Cleaning out the ...Never mind..

The Cleveland Cavaliers must be close to a trade with Minnesota or someone else because there is no other reason for tonight's trade with the Utah Jazz other than to accumulate contracts to make a trade work under the salary cap.

The Cavaliers obtained three players,none of which averaged more than four points an outing last season,but all have contracts that would help a potential deal get done.
John Lucas III is the type of player that I actually wouldn't mind seeing the Cavaliers keep around as Lucas can run the point for 10 to 12 minutes a night and get you through some Kyrie Irving rest periods.
At the same time,guys like him can be signed at almost anytime,so it wouldn't be a huge loss.
The other two players are forwards that rarely played in Malcolm Thomas (8 games between the Spurs and Jazz) and Eric Murphy (24 games with the Bulls).
Both fill the power forward role,but would likely be the largest towel waver on the bench for a good team....

Cleveland traded Carrick Felix,who the team picked in the second round in the 2013 draft,a future second rounder and a cool one million dollars to the Jazz in obtaining the above three.
Felix spent time in Canton with the Cavaliers D-League squad and battled injuries as he played just seven games in Cleveland.
Felix might develop into a defensive type or could just as easily never be heard from again,so he appears to be just another player.
The second round pick is part of the price of doing business and the money?
Well,Dan Gilbert ,for all of his mistakes, has never been afraid to spend dollars,let alone a million.

Clearly,this is a deal that was made to lead to another deal,most likely Minnesota and Kevin Love,but it isn't out of the question that it could be another deal in the making.
If the Cavaliers cannot land Love,the need for a big man still exists,so one way or another -Cleveland should be making a trade.
The team cannot enter another year depending on injury-prone Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson as the main bigs up front.
LeBron James or not,that is not a championship level frontline.

Tonight's deal looks small on the surface,but it clears the decks to make a big deal work and that deal will be the once that will tell the tale of the Cavaliers true title hopes....