Cavs/Knicks Trade Rumors Redux

A report from the Morning Journal has a lot of Cavaliers fans stirring. While the entire piece focuses on the ball-dropping summer of Delonte West, the last few bullet points were easily the most intriguing pieces to the off-season puzzle.

Rumor mill
* The rumor mill has been churning after the Williams deal. The Cavs could be talking to the Knicks about a big man.
* Technically, the Cavs can still trade point guard Eric Snow, but they wouldn’t be able to use the injury exception. There is no update on his injury settlement with the insurance company.
* A source said the Cavs could have gotten forward/center Dan Gadzuric from the Bucks in the Williams deal, but declined.

Mighty interesting. We have news about Danny Ferry turning down a possible big man. An update on Eric Snow. And most important, a rumor of possible dealing with the New York Knicks – The 2010 Enemy.

Amar over at Cavalier Attitude is under the impression that the possible target in said rumors would be glass-crasher extraordinaire, David Lee. Of course, this thinking is more than supported by the New York Post article that we touched on not all that long ago, stating that the Knicks could look to move Lee with the drafting of Danillo Gallinari.

Obviously, I am a huge fan of Lee. His hustle would more than compliment LeBron (and Mo) down low. He’s young – especially in comparison to our current starting power forward in Ben Wallace. And if stats are an issue, Lee’s PER was just a hair over 18. To compare, Ben Wallace was 11.98 and Zydrunas Ilgauskas was 18.76.

But what if the Knicks aren’t talking about Lee? If not Lee, who would they be looking to move? Alan Hahn from Newsday.com thinks he has the answer: Zach Randolph. THE Zach Randolph.

First, the first names that come to mind for each respective party are very telling as to what each respective set of fans would like to see. Why wouldn’t we want Lee? But why would we want Randolph? If we were concerned about the defense of Mo Williams, add about eight inches of height, and take away about 80 percent of the motivation – the perfect recipe for a Randolph cocktail.

Hahn’s retort to the defense argument:

“When Brown needs defense down low, he can go to Anderson Varejao.”

Great. So, in turn, we can trade for a guy who makes a ton of money and then sub him out on the off occasion that we – you know – want to play defense for a few minutes. Where do I sign?

Hahn thinks that the Knicks would only ask for Wally Szczerbiak and Ben Wallace in return. Two of our heaviest deals in terms of cap restrictions, that would indirectly make the Hughes/Gooden et al trade a package of Delonte West, Randolph and Mo Williams. Not bad on paper, but still not one that I would really want to make. Sure, it could add a 20-point guy to our roster, but at what cost?

2008/09: $14,666,666 (an omen if I’ve ever seen one)
2009/10: $16,000,000
2010/11: $17,333,333

So we would be trading with a team that is in the (media-based) hunt for LeBron James, taking on a huge contract, and clogging up more cap space for the 2010 season? No thank you.

The Portland Trailblazers were one of the bigger up-and-coming teams going into last season, and they could not wait to get rid of Randolph. He heads to the Knicks, and that team proceeds to be one of the worst in the league. With a track record, attitude and work ethic that comes along with the former Michigan State big man, Danny Ferry would be out of his mind to even consider this deal.

For now, let’s all remember that this is all currently in the rumor stage, and the entire Randolph story is obviously coated with the ever-present New York bias. Do not be shocked if said Randolph rumors gain more traction than the possibility of anything regarding David Lee. After all, why would David Lee want to live in Cleveland?

To be continued…

Report: Cavs talking to Knicks [Cavalier Attitude]
The Knicks Fix [Newsday.com]