Cavs News: Bombs away for bench Dubs, Cedi trade partners, 5 sellers

Coming into their game on Friday night, one would’ve had to expect the Cleveland Cavaliers would get the job done against the Golden State Warriors at home.

Golden State was on the second leg of a back-to-back, following an overtime loss at the Boston Celtics, and Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins were not in action. The Cavaliers did not have Donovan Mitchell again, but that was not nearly the Warriors’ predicament.

Instead of a win, though, Cleveland just couldn’t get the job done defensively, even against that shorthanded Golden State team. Jordan Poole went off for 32 points in a start (he’s comfortable in those scenarios now, in fairness), and Ty Jerome had 22 points and eight assists, while Donte DiVincenzo had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

With bench contributors such as Anthony Lamb in the fold as well, the Warriors hit 23 threes on a 53.5 percent clip, without Curry, Thompson and Wiggins, and sans Green’s playmaking.

The Cavaliers did have 14 triples themselves, and shot 50.0 percent, led by Darius Garland’s 31 points and nine assists. Caris LeVert chipped in with 22 points as well, and he’s been in a good rhythm in this recent stretch.

That said, the Cavs’ three-point defense in this one was their demise, to say the least, and it’s tough for us fans to wrap our heads around this 120-114 defeat.

Simply put, the Cavaliers have to flush it defensively, and after the Wine and Gold’s effort in a near-comeback on Wednesday at the Memphis Grizzlies, it’s difficult to explain what happened on Friday in what was the teams’ worst loss of the year to this point.

More Cavs news

With the NBA Trade Deadline closing in on Feb. 9, the Cavaliers have been a club entangled in trade rumors, and two players that could definitely be dealt by Cleveland are seemingly Caris LeVert and Cedi Osman.

In Osman’s case, he’s a player that in recent prior seasons and offseasons has popped up as a possible trade candidate, and regarding this upcoming deadline, his deal next season being non-guaranteed plays further into that. LeVert, for context, is on an expiring deal currently.

Pertaining to Osman in this sense, though, here at KJG, our own Josh Cornelissen suggested three teams that could trade for Osman. The reserve wing has had somewhat of an uneven season, but part of that has been because of some minutes variance. Either way, as Cornelissen relayed, Osman, who turns 28 in April, is a current Cav to watch as a player that could be on the move as the league’s deadline nears.

On Saturday night, the Cavaliers are having an Anderson Varejao Tribute Night in their next game versus the Milwaukee Bucks, commemorating his play as a longtime energy player for the Wine and Gold.

Varejao appeared in 13 seasons with the Cavs, albeit with the last as a five-game last hoorah-type thing in the closing moments of the 2020-21 season, but he made his presence felt for his hustle and gritty, team-first play. That was especially during LeBron James’ first stint with Cleveland; in his Cavs days, Varejao had 7.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, and is seventh in team history in rebounds, and eighth in steals and blocks.

Recently, Varejao was also hired as a Cavs Player Development Consultant and Global Ambassador last week, so he’ll aid the team in an on-floor sense, and in helping expand the teams’ international reach. It’s great to have the Brazilian native in Varejao back in the Cavaliers organization, and the team will be honoring him accordingly.

As Dan Gilbert expressed there, it was easy for Cavs fans and the city of Cleveland to love Varejao from the jump.

NBA news

The NBA Trade Deadline is fastly approaching, and given how tight the standings are in both conferences, teams are going to need to make moves to improve and/or solidify their chances in the postseason. The Cavs could be one of those teams, too.

However, each year, the NBA’s sellers do contribute to the deadline just as much, perhaps if not more so, and on Friday, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports highlighted the clubs he believes that will be the five sellers that will “control the market,” and could greatly impact the league’s title contention outlook.

Also on Friday, Michael C. Wright of NBA.com detailed his latest Kia NBA MVP Ladder Update, which highlights the league’s top five candidates for the award, and mentions others seemingly in the conversation as well. There, one can see where the likes of Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and others slotted.

Next Up: The Cavs will face the Bucks on Saturday night, as we touched on previously, as Cleveland looks to split their regular season games with one of their Central Division foes.