Grade the Trade: Cavaliers add yet another shooter in new pitch

Finding a deal for Isaac Okoro is a difficult proposition, not because there is any shortage of options in his price range but because it’s hard to identify what would constitute an upgrade on what Okoro is providing the team. Ideally, they would turn him into a top-flight defender who can also shoot, but why would a team give up such a player for one half as good?

That means the Cavs will likely need to find their backcourt defense elsewhere and flip the defense-minded Okoro for an offense-boosting option. That’s what Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report had in mind when building a deal between the Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons:

Alec Burks spent last season as the productive veteran presence on a lottery-bound Detroit team, consistently elevating lineups filled with role players and teenagers. As the Pistons give the ball increasingly to those young players such as Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, it seems likely that Burks’ role, and trade value, will go down as the season plays out.

That could make now the right time to move him, and while they certainly would prefer a first-round pick this would give them three seconds and a young player to add to their collection of projects. They have been one of the league’s worst defenses over the past couple of years, and by drafting Ausar Thompson and trading for Isaac Okoro they could begin to turn that around.

If the Pistons came to the Cavaliers with this trade, would Koby Altman and the organization say yes?