Grade the Trade: Ryen Russillo pitches Allen deal for Cavaliers

Would the Cavaliers make this trade?

On the podcast where he pitched the idea, Ryen Russillo thought that the Cavaliers would make this trade. In the aftermath of the playoff series with the New York Knicks, Russillo felt the Cavs needed to understand that Allen was (1) not a huge value on the trade market, and (2) that Cleveland couldn’t go to war with Allen after he looked so bad against the Knicks.

The issue here is that Russillo is falling victim to both a lack of information and recency bias. Allen shouldn’t be judged simply on five games where the Cavs played in the playoffs for the first time with this group, not when there is a long track record of Allen’s impact on both ends of the court elevating them into the top tiers of the league.

Russillo, and many of those talking about the NBA, don’t have the bandwidth to watch every game or even many games for these players; instead, he is going off of the nationally-televised playoff series, where a poor matchup, a coach with limited experience and limited options, and a small sample all cast Allen in a poor light. The Cavaliers can’t trade Allen based on one series.

At the same time, they shouldn’t simply refuse to trade Allen if the right deal comes up. Is this the right deal? No, it probably isn’t. Luguentz Dort is a stout defender but he doesn’t actually solve any of the Cavs’ issues. If Cleveland wants a guard defender who will be ignored by playoff defenses, they can simply keep starting Isaac Okoro. Dort has more heft to guard up the lineup than Okoro, but he isn’t a realistic option on combo forwards, and there is still the issue of his shooting. Dort will take shots, but he doesn’t make them.

In summary, this is the kind of deal that works on a surface level – “trade a big for a wing” – but when you look any closer it falls apart. Allen is a better player, he is more valuable than Dort, and trading him would cause problems and not solve any. There are deals out there that work; this one does not.

Grade: D