Cavs Risky Trade Shines Hope for Post-Season
For the Cleveland Cavaliers, a January “slump” is annual. The critics of the Cavs always blow it out of proportion saying this is the end of the Cleveland basketball era. Over the past two seasons, Lebron has proved them wrong and they eventually made the Finals each year, including an unforgettable championship in 2016. This time, however, the critics were more than right.
After a blockbuster offseason trade between Cleveland and Boston, the Cavaliers lost their 2011 number one, overall pick Kyrie Irving in exchange for aged superstar Isaiah Thomas. The Cavs, who also received the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round lottery pick and Jae Crowder from the Celtics, hoped for the best possible outcome in relinquishing the disgruntled Irving. The trade’s analysis would be long in coming, though, as Thomas would remain sidelined for three months.
After a long recovery from a hip injury, Thomas returned to the court in January. In his first game, his 17 points off the bench seemed to a sign of good tidings. However, the tide quickly turned for the Cavaliers. Before the trade deadline on Feb. 8, they lost nine of 14 games with Thomas in the lineup. As if this was not scary enough, the losses included a 32 point defeat to the Houston Rockets as well as a crushing blowout loss to the underwhelming Orlando Magic, down by 18 to the Cavs at one point. The losses exacerbated an already flimsy chemistry. Questions quickly arose:
“Will Tyronn Lue be fired?”
“Is Thomas washed up?”
“Is Lebron going to leave again?”
On Feb. 8, General Manager pulled the trigger just before the trade deadline on what will become one of the major deals (good or bad) in Cavs history. To begin, the Cavaliers traded Thomas, Channing Frye and their own first round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. Then, they traded Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Rodney Hood. Next, the Cavs traded Iman Shumpert for veteran point guard George Hill. Finally, the Cavs sent Dwayne Wade back to the Miami Heat for their 2024 second round pick. Everyone expected the Cavs to make a heavy move in order to continue their annual pursuit of the NBA championship. Nobody, however, was expecting four shocking trades on deadline day.
The four new acquisitions each have major potential to improve the postseason outlook of the nearly doomed Cavs. Hill, from Sacramento, was on the Cavs wishlist for quite a while, and rumors constantly circulated that the Cavs were going to make a move for him.
Hill will control the offense as point guard and contribute with his 45% three-point field goal percentage. Clarkson, a younger, talented point guard, will provide valuable minutes off the bench with his ability to make plays on both ends of the court. And Nance Jr., who will be an excellent rim protector on defense, returns to his hometown to play for the same team as his Hall of Fame father. Meanwhile, Hood, from Utah adds depth to the recently struggling offense as an athletic shooting guard. The fresh four Cavs players are all athletic players rank highly on the defensive end as well.
The new faces, ironically, opened up their Cavs’ career against Irving’s Celtics in Boston. Nobody really knew what to expect, but the results immediately gave fans hope. The Cavs blew out the Celtics, scoring 121 points against the number one defensive-rated team in the NBA. Clarkson led the way amongst the acquisitions with 17 points. Hood followed with 15 points, Hill 12 and Nance Jr. with five points and four rebounds.
The fresh, revived Cavs have certainly turned left from where their season was headed. After a long period of frustration across the entire organization, the Cavs have finally regained the energy they will need to compete with the historic Golden State Warriors in the Finals (assuming that they will make it). Altman did yet another fantastic job defusing the drama and giving Cavs’ fans renewed hope.
