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Trades in "the Land" restore order in the East


Now that we've had a few days to marinate on last week's NBA trade deadline let's take a look at the aftermath.

In case you've been living under a rock, ala Patrick Star, here's everything that went down in the NBA on Thursday.

Now that all the paperwork is complete and new jerseys have been printed here's the breakdown of why the Cavs secured the bag even before they beat the brakes off defeated the Celtics on national TV Sunday.

For much of the season, Cleveland looked old, slow and tired despite sitting comfortably as a top-4 seed in the East.

Yet, with a wave of fresh faces, the Cavs are primed to make another Finals run, as opposed to a team who might have lost in the first round.

Cleveland's front office pulled off one of the boldest strategies I've ever seen. Rarely do you see an NBA title contender literally trade away half its players midseason and actually appear to get better right away. It just doesn't happen. I wish Derek Jeter did this with Marlins but that's another article for another day.

Cleveland had plenty to clap about after
Sunday's win in Boston.
Give the Cavs props for swallowing their pride on the Isaiah Thomas trade, cutting a broken Derrick Rose loose, and breaking up the Lebron-Dwyane Wade reunion tour to get the players the team needed.

For Lebron James-led teams to be successful you need to surround him with these things: at least two guys who can get their own shot (Bosh and Wade in Miami), sharpshooters who can hit three pointers (Ray Allen, Mike Miller) and athletic big men who don't get in Lebron's way when he's going to the basket (Bosh, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson).

The obvious No. 2 guy this season Kevin Love is hurt, but ex-Laker guard Jordan Clarkson is a fearless baller with something to prove. Your favorite light-skinned hooper was giving the Lake show 14 points a game coming off the bench and can easily match or exceed that playing in a weak Eastern Conference (See Blake Griffin in Detroit).

Shooters: New guard George Hill is shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc and former Utah guard Rodney Hood is shooting 42 percent.

Why does that matter?

Well, Isaiah Thomas was only shooting 29 percent, on top of being a shell of the player he was in Boston.
Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose both shoot below 30 percent for their careers and have never been great shooters, in fact, I'd probably shoot threes better than them.
Jae Crowder shot a slightly better percentage than Rose and Wade but not good enough to be a role player on Lebron's team. Letting him go opened the door for underrated rookie Cedi Osman to play more minutes.

Athletic big: New pickup Larry Nance Jr. is about athletic as they come. At 6'10, he's long, quick, can grab rebounds and block shots. Most importantly, nobody wants to see Larry coming down the lane. Right KD?



There's renewed energy in "The Land" and even the folks in Vegas have taken notice:
Since the trade, the Cavs' odds to make the Finals jumped from 12-1 to 8-1.

My hot take: Cleveland again is the best team in the East and will beat Boston in five games in the conference finals when Love returns.
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Comments

  1. eat823February 12, 2018 at 8:43 AM

    good stuff

    ReplyDelete
  2. TraeFebruary 12, 2018 at 9:47 AM

    That was a great trade for the Cavs! What gets me real excited though is that I think it sets up my Lakers well, although I hate to give up Nance. He was one of my favorites on that team.

    Good read!

    ReplyDelete

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