Friday, July 1, 2011

Trading under the wire-Cavs Style

The Cleveland Cavaliers used some last minute hustling to finalize a trade before the NBA lockout took affect at midnight to unclog the jam at power forward.
The team that shared the Cavaliers desire to get this finished now was the Sacramento Kings,who sent Omri Casspi and a first rounder in 2012 (don't get too excited yet) for J.J. Hickson.
Casspi is a 6'9 forward that plays a small forward's game,shoots the three well and is noted for a very aggressive style of play and is also noted as the first ever first rounder to hail from Israel.
The first round pick is protected from the lottery,so unless Sacramento makes the playoff,Cleveland will not see the selection until down the road.

I like Casspi,who works on the defensive end and shoots 37 percent from three point range and runs the floor very well for a man of his size,but I wish the Cavaliers would have gotten a bit more on the pick.
The protection is pretty tight considering the Kings are a pretty bad team.
Hickson was one of those players that showed just enough to keep your hopes alive for him,but all too often seemed to disappear from the game and his defense never seemed to make the leap forward that the Cavaliers needed him to make.
Hickson's offensive game remains basic after three NBA seasons and Casspi has more ways to score with a more versatile toolbox.
Casspi also has one extra year on his contract than Hickson as well...


The trade makes sense considering the drafting of Tristan Thompson and both teams should be happy with the deal,but I think Cleveland might have been able to do better had they waited until after the lockout was settled.

Hockey free agency starts today,if the Devils sign anyone,I'll be here to discuss...

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