The Trade
The headline was James Harden to the Nets for basically all of their draft picks between now and when global warming ends us. (The Rockets literally own either the pick or swap rights to every Nets pick between now and 2027.) On top of that, the Nets had to send out some salary and players, and that’s were the Cavs come in.
The Cavs acquired Jarrett Allen (RFA, expected contract range of 4 years/ $80m) and Taurean Prince (2 years/ $13M per) for a ham sandwich and a bag of stale chips. Not literally- we sent out Dante Exum, a first round pick via Milwaukee, and a 2024 second round pick. This is almost a flashback to last year’s trade for Andre Drummond- we brought in a quality big for relatively little cost, making the team immediately better.
Taurean Prince is a useful rotation player, but Jarrett Allen is the big get. He is still just 22, meaning he’s exactly on the timeline of our young core, he should be relatively affordable to sign to a long-term contract next season, and he’s solid two-way player. He still has room to improve, and it puts us on track to have that line-up where you have to defend all five players on every possession.
It sounds like the Cavs are investigating trades for JaVale McGee, as it’s going to be very hard to find minutes for a third legit center. I’m not sure what kind of value we can get out of him in the 2020 version of the NBA, but his value might go up for a mid-tier playoff team that is missing some players to COVID or injury. I see him most likely being turned into a highly protected 1st round pick or more likely, a 2nd rounder. Either way, it’s salary relief for the Cavs for a player who hopefully wont see the court much this season. I do want to take a second and thank JaVale for being a solid, professional contributor to this year’s Cavs squad!
The Return
Windler, Sexton, Garland, Love, Delly, and Porter are all still unavailable. That said, Kevin Porter Jr. was with the team on the sideline for Friday’s game after practicing with the team on Thursday. He was a huge part of our season last year, and if he demonstrates similar growth to what we’ve seen from Garland and Sexton, he will add a ton of versatility and pop to a lineup that is already playing two levels higher than what we saw last year. Two weeks ago, I would have said he could be the difference between being in the play-in and playing a home playoff game. If he makes it back, and we can get our health in order… All that combined with the Jarrett Allen trade… We could be looking at an actual playoff series.
The Rest
I watched a bit of the James Harden’s debut with the Nets… He had a huge game, as you might expect, dropping a 32-14-12 triple double. The performance was not without some hiccups, however. He was 44% from the field and just 30% from deep on 10 attempts. Further, I’m not sure James Harden knows you’re allowed to run on offense when he doesn’t have the ball. One last basketball observation: This was a real basketball game going into the last minute. Against the Orlando Magic, despite 74 points from Durant and Harden. Durant’s surgically repaired Achilles spent forty minutes on the court. They need Kyrie back, because they’re going to need 80 points a game from that trio, and they need Durant playing no more than thirty minutes a game.
Ok, two more observations from that game:
- Their blue-on-red jerseys, and the court that goes with it… Both are absolutely hideous. They make the original Tampa Bay Buccaneers jerseys look classic and elegant by comparison.
- This team, after starting the year with Durant and Irving, and then adding James Harden, and being based in New York City… They still have season tickets available. Wow.
Browns Shout Out!
The Browns play their 18th game of the season tomorrow. That is the first time they’ve played that many games in a season since 1994. Then, we lost to the Steelers in the second game. Guess we don’t have to worry about that tomorrow!