Cleveland Cavaliers: Tyson Chandler Could Be The Missing Piece

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still in need of a strong interior defensive presence in the post. Could Tyson Chandler be the answer?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have won two of their last three games. The uptempo offense of Tyronn Lue seems to be starting to resonate with the team. However, there is still an issue they are facing and must address. They still need a tough, physical, interior defensive post presence.

Timofey Mozgov has played better in his past few games, but it just hasn’t been enough. He hasn’t been close to the player that he was last season. He went from averaging 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game to only 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Mozgov has underachieved so much this season, he has been replaced by Tristan Thompson as a starter twice. It could be his right knee is still healing or  maybe the left knee is bothering him, either way — he has struggled all season.

Kevin Love has also been a defensive liability. He might fail in being a physical presence against opposing forwards and centers, but at least he is giving you 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Lue is also starting to use Love the way that most fans and people around the NBA thought he would be originally utilized.

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Mozgov and Anderson Varejao for Tyson Chandler is a trade that could work. Now a lot of fans might jump on me for this suggestion due to the popularity of Varejao in Cleveland, but they must take their wine-and-gold glasses off.

Varejao hasn’t been effective for the team since 2012 where he averaged a career-high 14.1 points and 14.4 rebounds per game in only 25 appearances. He suffered a blood clot in his right lung which ended his season. This season, he’s only played in 27 games and is averaging a career low in minutes at 9.2 per game.

I think Chandler could be the missing piece of this Cavaliers interior. He’s averaging the second-worst points per game of his career (5.6), but a lot of that is due to the system that Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek runs. During Wednesday’s game, I noticed that Suns players spent too many possessions doing isolation plays instead of steady ball movement.

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Chandler is a face-up center who gets most of his points off of putbacks and alley-oops. It’s tough for a center to produce when almost every possession ends in a long rebound for the opposing team or his teammate gets fouled for a potential and-one. At least with the Dallas Mavericks, opposing defenses would be so worried about what Dirk Nowitzki was going to do, it would leave Chandler open for the easy score.

I also believe that the motivation isn’t there on a nightly basis. It is likely tough to be up for a game when playing for one of the worst teams in the NBA. He’s older than Mozgov and is the same age as Varejao, but he still has a few years left in him. Just last season with the Mavericks he averaged 10.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game along with 1.2 blocks.

He would bring that much needed physical presence on the defensive end that the Cavaliers have lacked. Anything offensively from him would be a bonus. He is still capable of running the floor fluently and changing the shots of opposing players.

But more than ever, I believe he would bring more leadership and a championship mentality to the team along with James and James Jones. His presence would make the lanes easier to penetrate for guys like Iman Shumpert, Irving and J.R. Smith, and Matthew Dellavedova would be able to throw his patented lob pass to Chandler instead of just Thompson. It would be just like the origin of “lob city” with Chris Paul and Chandler during their days with the New Orleans Hornets.

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The move would also help for a possible NBA Finals meetings against the San Antonio Spurs or Golden State Warriors. The Spurs pose the biggest threat in the post with Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge and David West. Chandler would make it much tougher for them. While he’s also averaging a career-low in blocks at 0.6, his presence alone would make an impact that Mozgov and Love don’t defensively.

If somehow Mozgov and Love find their defensive prowess within the next three months, then a trade for a defensive big man becomes irrelevant, but as the team is currently constructed, a move is definitely imminent for this season and the playoffs.