The Kyrie Irving Debacle Is a Blessing If the Cavs Handle It Right

The Rebuild
Jul 25, 2017 · 11 min read

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The Cavs were extremely close to having ten years of LeBron James — maybe the greatest basketball player ever once everything is said and done — and zero championships to show for it.

There were about a million different turning points in the 2016 NBA Finals, but whichever you personally think was the one that changed everything, the one constant is that it was this close to not happening. Klay could have not talked so much shit, the Warriors could have not laid an egg in the first quarter of Game 3, Draymond could have showed some restraint, or Kyrie Irving could have missed one of the biggest shots in NBA history.

Of course, that totally changes the course of NBA history. If the Warriors had finished their dream season in 2016 with a title, they probably wouldn’t have gotten Kevin Durant, meaning they would still be virtually unbeatable in 2017 instead of literally unbeatable. So maybe the Cavs get their title the next year.

But really, probably not. And if that was the case, is there any doubt the Cavs would be aggressively shopping Kyrie and Kevin Love right now?

After Cleveland got absolutely run out of town by the Warriors in this year’s Finals, I couldn’t stop thinking about what a shame it was Kyrie hit that shot. Not for me — well, definitely for me — but for the Cavs. That shot made KD sign with the Warriors, but it moreso made me feel like the Cavs were stuck with Irving, meaning they are doomed to lose to the Warriors forever, meaning they are likely doomed to lose LeBron in 2018.

Don’t get me wrong — Kyrie is an undeniably talented player, who, despite the obvious flaws in his game, was huge in the 2016 Finals. But the Warriors have the ability to make even great players useless, and Kyrie is on balance only good, not great. He no longer moves the needle against the best in the league. So it only makes sense to move Irving for someone who does. But it isn’t so easy to move the guy who hit the biggest shot in the history of your franchise, even if it is obviously the right move.

Lucky for the Cavs, Kyrie bailed them out. The perennial All-Star point guard has demanded a trade. And while this obviously speaks to larger, institutional dysfunction within the organization that needs to be addressed, it is ultimately a blessing in disguise.

But only if the Cavs handle it right. That’s, of course, where it gets tricky — for any NBA team, but especially for one of the league’s dumbest teams, the Cavs. According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, the Cavs leadership is thinking at least close to the right way. Everyone wants the Cavs to go after stars, but the only All-Star realistically available is Carmelo Anthony, and there is no point in acquiring him if you still have Kevin Love on the team.

The Cavs are apparently looking for two veterans, a blue-chip young player, and picks. That’s a great starting point. As the Democratic Party has taught us time and time again, starting from a place of compromise isn’t going to make your opponent cooperate, it’s only going to screw you out of what you could have originally gotten. Still, the Cavs aren’t going to get that.

Maybe the Suns will send Eric Bledsoe and Jared Dudley and Marquesse Chriss AND multiple picks, but Chriss’ ceiling is unclear, and he’s not ready to play alongside LeBron. They wouldn’t give up Devin Booker or Josh Jackson, the only conventional “blue chip young players” on the roster. Additionally, why they would want Kyrie is still unclear to me. They aren’t even close to being ready to contend, and I don’t see how they could build around a Booker/Irving backcourt — sure to be historically bad defensively — quickly enough to leapfrog the 14 teams currently ahead of them in their own conference.

Who else around the league would want Kyrie enough to give up adequate assets and also has those assets? A quick inventory:

TEAMS WHO ALREADY HAVE A POINT GUARD AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN KYRIE:

Golden State Warriors

Houston Rockets (They have two actually)

Memphis Grizzlies

Portland Trail Blazers

Boston Celtics

Toronto Raptors

Washington Wizards

Oklahoma City Thunder

TEAMS WHO JUST DRAFTED OR ARE STILL DEVELOPING A POTENTIAL FRANCHISE POINT GUARD

Los Angeles Lakers

Sacramento Kings

Brooklyn Nets

Dallas Mavericks

Philadelphia 76ers

TEAMS THAT JUST DON’T HAVE THE ASSETS

Atlanta Hawks

Indiana Pacers

Chicago Bulls

Detroit Pistons

Orlando Magic

Los Angeles Clippers

New Orleans Pelicans (unless they want to trade Boogie Cousins, which they shouldn’t do)

Minnesota Timberwolves

TEAMS THAT JUST DON’T HAVE A REASON TO GIVE UP THAT MUCH FOR KYRIE

Utah Jazz

Charlotte Hornets

23 teams off of the table right there. That leaves the New York Knicks, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami Heat, the Denver Nuggets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Phoenix Suns.

So if the Cavs are going to get good value in return for their starting point guard, they need to transition their thinking. They should be shopping not just Kyrie, but Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and anyone not named LeBron. They shouldn’t be counting on a star, and they shouldn’t attach themselves to getting blue chip young players. Depending on your definition of “blue chip,” the pickings are slim from that list of teams unless they’re getting Devin Booker or Kristaps Porzingis, which they aren’t.

No, instead the Cavs should be trying to turn Kyrie, Love, and everyone else they can into role players. Everyone, from the Cavs to the Rockets to the Thunder to the Celtics are trying to outgun the Warriors in the arm race for stars. But they can’t — especially not by adding Melo.

More importantly, the Cavs are the only team that have already won that arms race. The Cavs have LeBron James. Yes, the Warriors have Curry and Durant, but James is still unquestionably the best player in the league, no matter who won Finals MVP. It’s too late for he Cavs to think about the future and life Post-LeBron. There is no life Post-LeBron. The Cavs have only ever been passable when they have LeBron, and unless Dan Gilbert is putting together a plan to sell the team, that won’t change next year. All they can do is try to win one more, and hope that convinces LeBron to stay and try to keep winning.

So instead of forcing yourself to surround him with players with big names and big jersey sales who have a chance to make the All-Star team, surround him with the most complementary talent imaginable. Instead of continually giving the basketball maestro more painters to collaborate with, give Picasso more fucking canvas.

In order to maximize Kyrie and Love’s talents, you need to run the offense through them. It’s good for the regular season when LeBron wants to operate at a 10 out of 10 instead of a 17 out of 10. But once the Conference Finals roll around and LeBron is playing 44 minutes a game, the need for guys who can take over gets significantly lower.

Let’s run through two scenarios where the Cavs retool and prepare for round four against the Warriors next year. Quick disclaimer: these trades are done in the ESPN NBA Trade Machine, they are all done in a vacuum and may not necessarily work sequentially. They are also likely to favor Cleveland at least a little since this is a Cavs-centric exercise.

SCENARIO 1: KYRIE TO THE NUGGETS

First, the Cavs send Kyrie to the Denver Nuggets:

This is the ideal scenario, but I would take any two of these three. The Nuggets value Harris highly — for good reason — but the other two should be gettable. All three are elite 3-and-D wings. Harris and Barton can cover 1–3, and Chandler can do 1–4, depending on matchup. These are the guys the Cavs need.

For the Nuggets, you have to hope they want to win now. They just took a big swing by signing Paul Millsap, and, at the very least, adding Kyrie ensures you a playoff berth. He isn’t a perfect fit — when building around a star like Jokic, you really need defense. But he gives the Nuggets amazing ball movement centered offense — set to be one of the five best in the league — another dimension.

Then, you deal Love to the Suns:

The Suns have no reason to keep either of these guys. They would save money while having their first star player post-Nash. Love won’t get them into the playoffs right away, but he will help develop the young guys by putting them in competitive basketball situations. If Booker, Jackson, or one of the other young dudes takes a leap, then you could be onto something, at least in the short term.

For the Cavs, Bledsoe becomes your new starting point guard and Dudley helps replace some of Love’s perimeter shooting.

SCENARIO 1 CAVS ROSTER

STARTERS:

Eric Bledsoe

Gary Harris

Wilson Chandler

LeBron James

Tristan Thompson

BENCH:

Jose Calderon/Derrick Rose

Will Barton/Iman Shumpert/Kyle Korver/Jeff Green/JR Smith

Jared Dudley/Minimum contract big or buyout big

This is something. This team is better defensively by a long measure. They’re less explosive offensively, but more versatile and likely more consistent. Their frontcourt rotation would be an issue since they are exclusively getting wings and guards in return, besides Dudley. So they would probably have to hold on to Tristan Thompson and try to pick up an additional center, or try and turn Edy Tavares into something.

When they play the Warriors, they can counter the Draymond at center lineup with a LeBron at center lineup by subbing Barton in for Thompson. That means you have four guys who can score and defend around LeBron, something the Cavs have never been able to do before.

SCENARIO 2: KYRIE TO THE BUCKS

First, a three-team mega-trade with the Suns and Bucks:

For the Bucks, they get a star to help the offense, and a young wing with some potential to grow in Warren. The Bucks are one of the few teams that could really, really use Kyrie. They are ready to hit another level right now, and their personnel is perfect to cover up his defensive struggles. It would kill me to trade Middleton, but it would hopefully be worth the price.

The Suns give up a pretty small amount to get Jabari Parker, only parting with a veteran they’re actively trying to shop and Warren.

The Cavs maybe get off a little easy here considering they get to dump Shumpert and get the second and third best players in the deal. Let’s send their 2020 first round pick to Milwaukee, and make it top three protected.

Then, you send Love to the Knicks:

I arguably betray my entire premise here by including Melo, but I don’t think you get this deal done unless you take him.

The Knicks are a great fit for Love with the way he and Porzingis would complement each other. Thomas and O’Quinn are two of the few good contracts they have, but they are much more valuable to the Cavs than they are to the Knicks, who are unlikely to be contending during either of their contracts considering their messy cap situation.

For the Cavs, you’ve now acquired four major-plus defenders in exchange for three huge negatives on that end. Hopefully that allows you to put the right personnel around Melo to maximize the good things he still does and mask the things he can’t do. Acquiring O’Quinn allows the Cavs to move Thompson for more depth.

Thompson goes to Portland to finally fill their black hole in the front court:

Realistically, this trade may have to wait until December 15 so the Cavs can throw in some of their free agent signings instead of JR. One of the appeals of this deal for the Blazers is getting out of the Crabbe contract — a good role player who they overpaid too soon. I’m sure they would rather take on Jeff Green and Jose Calderon or other small deals that will expire and give them flexibility.

For those infected with Nurkic Fever, Thompson could probably play alongside the Blazers current center and even cover up some of his issues. For those of us in reality, another benefit of waiting until December will be giving the Blazers time to realize Nurkic is likely a role player at best.

The Cavs get two more two-way guys. Aminu is a streaky shooter but an outstanding defensive player.

SCENARIO 2 CAVS ROSTER

STARTERS:

Eric Bledsoe

Khris Middleton

Carmelo Anthony

LeBron James

Kyle O’Quinn

BENCH

Derrick Rose/Jose Calderon

Allen Crabbe/Al-Farouq Aminu/Kyle Korver

Lance Thomas/Jeff Green/Big To Be Determined Later

Once again, the frontcourt rotation is limited, but that may be as much a strength as a weakness against the Warriors. If you’re too small, versatile, and fast for the Warriors to play Zaza, David West, or the rest of the big brigade they have, that is definitely a good thing. Against most other teams, the Cavs will just have too much shooting and talent for the lack of size to matter.

If you sub in Crabbe and Thomas for Bledsoe and O’Quinn, all of the sudden you are rocking a LeBron-point-center lineup with four shooters and three good defenders. It’s a lot of switching, passing, and shooting.

These scenarios aren’t meant to be perfect, or even necessarily 100 percent realistic. They’re mainly meant to exemplify what the Cavs can accomplish in the next few months if they view things through the right lens. They could have had Paul George, they could have had Jimmy Butler. They could have had both if the Pacers wanted Kevin Love. But that’s off the table now. Getting Melo only helps if it is part of a much larger puzzle.

No one is going to give you a future star AND two players who can help now for just Kyrie Irving. So what is your move? LeBron has played on teams full of stars, and he has played on teams full of shit players he had to drag along. It is time to try something new. It would likely talk a front office much wiser than the Cavs’. But if they want a shot at the 2018 title, they have to rebuild fast, and they have to rebuild right.

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