Welcome Back

For as good as it makes us feel, nostalgia is a flawed feeling. As wonderful as memories of the past can be, they typically aren’t accurate. We often remember times gone by for only the good things, while conveniently leaving out the bad. Whether it’s the 1950s, high school, or the career of Michael Jordan, or countless other events or people, things weren’t ever quite as good as we remember them being. Segregation was still rampant in the fifties, high school was still a time of personal doubt for most of us, and Michael Jordan did occasionally miss shots and didn’t win the NBA Championship every season of his career.

Cavalier fans are excited about the return of Matthew Dellavedova, and for the most part, with good reason. The trade of George Hill and Sam Dekker and a 2021 second-round pick  for Dellavedova, John Henson, a 2021 first and second-round picks from the Milwaukee Bucks, and 2022 second-round pick from the Washington Wizards looks like a good deal for the team. Still, it might not be the steal that everyone thinks it is. Like everything else in life, there are some blemishes.

Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman did a good job in getting a first-round pick as part of the price of renting out the Cavaliers’ cap space for next season. Teams have become more hesitant to trade first-round picks in general, and getting an unprotected pick like the Cavs did when they took on Baron Davis‘s contract eight years ago is virtually impossible. Even with protections, any first-round pick is a valuable asset.

Protections on MIL 1st going to CLE, per sources: 1-14 in 2021; 1-10 in 2022; 1-10 and 25-30 in 2023; 1-8 in 2024. Coverts to two seconds in 2025 if not conveyed by then.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) December 7, 2018

Still, the pick has significant protections. Since the Bucks owe the Phoenix Suns a first-round pick as part of their trade for Eric Bledsoe last season, it’s likely that the Cavs won’t receive their first-round pick until 2022 at earliest. Even then, there’s a chance that the pick never conveys. If Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves the Bucks in the summer of 2021, they will likely become one of the worst teams in basketball. They’d certainly be bad enough to keep their protected pick. In that sense, the Cavaliers should root for the Greek Freak to stay with the Bucks for the forseeable future. Given the amount of time before the pick can convey and the protections it has even then, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Cavaliers trade the pick themselves sometime in the future for a player that they feel could be a part of their core as they try to return to contention.

It’s also good to see Dellavedova back in the fold. Despite struggling with injuries over the past year, Dellavedova remains a solid, if unspectacular, passer who takes care of the ball while keeping it moving on offense. He’s also a career 38.7% shooter from deep who has never shot below 36.4% from beyond the arc in his career. While not the defensive stopper many have made him out to be, Dellavedova is a smart, physical team defender who always gives good effort on that end. On a team that ranks near or at the bottom of the NBA in assists per game, three point attempts, and defensive rating. Dellavedova should help them in several of their weakest areas.

These are all good things, but nostalgia sometimes causes us to ignore Dellavedova’s flaws as a player. He has never been able to score in the paint, shooting an abysmal 39% on two-point shots during his career. While he gives good effort on defense, he has never been as effective on that end as his reputations would suggest. He’s also making about $9.7 million a year this season and the next, meaning the Cavaliers are paying mid-level money to a guy who has produced like a fringe NBA player since he left Cleveland in 2016. Yet, it’s not on the court where Dellavedova may have his greatest impact.

If and when Hill was dealt, the Cavaliers needed a veteran backup point guard who could spell Collin Sexton off the court, help the rookie develop at practice, and be a mentor off the court. One thing that always struck me about the tear down and rebuild from 2010 to 2014 was the thought that the Cavs may have torn things down a bit too far. When Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson were drafted by the team, they still had a few veterans in Anthony Parker, Antawn Jamison, and Anderson Varejao. At 25 years old, Ramon Sessions was relatively young, but was also a solid backup to Irving. There was some level of veteran support. But by the next season, Parker had retired, Sessions had been traded to the Lakers, Jamison had signed with the Clippers, and Varejao continued to deal with a constant stream of injuries. Irving, Thompson, Dion Waiters, and Tyler Zeller were not only the core of the team, they were also the only players of consequence, and they knew it. The Samardo Samuels, Ryan Hollins, and Jeremy Pargos of the NBA simply didn’t have the clout to lead these players by example, on the court or off. The focus wasn’t on winning, it was on acquiring more high draft picks, but along the way, the team’s culture was destroyed. Bad habits formed, and the Cavaliers as a whole were less than the sum of their parts. If not for the return of LeBron James, the Cavaliers may never have gotten back on the winning path simply because there wouldn’t have been anyone with the clout to change the atmosphere around the team. That’s one reason why players like Thompson, Dellavedova, Channing Frye, and Kevin Love are still so valuable to this team. They’ve seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows that the NBA has to offer, and they have the knowledge and clout to keep the locker room together through this rebuild. Young players like Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman are much better off because of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BkK_HdR5no

The x-factor in all of this is Henson. Soon to turn 28, the Cavaliers’ newest big man is right in the middle of his prime. He’s solid on the boards, has improved his range, and it by far the best shot blocker on the team. Earlier in his career, the Bucks were typically much worse when Henson was on the court, but that had improved over the past two seasons. The question is, what do the Cavaliers want with Henson? Once he returns from surgery to repair a torn wrist ligament, Henson could combine with Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., and a healthy Love to give the Cavaliers a deep and formidable big man rotation. He and Nance may have just enough combined shooting to play alongside each other, backing up a proven combo in Love and Thompson. But will he be in Cleveland? Like Alec Burks, Henson could be flipped for another bad contract and an asset. The Cavaliers acquired him just in time to have his salary aggregated in a larger deal at the trading deadline if they had a move they wanted to make. Henson is signed through next year, but his declining salary means that he will make about $9.7 million for the 2019-2020 season, a fair deal for a player of his caliber.

There has been some talk that acquiring Henson allows the Cavaliers to move Thompson, who’s currently playing as well as he ever has. While there may be some truth to that, I’m hesitant to move a 27 year old champion who is playing terrific basketball, has established himself as the team’s leader, and is young enough to be a part of the team moving forward for a low first-round pick. This isn’t JR Smith, George Hill, or even Kyle Korver. Thompson is right in the heart of his prime. Combining some young players with in-their-prime veterans who have won before is not only a quicker way to rebuild than a complete tear down, it also has the higher likelihood of success since the veterans are proven and some of the young players the team drafts won’t pan out. That’s not being negative, it’s just the most likely scenario.

It’s also why dealing Thompson for a pick that will likely yield a player much worse than him reminds me of this.

There’s something to be said for the sure thing. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, sometimes in the transaction-crazed world of the NBA, we forget that.

By acquiring additional draft picks, the Cavaliers have given themselves more options and flexibility as the move forward in rebuilding the team. There will be highs and lows in this process, times of smooth sailing and bumpy roads. It won’t be perfect, but like everything else in life, nothing really is. That’s okay. Sometimes it’s those blemishes that make things interesting.