Part 1 – Reign of Construction
Chris Grant became Cleveland Cavaliers GM on June, 4, 2010. Due to his oversight, the Cavs plummeted from NBA contender to afterthought…. (sound of record screeching). Just fooling around, the organization has been busy accumulating cap space and draft picks. Given that essentially two years of decision making are in the books, let’s take a look back at his personnel moves to get a feel for how he’s doing. I’ve rated them as follows:
- Traded Mo Williams and Jamario Moon for Baron Davis and the Clippers unprotected 2011 first round pick – February 2011 – A transformative move for the franchise. Grant started blowing up the worst team in franchise history, taking on $30 million of salary in exchange for a probable mid-lottery pick. Good fortune struck and along came Kyrie Irving. I don’t want to think about the parallel universe where there is no amnesty clause and the Cavs don’t win the lottery.
- Draft Day 2011 – This gets ranked second primarily based on acquiring, seemingly, a franchise cornerstone. I still wish the Cavs had actually added players in round two, and don’t strive to re-open the debate about the fourth pick, but finding a new franchise player less than one year after losing the last one qualifies as a solid day at the office.
- Won three draft picks from the Heat in a game of mahjong – July 2010 – I don’t recall the specifics of how this went down.
- Traded Hickson for Omri Casspi and a future first round draft pick – June 2011 – Along the same lines as the Williams & Moon trade; jettisoning pieces of the “Lebron Cavs” was important towards moving the team forward. Casspi hasn’t been anything to gloat about, but Hickson suits up for his third team in a year, and in the next few years, Cleveland ends up with something like the 12th pick in the draft.
- Signed Alonzo Gee to free agent contract – December 2010 – The Wizards waived AG and one week later the Cavs picked him up. Pretty good value so far on this one.
- Traded Sessions & Eyenga for Luke Walton & 1st round draft pick(s) – March 2012 – no need rehashing this trade; I support it.
- Amnestied Baron Davis – December 2011 – I wasn’t highly supportive on this at the time. It’s not worth thinking about enough to decide if my opinion has changed.
- Acquire Sessions, Hollins & 2nd round pick for Delonte & Bassy Telfair – July 2010 – Nine months after a felony gun arrest and following an erratic season; the Cavs were done with Red. He was turned into 1.5 years of Sessions, the unique comedy stylings of Ryan Hollins, a Lakers first round choice, and these guys…
- Minnesota 2013 2nd round pick traded for Semih Erden and Luke Harangody – Feb 2011 – I wonder what will be available at #48 in 2013?
- Waiving Ryan Hollins – This could fall in a “too early to call” category. It’s probably wise to give it a few months and make sure Hollins doesn’t embark towards getting his jersey raised to the rafters of the Boston Garden, to hang alongside previous great Celtic centers like Russell, Cowens and Parish.
- Summer 2010 free agency bonanza – I’m talking about you: Joey Graham, Manny Harris and Samardo Samuels. This is straight out of the instruction manual for “how to fill the void left when the game’s best player and your stalwart center leave”.
- Waived Danny Green in October 2010 – Speaking of a huge hole at SF, Cleveland sent Mr. Green packing prior to the start of the 2010 – 2011 season. Now the playoffs beckon for him, as a valuable role player on one of the NBA’s best teams. An Irving – Gee – Green backcourt surpasses any lineup the Cavs have fielded this year.
- Free agency bonanza of 2011 – Please stand up, Mr. Anthony Parker and Mychel Thompson! Have I said anything about Danny Green in this post?
Those are the bulk of the moves the Cavs have made since Chris Grant took over as GM. Despite the lack of any overwhelmingly shrewd move (winning the lottery doesn’t count), only one regrettable decision shows up (waiving Green). The direction of the franchise appears to be very positive; clearing out the leftovers from the 2009 – 2010 team other than Varejao, while stockpiling draft picks and cap space. The door should be open to a relatively quick turnaround. This summer serves as Mr. Grant’s next crucial opportunity to transform the Cleveland Cavaliers into a winner of his making; with four decent draft selections and hoards of cap space, next season the Cavs need to be competitive in the East while maintaining room to grow. We certainly hope he passes that test.
Part 2 – How many players can you roster in the NBA?
Cleveland has amassed so many draft picks, they almost literally can’t use them all. One year after picking 1st and 4th, Cleveland is the only NBA team owning more than five first round draft picks over the next four drafts. Cleveland’s eight 1st round draft picks far outpace anyone else. Add those to seven second-round selections, and Cleveland has a roster’s worth of available options to add to Kyrie & TT. What all these picks could facilitate is the subject of a different, speculative column. Instead, I’ll just touch on how sneakily good most of their “extra” first round picks can be. Currently owned draft picks from other teams include:
• Lakers’ pick in 2012. Potentially the worst pick of the haul.
• Option of Lakers or Heat first round pick in 2013. Assuming Ron Artest picks up his option, the Lakers have six players under contract next season for $75 million. At the start of the season; Kobe and Pau will be 34 and 32, respectively, and coming off a hyper-aggressive NBA season and the summer Olympics. Andrew Bynum is never a guarantee to play more than 50 games. The other three players are Ron Artest, Steve Blake, and Christian Eyenga. Implosion is not beyond the realm of possibilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakers pick fell at 13 or 28 next year.
• The Kings pick will probably come in 2014 (top 12 protected) or 2015 (top 10 protected). When the Cavs do get this pick, it is almost certain to be in the 12 – 15 range.
• In 2014 – 2015, Miami might be NBA champs, or their roster may be completely turned over; the entire range of possibilities exists there. The six players currently under contract in 2014 – 2015 cost $76 million. All of those players will lose some tread of their tires by then, and the Big 3 have contract options after next season. Lebron will be 30 with 1000 career games, Wade starts the season at 33 and approaching 1000 punishing games, Bosh nears 1000 career games, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem hit 34, and Joel Anthony is 32. Like next year’s Lakers, a huge range of outcomes seem feasible.
The next month looks dire, but with the likely rookie of the year, a trove of draft picks, and great cap flexibility; I keep painting a silver lining on the cloud cast by another month chockful of double digit defeats.
Davis, MKG, Beal or bust this year. I see only Charlotte, Washington, and New Orleans finishing below us for sure and the Cavs/NJ will be interchangeable at 4/5. I would think that gives us a decent mathematically chance at one of those 3.
Chris Grant has a huge amount of options the next few years, and we can basically understand his approach after this draft/FA period. Obviously its to early to really speculate since the draft order determines so much but the big signing i would like to see is
Greg Oden
Frankly with all their cap space they can eat a 2 year deal with Oden if he never really plays again without caring. Offering him 2 years of G’d money and 2 team option years and you have the upside of a top center for 20 mins a game and the down side of some cap space gone. You have a great sales pitch of “come back home to Ohio/midwest” + “hey Big Z almost retired but we were the team that gave him a long career” along with the cap space to match anyone’s offer.
Other Offers I would like to see- taking back Marion’s contract + a 1st rounder from Dallas for one of our 2nd rounders, talking to GS about the7 pick if they get it for Biedrins’ contract + some of our later 1st rounders included.
I think the approach here should be to make moves like this with BIG upside but only $$$ (and limited years) downside. Our team will get better naturally with our draft picks and Andy coming back no need to splash for expensive players. . . yet.
Great article Kevin, and interesting responses Kyle and Bacon (haha).
Kyle – I think you’re mostly right that, given how bad we are right now, it’s a top 3 or bust. I have no illusions of how good (or bad) we really are without Ramon and Andy. Those three you mentioned are going to make the biggest impact, and if we don’t get one it turns into a major crap shoot.
Bacon – I think a high risk/high reward type signing or trade is a great idea – we have a ton of cap space and as long as they guys we get aren’t cancers they’ll probably be an upgrade over what we’ve got now, so why not take a 2-3 year, 5-6 mil shot at Oden? We were willing to swallow 25 mil of Baron Davis, and there’s WAY more upside here. Even Biedrins could potentially be saved.
I’m not at all sold on Grant yet. Getting Kyrie was lucky, taking on all that salary with Baron was IMO foolish, getting the ability to amnesty Baron was lucky and using the Amnesty on him this year as oppose to next was foolish.
Picking up TT instead of JV – I’m undecided. K. Leonard was a possibility at #4 and based on their rookie seasons, seems like we should have went with Leonard. But passing on JV and seeing how he plays 2-3 years from now will be the real ‘base’ for knowing if this was a solid selection or not.
Casspi + a future pick for JJ. I supported that decision at the time and although I’m dissapointed by how Casspi has performed, I still feel pretty good about it.
Getting rid of Green – I’m really confused on why we did that. I guess maybe Casspi and Gee were our ‘justification’. I didn’t agree with that move then and I don’t agree with it now.
Waiving Hollins – unless he was horrible in the lockerroom (I haven’t heard that he was), I don’t understand why we waived him. Yes, he was horrible, but we don’t lose anything by keeping him at the end of the bench and with Andy out, Ernden a question mark, Samardo may or may not find his passport. I see a place for a horrible but athletic C to play 5-10 minutes instead of Tristan or the rest.
Letting the TPE go to waste bothers me. Seems like we could have got some reasonable value in the 7mil area. It’s hard to judged on a non-action, I wish I knew what kind of deals were possible that we didn’t make.
Time will tell if Grant is better/worse than Ferry. A lot of people seem ‘high’ on Grant, I haven’t made a real opinion yet. We’ll see what happens in this draft and how JV plays next year. Much of the cap space we have is because we got ‘lucky’ and were able to amnesty Davis – I’m not sure if Grant had any way of knowing teams could cut a player w/o cap penalty. If we had to keep Davis, then Jamisons contract would have come off next year, but would make the Sessions to Lakers deal impossible. I love having so many draft picks in the next few years, they may be assets to move up in this draft and gain more talent – but we’ll see.
Just want to point out that the amnesty thing was hardly luck. ESPN and whatever other sports news organizations are out there were basically attaching the likelihood of an amnesty clause to every move that was made in 2010. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that an amnesty clause would be included in the new deal and teams acted accordingly. All around the league.
Besides, I loved the short time we had with Baron. He’s one of my favorite players to watch, even overweight.
So far, I’m extremely pleased with Grant. Of course, we’ve still yet to see what they bring in with the picks.
Hollins asked for a buyout, to be fair.
Also I have a feeling that after we grab a couple of impact players early in the draft and hopefully can sign a couple of important complementary pieces (not necessarily franchise saviors but good pieces) we will start trading these excess picks we have and become buyers for those last couple of pieces to put the Cavs over the top.
Throw a dump truck of money at Roy Hibbert.
I’ve been pleased with Grant’s job thus far. He moved on from the Lebron era which was needed and the haul he’s gotten back thus far has been impressive.
Thompson should benefit greatly from a full offseason to work on his game. He looks completely lost on the court but still produces (at times). He reminds me of Tyrus Thomas with work ethic and I’d take him over Hickson in a heartbeat.
The Cavs should have over $20 million in cap room and it will be interesting to see if they are willing to take on another back contract to move up in the draft. Anthony Davis probably isn’t being moved at any price, but the Kings, Hornets, and Bobcats have financially strapped teams. Would the Cavs be willing to take on Okafor, Diop/Thomas or Salmon’s contract to flip draft positions? Those bad contracts will expire years before Kyrie and the other rookie contracts are up. If the Cavs hit on this years lottery pick they will be light years ahead of other rebuilding teams. I trust that Grant will make the right pick no matter where they are in the lottery.
Personally, I’m glad the Cavs have been struggling. A shot at Davis or MKG is worth a month of losing. They are only up on the Nets for the 4th worst record in the league by 3 games. The Cavs will be in an interesting position if they hit on this years lottery pick. Long term they will have their best players on their rookie deals and an owner who is willing to spend to improve the roster.
Dan Gilbert gets pummeled but the reason for Grant’s success as a GM is squarely rooted in Gilbert’s willingness to spend. Grant’s job is much easier than other GM’s across the league because of Gilbert.
I actually like the idea of adding Okafor. He’s on for a lot of money, but he’s a good defender (not that we need one, but he’s decent enough if we get another asset too),
http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/danny_ferry.htm
Ferry’s Reign. Not good not terrible. Probably less of a let down than his playing days with the Cavs (based on expectation and a 10yr deal).
What are your thoughts on trying to trade up in the draft if we get the 7th pick or worse? We could send our 2 first round picks and maybe a player for a top 3 pick.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39546/the-oklahoma-city-unicorns
Compelling article for all you Cavs fans who want us to enact “the Thunder’s model to success.” Some of us have been saying, “not as advisable as you might think.”
Keep this in mind about Danny Green- he’s on a team that is arguably the best at scouting for and properly utilizing role players. There’s no guarantee that the Cavs would have ended up with what Green is giving the Spurs now.
Pete,
I went to the Pacers – Wizards game last night with my neighbor. As we watched Nene, traded fresh after signing a $65 million contract, battle Hibbert, who was on his way to 9 points & 3 rebounds, we discussed how Hibbert will probably be overpaid this off-season.
My inclination is that someone is going to pay Hibbert more than he is worth this off-season, and I hope it is not the Cavs.
@ Pete
If they get a C in the draft, I doubt they’ll try to sign Hibbert. Plus, I’m not totally sure he fits in Scott’s offense. Hibbert is a more traditional center, I think Scott would prefer one that can run. With that in mind, Cody Zeller would make sense. Not saying he’s the top target. Just that it wouldn’t be a bad pick.
TRUCK. LOAD. OF MONEY.
(Yeah I don’t think regardless of how he plays right now he’ll wind up with the Cavs anyway)
Also, Danny Green was let go because he was having a very hard time adjusting to Scott’s system, and Manny Harris was outplaying him. Manny Harris might still outplay him if he ever got a chance to play.
As for Chris Grant, we simply won’t know for a couple years if TT was a good pick (though next fall should tell us a lot). I will say that he hasn’t screwed it up yet, and I’m ready to eat crow and say that Derick Williams over Kyrie would have been screwing it up. This draft and offseason though, he can’t just “not screw it up.” He can only probably afford to be wrong on one of the late draft picks, or a minor free agency move. The big ones are too crucial to miss.
Also, Mallory, Okafor appears to have some knee problems.
In retrospect I had the typical GM “you can’t teach size!” view there.
I am not sold on Hibbert. I would much rather the Cavs consider throwing money at Eric Gordon, Nic Batum, and/or maybe Ryan Anderson (I’m becoming convinced he’s Troy Murphy 2.0). I’d like to see them throw a moderate amount of money at Omer Asik, Robin Lopez (convinced he’s been trapped on the wrong team for years), Jason Thompson… Not a lot of great stuff out there, but our cap room should help if someone wants to ship someone off.
I wouldn’t mind Asik/Batum/Anderson at all, if the Cavs wound up with someone like Beal or Jeremy Lamb. I think Anderson and Asik might get huge contracts, unfortunately.
Eric Gordon maybe would get a huge deal as well. Pacers maybe?
This draft will be telling. Who we get and how we get them (e.g. do we trade futur first rounders to get a top 3 pick) will say a lot about Grants strategy. Improving through the draft is obvious, however, at some point we are going to have to make a splash in the FA market. Maybe this draft we try to get 2 top 10 picks (possibly a solid wing and a solid C) and in the second round a back-up PG or additional wing. A core of Kyrie, TT (if we don’t somehow luck into Davis) and two top 10 picks this draft is nice to build around – assuming they play as expected. There aren’t a lot of sure things in this draft IMO, but some nice possibilities that should pan out.
That core with Andy (or trade Andy for another peice), plus a top tier FA in 2013-4 could be quite good. Obviously that assumes that Scott was/is able to implement the entire offensive system and all the guys are healthy and smart enough to learn it.
I think Eric Gordon is possible, but….
1) If they draft Beal or Lamb, there’s no need.
2) You’ll have to outbid the Pacers. They have the cap room, and the Pacers typically don’t approach the tax line, whereas the Cavs have no problems with it.
3) The knee should be a serious concern. We don’t know the status of it and he’s had problems with the same knee before. Thoughts of Brandon Roy come to mind. I’d feel much better about it if he played a few games before the end of the season.
The restricted FA shooting guard we should target, in my opinion, is Brandon Rush. Not a star, but he won’t break the bank. He is the type of player that we should be surrounding Kyrie with. We don’t need someone to create their own shot unless they are our primary bench scorer. We need shooters to put with Kyrie, and that’s what Rush does extremely well. 44% 3-point shooter this year. 41% the previous two seasons. He is still only 26 and he has good size as well.
Everyone is on Grant for the Danny Green thing and I know he’s working on the “reputation” of being a “contributor” on a contender. The guy is shooting .415 from the field, is a good, not elite three point shooter and posting a sub 14 PER. It’s not like we dropped a future all-star. Leonard on the other hand is a baller. We weren’t the only ones who didn’t see it coming. Damn Spurs
Yeah, I forgot about Brandon Rush, Aaron. I had him on my list. I think he might be a one dimensional player though, which means if you can get him for a reasonable price, great, but don’t overpay.
Also, a lot of the way this draft shakes out will be up to Portland, and whether or not the get New Jersey’s pick (top 3 protected). If they decide to blow it up, there could be some pieces to be had. If they get #4, Wesley Matthews may be available or Nic Batum. God what a panic trade New Jersey made with them.
Stuff like dropping Danny Green happens all the time. Look at how many teams had Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups before they became great players. Look at Alonze Gee. I’m sure the Spurs and Wizards would like him back. Even Varejao was a throw in to Cleveland when they traded for Gooden. It’s really hard to fault Grant on Green.
GoCAVS,
Green is not an all-star, but with a 13.8 PER, win shares per 48 of 0.108 and adjusted +/- of 0.54; he’s nearly exactly an NBA average player this season. Nothing wrong with that.
That’s a lot more than what can be said for Omri Casspi, Anthony Parker, Mychel Thompson, Christian Eyenga, etc, who have been brought in / retained to play SG & SF.
I know that Grant’s legacy won’t be defined by the decision to waive Danny Green, but it certainly looks like a sub-optimal decision. And if you’re trying to loosely evaluate his personnel decisions to date (as I was), it can’t really be ignored.
Actually, I’d argue that given all this talk of starting sub-optimal players to ensure a better lottery pick, cutting Danny Green was exactly the kind of “eschewing mediocrity” move the Cavs needed to make.
I understand that players similar to Green are cut frequently and that no team makes perfect talent evaluations all the time.
On the flip side though, sometimes people will give Grant credit for his talent evaluation in finding Gee. To some extent, I’m not sure how much credit there is to give though.
Over the last two years, the Cavs have signed Gee, Mychel Thompson, Manny Harris, Samardo Samuels & Donald Sloan to cheap contracts. They traded for Sehih Erden and Luke Harangody. Basically one of seven “edge of the bench” fliers has turned into an NBA player. Is that skilled talent evaluation or just what the odds are?
Danny Green was waived and now he looks like an NBA player. I do not want to detract too much from what Grant has done, but his talent evaluation abilities (or at least the talent development abilities of the franchise) are still up for consideration. This summer going into next year will be very interesting from that perspective.
HoopsDogg,
This comment will be somewhat facetious, but do you think that Grant has been tanking for a couple of years?
Joey Graham? Re-signing Anthony Parker? I know Cleveland is not a free agent hot spot, but is this really all that could have been added via free agency over the last two off-seasons.
Also trading the #32 pick in last year’s draft would fit into this pattern. Even amnestying Baron Davis, maybe.
Maybe. I think last year was the year of: let’s spend as little as possible, and cash in on as much of the season ticket sales as possible. However, I do think this year was all about the tank. When there was a glimmer that we’d be competitive, he and Gilbert probably toyed with the idea of making a run (probably just for the miniscule chance we could play the Heat in the first round, and the even more miniscule chance we could win some games or even beat them outright… I wouldn’t put that past Gilbert). But as the season unraveled, I think very little effort has been put into fielding as competitive a team as possible. Starting Anthony Parker is case in point. As for trading last year’s #32, I found it odd, but maybe there was no one they liked there.
I give last year a pass because of the complete malaise and disarray that surrounded the team. This year, i’ve seen a lot of promise, and seen guys with no talent playing hard (until very recently). That combined with a home run first pick, and a completely enigma #4 pick is enough to make me say: ok, Chris Grant, you’ve not screwed up so far, but this offseason is your Moneyball moment.
Kevin,
You’re right, and you definitely couldn’t not include the move in the article. Given how shallow we are at the 2 position, we could certainly use an “average” player there now (words can’t describe how below average Parker and Casspi have been). Of course there are questions like “would he have been average in our system?” or “why do the Spurs constantly find these guys and turn them into average players?”
I guess my point was only, while it is certainly a mark against Grant, cutting a second round draft pick who disappears for a year and re-emerges as an average rotation player on a team with a reputation for getting the most out of below average players doesn’t really concern me all that much.
As far as your point with our free agent signings, I think finding one gem in 7 “washout” type NBA players may even be ahead of the 8 ball. I live in the bay area and watched Golden State rip through d-league all-stars as well. I only really recall Morrow becoming an NBA regular, and I think Gee is a good bit better.
There is one move that I will knock Grant for. Trading Justin Haper to Orlando for more 2nd round picks. Not sure I saw the point of that. I suppose if Orlando had traded DH and was really bad, those picks are at the top of the round, but even that seems weak. Harper is 6’10 and shot 44% on 3pt his last season in college. The Cavs could sure use that when the opponent is crowding the paint against Kyrie and Alonzo.
@ Kevin
“Joey Graham? Re-signing Anthony Parker? I know Cleveland is not a free agent hot spot, but is this really all that could have been added via free agency over the last two off-seasons.”
They did sign Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet. They tried with Matt Barnes too.
Right when the #32 trade went down, I was really confused as to what Grant was doing (especially after the incredible disappointment/anger that followed the surprise at #4). But looking at that trade now it seems like it was a low risk/medium reward strategy. I was disappointed we didn’t use the pick on a wing like Honeycutt or Parsons, but if they really didn’t like any of the players, why not try to “cash in” on Dwight leaving Orlando? If he does leave after next year, the 2014 2nd rounder will be worth holding.
Harper was never going to play for us. That pick must have been made with Orlando’s input because we had a glut of PFs on the roster (Jamison, Hickson, TT, Samuels, Varejao)
Scuzz,
Point taken. Hopefully the team can add a starter via free agency this summer.
GoCAVS,
The Spurs are amazing. There’s no doubt about that. Whatever they are doing from a player development perspective should be what every other team in the league is attempting to mimic.
Kevin – isn’t that why we brought Ferry in originally? It just didn’t pan out the same way. Maybe it’s the water. Or, more simply, Gregg Popovich. How long has he been there by now?
I often wonder if the problem was less Danny Ferry, and more Dan Gilbert. It’s the GM’s job to fall on their sword for the owner, and I don’t know what percentage was Danny, and what was Dan (like the inexcusable Christian Eyenga pick, when DuJaun Blair was sitting there).
I think Grant wasn’t going to take short term reaches on FA in hopes of improving the team for a season or two and sit in no-man’s land.
A) Leonard would not have been better than Thompson with the number 4 pick. He may be playing better at the moment, but it’s not like they play in a vacuum; Leonard has the benefit of playing for a very good Spurs team, for which he is only asked to play a very specific role that is catered to his strengths. He would not be nearly as good of a fit in Cleveland. Same with Green. Does nobody remember how terrible he was while he was with the Cavs? I don’t think he got markedly better; like Leonard, i think the Spurs have just catered to his strengths, as they have a good enough team to do such things.
B) Biedrins? Oden? I hope you’re being facetious. Oden will never be able to play any sort of meaningful minutes in the NBA. Not going to happen. Dude has had about a dozen knee surgeries already, and he’s only getting older. Do you think he will somehow become MORE durable as he ages? Also, Biedrins is TERRIBLE. Ask GS fans what they think about him…
HoopsDogg,
I’m pretty sure Ferry had full control over the operations, as per his contract. When Ferry’s contract ran out in 2010, he would not cede control to Gilbert in the new contract that Gilbert wanted him to sign. They parted ways.
Also, just because i didn’t get to post this in yesterday’s thread:
I can only assume that everybody hoping we draft Barnes with our first pick has never actually seen him play. Saying they hope we end up with the 4th or 5th pick so we can get Banres…that is WAY too high for Barnes. It seems everybody is basing their opinion of him upon all of the hype surrounding him when he first headed to NC. There has certainly been absolutely nothing about his play over the past 2 years to justify him being such a high draft pick. He is entirely incapable of creating his own shot or getting to the rim, plays terrible defense, and goes huge stretches of time doing absolutely nothing meaningful in the game.
@Cranky
GS fan here, it may actually be more effective for the Dubs to build a life size scarecrow out of the money they are paying Bieds than allow him to continue to play the game of basketball.
Also great point about Leonard and Green w/ SA. I still think Leonard has legit NBA skills, they are just maximized there.
@Cranky-As a Tar Heels fan and follower, I totally agree with your assessment of Barnes. Completely overrated coming out of high school and has been very “meh” for the team all year. See the NCAA Tourney games against Ohio and Kansas as prime examples. Had the chance to completely take over those games and shrunk from the moment. I think he’ll be a poor man’s Danny Granger in the NBA, which is fine on a team like Miami, OKC, or Chicago, not fine on anyone else’s team in the league.
I think the Cavs are still 3-4 years away from doing anything substantial. Like the Browns who were just okay enough to miss out on Andrew Luck, the Cavs have been just okay enough to miss out on Anthony Davis, who is the big game changer in this draft. Adding a few more pieces is the way to go, but there’s no one available that will immediately make them a lot better quickly.