Cavs: A counter to Piston Powered’s CLE-DET trade proposal

Why the Cavs would be wise to consider that deal with the Pistons

From Cleveland’s end here, with Prince previously having been a key player mentioned in trade rumors near the past deadline and it seeming as if he could be dealt this offseason, him and Cleveland’s 2023 2 for Joseph would be a logical move.

Whether or not Sexton is potentially moved, Joseph, who did commendable work for Detroit following his deadline trade arrival from the Sacramento Kings last season, would be a nice backup point guard to have run things in non-Garland minutes. And he could help preserve DG throughout the season some, of which is a selling point for McConnell, for what it’s worth.

Joseph was admittedly an overpay Kings in free agency a couple years back, in fairness, and in this case, his $12.6 million would be fully guaranteed. But all things considered, he’s been a solid backup point guard in his career, and has had 7.0 points and 3.6 assists in 24.3 minutes per outing over the past three seasons, and he’d be valuable in Cleveland’s rotation.

Joseph is not a guy that has the vision of Matthew Dellavedova, for example, who recently signed a multi-year deal with the NBL’s Melbourne United, nor is Joseph nearly the passer of McConnell. Either way though, he does have nice playmaking feel and can help get guys such as Sexton, Kevin Love, Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade and others quality looks; the same could go for Green/Mobley in that sense.

Along with that, Joseph is a quality defender, and I do think he could hold his own in a number of matchups, at least for spurts, against 1s and 2s. He has good team defensive instincts as well, and in more so a general outlook, a veteran that’s had plenty of playoff experience like Joseph I believe could be an invaluable presence to have for Garland, Isaac Okoro and others for the Cavs.

And while the soon-to-be-30-year-old is expiring, if it worked out in this sense, I could very well foresee Cleveland looking to bring back Joseph next offseason, in this hypothetical, clearly.

Now, maybe the Pistons wouldn’t have interest in our suggested deal, but given Killian Hayes’ and Cade’s playmaking presence, Saben Lee showing some promise and Prince’s shooting/the future 2 and with them realistically able to flip Prince, perhaps they would.

All in all, I do believe this hypothetical, from our end, would benefit both sides here and is a potential talking point for Cavs and Pistons fans.