The Point Four-ward: Flat Tops and Crazy Eyes

Four points I’m thinking about the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Two separate reports Tuesday could have bearing on the Cavs’ current search for a perimeter defender. First, Chris Haynes from Northeast Ohio Media Group (via The Plain Dealer) reported that the Cavs had moved on from attempts to trade for Minnesota swingman Corey Brewer. The Timberwolves, hit with injuries to key wing players Kevin Martin and Ricky Rubio, are now reticent to move Brewer, their best perimeter defender (though Andrew Wiggins might have something to say about that soon).

The other bit came from Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, who reported that basically the entire New York Knicks roster has been put on the trading block. While the Knicks would prefer to part ways with J.R. Smith (Really?? Nooooo….), the Knick who might actually be a good fit with the wine and gold is fourth year shooting guard, Iman Shumpert.

Shumpert has long had a reputation for being a quality perimeter defender. He’s never been the kind of shooter David Blatt would ideally field on the wing — he’s shooting just 40.9% from the field this year to go with a not-entirely-horribly 34.8% from three — but he’s been constantly dangled in trade rumors since the Knicks selected him back in 2011 (meaning he’s now likely, like, extra available or something) and strikes some (well, okay… strikes me) as a player who could really come into his own for a team that was not a gigantic dumpster fire.

Shumpert is on the last year of his contract (making $2.6 million) and is expected to miss the next four weeks with a recent shoulder injury, but the Cavs might be able to pry him away from the Knicks who need… well, pretty much anything. If a couple of second rounders could entice the Knicks to part with Shumpert, the Cavs should pull the trigger.

Or, you know, wait for four weeks and then pull the trigger.

2.) The NBA got some sad news yesterday when the Milwaukee Bucks announced that their prized rookie Jabari Parker had torn his ACL and would miss the rest of the season. The surprising Bucks (13-12) were currently in sixth place in the Eastern Conference — just one spot below the Cavaliers — making the playoffs a realistic goal for Jason Kidd’s young, wingspan-y team. Parker’s injury doesn’t preclude this from still happening (this is, after all, the East) but it likely drops the Bucks from “rebuild and be good” to just plain “rebuild.”

If the Bucks fade too much too fast, this could be where the Cavs find their partner for a deal to get a rim protecting big. I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m intrigued by John Henson (3.2 blocks per 36 minutes), the Bucks’ 6-11 third-year PF/C and I still am. But if the Bucks decide to wave the white flag on the season, the player they’d more likely make available is the much more expensive one, Larry Sanders. While Sanders’ production still isn’t living up to the 4-year/$44 million extension he signed as the break-out defensive anchor of the otherwise moribund 2013-13 Bucks, the Cavaliers have the combination of assets and cap flexibility (with the Brendan Haywood contract) to make Milwaukee an attractive offer. Sanders would give the Cavs another young, athletic, defensive minded big man who can protect the rim — essentially a taller (and more crazy) Tristan Thompson.

Sanders offensive limitations, where he is shooting just 12-36 (33%) from outside of three feet, don’t exactly scream “space creator,” but, as the saying goes, in the land of the Cavs, the 1.5 blocks man is king (except for… you know, the guy on their roster who already goes by that nickname).

Oh, and did I mention that Sanders currently has the best crazy eyes in the league. Cavs Nation, you deserve this!

3.) Just look at Larry Sanders’ shot chart for this season (via basketball-reference.com).

And this heat map here is particularly… um, definitive.

You like that three foot diameter space under the basket, do you Larry? Should you find yourself on the Cavs, I hope you’re good at catching bounce passes in traffic there.

4.) Parker was many people’s projected lock for Rookie of the Year. He was averaging 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds a game on 52.7% True Shooting. Now, the rookie limelight shifts back to Wiggins. The number one overall pick — and former Cavalier — has turned up his production in Minnesota’s injury-plagued lineup, averaging 17.4 points and 5.2 rebounds a game over his last five.