Trade or Fade with three proposed Cavaliers trade targets

No. 2: Bojan Bogdanović, Detroit Pistons

One of the reasons the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense struggled so mightily in the playoffs is that they had too many non-shooters in the rotation. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley form the backbone of the Cavs’ defense, but they combined for 23 3-pointers this season. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff had to shoe-horn smaller wings into the backup power forward spot just to try and get spacing on the court.

That’s why Bojan Bogdanovic makes some sense as a trade target. The combo forward hit 145 3-pointers last season, and if he hadn’t been shut down on a tanking team likely would have had many more; he hit at least 180 in each of the previous three seasons. A Cavaliers player has only ever hit 180 3-pointers in a season five times.

The problems with pursuing Bogdanovic are threefold. First, he’s too expensive; the Pistons won’t move him for less than a first-round pick, and likely they’ll want even more than that. The Cavs don’t have that to offer. Secondly, he is a bad defender; what little on-ball juice he had in the prime of his career has been eroded as the 34-year-old as aged.

Finally, Bogdanovic isn’t a small forward. At this point in his career he is a power forward, and the Cavaliers aren’t going to send every asset they have remaining and pay him $20 million next season to come off the bench. He is not Lauri Markkanen on either end of the court, and playing him at the 3 would not work out. He would help this team with its shooting and scoring, but there are too many barriers to making it work.

Verdict: Fade