Cavs trade J.J. Hickson for Omri Casspi
2011-06-30
As fate would have it, I’m moving to a different apartment today and Colin is ridiculously busy at the moment, but the Cavs have reportedly traded J.J. Hickson for Omri Casspi. I’ll have a full writeup up tonight, but for now I like the move — the Cavs desperately needed a young wing, the frontcourt was getting a bit crowded, and I’d pretty much given up on Hickson hitting his “ceiling.” Again, more coming tonight.
Show Ryan Hollins respect? Ben Wallace is welcome back to any team? That’s some world-class trolling, Johnny.
Welcome to Sacramento J.J Hickson , you going to love it in Sacramento. Sacramento got the better deal! Love it! in Petrie we trust! GO KINGS!
Why is everyone crying over J.J.’s departure when we are still soaring tall in the frontcourt beast department? Show a little respect for RYAN HOLLINS who is going to be throwing down monster alley-oops from his fellow Bruin Baron Davis in the Q! I know nothing about Thompson but he can’t be any thicker than J.J. I saw the Cavs play the Mavs live last year and J.J. couldn’t even muster much attention during the team huddles. (Having Mo Williams standing around collecting his pay check after ten minutes of play and not being in the huddle wasn’t very encouraging… Read more »
I dont know that Casspi is “much worse” than Hickson. I’m not even sure he’s worse. If you look at strictly stats, that’s the conclusion you’d come to. However, in this case, stats lie.
I wish JJ well but as a Cavs fan I always wanted to think he’d develop into a beast but the fact was… he sucked. Look at these numbers… Offensive Win Shares (-0.2). – Sasha Pavlovic on the T-Wolves thinks thats bad. eFG% – .458. Ranked 13th on the team 1.1ast to 2.2 Turnovers – ouch Win Shares per 48 min – 0.032 (Ranked 11th on the Cavs) The fact that we parlayed him a decent second half of rebound and scoring (albeit inefficently) for a rotation player and a (hopefully) future first rounder is pretty astounding. I think the… Read more »
@Robin First of all, I don’t think it’s relevant to say that because he’s Israeli, Cavaliers fans will carry their political opinions to the stadium with them. It’s hard to play that card, especially in the NBA. But since we’re hear to talk about sports, I think it’s best we just stay off of that topic. I don’t care who we get in the draft next year, as long as it’s somebody good. Be he a shooting guard (Austin Rivers), small forward (Harrison Barnes) or center (Patric Young). The fact that we filled the hole before it became a big… Read more »
I have mixed feelings about the deal. Casspi is clearly a worse player than JJ, and the lottery protection seriously lowers the value of the pick. However, looking at JJ’s contract situation, it did seem like the cavs would have to overpay to keep him, so in all likelihood he wouldn’t be around. Not a bad deal overall, but it’s hard to get too excited about a mid to late first round pick. The Amare argument is just silly. It certainly sounds like the Suns backed out of the deal, and I’m sure any reluctance to deal JJ was based… Read more »
Ok let’s make one thing clear. The Kings rotation at SF was awful last year. Paul Westphaul managed the minutes worse than Lenny Dykstra managed his bank account. If you don’t believe me take a look for yourself. Cassipi, Donte Green and Francisco Garcia all started games for one reason or another. As a young player, consistent playing time is key for development. It is unfair to pull a player out of the lineup due to a short cold stretch. This kills confidence in almost all cases. Also, since Omeri was the first Israeli born player, his first year over… Read more »
Sorry, the minutes will be there at SF.
Ugh. Just awful. I don’t think J.J. was the key to this team’s future. Obviously the team didn’t feel that way either. But still, he was a 22-year old beast who just averaged 14 and 9. He was a young player who improved every year. He had value. Whether as part of our future big man rotation, as insurance on Tristan Thompson, or as a chip in a good trade. J.J. had value, and we squandered it. Rest assured, we will never get a first-round pick from Sacramento. Without protections, this would have been a decent trade. But even if… Read more »
Like everything in the NBA right now this trade is overshadowed by the looming specter of the lockout. I think J.J. could have been a good player (always had a higher ceiling than Gooden). Remember, he would have been a senior in college last year. I really think in the right situation he could turn a corner. Unfortunately, that situation is not Sacramento.
As for Casspi, I really have no idea. He seems to be a decent shooter, and the minutes will be there at 2 guard.
Typical reaction to a Cavs move by me when I first heard:
1) Are you kidding me?
2) I’m disowning this team
3) OK, it’s not completely terrible
4) I could see it working
Like everything else, time will tell. Say we kept him, then there was a season long lockout, then he left for nothing, we would all be clamoring about how we should have dealt him while we had the chance.
My biggest concern is that the Cavs didn’t get the best valuable possible. And I’m not indicating they didn’t get the best value possible at this moment in time. Last year was definitely a down year for Hickson and didn’t help his value. When Hickson played last year without Baron Davis (1989 minutes), he averaged 17.2 points per 36 minutes with 46% fgs. When Hickson played with Davis (267 minutes), he averaged 20.8 pp36 with 52% fgs. What if by the all-star break next year, Hickson was putting up a hollow 18 points & 10 rebounds instead of this years… Read more »
The Cavs did not back out of the Amar’e trade. The Suns did. This a fact.
Like the trade as well. Hick son’s stats were empty, and his faults outweighed what he did bring to the table. He was going to want way too much money, so it was either move him or lose him.
This seems to be the deal on the pick protection: 2012 first round draft pick to Cleveland (top-14 protected in the 2012 Draft, top-13 protected in 2013, top-12 protected in 2014, top-10 protected in 2015, top-10 protected in 2016 and top-10 protected in the 2017 Draft) If Cleveland has not received a first round pick from Sacramento by 2017, then Sacramento shall convey their own 2017 2nd round draft pick to Cleveland provided it is within the top-55 picks. If it is not, then Sacramento’s obligation to Cleveland shall be extinguished. In two years; can Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, John… Read more »
I’m happy with this trade, getting a SF (which we need) and giving up a PF (which we have plenty of – including our new #4 overall pick). I don’t understand why people keep on bringing up the Amare trade. a) we aren’t clear on who backed out and what the entire deal was b) we weren’t sure how long Amares back or eyes would make it c) JJ seemed like his cieling was so high and with his continued development – we could be giving up the better player during the course of his career. As it turns out,… Read more »
I’m ok with the trade.
We have enough pf’s and Omri can play incredibly great off the ball which will be a plus in this offense.
I do think we could had probably gotten a bit more for JJ but its all a matter of time now.
Hahaha, the guy that wrote that write-up actually thinks JJ can play the 3. What a joke.
I’m the biggest fan of hoping that JJ pullled through and became consistent, because he was about all we had to hope for last year. I wish him all the best in the new location and will genuinely pull for him in the future. This move further strengthened the “defensive toughness” theme that has taken hold in Cleveland.
I’d love this if there wasn’t a protected lottery pick involved, but even so we know what Casspi is and can become and who knows what you’ll get with a lottery pick. I think JJ ran his course in Cleveland, next year (if there is a next year) he would’ve clashed with Scott again even though he has no clout to actually do so. He may become a monster in Sacramento someday, but probably not. Also, enough of the Amare crap. I refuse to believe that the Cavs said no to that and would bet everything that the Suns just… Read more »
How in the world do you guys actually like this deal? Really feels like the typical reaction from my fellow Cleveland fan — love every move we make. Dumb deal. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Co-Sign on liking this deal, though I kinda feel bad JJ will be getting 2.4 shots/game next year. Somehow I think he will be below Tyreke, DMC & the Jimmer on the ol’ usage chart
for the Cavs, it’ll be nice to have an NBA SF again, and as a former member of Cleveland’s Jewish community here’s hoping they’ll pick up some extra tickets! Some more good solid theme nights coming if there is a season
There’s a ton of lottery protection on the pick, unfortunately. It’s basically either lottery or top 10 protected until 2017. Still, it should allow us to get a potential starter in addition to a solid role player in Casspi.
Remember, we still have the rights to some of the Heat’s 1st rounders, which would be good to package with this Kings pick to move into the top 10 in a given year’s draft.
Nice move. Covering a need and getting a likely early first round pick in the draft. Hope there’s no lottery protection on it…
Stagnant player from a position where we are stong for a decent player at a position where we are weak and a first rounder. I like it. Who starts at PF now? Antawn with Andy at center?
Clearly, a better player than Amar’e
In my opinion we just traded NewDrew and that’s all right by me.