The NBA trade rumors continue to swirl on the Cleveland Cavaliers despite being on top of the Eastern Conference heap.
This is no surprise since even the Golden State Warriors are not immune to trade rumors as both their rosters have serious flaws. Both of the teams depend on their star power (Cavs' Big Three and Warriors' Big Four) to compensate for their shortcomings but if they can find a solution to fill the hole, why shouldn't they grab the opportunity?
After the retirement of Mo Williams, the Cavs' major need to address shifted from a center to back-up point guard and they are willing to give up Iman Shumpert to get their target. The report from Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
"If the Cavs need to trade him to land the backup point guard they desire, they will. It's true, Shumpert's scoring, shooting, perimeter defense, turnovers and conditioning have all improved from last season --- his worst as a pro. But the team really needs a second point guard, a spot currently occupied by Shumpert (he's playing out of position)," Vardon wrote.
It seems that Shumpert was already being groomed to be the top trade chip more than their starting point guard. The Cavs were determined to keep JR Smith instead of shopping for a back-up point guard (salary cap issues only allowed them to sign their own free agents). They let Shumpert strut his wares, but he is simply not what they need.
Coach Tyronn Lue also confided: "I think our pace goes down when Shump's playing the point guard because he doesn't want to make a mistake," Lue said. "He kind of slows the ball down and runs sets, tries to get us in our offense, which we've asked him to do. But, not having that backup point guard out there to get us in our stuff and run it with pace, run it with speed, it's kind of hurt us a little bit."
In a previous report, we noted how ESPN Insiders predicted this dilemma for the Cavs and proposed a solution of trading Kevin Love for Brandon Knight and Tyson Chandler (solving both point guard and center issues).
Kevin Love is unlikely to be traded at this point the way he is playing and how the Big Three of Love, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving have been meshing. Cleveland-based Amico Hoops already proposed trading for Brandon Knight.
"Of course, problem is, Knight is due to make $12.6 million this season. So in order for the Cavs to make a (hypothetical) deal work, they would have to put together a package of something like Iman Shumpert, Jordan McRae and the contract of (supposedly retired) Mo Williams."
McRae was a promising summer league discovery, but the Cavs are talking title-defense. The Cavs should go all-out and pay the price.
.