“The grass is greener on the other side.” “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.” Those age old bits of wisdom often apply to the personnel decisions of various Cleveland sports teams. I can think back to the mid-1990’s when the Indians decided that Jared Wright’s potential was worth more than Pedro Martinez’s present performance.
When it comes to trading the present for the future, the Indians have had the their hits. How about this one: Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips. To clarify for the kiddies, the Expos were a Major League team about a decade ago. They have also had their misses: do you remember the aforementioned Cliff Lee being traded to the Phillies for Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, and two other busts? The NFL doesn’t have those present vs. potential trades very often. It is usually trading high draft picks for future picks. They appeared to score big by giving up Trent Richardson and his 3.3 yards per carry for the Colts 1st round pick. That pick eventually led to this guy…
A few years ago, however, the Brownies also traded out of the chance to pick star wide receiver Julio Jones, and eventually ended up with this guy…
That leads us to the Cavaliers current unofficial trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It appears that they have jumped on the Love Train, picking up All-star Kevin Love, who is probably considered one of the top 10 players in the NBA right now. Love averaged an amazing double double of 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game last season. Pretty nice feathers to put in the Cavaliers’ cap! He is also considered one of the top outlet passers in the game, which could possibly bring back some vintage Magic Johnson’s Showtime days with Love airmailing passes to Lebron James and Kyrie Irving.
The one problem with this and every trade, though, is that you have to give something to get something. It’s not like charming your grandparents into giving you whatever you want! So according to various reports, the Cavs are going to give up the #1 draft picks of the last two drafts, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, as well as next years 1st round draft pick. Bennett had an awful rookie year, but he had some major health issues prior to the season that hampered him throughout the year. I think he will bounce back and be a solid player. Wiggins, though, is the true gem in this package. He has the potential to be one of the few elite players in the league. The key word here, though, is potential. There have been high picks in recent drafts whose athleticism could be compared to Wiggins—Derrick Williams and Harrison Barnes come to mind– that have not blossomed as once was predicted. But Wiggins is rated higher than most recent picks.
From seeing the opinions of various sports writers and NBA experts, it appears that the majority believe that this is a trade that the Cavs have to make. Lebron probably has 3 to 5 years of elite play left in his body, and the Cavs cannot afford to waste those years waiting for Wiggins to develop. Plus Love is a better fit as a stretch power forward. Wiggins is a tougher piece to fit in the Wine and Gold puzzle since he somewhat plays the same role as Lebron and is not currently a strong outside shooter that can stretch the defense and better open up lanes for ‘The King’.
My only question about the trade is whether the Cavs gave up too much. Any trade/acquistion, whether it be in pro sports, buying a house, or making a garage sale purchase (check out my garage sale blog), is about the leverage of supply and demand. In the past May’s NFL draft, I thought the Browns fleeced the Bills, trading their #4 pick to Buffalo for the #9 pick as well as the Bills 1st and 4th rounders next year. The key was the Bills were desparate to get Sammy Wadkins, and the Browns leveraged that beautifully. Let’s just hope Wadkins doesn’t become the next Megatron and #9 pick Justin Gilbert doesn’t acquire a nickname like ‘Toast’.
Both that Cavs and Timberwolves have leverage in this trade. Minnesota obviously have the Golden Goose to trade (it’s rare for a top-10 talent to be this available), and several teams interested to create a competitive marke. The Cavs strength, though, was in Minnesota’s weakness. They only have Love under contract for one more year, and he doesn’t want to be there. He is basically on the clearance rack! Unfortunately, the Cavs didn’t get one of these in the mail…
Not to get off track, but the only way to describe a Kohl’s 30% off coupon is to quote the Seinfeld character Kenny Bania…
Needless to say, 90% of my wardrobe is cutting edge Kohls’ fashion!!
Back to the Cavs. I love getting Love. But I think they got leveraged a bit too much. I might have waited on the market and tried to give up Dion Waiters instead of Wiggins. The problem with that is that you risk losing Love completely, or at least to mid-season. And if you wait to the mid-season trading deadline, you likely pass up the chance to win a title this year since it takes a while to mesh new talent on the court. I also question including next year’s #1 pick. My only guess why they reasonably did that is to meet the complicated NBA trade rules which might require a third teams involvement.
But sometimes you have to pay a little extra to get what you truly want. Let’s just hope that The Love Boat sails smoothly in the King James waters, and that next year’s contract renewal talks (the Cavs have financial leverage since they would be his current team) go just as well.
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