Cleveland Cavaliers: The Memphis Grizzlies’ approach could be retool plan

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are bottoming out this year, trying to duplicate the Memphis Grizzlies’ strategy back to respectability from a year ago?

At 7-23, the Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the worst records in the NBA right now and per FiveThirtyEight, are projected to go 21-61, which would tie them with the Phoenix Suns for the second-worst record in the NBA. That would potentially put them in a position to land either Zion Williamson or R.J. Barrett of Duke. One option the Cavs could potentially follow is the Memphis Grizzlies from a year ago.

Memphis was a team who made the postseason seven years in a row, but with multiple injuries, including to their starting point guard Mike Conley, who missed 70 games (per Basketball Reference), Memphis bottomed out and ended up with a high pick, which they used to draft Jaren Jackson Jr. out of Michigan State.

With the addition of Jackson to the starting lineup, a healthy Conley back, along with Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies have bounced back to respectability with a 16-14 record. According to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops the Cleveland Cavaliers could end up keeping Kevin Love going into next year.

"“It appears general manager Koby Altman and the front office are determined to keep three players — Collin Sexton, Kevin Love and yes, Tristan Thompson. The Cavs envision those three with, say, Duke stars Zion Williamson or R.J. Barrett next season and suddenly, Cleveland pro basketball will look a lot more interesting”."

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The Cavaliers might feel that adding the likes of Williamson with a healthy Love and  with further development with some of the young players on this year’s roster, they could be brought back to playoff contention, similar to Memphis’ situation this year.

Before the Cleveland Cavaliers try to potentially trade Love they may see if Love along with an improved Collin Sexton and whomever they draft in June could get them where they’re competing for an Eastern Conference postseason birth.

The risk with this is Love is a guy who unfortunately is prone to injuries. A recent article by The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor (h/t Amico) illustrated that Love injury risk, and how Love’s inefficient start to this season makes things complicated for Cleveland on the trade market.

"“Kevin Love becomes trade-eligible on January 24 since he signed his four-year, $120 million extension this July. He’s also not due to return to the court until around then, following left toe surgery. The Cavaliers won’t trade Love unless they get “blown away by an offer,” and they intend to keep him around for the long haul, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor reported earlier this month. Those same things were said by the Clippers about Blake Griffin—then, suddenly, he was a Piston. The difference is there may not be a suitor for Love any time soon.”"

O’Connor highlighted just how rough Love’s start to the season was; these numbers were ugly.

"“Front-office executives don’t expect Love to garner any strong offers until he actually gets back on the court and shows he can live up to his salary by being a featured scorer. Love is 30 and didn’t score efficiently through his first four games this season before suffering his toe injury. Love shot only 11-for-23 on shots inside the restricted area, 3-for-18 from midrange, and 7-for-24 from 3—totaling just a measly 0.86 points per possession.It’s a small sample, to be fair. Love flashed brilliant scoring and talented playmaking ability just last season, and remains an elite rebounder. But teams are right to be cautious. Love has a long injury history that includes concussions, knee and foot surgeries, and back problems, and he has an average annual salary of $30 million until he’s 34 years old. If you plug all that into Google Translate, it’ll answer with albatross contract.”"

As O’Connor mentioned teams are cautious about trading for Love because of his injury history, so bringing him back has risk. The Cavs bringing Love back certainly has it’s risks, but if Love can stay healthy the Cavs may feel that guys like Love, an improved Sexton, and a high draft pick could get them back to respectability, as Amico demonstrated. That’s the Grizzlies’ take, at least currently.

The flip-side to this is if the Cleveland Cavaliers bring Love back and he continues to have injuries where he’s missing significant time, it could make it even more difficult to trade him. Still, bringing him back could still pan out for the Cavs, of course. If he stays healthy you get the opportunity to see what he could do with an improved Sexton and the player you draft high in June.

If it still doesn’t lead to many wins, Love could still be traded next year. If nothing else Love with these additions will make pro basketball in northeast Ohio more entertaining and intriguing next year, which isn’t terrible.