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ztejas

By ztejas
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Radical Larry
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Reynolds Woodcock
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It's incredible to watch Rockets fans continue to stan for Harden after he choked away multiple playoff series, ran off Chris Paul in favor of fucking Westbrook, and then quit on his team and forced h

Mitch Cumsteen
Mitch Cumsteen

If you could throw Russell Westbrook and John Wall into that mix it would be like the NBA version of a white elephant gift exchange. 

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Brothahorn

Brothahorn 10087

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So I posted this a week ago and since then the Nets have gone L-L-L including last night's blowout at Utah.
That team is in disarray, they have half a Kyrie, Harden has checked out, and it's anyone's guess when KD comes back.  They have 7 games before the ASB and I'll be shocked if they win 3 of them - 
at Denver
Boston
at Washington
at Miami
Sacramento
at NYK
Washington
 
Ben Simmons to the rescue!
 
Some day KD is going to regret going to Brooklyn to play with Kyrie. Then doubling down by wanting Harden.
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statsman

statsman 5460

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22 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

 

Since leaving OKC, KD has:

2017: NBA championship MVP

2018: NBA championship MVP

2019: injured in playoffs, led playoff scoring at 32.3

2020: out rehabbing injury 

2021: lost (by an inch) in second round to Bucks, averaged 34 ppg in playoffs; followed up by leading US to gold medal  

I think he’ll be ok

 

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SilasCoade

SilasCoade 2622

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2 hours ago, Message Board User said:

And as if this year wasn't exciting enough for Memphis, if the season ended today they would own the #12, 25, and 28 picks (per tankathon's mock draft, that would mean Kendall Brown, Walker Kessler, & Bryce McGowens) in what looks to be a pretty good draft.

 

Memphis has a championship core in place. Rather than rolling the dice on draft picks I'd like to see them focus on keeping Ja, Jaren Jackson, and Clarke together for the next 2-4 years.

If I'm the Memphis GM I see if I can send #12 and filler to Portland for Dame. If he gets healthy and regains his scoring form you've got a guy that can lead the team when Ja is resting and keep heat off him when they play together. Doesn't do much for you on defense but if he is nothing more than a rich man's Lou Williams it could be enough to get this team to the next level.

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d2o

d2o 1602

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19 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

Uh oh...here...we....go...

 

Kinda sucks for Ricky to be traded when he was somewhat of the impetus for this resurgence but this is a great deal for CLE.    They will have to pay Levert who is up for an extension but a late first and an early 2nd for him isn't bad at all.

 

The East is going to be tough but at the same time if a a few things go right, this could get them into the ECF.

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aggie08

aggie08 21498

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1 hour ago, Message Board User said:

 

Smart. If there's one thing that you can count on from a disgruntled James Harden, it's professionalism. He'll surely put his personal feelings aside, and exert maximum effort realizing that legitimate chances at a championship are hard to come by.

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ztejas

ztejas 43419

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Durant really eludes the advanced stats for how important he is for that team. Granted he was getting plenty of MVP love because I think the eye test was telling viewers the type of season he was having. So much stuff that he does off the stat sheet - that would be less important if they were less dysfunctional (the Warriors barely skipped a beat at times when he was out).

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Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11139

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2 hours ago, d2o said:

Kinda sucks for Ricky to be traded when he was somewhat of the impetus for this resurgence but this is a great deal for CLE.    They will have to pay Levert who is up for an extension but a late first and an early 2nd for him isn't bad at all.

 

The East is going to be tough but at the same time if a a few things go right, this could get them into the ECF.

Rubio is an expiring 17m contract, he can still sign with Cleveland as a free agent if he wants to be there next season. I imagine he understands why he's being traded, because there's no way they would if he was healthy.  

Good deal for the Cavs, LeVert helps with a position of need, and isn't too pricey. He has 1 more year on his deal, so they could always try to move him next year.  

Now all they gotta do is trade Sexton and Love for Lebron, and they got an easy championship! Right??

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Message Board User

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Coupla differing opinions on the Levert trade - first from CBS Sports Jack Maloney:

Cavaliers trade grade: A

The Cavaliers desperately needed offense for their playoff push, and they got just that in LeVert. He can create his own shot, offers a bit of playmaking and should slot in perfectly as a guy who can lead their second unit and take some of the pressure off Garland. It's a bit of a bummer that they had to give up Rubio, who got off to such a great start this season and was loved in the locker room, but he wasn't going to play the rest of the season and might not have re-signed in the summer. Unfortunately, that's just the cost of doing business. As for the first-round pick, it will likely be in the 20s, and they already have a bunch of young talent.
 

Pacers trade grade: B

The Pacers are going nowhere fast this season, so it didn't make sense to hold on to LeVert. It's still not clear if this is the prelude to a full-on teardown, or just a one-off deal. Either way, this is fine. They get some cap flexibility with Rubio's deal coming off the books this summer, a late first-round pick and an extra second-round pick. Not super exciting, but they weren't going to get anything better for LeVert.

 

Kevin Pelton is a little less enthused - I think he's being a little harsh as I think Levert can thrive in a role where he's not asked to do as much.  I have to believe this spells the end of the Collin Sexton era in Cleveland.

 

Cleveland Cavaliers: C

 

 Of the guards likely to change teams between now and Thursday's trade deadline, there's a compelling case that LeVert is the best fit for the Cavaliers. Although Cleveland could stand to upgrade behind Garland with Rubio injured, Rajon Rondo has played reasonably well, and the Cavaliers have gotten good minutes recently from Brandon Goodwin, who's on a two-way contract. With Sexton's long-term future in Cleveland uncertain and no ability to play Rubio with Garland, shooting guard was a bigger need.

Looking at shooting guards, LeVert was likely the youngest realistic option for the Cavaliers. (Donte DiVincenzo, 25, would make sense but seems unlikely to be moved by the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks unless they can get another rotation player in return.) Popular target Eric Gordon is 33, and Norman Powell, dealt from the Portland Trail Blazers to the LA Clippers Friday, is a year older than LeVert.

Although Cleveland has a real chance of making noise in this year's Eastern Conference playoffs, boasting the conference's best point differential at plus-4.3 points per game, the Cavaliers also need to keep their eye on the long-term picture. Their three core players (Garland, center Jarrett Allen and rookie Evan Mobley) are all 23 or younger, so a player in his 30s like Gordon didn't fit the timeline.

LeVert's playmaking ability also looks useful for Cleveland. He can serve as lead ball handler at times, taking advantage of Garland's ability to be a catch-and-shoot threat like Garland-Rubio lineups did. Scoring on drives has been a weakness for the Cavaliers but a strength of LeVert's game.

At the same time, LeVert has never been a particularly efficient scorer. Because of his middling outside shooting (33% career on 3s), LeVert hasn't posted a true shooting percentage better than league average since his rookie season, per Basketball-Reference.com, with this season's mark (95% of NBA average) his best relative one since then.
Instead, LeVert's value has come primarily thanks to his ability to sop up possessions with below-average efficiency. That isn't really Cleveland's need, at least when Garland is on the court. He's been far more efficient in a high-volume role. From that standpoint, LeVert might be most useful to the Cavaliers anchoring second units with Garland on the bench. Cleveland will likely want to finish games with Garland and LeVert together, matching up better with smaller opposing groups.

Whatever his role, LeVert should strengthen the Cavaliers, who have managed remarkably well with a pair of roster spots going to players out for the season. The question is whether that upgrade is worth giving up two picks likely to be in the top 35 this year. Cleveland will likely make the playoffs and give up this year's first-rounder, while the Houston pick would be No. 33 if the season ended today.

At $17.5 million this season and $18.8 million in 2022-23, LeVert is about fairly paid. The Cavaliers derive a certain amount of value by upgrading from the injured Rubio to LeVert the rest of the way and locking in LeVert for next season, but is that worth a first-round pick and a very good second-rounder? I don't think so. At this price, I probably would have preferred Cleveland sacrifice some fit in the name of trade value.

Cavaliers fans with long memories will remember I said something similar about giving up a first-round pick last year for Allen, who was set to be fairly paid after hitting restricted free agency. I was wrong because Allen has improved so much that he's become a legitimate All-Star candidate (I picked Allen for my imaginary reserves on the Lowe Post podcast) and proven that five-year, $100 million deal to be a bargain. We'll see whether LeVert can experience similar success in Cleveland and make this trade a winner, too.
 

Indiana Pacers: A

 

 Conversely, the Pacers have to be thrilled to get this kind of value for LeVert, who never quite found his footing in Indiana. Acquired for Victor Oladipo as an offshoot of last season's deal sending James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, LeVert was sidelined when the post-trade physical revealed a cancerous tumor on his left kidney. He missed two months after undergoing surgery.

By the time LeVert returned, the Pacers had slipped below .500, never to get back there. They beat the Charlotte Hornets in the play-in opener before getting blown out by the Washington Wizards two nights later. Despite the arrival of coach Rick Carlisle, this season has scarcely gone better, with Indiana all but eliminated from the play-in race already.

With rookie Chris Duarte as their shooting guard of the future, Indiana was ready to move on from LeVert. The Pacers don't have their own second-round pick, which was sent to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the Malcolm Brogdon deal, but should still have three of the top 35 or so picks.


Indiana could still add more between now and the deadline. Wojnarowski reported the Pacers continue to engage in trade talks about starting big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, who would presumably have even more value than LeVert.

As is, Indiana has created enough cap space to potentially be a player in free agency this summer. With LeVert on the books, the Pacers projected right around the salary-cap line. Now, they should have somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 million to spend. That could allow them to bid on restricted free agents who don't draw interest from the handful of other teams with cap space or use it to take back a contract with draft picks from a team trying to shed salary.

From a value standpoint, Indiana certainly came out ahead in the Oladipo-LeVert swap. When the Rockets traded Oladipo again to the Miami Heat at last year's trade deadline, they netted only expiring contracts and a swap option between the Heat's first-round pick and one from the Brooklyn Nets. With Miami currently ahead of Brooklyn in the standings, that swap would be worthless if the season ended today.

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ztejas

ztejas 43419

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Just depends on what you think of LeVert. I wouldn't trade Sexton for him but that isn't what you did. You needed more scoring and ball handling to set up well for the playoffs. He will help your depth next year and makes Sexton more expendable and you don't have to pay either long term. I think it's a nice move to give the Cavs a little more teeth this year and next* while maintaining a lot of flexibility. 

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12395

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15 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Just depends on what you think of LeVert. I wouldn't trade Sexton for him but that isn't what you did. You needed more scoring and ball handling to set up well for the playoffs. He will help your depth next year and makes Sexton more expendable and you don't have to pay either long term. I think it's a nice move to give the Cavs a little more teeth this year and next* while maintaining a lot of flexibility. 

He gets a lot of grief for being an "inefficient volume scorer" but I think that he has been asked to do too much in Indiana and towards the end in Brooklyn.  I think (hope) that with more help and lob targets with Allen (with whom he had pretty good chemistry in BKN) and Mobley that will open things up for him.

As for Sexton, it sucks that it's worked out like this for him but it is what it is.  It's obvious to everyone (and probably to Sexton) that Garland is the future and the best that Sexton would be able to hope for in Cleveland is 6th man off the bench for 25-30 minutes a game.  So it's unlikely he'll sign long-term unless he is comfortable with that (which I hope he is, but being realistic I doubt it).

I'll be shocked if Sexton plays another minute for Cleveland, especially now that Levert will be on the roster in 22-23.

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Dutchrudder

Dutchrudder 11139

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Sexton supposedly wants 4 years 100m, so he probably not gonna be in Cleveland next year. If they need him as salary filler in another trade, they should do it. He's good, but I think he overvalues himself.

I was hoping the Cavs could get Murray from the Spurs, but they might not want to move him or the price may be too high. I think he would be an awesome addition to this young team and make them even more scary.

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12395

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2 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

I was hoping the Cavs could get Murray from the Spurs, but they might not want to move him or the price may be too high. I think he would be an awesome addition to this young team and make them even more scary.

Agreed - Murray would have been an excellent addition - very talented player.  But the price would have undoubtedly been too high.

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