-98 win over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon, it seems like things are finally starting to come together for the wine and gold.
A big key to the current win-streak has been the addition and encouraging play of J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov and Iman Shumpert. They’ve each came in an added a different set of skills that each of them bring to the table, filling holes on the Cavs’ roster that needed to be filled.
But, despite the two trades general manager David Griffin has pulled off in the last month, he’s going to have to make one more trade and possibly a free agent/waiver signing to push his team over the top.
If it’ll help make the Cavs a true title contender this season, you can bet owner Dan Gilbert and Griffin will be working whatever magic they can to make the team better.
Since LeBron James and Kevin Love have opt outs in their contracts after this season, it’s in Cleveland’s best interest to continue to push the envelope to get deals done and make moves that give them the best chance at winning this year, and possibly even next, as long as James and Love are still around.
Don’t take that as a jab at Cleveland or that I think either of the two will leave. When it’s all said and done, I think James will retire as a Cavalier and Love has a good chance of sticking around for as many good years the King has left in him.
Now, if we’re talking about winning now, the first thing to consider is the end of the roster, and a certain big man that has quite the interesting contract that can be very beneficial to move.
If you guessed Brendan Haywood, you win. You win nothing, but you’re right.
Chuck Myron of HoopsRumors.com breaks down the importance of Haywood’s contract, for those who aren’t aware of the benefits for the Cavs:
"Haywood will almost certainly be waived before next August and never receive that $10.5MM. Still, after next year’s July moratorium, that salary would still count toward the league’s salary matching requirements if the Cavs were to trade him. Cleveland could acquire a player making as much as $5MM more than Haywood’s non-guaranteed 2015/16 salary, and the team that gives up such a player could waive Haywood and gain a chunk of cap space equal to that approximately $10.5MM salary. Therein lies the value of Haywood."
In this case, the Cavs don’t have the space or need for a player making that much more than the former Charlotte Bobcats center. Instead, he’d be used in a trade that could land Cleveland a solid backup point guard, something they desperately need an upgrade at.
As I said before, Cavs’ GM David Griffin and Dan Gilbert are going to do anything they can to make their roster better this season to give them a real shot at the Larry O’Brien Trophy this season. Two areas that need to be addressed are the backup point guard spot and a backup center.
Yes, they have Tristan Thompson in that role right now, but at an undersized 6’9″, TT isn’t the type of guy you wanna have go against the likes of Joakim Noah or even Al Horford in a seven-game series.
For a backup point guard, the Cavs could aim to land Jose Calderon from the New York Knicks or Jameer Nelson from the Denver Nuggets, who’s been all over the place this year and on his third team this season.
So, why not ship him off to his fourth team in the last six months? In just six games for the Nuggets, Nelson has averaged 14 points and 5.5 assists per game on nearly 48 percent shooting, playing just 25 minutes per night. He’s also hitting 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts with Denver, and is a career 37 percent from that distance.
In either case, if the Cavs do make a move for one of the two, Brendan Haywood’s contract can be shipped away in the deal, a win-win for Cleveland and their trade partner.
Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal has some other interesting candidates who are currently playing overseas, which would allow the Cavs to just sign them outright at the end of their seasons rather than trading for a player:
"18. If they don’t trade for a point guard, keep an eye on Will Bynum and Bobby Brown. Both are playing in China and won’t be available until after the Chinese playoffs in March, but the Cavs are interested in both. Bynum would be a much cleaner add than Brown, who still has two years left on his deal with DongGuan, but they’ll have competition.19. Bynum, 32, has played seven seasons in the NBA and will have plenty of offers to return. The Cavs will only be able to offer him the pro-rated veteran’s minimum, and of course a chance to win.20. Brown’s situation is murkier because of the years left on his contract, but overseas basketball expert David Pick wrote in August that Brown has an out-clause in his contract for the NBA. Brown, 30, would certainly be a scoring upgrade over Dellavedova. He’s tied for fourth in the Chinese league in scoring (30.9 points) and once scored 74 points in an overseas game. He went undrafted in 2007 and played for four NBA teams in a two-year span before leaving for overseas. He worked out with the Lakers prior to this season but has never been able to stick in the NBA."
With several options out their at the backup PG spot, a capable center that’s available is another story.
When the Knicks waived Samuel Dalembert earlier this month, I thought the Cavs would be the first to pounce on the 13-year veteran out of Seton Hall. But, that clearly is something I’m still waiting on.
Dalembert was and is a more than capable big man that can come in off the bench and give you 15, 20 minutes if necessary to play defense and alter/block some shots. He’s averaged 1.7 blocks per game for his career, and swatted 2.3 shots or more a night in three separate seasons.
Yeah, he’s 33 and almost 34 now, but all Cleveland needs is a backup. Switch Haywood with Dalembert on the bench, and the Cavs look much more complete to me. What will they do if Mozgov or Thompson, or both, get in foul trouble in a playoff series? They sure as hell can’t expect to put Kevin Love in the middle and hope to win a game that way.
They have an open roster spot, making it possible for them to pick up/sign Dalembert or one of the point guards from overseas. Or, they can, and should, deal Brendan Haywood away from a solid backup point guard who’s playing in the league right now.
The best case scenario here for David Blatt’s squad is to claim Samuel Dalembert off waivers to give them the extra size at the end of the bench. Then, a deal should somehow get done to send Haywood in a trade to acquire a point guard, preferably Jameer Nelson.
Trades have worked before for the Cavs this season, who’s to say adding more pieces won’t finally give them the complete roster they need to win an NBA title?
All stats via Basketball-Reference.com.