That made deadline day in the NBA even more important than usual and Cleveland under Koby Altman or whoever you believe is running the show (the names vary according to which NBA columnists you read) felt compelled to swing into action and when the smoke cleared in Cleveland-three trades were finished,six players were on the road out of Cleveland with four new Cavaliers headed into Northeast Ohio over the course of a frantic deadline day that saw even more dealings than anyone could have expected.
I'm going to write about one major deal now and hopefully the other major deal later tonight.
The flashiest deal was the Cavaliers punting the Isaiah Thomas trial by shipping the malcontented point guard along with veteran big man Channing Frye and the Cavaliers first-round pick in this year's draft (Not the Nets pick obtained in the Kyrie Irving trade) to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The return was a popular one as point guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr. are coming to Cleveland.
Clarkson was averaging 14 points a game in 23 minutes as he was the first player off the Lakers bench and brings the type of scoring that you'd expect from the modern point guard with a playmaking ability that should be welcomed after watching Thomas and his struggles over his Cleveland tenure.
Nance returns home after growing up in the area as the son of Cavalier legend Larry Nance Sr with averages of eight points and just under seven rebounds a game.
Like his father, Nance can play above the rim and will insert his share of highlights into game recaps, but most importantly, he can guard 4's and some 5's and will be able to give bulkier frontcourt opponents fits with his athleticism on both ends of the floor.
Both players are 25 and both are signed through next season with Clarkson signed for two seasons, so this is not a temporary fix for the Cavaliers as they not only get younger and quicker for the present, they hedge a bet in case of a revamp if LeBron James walks away..
As far as the departed Cavaliers go-
Isaiah Thomas doesn't seem to be completely healed from his hip injury and although I cannot give him enough credit for trying to play through the pain, he clearly didn't fit into the Cavaliers system (or the locker room culture reportedly) and when you are a player that has to have the ball in his hands and being the top option in a team's offensive setup, your skills are going to be a difficult mesh with that of LeBron James.
I will miss Channing Frye, who was a plus in the locker room and when he occasionally got into one of those outside shooting rhythms, it was a pretty sight to see, but Frye was only playing a dozen minutes a game and his game on the defensive end isn't going to bring what Larry Nance will.
The first rounder was part of the price of doing business and hopefully, these changes will enable that pick to be near the bottom of round one.
I plan on being back in a few hours with some thoughts on the other two trades by Cleveland and just how they could affect the stretch run.
No comments:
Post a Comment