The Cleveland Cavaliers’ best trade partner in the Kyrie Irving saga could be the Philadelphia 76ers.
Everyone’s eyes are on the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks, assuming those three teams are the ones with the best chance to acquire Cleveland Cavaliers’ budding superstar Kyrie Irving. Yet, with the trade demands of the Cavs (a veteran, young player and a first-round pick), the team that may be best equipped – and may be the most willing – to deliver what the Cleveland Cavaliers want is the Philadelphia 76ers.
In a trade with the Sixers, the most rationale trade for them to make is trading Irving and shooting guard Iman Shumpert to the Sixers in return for point guard Jerryd Bayless, forward Dario Saric, point-forward Ben Simmons and a future first-round pick.
In acquiring Irving but retaining Markelle Fultz, Richaun Holmes and Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers will have a young and talented core of players moving forward. A core that could compete for the Eastern Conference Finals for years to come. Irving will bring plenty of fans to the stands and perhaps even summon memories of Allen Iverson in the City of Brotherly Love. Irving’s MVP-level talent and ability to be a scoring machine on offense takes a lot of the pressure off of Fultz and Embiid on the offensive end.
This is a team that will need coaching up on the defensive end. Nonetheless, they’ll be even more competitive than they were last year. Last season, the Sixers only won 28 games. However, they won 18 more games than they won in the 2015-2015 season and had a number of close games with upper echelon teams, including the Cavs.
Giving up Simmons and Bayless clears clutter at point guard and adding Shumpert gives the team a reputable perimeter defender.
For the Cleveland Cavaliers, acquiring Simmons and Saric would seem to give the team too many forwards.
However, with Simmons (the first overall pick n the 2016 NBA Draft) the Cleveland Cavaliers have a forward who excels as a passer and will enhance the team’s ball-movement, much like Golden State Warriors’ forward Draymond Green. They also have a forward who, because of his ability to excel as a point-forward and solid athleticism, can be molded as James’ replacement. A forward who, because of a close friendship with James, would entice the Cavs’ current face of the franchise to re-sign. A forward who could be James’ second-in-command.
In Saric, the 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers receive a relatively unknown player who has shown the versatility to slash to the rim, post-up and score and hit jumpers from the outside. Saric isn’t an athletic player but he has a solid feel for the flow of the game. As a result, despite a lack of athleticism, Saric can consistently get where he wants to on the court, has solid court vision and timing on the defensive end as well.
Bayless only played in three games last season but he’s proven to be a fair facilitator, solid scorer, dependable shooter and a decent defender in nine NBA seasons. He’s able to play both guard positions and while he may not be the starting point guard next season, as the Cavs have signed Derrick Rose, Bayless has started 82 games in his career and would be a more suitable spot-starter than Jose Calderon, should Rose go down with an injury.
As for matching the trade value, Shumpert is ever-so-slightly more valuable than Bayless for the Sixers given the three-and-D role he would play on the team and his durability (in recent years) in comparison to Bayless’. Simmons, while an exciting prospect, missed his rookie season due to injury and so his trade value doesn’t equate to Irving’s, who has proven himself to be a feature player every year of his career and has delivered championship performances on par with James. Even adding in Saric may not even bring the appropriate trade value in a return. However, adding in a first-round pick could certainly make this trade package a particularly appealing one for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers would likely start Rose, J.R. Smith, James, Simmons and Kevin Love if this trade was completed. Ideally, James and Simmons would be the primary facilitators who can score from all three levels while Smith and Love are the primary catch-and-shoot options. Rose would be able to operate in space and attack the rim while adding to the ball-movement. While the offense would look different without “iso-Kyrie”, it could be just as – if not more – effective than it was last year.
With Calderon, Bayless, Kyle Korver, Richard Jefferson, Dario Saric, Jeff Green and Tristan Thompson coming off the bench, the Cleveland Cavaliers could piece together a second unit that is solid on both ends of the court.
Related Story: Iman Shumpert comments on trade speculation
What do you think? Would you make the trade? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.