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.
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.
John Collins was the name at the top of everyone’s “players most likely to be traded” lists for years, which did him a disservice as he was still a productive player for the Atlanta Hawks. As his role diminished, however, so did his value around the league.
The Utah Jazz finally traded for him this summer, paying essentially nothing to absorb him into cap space. They have a crowded frontcourt rotation, however, so it’s not crazy to think that they could look to move the power forward to another team.
That’s the theory behind why Zach Buckley at Bleacher Report built this trade for the Jazz:
Utah has Walker Kessler as their long-term center, Lauri Markkanen as a natural 4 they’re playing at the 3, and they drafted Taylor Hendricks in the top 10 of this year’s draft. Add in Kelly Olynyk and Omer Yurtseven and their frontcourt is packed; shifting their roster balance would make sense.
Isaac Okoro is also unlike any other player on their roster, a true on-ball defensive pest to shadow opposing guards; he’s the antithesis of Collin Sexton in many ways, the shooting guard the Jazz got from Cleveland last summer. Caris LeVert can be the bench-scoring counterpart to Jordan Clarkson on the first unit.
More importantly, the Jazz clear long-term money, as Collins is still owed $78 million over the next three years. That gives them flexibility to continue reshaping their roster over the next couple of seasons.
This is a bold move for the Jazz; how should the Cavaliers feel about it?
Let’s start with the reasons why the Cavaliers shouldn’t make this deal. They already have a lot invested in their two starting bigs, and without moving Jarrett Allen the only space left for a player like John Collins is to come off the bench. $26 million is a lot to pay for a bench player, even in the modern cap environment.
Collins is an inconsistent defender, which makes it hard to trust him defending behind the shaky defense in the backcourt the Cavs already deal with. He shot an abysmal 29.2 percent from 3-point range last season, and he is under contract for the next three seasons.
Now for the positives. Collins is a monster rebounder, especially when he is allowed to operate near the rim. That was a clear weakness against the New York Knicks and one that this team didn’t exactly address this summer. His shot did fall off last season, but he also still shot 80.3 percent from the free-throw line, and hit 40 percent two consecutive seasons in 2019-20 and 20-21.
Collins isn’t an elite rim protector, but he’s not a pushover either; his size and shot-blocking are much better than Niang, for example. His vertical ability will make him a sparkling pick-and-roll partner, and he has a decent chance to regain his corner 3-point shot.
Trading for John Collins is a significant risk; if he doesn’t work out, the Cavs are on the hook for his contract for multiple seasons while they are trying to build a contender around Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. With that being said, it also opens up possibilities, either to trade Allen and start Collins and Mobley, or to use Collins as matching salary in a bigtime trade.
Play Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen 32 minutes each, and you can still give Collins 24 minutes off the bench, essentially playing as the PF when one of Allen or Mobley is on the bench, and then have eight left over for defense (Wade) or shooting (Niang) depending on the situation.
Isaac Okoro is a good chance to have his value crumble this season as his role diminishes, and Caris LeVert is not a long-term fit for the Cavs. This deal is expensive and risky, but it also comes with a first-round pick — in fact, the Cavaliers’ own coming back from the Donovan Mitchell deal. That frees them up to move a first in a deal for a 3-and-D wing.
This trade isn’t an obvious home run, but the more you dig into it, the more unexpected value emerges. This is creative and a deal the Cavaliers should strongly consider.
Grade: B+