Its not breaking news as any Cleveland sports fan should know that the Cavs made a trade right before the NBA locked out, however here is my take on the deal.
To recap.
The Cavs acquired Omri Casspi SF and a lottery protected 1st Rd Draft Pick from the Sacramento Kings and sent J.J. Hickson PF packing for the west coast.
My initial reaction was somewhat mixed. J.J. is only 22 years old and showed some promise in games last season. He started to really rebound towards the 2nd half of the year and also showed signs of a developing mid range jumper. When you look simply at talent I think the Cavs probably only received 75-80 cents on the dollar in this deal. However, after letting it sit in, I think ultimately this was a move that needed to happen. While J.J. could develop into something special he has some pretty drastic faults. He can't play defense without fouling his man. He can't catch the basketball when in traffic (Braylon wold be proud). His basketball IQ leaves something to be desired. As fans we could see this and it looks like the Cavs front office did too.
So instead of hanging on to J.J. and hoping these glaring weaknesses were corrected we made a deal that filled a team need in landing Omri Casspi. To say the Cavs needed a legit SF is an understatement. As much as I loved to watch Alonzo Gee and Skyenga (he sure can dunk) live out their dreams neither are even close to a starting caliber NBA player. Casspi brings a toughness this city will embrace, a decent outside jumper, and most importantly some actual NBA talent at the SF position. Will Casspi ever be an all-star? Probably not but he is young (23) and should be able to develop into a solid rotational player for the Cavs in years to come. (He is going to look great behind Harrison Barnes next year *fingers crossed*).
The Cavs also received a lottery protected 1st Rd Pick. I would have loved this deal if the pick was only Top 6 or 7 protected for the next four years instead of basically being fully protected, but its still a possible asset. When you look at the bottom line the Cavs were not going to pay J.J. the 8 to 10 million per year he would have wanted after this season. With a potential hard cap coming after a new CBA is reached, locking up potentially a fifth of your team salary in a player like Hickson just isn't smart. So instead of most likely letting J.J. walk for nothing a year from now the Cavs added a potential piece and a draft pick that could come in handy in a couple years. Until then we can root for the Kings to make the playoffs and for the Cavs young talent to show promise while the rebuilding begins.
If anyone wants a full explanation on how the protection works on the 1st Rd Pick leave a comment and I will break it down in a separate post.
I think people really under-estimate Omri Casspi. He was stuck in a small, west-coast market playing at 10pm. First, he's only a few months older than JJ, so its still in line with the youth movement. Second, he's got a skill set that we need, good on-ball defender, 3-pt shooter and can finish in transition (catchin' oops from Kyrie). The third, and most important is one you focused on, in that we had a glut of "maybes" at PF and NO ONE at SF, so even if the talent was a toss-up (which I think it was), its a "win" by balancing the roster and line-up...
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to bank on the protected first rounder and just think of what Omri brings to us. Would anyone be mad if he turns into a Dino Gallanari type player? I love his length and that he is not afraid to go rebound the ball. I've read that he has a phenomenal work ethic and is extremely competitive. We need these type of players, instead of a couple flashy types, that can play when they want to. Probasketball talk had an article posted today that said after we acquired him, both New York and San Antonio contacted us to try and acquire him. We are high on this kid and it gets me excited for when the NBA returns.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment regarding the Spurs and Knicks. I wonder what they would have offered.
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