Anderson Varejao Traded
2016-02-18
So long, Wild Thing. You’ll always be welcome back in C-Town.
The Cavs have traded Anderson Varejao and possibly Jared Cunningham and a protected first round draft pick for Orlando Stretch-Big Channing Frye. This is part of a 3-team deal with Portland.
Here are all the incoming details…
Cleveland gets tax savings and acquire a 6-11 guy with a 38.7 pct career mark from 3 in Frye, but part ways with a fan favorite in Varejao
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 18, 2016
The Portland Trail Blazers will likely waive Anderson Varejao, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 18, 2016
Source says #Cavs sending 1st round pick to Blazers for taking Andy's $. Still confirming if it's 2018, their first available to trade
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 18, 2016
Can confirm #Cavs trade: Channing Frye coming to Cleveland. Varejao going to Portland. Yahoo reports Cunningham to Orlando, too.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 18, 2016
Source: Blazers also give #Cavs a second-round pick, which Cavs are sending to Orlando.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 18, 2016
OK, so this will probably need to be updated, but it seems as though the Cavs dealt Varejao, Cunningham, and their 2018 First Round Draft pick for Channing Frye. The Blazers get the 1st round pick because that is apparently the cost of absorbing Varejao’s contract (geez). The Magic get…Jared Cunningham and a second round pick from Portland because that is the cost of Channing Frye?
Frye is 6’11” and is a good 3-point shooter. He’ll help stretch the defense a little further. The Cavs, for whatever reason, opted not to play Anderson Varejao much this season, despite the fact that they played quite well when he laced up. So, under the auspices of Varejao not being useful enough to play, this trade should marginally improve the Cavs this season.
We’ll have more to come, including a eulogy for Varejao’s time in Cleveland. As the founder of the #nevertradeAndy club, I’m extremely saddened that he’ll no longer don the wine and gold. But for now, what are your thoughts on the trade?
How about some parting Haikus for the longest tenured Cavalier and beloved fan favorite?
Word is that Varejao is going to end up on the Spurs or Warriors. Sounds like this one could bite us in the A$$. And… just pointing out – that the Spurs and the Warriors know how to recognize high quality team players. Varejao plays well without the ball in his hands, and doesn’t need dedicated touches (like Love, Irving, LeBron, and others). He moves his feet. He plays good team D. It seems like San Antonio and Golden State know what’s up…
I’ll withhold judgment on the basketball value of this trade for now. I haven’t watched Frye play in years. I’m a little uneasy about the draft pick, but it might be worth it. I’ll miss Andy, though. He’s one of my all-time favorites.
Yes to all counts. The only way this ends up being worth it, though, is if it results in a title. Anything less and the Blatt firing, dumping Andy, the pick, even cunningham, its all a waste.
Lots of great points raised here about Andy (and the sadly perfect Toy Story clip, Tom!). So, in haiku farewell: 1. Say what you want about Varejao’s salary and health history, he never gave up/gave in to repeated adversity. To me that’s a valuable asset to have around. Wild hair never hid The relentless heart and grit We just traded in. 2. When David Blatt was fired (sorry–I know CtB has moved past this), the GM bemoaned “the lack of connectedness I see in our team. I’ve witnessed this over the last couple weeks — really over the last month or… Read more »
Great post. Bravo to all points.
Most surprising thing to me about today is no Celtics move. Guess Ainge couldn’t be persuaded to part with any of his precious assets. I was sure they were going to grab Horford, too.
I hope this works out. But…losing Andy could spell trouble for a team that’s having trouble gelling.
And I hope the Blatt + Andy moves don’t come to be seen as the equivalent of Shaq and Jamison in 2009-10. Sometimes you can be too all-in.
I agree. Sometimes, you can over focus on something and forget who you are.
As Griffin keeps tossing away picks, if this core can’t win a title, there is zero help on the way.
My only issue is the first rounder to get a guy who will barely play. Granted that pick probably won’t be great but it would be nice if we could start trying to find more late first round guys that fit our system really well but are not necessarily the greatest talents coming out of college, eg what the Spurs seem to do every couple years either via the draft or by trades during the draft. Other than that, maybe Frye can provide a few productive minutes during the regular season until the playoffs start, when the rotations will inevitably… Read more »
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I don’t get it. Young players on cheap contracts are so valuable in this league. First, we sign Varejao to a pretty stupid deal. Then, we dump him solely to save money and have to give away a first rounder, one of the few we still have. Gilbert paid 25 million for a first rounder before, now we’re giving one away to save the money. So instead of having a valuable, well liked team player on your bench in case of emergency, we dump both him and a first round pick… Read more »
The Cavs can use one of those empty spots for….drumroll….DAVID LEE!! (Once he gets released)
I’d be fine with David Lee, but I don’t think he brings more to the table than Varejao.
He brings less to the table than anyone. The perfect dinner guest, if you have a huge surplus of food.
I am not a big fan of the move. If Love is healthy, Frye’s role should be marginal and playing Andy off the bench for hustle/defense with the second unit for 10-15 minutes a game makes more sense. If Love is injured or Frye usurps his role for some reason, we have issues. I much would have preferred they go out and get someone like Jeff Green, at least he fills a need on the bench. The Frye acquisition seems just odd. It’s not a bad move in a vacuum at all, but it feels more like a move that… Read more »
Well dunno about espn real plus minus on either these guys but bball reference has Andy’s adjusted box plus minus defensively at 1.9 dbpm and Frye’s at .6 dbpm. Offensively, Frye’s edges out Andy with -.2 obpm to Andy’s -3.9 obpm. So it seems Frye has the edge overall with plus minus this year, though Andy’s sample size is so small I do not know how much stock to put into these numbers. One thing that could pose problems for us with Frye on the floor is that for his position, he has been for his career a horrible rebounder… Read more »
I think it was probably a financial move first and foremost.
I hate this trade.
Does this mean we can pay Mozgov $10MM to keep him . . . if need be?
Or Delly??????????????
Yeah, that’s really the more pertinent question…
I will be astounded if they do not keep Delly.
BTW, Shut up, Cols!
I like the deal. It allows the Cavs to always have a stretch big on the court, even with bench units. Often when Love sat, it was to play TT and Moz and that really hurt the spacing with the second unit.
Having Love OR Frye on the court at the same time really opens things up.
Sad to see Varejao go. Hopefully he can make a return somehow. Varejao contributed most where the stats didn’t pick it up. He frequently led in +/-. He did the little things – set the picks, hit mid range jumpers the end of the shot clock. Tipped the ball out to create team rebounds on both offense and defense. I was sad that they didn’t play him this year, in order to develop TT more… but I often felt we’d be better with AV in the lineup than Love or TT. Varejao always tried hard; always tried to make the… Read more »
After two beers I still think this so great trade. Nothing for something good o. A great contract.
Basketball stuff aside, Left-hand is great.
Exactly whose minutes will Frye be taking? Is Frye still any good? Career stats mean nothing to me. Aging veterans on their way out are only as good as their last two seasons. So anyone know anything about Frye’s performance from this year or last? Frye an upgrade defensively over Varejao this year? I honestly know nothing about Frye’s performance this year or last year.
I get the sentimental value for Andy but Frye is an upgrade over 2016 Andy. Frye can play the 4/5 and is a defensive upgrade over Love. theoretically, Frye can play with any of our other bigs and allows us to always have a floor spacing big man on the floor which is essential for Kyrie/Lebron getting to the hoop. saying this is a “bad trade” or this makes the team less likable is a bit of an overreaction.
We didn’t trade Frye for Andy. We traded a pick for Frye. We traded Andy for luxury tax savings.
What will be the impact of Fry on our ability to play small ball? Will this enable “big” small ball? Griffin must have a theory on this since they overlapped at PHX
My biggest problem with this trade is that we didn’t need to trade Andy at all. Portland is going to waive him. We had a trade exception. He was traded because of a luxury tax bill. Didn’t Gilbert say it made no sense to spend all this money and then get cheap at the end of the bench? I don’t see how this team has a better chance of winning a title without Andy than with him. He wasn’t traded to get Frye. He was traded for money. Remember how much we were lamenting not having him healthy when Love… Read more »
In his present form though, Andy isn’t worth the 40 million dollars that it would’ve cost to keep him this year. After the Frye trade Andy would have been glued to the bench too.
I understand that. But if we end up needing him for 1 minute of a Finals game, its dumb to just waive him when we have the open roster spot (which is essentially what we did).
Apparently Lance was traded to Memphis.
Wow Clips get Jeff Green for Lance?
Great move for them. How much did it cost them?
It sounds like they sent a first round pick in addition to Lance.
Plus a first round pick. Great trade for the Grizzlies.
I don’t think much of Green, but he may at least play for Glenn. For whatever reason, Lance wasn’t really seeing the floor there. I don’t follow the Clippers closely enough to say if it is justified, but I know it infuriated a lot of the Clips fans….i.e., the corpse of Paul Pierce getting big minutes while Lance sat.
Coming up at 3:30 ET: New Cleveland Cavaliers forward Channing Frye joins us on the show. — Woj
Frye’s floor spacing has made him a favorite of ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus. This season, he ranks among the top 10 power forwards in RPM. – Kevin Pelton
A mop on his top Did we really need to drop? The King of the Flop Slipped some on defense But always underrated For the little things Andy was playing well when he actually got playing time this year. I don’t see how Frye improves the team other than providing some spot shooting at the 4. I thought he was stick-a-fork-in-him done, but maybe I haven’t watched enough Magic games. Could be the Cavs FO also had info we don’t. It would be extremely disappointing IF this move was done mainly for cap relief considering Danny G has up to… Read more »
Frye is just a better player at this stage of their careers. This year the Cavs were 0.3 points per 100 possessions better with Andy on the court vs off the court. The Magic were 6 points per/100 better when Frye was on vs off.
The Magic are also terrible, so that number may not mean much comparatively.
Oh man, well played. That’s so sad haha
Damn…Mr Hero Curse strikes again. If Johnny wanted out of Cleveland so bad, all he had to do was hawk some delicious Roman Burgers…
I fail to see how this moves the needle one bit. I find it so telling that the Spurs never make a move at the deadline. You know why? Because they build the team they want in the offseason. They know who they want to develop and they develop them. They trust their coach and back him up. Then they trust the players the believed in to do the work they hired them to do. Blatt firing and Trading a good experienced big and young developmental player, along with a first rounder, means we are developing no one and no… Read more »
Never? The Spurs have made a few deals at the deadline in the past 10 years including the Richard Jefferson, TJ Ford and 1st rounder (Festus Ezili) for Stephen Jackson trade 4 years ago. I think that qualifies as quite a bit bigger trade than this years Cavs deal.
And that young developmental player on a minimum contract? He’s about to get cut by Orlando, who aren’t exactly loaded with talent.
Hes a better rim protector and can shoot hugh % 3s. He can stretch the floor vs plodding bigs. Useful maybe vs Duncan and Bogut? He played very well in Dec shooting 46% from 3 but faded as his minutes were reduced. Not sure he can come in for small minutes and matter. Similar track to Mo. Plays well with 20+ but awful as deep reserve man. One reason they should cling to RJ. He embraces that role.
Now we have two open roster spots to sign vet minimums, right? Might as well bring Ray Allen on board. Joe Johnson, come on down!
Joe Johnson doesn’t want to leave Brooklyn. He wants an extension from them. He doesn’t care about winning.
Niether do we. Sounds like a perfect fit.
We can get the urn containing Ray Allen’s ashes for the vet min.
Suns trade Markieff Morris to Wizards, per Yahoo Sports. – Amico
That was really the only available guy I’d trade Andy for, since, despite his problems, he is actually an upgrade on the court that could help us against the Warriors or Spurs. Frye is not.
This is a pretty mild upgrade, at the expense of yet another draft pick. Don’t we need some young talent on good contracts? We’ve gone overboard on Win Right This Very Second, and when we come up short there’s no backup plan
It’s a good move getting rid of the AV contract…. it was definitely the worst on the team.
But Frye’s contract is pretty expensive too… he’s not a free agent until 2018… he’s a little younger and cheaper than AV, but not by much.
I think giving up the 1st rounder to move AV’s contract was a little too much given Frye’s contract.
The biggest plus is that Frye is a legitimate shooter who can space the floor… he’s probably the 3rd best shooter besides Kyrie and JR.
The biggest benefit of this trade is that Frye might actually stay healthy. The reason Andy didn’t get more minutes is because we sure as hell didn’t want to come to rely on him after the last 4 years of season ending injuries.
Trading Andy means they must’ve been really scared he was going to get hurt again and wouldn’t be able to help us in the playoffs. Unloading his albatross of a contract saves some money which is good or whatever depending on how much we bloggers like to spend Dan Gilbert’s money. Trading a first round pick to get this done seems like overkill, but as long as Lebron is around, those picks won’t be high in the draft and we unload a guaranteed contract beginning in 2018. So that’s the on paper, rapid fire analysis i get. That being said,… Read more »
I don’t think it matters who he plays with. Love plays 33 minutes a game, so there’s 15 minutes available, in addition to taking some of Mozzy’s minutes.
Synergy Sports Tech @SynergySST 2h2 hours ago
Channing Frye is shooting 51% on unguarded catch and shoot jumpers and 50% on pick & pops in the half court the majority of which are 3s.
This sounds good; need a guy that drills the pick and pop
He’s going to be a good addition to the rotation; a backup to Love and a alternative backup to TT for when Mozzy isn’t needed to guard someone huge.
He can take all the 3s that Lebron bricks. Hear that, Leb?
Frye’s nickname is “Buffet of Goodness”
Seriously, what is that about? I hope the cleveland.com crew gets on it!
Fanatic trade. Trash for someone useful on a nice contract.
Ok. Now I’m out for the weekend. Go Cavs.
You suck Cols!!!!!!!!
Cols is Griffin. Griffin is Cols!
Solid from 18 ft. Solid rebounder. Great pick n roll chemistry with LeBron. Good hustle defense…That’s 2016 Andy.
This trade isn’t out of necessity for lack of skilled bigs This is a product of a stubborn team with too many egos.
This team has everything needed to win. They just refuse to play selfless ball.
Andy being traded is a sad product of this. NO more no less.
Agree 100% , Griff is an idiot. Just think if he wouldn’t get Love, we would have Wigg + picks and Andy didn’t get minutes. Golden state will get him a ring.Go Cavs.
New rule: You can’t call Andy trash in a hit-and-run comment.
Agreed. WKNR bans callers for several weeks for egregious on air comments. Cols should receive some penalty box time from CtB for calling Andy trash. That is beyond poor taste IMO for a lifer Cav who always gave his best. Shame on you !!
On a “nice” contract? He makes just a hair under what Andy did and his contract is 3 years guaranteed, as opposed to Andy’s 2 years guaranteed contract.
He makes under 8 million the next 2 years when the cap absolutely explodes. If he can contribute ANYTHING it is a great contract.
Not useful for years
This trade scares the Spurs and Dubs
Cavs fans haz a sad
I came for the Colspin. Didn’t dissapoint.
Well Pelton gave the Cavs an A- on the trade grade.
Great. And we were projected as champs before the season. If only we didn’t have to actually play the games, we’d always win.
great comment.
I dislike everything about this. I am depressed now. Ugh!
Andy was dandy
but he is old and injured;
this is business
I love AV like everyone else does, but the fact that he was quickly waived by Portland speaks volumes! The Cavs already have enough cheerleaders on the sidelines. i’m still hopeful he can be a part of the franchise down the road…
Bad Mojo for Cavs
Just To Get a Meh Stretch Four
Trade Away Your Heart
Trading Andy is just bad mojo man. Teammates love him and means more to the team than just what he does on the floor.
It’s like when the Pacers traded Granger a couple years ago and they fell apart after that. Not saying that will happen and it better not, but man you just don’t mess with stuff like this trading The Wild Thing.
Anderson for Frye
Yay, it’s a poor man’s Kevin Love
What a Blockbuster
I’m so depressed! Channing Frye can’t play defense!!! We don’t need a knock down guy don 3 at the 4…we need options! Kevin love for offense and Andy for d. Wth griff?! This better work out…or what a waste of a trade.
Big Man Gives Big Hugs
Against Orlando Magic
Bailed Out Cavs with 3
I was at this game!!! LBJ and AV carried the team that day. It was LBJ’s birthday too. It was freaking awesome.
He should have retired a Cavalier. I wish I could say that it’s unprecedented to trade away a guy like Andy, but unfortunately we did it with Z too.
When the coaches would give him a few odd minutes, he proved that he could still contribute. Very disappointed in this move. I don’t think it’ll give our players much confidence in the franchise.
That last sentence is the key. This could either fracture confidence, or inspire confidence that ownership is all-in on bringing a title home. Like many other moves the Cavs have made, this one is TBD.
well, i suppose it had to happen, but this is a sad, sad day for cavs basketball, the city of cleveland, the nation of brazil, and bobble-head jerry-curl cast makers everywhere. seriously i would so much rather have ditched mozgov, kept andy and doubled down on trying to morph into a true small-ball team. andy is so underrated on the pick-and-roll, the energy-guy this lackadaisical team needs, and a true disrupter on defense. maybe the coaches know something we don’t about his health, but it just seems like such a shame the dude never really got a chance to show… Read more »
Report: The Cavaliers called the Sacramento Kings proposing Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov for DeMarcus Cousins— NBA Talk
Not sure if this is true??? Prob not!
I’d give Griffin credit for trying, lol. Prolly heard the phone ‘click’ as soon as he made that offer though….
In 13-14, his last with the Suns, his RPM was 4th best among PF, just notching KLove who was 5th in his last year with the TWolves.
Last year he was pretty bad in his first year with Orlando, finishing 52 out of 82 PF’s (Love was 11th).
This year he is 8th out of 95 PF’s, ahead of A. Davis and B Griffin among others, though only in 18 mpg. Love is second.
#Cavs believe Kings have interest in Timo Mozgov, but as of late last night hadn’t made an offer yet either. Less than an hour til deadline — Lloyd
Can’t believe they would trade AV if they were still looking to trade TM. If they do, we will be really in trouble if we play Pistons in first round.
As an aside: Despite the Love/Celtics talk, one source said Boston never made legit offer, #Cavs never gave price. Never a real conversation — Lloyd
Liability
To Automatic shooter
Good bye skilled big man
The team lost me some this afternoon. Firing Blatt saddened me because I think he’s a good basketball mind and I wanted to see him succeed here, though I understood the logic if things were getting progressively less workable behind the scenes. But this trade… I don’t see how Frye moves the needle at all, especially in the playoffs. And now you’ve traded one of the guys who made up a big part of the team’s identity. A pre-Delly Delly who fans loved and who looked decent in the minutes he was given this year. I was in love with… Read more »
I totally agree with you. I don’t like anything about this – it feels just plain wrong to trade Andy.
Yeah, this feels similar as to when we traded Z … except now they put a “Z-Rule” in place so we can’t take him back now.
Z is a good comparison, because he was pretty much done when he was traded as well. I don’t think any Andy naysayers are saying good riddance, but in reality he is not a big part of this team at this time.
And Channing Frye will be? I see another benchwarmer getting 6-10 minutes, maybe.
I agree with a lot of this sentiment. I was having zero fun watching the Cavs for a period last year but dominant streaks and the playoffs make everything better. It’ll just suck a lot if we win something and Andy’s no longer here to earn a much-deserved ring. Maybe we can hire him as an assistant coach next year.
How could we trade him?!?
Should be Cavalier for life
Plus, his hair’s on fleek
Still an hour to deadline but as of now, Cavs have no plans to trade Timofey Mozgov. He will be free agent in July. — Windhorst
Maybe they’ll resign Moz now that they freed up AVs contract?
True No Stats All Star
Thirty-Fourth Best RAPM Since
The Year Two Thousand
(4.02)
So apparently Frye is a poor defender but also a rim protector. Can anyone explain this? I guess it means he’s long and can block shots, but is generally an open door defensively?
I don’t get it either. I was under the impression he’s been old and slow for years.
This trade hurts my feelings. AND Jared Cunningham?!!!? AND a first rounder?!!?
Frye better shoot some lights out…
Still not entirely sold he helps against GSW either…
The Portland Trail Blazers will likely waive Anderson Varejao, league sources tell @TheVertical. — Windhorst
Didn’t mean to post this…
David Griffin likes to overpay with first rounders.
Good job at giving AV that contract Griff only to use a 1st round pick to trade him. /s
That’s Griffin’s worst move so far, the AV reup. Most other moves have been solid or even gold though, so if that’s his worst slip up as GM, paying too much money to a loyal team player and fan favorite, than I can forgive him.
He got paid before Lebron came back, before that was a reality.
Oops must have been thinking of something else…wow
Nope got paid after. Extension was during training camp last year.
He gave up a ton of picks to clear money to sign LeBron too…
Ummm, I’m gonna go ahead and say that was a good move, clearing space for Lebron.
Or they could’ve been a little more patient, still got LeBron without giving up so many picks.
And we only traded J. Jack, S Karasev, and T Zeller along with a protected 1st round pick. None of those players would even be in the rotation this year.
Pretty sure it was more than 1 pick that was sent out in those transactions.
No, and in fact we received a 2nd rounder in the transaction.
Okay I was wrong. I thought they had traded more than one pick.
Zeller is playing OK this year. He caused the Cavs problems a month or so ago.
Traded Heart for Stats
Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat; Means Nil
Infinte Sadness
so heavy
Welp I just became clinically depressed. Too true though!
Anchored a Grit Squad
With Contagious Energy
Harrassing Big Men
A Finals Air Ball
With grit became a sure thing
We’ll miss you Wild Thing
NO!!!!!
I have been screaming how the Cavs should use Andy more. He was killer in the pick and roll with James and Kyrie and he is a home town favorite.
I understand, but I think it was a bad call. But this could be sentiment. Cleveland Loves Andy!!!
You make my heart sing
With weak side positioning
Fare thee well Wild Thing
Yes, bummer that Andy is traded. Frye will make us marginally better. What are the rules on re-claiming a guy waived by another team? I know the NBA changed the rules after we did this with Big Z. When (if at all) could we try to re-sign Andy if he’s waived by Portland?
Don’t know but if there was ever a player that should be signed and then given a good bye event…. It is Andy. He is one of the Fan Greats on a team that has not had many.
That’s a good question. I don’t know that they can.
Also, I saw some tweets that Portland was NOT going to waive him. So we’ll have to stay tuned.
They can’t resign him until one year past the trade date.
I gotta learn to type faster.
What if they bring him in as an assistant coach? He was pretty much in that role last year.
I’m pretty sure the rules were changed to prevent a Z-like re-signing. They might be able to re-sign Andy, but not until next season, or not for this year’s playoffs, or something.
The CBA states: “If a team trades a player and the player is subsequently waived by the new team, the prior team will not be permitted to claim the player off of waivers or sign the player to a new contract until the earlier of (i) one year from the date the trade was completed, or (ii) the July 1 following the last season of the player’s contract (excluding any unexercised option years). ” So we can’t claim Andy off the waivers, or even sign Andy until 2/18/17. It’s unclear to me if we can trade for him ff another… Read more »