Cavaliers trade for Andre Drummond

The Cleveland Cavaliers were expected to be sellers at the trade deadline if they participated at all.

Kevin Love would be an addition that most teams would normally be interested in but after the Cavaliers
signed him to a four-year extension in the off-season for over 100 million, contenders simply didn't want or couldn't swallow a contract of that size.

Tristan Thompson is in the middle of his best season as a pro (11.9 PPG and 10.2 RBG per game) and with his contract expiring at the season's end, Thompson was thought to at least bring a second-round pick or two, or even a young player with potential in return for a contender.
I would have thought the market for Thompson would have a few teams kicking the tires and some team making a trade for Thompson would be more likely than not.

So, of course, since they are the Cleveland Cavaliers and as a firm member of the Cleveland sports family- A team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference (13-39) and second-worst in the league holds on to Love (as expected) and Thompson (a mild surprise) and trades for another big man that can be a free agent at the end of the season and loads up at one position.

Cleveland added center Andre Drummond from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for John Henson, Brandon Knight and a second-round pick in 2023 (Either the Cavaliers or the Warriors pick that Cleveland holds, whichever is lower).
Drummond is averaging a career-high 17.8 points a game and is grabbing 15.8 rebounds, which currently leads the league in that category.
The 6'10 pivot is in his eighth season since the Pistons selected him in the first round in 2012 after Drummond played one season at Connecticut and Drummond has led the NBA in rebounding in the three previous seasons as well as the current one.
Drummond has a player option for 28.5 million for 2020 and he'll make the decision on if he wants to look around in the off-season or pick up the option and return to Cleveland.

Here's the good news:
Cleveland gets a player averaging close to 18 and 16 a game, which is always going to be an improvement when you are a bad team.
Drummond shoots a high percentage and doesn't have a tendency to take a ton of bad shots.
Drummond also is a decent rim protector, ranking tenth in the league in blocks and will be moving to a team that has the least amount of blocks in the league.
The cost was next to nothing- two veterans with expiring contracts that had missed time with injuries
(Henson averaged five points in 29 games and Knight 4.9 in 15 games) and one of those second-round picks that almost always is more valued for their ability to make trades than the actual player selected with them.

Here's the bad news:
Drummond could accept the option and clog up any money that the Cavaliers could theoretically have for any other improvements.
Drummond is basically a better Tristan Thompson.
Yes, 18 and 16 is better than 12 and 10, but does Drummond make this team substantially better?
Suddenly at a time when the league is transitioning to a different game, the Cavaliers have four guys that play the same position that is beginning to become mildly devalued  (Power Forward/Center) in Drummond, Thompson, Kevin Love, and Larry Nance Jr and that raises the point of how to get all these players the minutes that you are used to giving them?
That's going to be interesting to watch that situation play out.

I'm not sure how or if Andre Drummond fits with the Cavaliers, but I'm Ok with this.
This trade boils down to this- the Cavaliers receive either a half-season or a season and a half if Drummond picks up his player option, to see if Drummond is part of the future of the organization at what will be in the end - a second-round pick, as Henson and Knight would have been allowed to leave at the end of the year anyway.
A second-rounder is a commodity to be moved about to attempt to make trades in the current state of the NBA, so if that's all it costs to take a test drive, I'm in.

Cavaliers bring Dellavedova home-Trade with Bucks

After a two year and a little more absence, Matthew Dellavedova is coming back to Cleveland as part of the Cavaliers trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards.

The Cavaliers are adding Dellavedova along with center John Henson along with the Bucks first and second round picks in 2021 and Washington's 2022 second rounder.

Cleveland will be sending veteran guard George Hill to the Bucks and forward Sam Dekker to the Wizards, along with returning the Wizards 2011 second rounder that was obtained in a previous trade.

Matthew Dellavedova was a tremendously popular player in his previous stint with the Cavaliers and at 28 could still have some good basketball left in him.
Delly has seen his playing time reduced each of his three seasons in Milwaukee moving with 26 minutes a game to 18 to a mere eight minutes a night with the Bucks this season and averaging 1.7 points and 2 assists a game in that time.
The loss of playing time does make you wonder a bit, but in a deal that seemed to be made mainly to create cap space by moving George Hill and add draft picks down the road, the chance is minimal and bringing back a popular player never hurts in the eyes of the fans.
Dellavedova is under contract next year at 9.6 million.

Henson is a 6'11 power forward that underwent wrist surgery last week.
The 27 year old from North Carolina was averaging five points and five rebounds this season before the injury.

George Hill was making twenty million for the season and veteran leadership with ten points and just under three assists a night certainly wasn't worth all that.
Just adding cap flexibility to perhaps make more deals at the deadline makes this a good deal for the Cavaliers and Hill is a player better suited to be a role player on a good team than a stalwart on a mediocre one, especially at the money that he is making this season.

Sam Dekker moves to Washington (Washington sent Jason Smith to the Bucks in the trade) for his third team in 2018.
Dekker was around his career averages of six points and two rebounds, his numbers were similar to that of John Henson and likely included in the deal in order to make the salaries match up.

Anytime that you are able to add a future first and a second rounder (even if it could be as late as 2024 before the picks could be used) and save over ten million dollars in cap space, it's a good move.
It's even better when you could even move John Henson at the trade deadline for some more assets and add a popular player like Matthew Dellavedova as well.
Adding players with longer contracts to add future picks is smart and the type of move that a rebuilding team needs to make more of- Good job.