An NBA title: What does Cleveland have to do?

I’ve long been a proponent at keeping Andy in town. He’s been my favorite player on the team his entire time in Cleveland. But I concede, it’s now time to get what we can for him and move on. Sorry Andy

to move Andy you have to find a team willing to give up “enough” for him.  the only teams willing to do so would have to (IMO) be both of these things:

1. Be an advanced statistical based team that knows Andy’s value is far greater than what his standard stat’s bear out.

2. Be willing to ignore his recent injury history as somewhat fluky (and account some of it to the Cavs unwillingness to bring him back earlier than 100% because it would hurt the team – lottery %s – more than help).

Houston and Portland both have 2 picks and both fit category 1. 

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What player at #11/13 makes it worth trading Andy+#24?   Jeremy Lamb (if he’s actually there), Terrence Ross, Tyler Zeller, Dion Waiters, Perry Jones III?

{yes, those would be the guys I’d be considering, though not in that order}

I would feel so bad about sending him to Charlotte.

Also, unfortunately, it appears that if the Cavs want to win the whole thing anytime in the next 5 years, bad stuff will have to happen to the Heat and Thunder (injuries, bad trades, hold outs, ego, etc).

I guess a healed Bulls team could take out the Heat but that would most likely be in the East final anyway. Not sure who is stopping the Thunder anytime soon.

the new CBA is likely the biggest opponent for the Thunder

Man… I just find it hard to give up a sure thing for potential.  Andy is still improving as a player even though he’s 30 years old in September.  I think he’s still got 4 good years left.  What I’m not sure about is the injuries though… maybe he plays too hard and fast to keep from getting injured.  He’s only come close to playing a full season 3 times in 8 years.  Nick Collison is probably a good comparison for him (not with injuries, with skill set).  If that lets us move up to grab a guy like Tyler Zeller or Terrence Ross with our 24 pick packaged, then I think I would do it.  I don’t know if he’s a great pick for every team, but I really like the idea of putting Tyler Zeller in Byron Scott’s offense with our current players.  He runs the floor, he steps out to hit that 15-18 foot shot leaving TT to operate closer to the rim, he passes well from the high post, sets good screens, and rolls to the basket well on pick-n-rolls.  He’s never going to be an All-Star, but I think he’s the kind of player who helps your stars win the game.

I’m very interested to see who steps up to take those shots that used to go to Jamison.  Antawn was a great teammate, a true professional, but not an efficient shooter/scorer and a very sub-par defender.  If the people taking the shots he used to take can do so more efficiently and if we’re replacing him with a better defensive player, do the Cavs become a better team by default?  Or will somebody regress when they become more of a focal point for the opposing defense (like Jamison was)?  The spacing Jamison created by being able to hit the 3-pointer probably opened up the lane a good bit for Irving to do his thing.  So like I said, there are reasons to think we could get better by default, or we could get worse by default, but I’m intersted to see how it shakes out.

good synopsis on Zeller.  i see him as a taller David West (w/o the bad knees).

also, on giving up Andy, think of it in baseball terms (as the new CBA sort of forces that line of thinking).   a new, young player through the draft is much more valueable than a FA or player on his 2nd/3rd contract because they leave more room in the budget.  a team “controls” a player for the first 6-7 years of their career (with arbitration being replaced with RFA – they can see what the market will bring, but the team can match).

Yeah I like the West comparison.  Hopefully Zeller can guard centers at the NBA level.  I’m also not sure if he’s got the activeness (activity?) you’d want on the defensive end… those would be my two concerns with him.  He’s a smart player though.  If the NBA doesn’t fix the flopping, Zeller will take advantage of that.  He did it all the time at UNC and he has a knack for making referees think that they’re talking to their son.

I loved seeing this, and I love how I feel that somewhere Dan Gilbert was like “Heck yeh! Go get me the best player!”

 Yeah, well… I wish he had said that 4 years ago when we had LeBron, and maybe we’d be in the finals right now.  We could have had Amare’ 3 years ago, but we wouldn’t give up Andy and JJ… looking back, that was a bad call.  Of well, time heals all wounds.  Thinking back to the finals against the Spurs, our team played sooo pitifully.  Hughes, Sasha, Gooden, Z, and LBJ.  They all got outmatched, and outplayed. 

You are correct, technically i didn’t say it worked out for them, i just said I am sure they didn’t want to see Ray Allen go……….but, thats a bs answer.  It takes a real man to admit when he is wrong, i am not a real man.

I guess I’m more worried about Zeller versus big centers.  I don’t know if he’s physical enough in the post to force them off of their spot.  I definitely agree that the dropoff from Zeller to Melo/Ezeli is big and I’d love to come out of the draft with Beal or MKG and Tyler Zeller.

 I could be wrong, Mike, but my understanding at the time was that Phoenix WOULD have pulled the trigger if JJ had been included as part of the deal.

 Despite constant communications from both the Cavaliers and the Suns
camps, fans of the north coast will always blame the Cavs for not
parting with J.J. Hickson in the proposed deal. It simply isn’t the case
however. The Suns nixed the deal.

http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2012/03/the-cavaliers-and-cleveland-fans-very-familiar-with-nbas-trade-deadline/

Steve Kerr has said himself on multiple radio interviews that PHX just didn’t value JJ enough to complete that trade.

What does Cleveland have to do? It won’t matter since Miami will be in the Finals every year at least for now. Also they have to wait for Chicago and Indiana to fall again. Unless they have a great draft, I can’t see them even being a top 4 team yet.

 It was time six months ago, when he had a lot more trade value.

I think getting 3 picks in the top 12 is unrealistic, even with what we have to give away. We might be able to get 2, if we’re lucky. I can see like having #4 and #10 or something along those lines. Honestly I’d be happy with just trading up to #2 for MKG, but that won’t happen. Unfortunately we’re still about 2 years away from the playoffs and the Cavs know this. We have a PG, this years draft we’ll add another piece and probably get another top5 pick in 2013. Add those 3 players along with hopefully TT and we can make a run.

The reason you hire a realtor to sell your house is that the decision is too personal for you to accept and trade offers on your own.  I feel the same way about Cleveland fans and Andy.  I can’t remember a player whose value has been more badly understood.  Its a very odd situation where the people who love him - rebounds defends hustles etc.- the most are also the most eager to trade him because they mistakenly think you can get something really good in return, while at the same time the people who don’t value him at all -injured lacks offense etc. - also think you should trade him.  I have never seen a guy who is simaltaneously beloved and begged to be traded by the same fanbase. 

The fact is we have Andy on a very favorable contract and that is great.  A contender isn’t going to give us anything we want because whatever skill/contract they give would be equalt to Andy so the Cavs would at BEST be making a lateral move.  Nobody with good young pieces or picks is going to trade for Andy because it would make no sense for a team to trade for him when they are still a few years away.  So Andy is probably here to stay lets enjoy his game and if they make a run and he is still viable great and if not well it was still a good signing when they did it.

As far as the luck “we missed out on” lets remember that the Cavs are drafting exactly where they were slotted to – a coin flip notwithstanding.  Abscence of “good” luck is not evidence of “bad” luck. 

Pat,
Liked your post and tend to agree. Though Antawn has been one of my favorite players (crazy odd style, good guy) he mainly is a scorer,
The “funny” thing is your description of Tawn could be cut and pasted next to Harrison Barnes (good teammate, shooter, needs to work on defense) I’ve thought that he might help by using the outside shot to open up the lane for Kyrie.

today, yeah, I think he’ll have trouble with Bynum and Dwight.  I think he can get the strength to handle himself underneath over the next couple of years though.

Thanks Howard… I’ve commented about Harrison Barnes a lot, I’m not a big fan of him as a basketball player, although I see why people like him.  I just think #4 would be way too high to take a guy who I expect to be primarily a 3-point shooter and not much else.  I’d love to have him if he dropped to the #24 pick, but we both know that will never happen.  The guy I really wouldn’t mind picking up at #24 if he’s there is Andrew Nicholson.  He’s a power forward with good range out to the 3-point line and although he’s not terribly athletic, he works hard on defense.  His skill set would be a nice compliment to Tristan Thompson, I think.  At #4, I’d rather take a risk and grab Jeremy Lamb if both MKG and Beal are off the table.

Didn’t forget about him at all. But he’s not locked up and you pointed out above how the CBA can do bad things to rosters. He’s going to want $$$.

The Thunder have Westbrook and KD for the next several years. They should be good in that time frame even if they have to let Harden go, assuming they replace him to some degree.