The Cleveland Cavaliers would certainly be a more talented team if they made a trade for Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl Anthony-Towns. He couldn’t come alone though.
With reports that Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl Anthony-Towns has a disconnect with his organization, a seemingly inevitable placing of Towns on the trade block and the Cleveland Cavaliers obvious need for an All-Star addition, the Cavs will likely be one of the teams linked to Towns throughout the postseason.
Unless another team gets involved, trading for Towns — a 22-year-old All-Star with the potential to be the best big man in the game — really doesn’t change anything for the Cavaliers’ fortunes next season, whether he comes alone or in a package with other players.
I know it’s hard to fathom but I mean you could attach anyone short of Jimmy Butler — Jamal Crawford, Andrew Wiggins, Tyus Jones or Gorgui Dieng — to the trade and there’s still a major conundrum that’ll be encountered.
The return on investment won’t be good enough.
Not only will trading for Towns require trading away Kevin Love, the 8th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft or both — two extremely valuable commodities for the Cavaliers — but Towns simply isn’t the type of “help” James needs.
Make no mistake about it, Towns is one of the best big men in the game.
He’s a scintillating scorer — a modern big man with a sweet shooting touch from long distance, the ability to score from the post, on the roll and the ability to take opponents off-the-dribble.
He’s an elite rebounder, particularly on the defensive end and is a high IQ player with solid playmaking abilities.
In his three-year career, he’s averaged 21.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game and has 25.9 offensive win shares.
A solid shot-blocker, Towns is a solid post-defender and in space though he’s a poor pick-and-roll defender.
His ability to score, however, is not the way the Cavs will need him to — by creating shots for himself and others from the perimeter. He’s the type of player that will rely on James to set him up for the bulk of his attempts.
In fact, Towns has yet to have fewer than 62.4 percent of his field goals assisted in his career.
However, throughout LeBron James’ career, he’s needed a player capable of taking on a bulk of the playmaking responsibilities on the perimeter, namely scoring. With his pass-first mindset a scoring-minded guard capable of breaking down the defense off-the-dribble — whether it was Larry Hughes, Mo Williams, Dwyane Wade or Kyrie Irving — clicked beside him.
Through James’ seven consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, he’s went to war with two phenomenal slashers by his side.
In the three seasons that Irving and James were teammates, no more than 32.5 percent of his field goals were assisted.
In three out of the four seasons that Wade and James were teammates with the Miami Heat, 33.5 percent or fewer of Wade’s field goals were assisted.
There isn’t a player capable of being the fitting threat that the Cavs need that they’ll realistically be able to get back in the trade. Or should want back.
Wiggins is capable of getting his own shots from the perimeter but his playmaking abilities aren’t elite; he’s not a great facilitator, decision-maker or jump shooter, just a great slasher. Furthermore, he’s reportedly discontent with being a third option in Minnesota which spells trouble as he would still be the third option in Cleveland.
Jones would be a solid all-around guard, especially in the second unit, but he’s not a go-to scorer. Crawford can be a go-to scorer but he’s always been inefficient and is now 38-years-old, inspiring neither confidence in his durability or ability to consistently get into the lane despite his high basketball IQ and ball-handling wizardry.
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Should the Cavs trade Love for Towns, they’ll get the better player but still be lacking for perimeter playmaking unless they can salvage their first-round pick — one that can be used on an elite backcourt prospect. However, given the six-year gap between the two players and Towns’ tremendous potential, that’s unlikely to happen.
If they trade the 8th overall pick and keep Love by trading away perimeter players like Jordan Clarkson or George Hill, they’ll need multiple perimeter playmakers and be banking on their championship-contention drawing in solid free agent for cheap, something that’s happened less and less as veterans flock towards the Western Conference powerhouses.
To talk about defense, briefly, a combination of Love and Towns would be vulnerable to both the pick-and-roll and a fast-paced attack. The Cavaliers would be forced to rely on their perimeter defenders even more than they currently are, a recipe that may not be successful with three starters (James, George Hill and J.R. Smith) that are in their thirties and hoping to play at least 98 games per year.
Unless San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard, Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard C.J. McCollum or some other perimeter playmaker can be swapped for Love or the 8th pick in the draft as the third team takes on Wiggins, the Cavaliers should stay away from a blockbuster trade.
Even if that trade netted KAT.
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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com