Grade the Trade: Cavaliers add prolific forward in new mock
The Cleveland Cavaliers have some elite defensive players in their frontcourt. Jarrett Allen is a high-end rim protector with the foot speed to defend in space. Evan Mobley is a mythical creature of some sort, blocking shots and spearheading zone defense, locking down forwards on the perimeter and rotating to deny rim runs. He can do it all.
Even their reserves tend to skew toward defense. Damian Jones is a fringe NBA rotation player, but his calling card is on defense as a mobile big. Isaiah Mobley hopes to earn minutes because of his defense. Dean Wade is a solid perimeter defender.
The Cavaliers lack offense in the frontcourt
Where the Cavaliers are not as strong is on the offensive end. They signed Georges Niang this summer as a stretch-4, and they hope he can hold up enough on defense to allow him minutes as a floor-spacer in the frontcourt. Otherwise, their bigs are a collection of non-shooters and former-shooters (hopefully Wade gets back to his old shooting ways).
Could Cleveland consider making an investment in a more prolific scoring threat to join their big rotation? That’s the idea behind a recent trade idea. Let’s take a look at the trade, then analyze whether it would make sense for the Cavaliers.