The Cleveland Cavaliers look like a completely transformed team.
While over-analyzing any single game is possible, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ remodeled team looks much more equipped to defeat the elite teams in the NBA.
What spectators saw from the Cavaliers in their former iteration was a team that was old, slow, sloppy, disjointed, dispirited and dysfunctional. Those six words serve to encapsulate what had become a chaotic season in a downward spiral that not even Nostradamus could have seen coming.
The trade of Kyrie Irving initially yielded a return of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the Brooklyn Nets first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and a 2020 second-round pick from the Miami Heat. Though the value of the return was equal, considering Thomas’ MVP campaign last season, Crowder’s body of work and the likelihood that the Nets would finish with one of the worst records in the NBA, it was a trade where the fit of the trade wasn’t ideal.
Here’s a quote from Cavs general manager Koby Altman, who spoke with reporters during a conference call following Thursday’s trade deadline (transcribed by 92.3 The Fan’s Daryl Ruiter):
"“The level of value we got back in the Kyrie Irving trade was pretty good,” Altman said. “Did it fit? Did it work? Probably not. So with those pieces, we decided to shuffle the deck and get younger and get some youthful talent with energy and enthusiasm, great cultural pieces that I want to be a part of.”"
It’s not all on Thomas, for being uncomfortable in a beta role, or Crowder, for being uncomfortable in a new system (or what may be a lack of a system) with fluctuating roles. The Cleveland Cavaliers added a pair of guards in Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade whose body aged faster than their peers.
Starting Kevin Love at center while Tristan Thompson was out with injury worked wonders for the offense. Nonetheless, the lack of defensive ability in the backcourt, especially with 32-year-old J.R. Smith also showing signs of aging, made Love even more of a defensive liability than he once was since you couldn’t count on him for rim protection.
On top of all of that, the Cleveland Cavaliers were consistently beat down the court in transition and became so irritated with losing that it seems they became irritated with each other. However, as one of the neophyte Cavs, point guard George Hill, recently said:
George Hill on the Cavs looking far different than before: "I’m a big believer that if you continue to look back at your past, you’ll trip over the future that’s ahead of you. I don’t care what happened before. We’re here to start something new.”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 12, 2018
Onwards and upwards, Cavaliers faithful. This is the New Age and these are the three greatest acquisitions from Thursday’s trades.