Not to be confused with the "New Look Cavs" v1.0 from the beginning of the season, The NEW New Cavs, post-Trade Deadline, dropped off some of the non-essential members of the team in favor of mostly younger and more "twitchy" players. Immediate reactions to the trades were mixed, to say the least. Plenty of fans were excited that something was changed in order to stop the "slow death march" the Koby Altman saw in old Cavs future. With Kevin Love out, we won't know just how good these Cavs can be until he returns. For now, we can evaluate what changes we should expect, good and bad, for our new Cavaliers team.
The first major trade that took place was CLE-LAL in which IT, Channing Frye, and the Cavs 2018-first rounder were sent to LA in favor of Jordan Clarkson (PG, SG), and Larry Nance Jr. (PF). With that goes Cleveland's chance of being called a "super team" given that IT was meant to be the third piece to the Cavs Big Three v2.0. Gone is Channing Frye, a well-known and well-loved member of the 2016 championship team and an avid social media personality. Out goes a 29 and 34-year old and in comes two spry 25-year olds. Clarkson, a 6-foot 5-inch guard, has a career ppg of 14.3. Not bad for a young guy who mostly came off the bench on a bad team.
Larry Nance Jr. is not a player whose impact shows up on a stat line apparently but at 6 foot 8 inches, a future dunk contest participant, and a second generation Cavalier, Larry will likely fit in fine in Cleveland as some spark off the bench. Overall, I was surprised that a first round pick was necessary to make this deal go through, but I think the IT experiment wasn't heading anywhere good. The offense was never a problem in Cleveland, and having IT on the floor is essentially the worst defensive liability in the NBA. Best of luck to IT and Channing in LA.
Next up came Rodney Hood (SG). In a three-team deal with the Utah Jazz and the Sacramento Kings, the Cavaliers agreed to send Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose in exchange for Hood. Crowder, while having some high points during the Cavs winning streak prior to Christmas, ultimately lost his starting role to Tristan Thompson, showing his value was on the decline. Rose was certainly an interesting talking point for the Cleveland media during his time here despite not showing much on the floor.
After taking time away from basketball for nearly a month, Rose never caught much of a stride in Cleveland. By the time of his trade, Rose was third-string PG behind IT and Jose Calderon. Hood has shown some legitimate ability while also having some injury struggles to fight through. Despite that, Hood was an important piece for the Jazz team that made the playoffs with Gordon Hayward and new-Cavalier George Hill.
To Sacramento goes Iman Shumpert and a second-round pick in 2020. In return, the Cavaliers receive George Hill (PG), a 31-year old veteran. Although some may be saddened by the loss of Iman and his glorious hair, his production for the Cavaliers was insignificant at best. When healthy, his only role seemed to be to get on the court to show interested teams that he is in fact, healthy.
Draft picks are historically meaningless for the Cavs, especially late ones. The return on investment is arguably the best overall. Hill is seen as having a playstyle better suited to complement the strengths of the Cavs while simultaneously improving their weak points, namely defense. What more can be asked for in a trade? Hill seems like the prototypical player to play their best ball when paired with LeBron, and I'm excited to see what he looks like in our starting lineup.
Last but not least comes Cavaliers legend, Dwayne Wade. Obviously, he's truly a legend in Miami, which makes it fitting for that to be his landing spot. Not much to be said about this one. The Cavaliers decided Wade wasn't necessary to keep on and sought to find the perfect spot for him as a show of respect. Miami is that ideal location. Wade gets to go home, Miami gets their best player ever back, and Cleveland gets a second-round draft pick six years from now. Everyone is happy.
All in all, the Cavs did what I had hoped they would do a few weeks back, all while retaining JR Smith (GOAT) and Brooklyn's first-round pick this season. With JR contributing at a higher capacity as of late, he earned the right to stay here in my opinion. Clearly, there is some bias in that statement, but I digress.
The Cleveland Cavaliers got younger, taller, and more fun (at the low-low cost of 28 million). So far, the trades are paying off. The New New Look Cavaliers dismantled the East-leading Celtics by 22 points. Once Love returns from injury and these new guys get a few more practices under their belts, it truly seems as though the sky is the limit.