Trade rumour / idea
The Cavaliers have the depth to pull that off, though they are still searching for that archetypal 3-and-D wing. (They?d have interest in one of Dorian Finney-Smith and Cameron Johnson in Brooklyn, sources said, but they have only one future first-round pick ? their 2031 pick ? available to trade.)
LeVert, Strus, 2031 1st rounder & pick swaps for DFS & Cam Johnson. Would that be enough? That 2031 1st is such a wild card. Still it may not be enough.
Imagine that Cavs team
G: Garland
G: D Mitchell
F: Cam Johnson
F: E Mobley, D Finney Smith
C: J Allen, D Wade
I almost feel they'd be better off trading Garland. Maybe just DFS, Johnson, and. Knicks 1st for Garland. Gives Cavs an extra pick and balances roster a bit better. Just play Mitchell at point.
Is his value really that low? Two role players and a late first? I figured he was as at least as valuable as bridges
Two lines of thought here
(1) Those are two really, really good role players. Not as valuable as a D White but a notch or two below. The two of them together is valuable.
I have Cam Johnson as a top 15 SF. I love his skill-set. The shooting, the passing. Good scoring. Average defense & rebounding. Just a well rounded player.
Finney Smith is a bit harder to pin down at PF. The PF position is surprisingly deep in talent these days. That gap from about 15-23 at the PF position has little separation in my mind. I could put Finney Smith near the bottom or near of the group depending on how much I am emphazing offense (T Harris, DeRozan, H Barnes, Miles Bridges) or defense (Finney Smith). I'd probably put him around 20 but could be talked into putting him higher.
As you can tell, I love Finney Smith as a glue guy. One of the better defensive PFs in the league. A solid rebounder. Limited skill-set on offense but can hit enough 3s and at a high enough rate to keep defenses honest. Did a great job hiding Luka on defense over the years in Dallas. The type of 3+D guy title contenders love to have.
(2) Those small guards like Garland and Trae Young who was mentioned a few posts back seem to be getting low interest in trade market. They are out of vogue at the moment. Not a good time to be trading a small guard.
A year ago I think CLE could have gotten a young to prime All-Star talent for Garland. Not sure they can now. I would expect an older star, a highly paid unwanted star or a talent downgrade now. So a downgrade on either (a) age (b) contract (c) talent.
Generally speaking, the are probably best holding off for now and seeing if Garland value recovers ... but it hurts to hold off on pursuing that title run. CLE are not that far away. You hate to waste seasons. They already wasted one this past year by keeping that badly balanced side together instead of trying to fix it.