Updates on Cavs trade fronts

While Paul George was never truly available, there are no obstacles for the Cleveland Cavaliers to trade for Carmelo Anthony.

There are two updates on the trade front for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, who have been in trade rumors since the end of the NBA Finals.

The first update is that, according to FS1’s Chris Broussard, the Indiana Pacers were simply unwilling to trade the George to the Cavs.

This insertion makes sense considering the growing belief that George would stay in Cleveland as long as LeBron James remained on the team. Giving their best player to their biggest competitor must have been especially unappealing to Indiana Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard given that ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (h/t Indiana Sports Coverages’ Grant Afseth) has reported that the Pacers would have acquired a young and coveted talent in Gary Harris from the Denver Nuggets and a first-round pick from the Cavaliers if the Cavs acquired George.

Mike Wise of ESPN confirmed the deal.

Ultimately, George will join Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, where the Western Conference has become stacked with superstar talent amidst the exodus from the East.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are probably better off without George given that they started to consider adding Kyrie Irving to deals including George. In addition, the trade to the West (and not to a team like the Boston Celtics), makes the path to the Eastern Conference Finals that much easier. As of today, the Celtics, Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks are the creme of the crop of the East.

No other team has multiple All-Star starters (or the best player in the conference).

The second update for Cavs fans concerns Carmelo Anthony. If there was any doubt that Anthony would have misgivings about coming to the Land, there’s not.

Anthony’s wife, LaLa, appeared on “The Wendy Williams Show” earlier this week and said that Anthony wants to play for a team close to his son Kiyan. However, yesterday she made a radio appearance on HOT97 and said this:

“Cleveland’s close.”

It would seem that Anthony’s preference is to join his best friend in Cleveland and chase championships and stay close to his son. Go figure. Anthony has another friend in Chris Paul who he could join Houston. However, Houston, Texas is on the other side of the country.

The biggest hold up could be that the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have a general manager or president of basketball operations yet as they negotiate a contract with Chauncey Billups.

While former general manager  David Griffin was unwilling to trade for Anthony, according to basketball insider Sam Amico, the Cavs may not be after parting ways with him. Billups has a long and winding history with Anthony who, as Howard Beck of Bleacher Report points out, is the player Billups wanted his Detroit Pistons to draft in 2003.

Anthony would ultimately become his teammate with Billups’ hometown Denver Nuggets. In three seasons, the duo went to the playoffs three times; they made it to the Western Conference Finals in the 2008-2009 season. After striking out on George and Jimmy Butler in trades, Anthony could be the next target for the Cavs. They’d only have to replace the Indiana Pacers with the New York Knicks in the trade that they had on the table for George.

This could be the trade that lands Anthony and Nuggets big man Kenneth Faried (also known as “The Manimal”), while Love and Iman Shumpert head to the Nuggets.

Consider these 2016-2017 comparisons, courtesy of stats.nba.com:

Anthony — 0.99 points per possession, 44.2 field goal percentage, 46.8 effective field goal percentage, 78.3 percentile in isolation

Love — 0.84 points per possession, 42. field goal percentage, 43.0 effective field goal percentage, 50.8 percentile in isolation

Anthony – 1.23 points per possession, 45.5 field goal percentage, 60.2 effective field goal percentage, 93.8 percentile as a spot-up shooter

Love – 1.19 points per possession, 41.3 field goal percentage, 58.7 effective field goal percentage, 89.7 percentile as a spot-up shooter

Anthony – 0.92 points per possession, 42.1 field goal percentage, 62.6 percentile in post-ups

Love – 0.86 points per possession, 39.5 field goal percentage, 44.7 percentile in post-ups

Anthony – 5.7 potential assists per game

Love – 3.2 potential assists per game

Anthony – 51.3 defensive field goal percentage

Love – 55.1 defensive field goal percentage

Anthony – average speed of 3.8 miles per hour (4.1 offense, 3.5 defense)

Love – average speed of 4.1 miles per hour (4.3 offense, 3.8 defense)

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