#CavsRank Moments: 21-19 (Growing Pains)

As we’ve seen thus far, not all the #CavsMoments we’re counting down are necessarily fond ones… or at least they didn’t start out that way at the time. In this next installment of Moments, we cover a few of the initially more painful ones, including two trades — one that greatly altered the fundamental construction of this team, and another that engendered a strong and immediately divisive emotional reaction amongst Cavs fans — as well as the ongoing physical ordeal of the lower extremities of one Uncle Drew. In the end, what we (and the Cavs ostensibly) learned was a valuable lesson that sometimes change is painful… but ultimately necessary to promote growth.

So, grit your teeth, steel yourself and get ready to relive three more moments that defined this team over the past two seasons…

21. The Wild Thing Gets Deep Fryed

Wild Thing… I think you’re traded. According to Cavalier GM, David Griffin, these words (or some reasonable facsimile of them) were some of the hardest he’s ever had to say.

“There’s very little that I’ve enjoyed less in my professional career than letting him know that he was traded,” said Griffin.

But there it was. After almost a dozen years in the NBA with the only team he’d known, Anderson Varejao, he of the floppy hair and floppier play, was unceremoniously cut loose by the Cavs in the midst of their season for the ages. It was ironic, since the 2015-16 season represented the first in quite some time that Andy was actually healthy. As the lone remaining member of the LeBron 1.0 years (at least until the Cavs re-signed Mo Williams last summer), Varejao had struggled mightily with an assortment of injuries and afflictions ever since… averaging just 34 games per year:

• 2010-11 – Played 31 games until tearing a tendon in his right ankle
• 2011-12 – Played 25 games before breaking his right wrist
• 2012-13 – Played 25 games then was diagnosed with blood clot in his lung
• 2013-14 – Played 65 games but missed a month with back soreness
• 2014-15 – Played 26 games until rupturing his achilles tendon

But injuries were only half of the story for those who loved the lanky, good-natured Brazilian with the Sideshow Bob-esque mop of crazy hair. He endeared himself to both teammates and fans alike over the years with his relentless hustle and tenacity, while becoming one of the most popular players in franchise history. In fact, the injuries (at least early on) cast him even more in the company of another beloved injury-prone big man, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, since they seemed to underscore how potentially good he might have been without them. Granted Andy never had the offensive ability of Big Z, but he could rebound like a machine when he set his mind to it. Though he lasted only 25 games in the 2012-13 season, he was leading the NBA in rebounding at 14.4 per game when he went down with a blood clot in his lung, and was headed for a potential All-Star season as he also averaged over 14 points per game. He ultimately averaged half of those numbers for most of the rest of his career, but one wonders what might have been had he been able to stay healthy.

Andy played sparingly for the first half of last season for the Cavs… partly because he was trying to come back off of another major injury (achilles tendon) at age 33, and partly because he was the third big man off the bench behind Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson. He had a fairly sporadic early part of the season, not playing on many nights, and playing just 10 minutes per game (usually in garbage time) when he did, while averaging career lows in points (2.6) and rebounds (2.9). Yet, he did seem to still bring his brand of energy and disruption to his limited time on the court. The bottom line, however, remained that where his primary skill set (rebounding and setting picks) was redundant, he was sorely lacking in the shooting/stretching the floor department. Making matters worse was his quasi-albatross of a contract… an extension that Griffin handed out before the 2014-15 season that many scratched their heads over given Andy’s injury history…

Official numbers on Anderson Varejao 3-year extension: $9.6M next year, $10.3M ($9.3 guaranteed) in 16-17 & 10M (nonguarateed) in 17-18.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) October 31, 2014

Ultimately, as it turned out, this contract (and the money saved from unloading it) had just as much to do with Andy’s departure as creating room for the sharpshooting big man, Channing Frye, did. Though originally reported as a three team deal between the Cavs, the Orlando Magic and the Portland Trailblazers, it was actually two separate transactions. In trading Varejao to the Blazers (along with a protected 2018 first round pick), the Cavs saved almost $40M in payroll and tax penalties, while creating a $9.6M trade exception. They then turned around and used the bulk of their existing $10.5M Brendan Haywood trade exception to absorb Channing Frye’s contract from the Magic, while parting with Jared (Much Danger Ninja) Cunningham and a second round pick. Portland unsurprisingly waived Andy, using a stretch provision to buy out his contract over the next five years.

Though the ditching of the Wild Thing served as a fairly divisive topic of debate on C:tB, giving rise to a haiku-laden Live Thread tribute, an in memoriam 5-On-5 and a multitude of emotional reactions, the continuation of this Moment was (at the time) the proverbial salt in the fresh wound…

Anderson Varejao just sent me this message on agreeing to a deal with Warriors. pic.twitter.com/Un72cjMYdw

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 22, 2016

It was an “of course that would happen” moment for many Cavs fans. And, while nobody could blame Andy for his decision to move on to the best situation he could find, it certainly made it harder to root for him to succeed. Especially when he started taking what many thought were thinly veiled shots at his old team, while gushing about his new one.

“I’m glad I came here because I can tell they love each other,” Varejao told a Bay Area reporter. “When you want to win, you have to be like they are. Friends have fun out there, fun in the locker room.”

Though the irony of Andy’s ability to get under his opponents’ skin was probably not lost on the Cavs, it didn’t take long for the team to move on and embrace their newest member. Channing Frye was well known to Griffin from his days as the GM of the Phoenix Suns in 2009-10 when Frye was a key part of a team that reached the Western Conference Finals.

“Channing Frye is someone we know well. His length, floor spacing ability and locker room presence will impact us positively,” Griffin said.

For anyone who had doubts, Frye showed exactly what he could do in his second game with his new team when he knocked down 4-8 triples en route to a 15 point, six rebound performance in just 18 minutes against the Hornets. As the season wound down, he also proved his worth as a terrific locker room presence, and did exactly what Griff hoped he would do in almost single-handedly changing the outcome of a playoff game (already well covered by Carson in #CavsMoment 26).

The Cavs did wind up facing the Wild Thing in The Finals, and though Andy didn’t have much success in stopping his former teammates defensively, he did have a signature moment.

https://vine.co/v/iYbdDgMEHzF

It was, as they say, one more flop for old times sake. Even LeBron, who had gone out of his way to say how much he respected and would miss AV’s contributions, had to agree with the obvious…

LeBron james to the referee after that offensive foul on Love, taken by Varejao:

"That's a flop. I know him, and that's a flop."

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 3, 2016

Despite earning the rare distinction of becoming the first player in NBA history to play for both Finals contestants in the same year, Andy ultimately wound up on the short end as his new team blew a 3-1 lead to his old one. The prevailing thought, however, was that no matter what, he’d get a ring, primarily since he’d played long enough with the Cavs to have earned the right to at least an honorary one. Of course, Andy has since made it perfectly clear that he would decline accepting a Championship ring if offered by the Cavs. Maybe that’s sour grapes on his part… or maybe he felt like it wasn’t earned. Or perhaps he’s just confident he’ll have another shot at one after re-signing for another year with the Warriors in the off-season.

No matter how you choose to remember Anderson Varejao, there’s no denying the impact he had on the Cavalier franchise during his dozen year tenure… but there’s also no doubt that (however unpopular at the time), this move to swap him out for Channing Frye paid off for the Cavs on their road to their first Championship.

20. Kyrie Gets Knee-Capped

It’s still amazing to think that something as small as a patella could potentially alter the course of basketball history, but as I wrote at the time… it was the little things that cost the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals. And, the biggest little thing that happened was a knee-to-knee collision between Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson that even the officials missed.

There was no immediate certainty on the severity of the injury when it initially occurred. All we saw was Kyrie crumple to the ground in a heap as the ball trickled to J.R. Smith who missed a shot, then the Warriors rebounding the loose ball and pushing it back up the court as Kyrie hobbled after them. Moments later, after a time out, Irving grimaced as he limped off the floor and into the locker room, accompanied by the worried looking team trainer Steve Spiro. A camera in the hallway caught a frustrated Kyrie, clearly dealing with a serious injury to his knee, and even the most optimistic observer had to feel a lead weight in their guts.

It was an all too familiar scenario, especially following the freakish injury to fellow Big Three member Kevin Love earlier in the playoffs against the Boston Celtics. It was also weirdly not all that surprising given Kyrie’s own personal predilection towards pain, his injury history (both overall and in these particular playoffs), and the residual effects of the (now vanquished) Cleveland Curse of ridiculous sports misfortune. In the name of Jim Chones’ broken foot, this seemed like horrible timing. And it was underscored by just how well Kyrie had actually been playing in his first ever Finals game leading up to that point.

For proper context, to remember this Moment correctly, you also have to remember the various nagging lower leg afflictions Kyrie was suffering from in the weeks and even months leading up to this incident. Some speculate that his lingering knee issues began following a scare back in December of 2014 in a game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Irving appeared to hyper-extend his left knee after landing awkwardly on it while attempting to contest a Russell Westbrook shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNxwQvGEgIk

Kyrie had to be helped off the floor, but appeared to be able to put weight on his left leg, which at least gave some hope that it wasn’t a dreaded ACL tear. Amazingly, he would return to start the second half after being diagnosed with just a knee contusion.

“I definitely felt something buckle,” Irving said after the game. “I was just really scared, but … the biggest thing when something happens like that, is opening up your eyes and just realizing everything is going to be all right, no matter what the verdict is.”

Two weeks later, Irving tweaked the same knee again late in a Christmas Day loss to the Miami Heat. He would miss the next two games due to this re-aggravation of the knee contusion. It’s certainly possible, and even probable, that Kyrie dealt with ongoing and lingering inflammation of his patellar tendon throughout the remainder of the season, but it truly flared up during the early rounds of the 2015 playoffs. He underwent an MRI early on in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Bulls, which confirmed the presence of patellar tendonitis, and was receiving almost non-stop treatment between games to keep it at bay. Unfortunately, he suffered yet another re-aggravation of the injury early in Game 6 after inadvertently stepping on Tristan Thompson’s foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go84Xcd_Bas

“I stepped on Tristan’s foot and my knee just kind of buckled,” Irving said. “There’s goes all that treatment out the window in the matter of a play.”

Despite having five days off before the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks, Irving was only able to play 27 minutes in Game 1, and then had to miss Games 2 and 3 entirely. Seeking relief, Kyrie got a second opinion when he was evaluated by Dr. James Andrews who confirmed the tendonitis but saw no structural damage to the knee. He finally returned in Game 4, just in time to help the Cavs sweep the Hawks and reach the Finals. The time off for rest seemed to have paid off, as he scored 16 points on 6-11 shooting, with four rebounds and five assists in just 22 minutes.

Just the fact that Uncle Drew was starting to look a bit like himself again gave Cavs fans a reason to be optimistic heading into their Championship showdown with the Warriors. But, the proof was in the pudding as Kyrie seemed to elevate his game (on both sides of the ball) to an entirely new level from the outset of Game 1. He was simply electric, putting up 23 points on 10-22 shooting, with seven boards, six assists, four steals and two HUGE blocks on Steph Curry. His defense was better than we had been witness to for the majority of his young career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d2dlcNlXwk

The balky left knee certainly seemed to be holding up, even in the face of the 44 minutes of play Coach David Blatt decided to throw his way (for which Blatt received at best mild questioning and at worst harsh criticism). But Blatt maintained that Irving’s extended minutes were not a factor in weakening his knee and leaving him susceptible to injury.

“There were no minute restrictions coming into Game 1,” Blatt said. “My take on the injury was that he got kneed in the side of his knee. It was a contact injury, and the result was a fracture of the kneecap.”

Yes, it all seemed to be breaking the Cavs’ way… right up until the breaking of Kyrie’s kneecap. Though there were doubters that there was any actual contact between Kyrie and Klay’s knees, some video evidence eventually surfaced to corroborate the theory…

https://vine.co/v/eMEwg3VTePg

Though immediately after the incident tensions were reportedly high between the Kyrie camp and Cavs’ management… in the days following, Kyrie put the whole ordeal in perspective.

“No, I was not any more susceptible. My knee in terms of stability was great. Obviously there was a risk going out there playing anyway no matter what, but in terms of everything that was inside my knee stability wise, everything was fine. I trusted my trainers. I trusted my body. It was just freak play. I felt good throughout the whole entire game. It wasn’t about the minutes or anything like that that everyone wants to kind of speculate about our training staff. It was me who decided to go out and play, put my body on the line. I wouldn’t do it any different. I don’t have any regrets for the decision that I’ve made. I trust my organization. I trust our training staff to the fullest extent.”

As tragic as this Moment seemed at the time, there were silver linings to be found going forward from it. With Kevin Love and now Kyrie gone from the lineup, the Grit Squad that had been forming during the previous rounds crystallized into the ultimate Finals underdog. The remaining Cavs gained valuable experience and engendered massive respect for their never-say-die attitude, as they took the next two games from the Warriors before finally succumbing. It could also be argued that the pain of this setback laid the foundation for the preparation and conditioning of Kyrie Irving going forward, paving the way for his growth into the Finals assassin we witnessed in 2016.

19. Season Saving Trades

At the Moment these trades went down, it smacked of panic and desperation. This was not what LeBron’s homecoming letter had promised. The Cavs were a mediocre 19-15 a week into January of 2015. LeBron himself was on a self-imposed two week hiatus, nursing knee and back issues. The excitement of the assembling of a new Big Three had been overwhelmingly tempered by the glaring holes in the rest of the rotation. It was clear that the Cavaliers were sorely lacking in perimeter speed and defense, requiring an infusion of youth and athleticism to off-set aging vets like Mike Miller, Shawn Marion and James Jones. It was also apparent that with the loss of Anderson Varejao to yet another season-ending injury, there was a definite need for another big to man the painted area.

The Cavs, despite having one of the highest payrolls in the league and a trio of three of the brightest stars in the game, were teetering on the brink of certain disaster. GM David Griffin saw the obvious needs, and, as it turned out, was just loading his bullets and waiting for the right Moment to strike. Little did we know how heavily the New York Knicks would factor into the equation, and once the Woj bombs started falling… things got crazy.

First, the Cavs pulled Dion out of a game against his hometown Sixers…

Cleveland pulled Dion Waiters out of the game tonight and have a deal to trade him, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 6, 2015

Then, word came down that the Cavs were for some reason interested in picking up the famously troublesome J.R. Smith…

New York is sending J.R. Smith to Cleveland, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 6, 2015

Then a name surfaced that seemed to make a bit more sense to fit the Cavs needs…

Along with Waiters, New York is sending Iman Shumpert to the Cavaliers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 6, 2015

And, finally, clarification on Dion’s new home…

Dion Waiters will be traded to Oklahoma City in the three-way deal, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 6, 2015

When the dust settled, the Cavs wound up divesting themselves of their inconsistent former number one (and number four overall) pick, starting shooting guard and resident malcontent, Dion Waiters, while picking up two rotational guards in Smith and Shumpert. While initial reaction was decidedly mixed on the two New York castoffs (given J.R.’s reputation and Iman’s recent injury history), the question of where a new big man might come from was answered in the form of news that the Cavs would also receive OKC’s protected 2015 first round pick. A few days later… the Cavs would package that pick along with another protected first rounder previously acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies to get their big man…

Cleveland has agreed to a deal in principle to acquire Denver center Timofey Mogzgov for two first-round picks, league source tells Yahoo.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 7, 2015

In the deal with the Knicks, the Cavs also sent reserves “Sweet” Lou Amundsen and Alex “Captain” Kirk, as well as their 2019 second-round pick. The Knicks, who were 5-32 at the time and desperate to clear salary-cap space, were only too happy to find a team that would be willing to take Swish as the price for also losing promising defender Shump. There was also clearly no love lost between the guards (particularly J.R.) and GM Phil Jackson, as evidenced by J.R.’s Instagram post following the trade…

https://www.instagram.com/p/2sFKaiNfJH/

The hope the Cavs had was that the mercurial Smith, who had never been afraid to shoot, could give the second unit the offensive spark that Coach David Blatt had been looking for all season, and that the versatile Shumpert could provide the tough perimeter defense the Cavs had been sorely lacking. David Griffin knew that J.R. was considered a risk, but had assurances from LeBron James himself that he’d be able to keep Swish in line. LeBron famously reflected on this months later when asked by a reporter during the Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks:

Q.  LeBron, when the organization first approached you and said, we can make a move to get J.R. Smith but we have concerns, what was your idea about the importance and the value of getting a player like this in your franchise?

LeBRON JAMES:  Get him here, and I’ll take care of it.

Q.  You said you planned to take care of it?

LeBRON JAMES:  Yeah, I got him.  You get him here, I got him.  Yeah, I got him (laughter).

Meanwhile, Griffin kept it diplomatic with the one man mentioned in LeBron’s homecoming letter who was ultimately expendable…

“Dion is a talented player with potential ahead of him. Trades like this are always difficult to make because there are relationships and bonds built and that was the case with Dion. At the same time, we’re very excited to welcome Iman and J.R. to Cleveland. With their size and versatility, we think both Iman and J.R. can help our team on both ends of the court and we look forward to them joining us.”

Still, it was tough for some of us to say goodbye to the man affectionately known around these parts as Saint Weirdo. Dion had and still has a ton of talent, but he wasn’t always adept in channeling his abilities into success on the court. He could be maddeningly inconsistent and selfish at times, but he could also go on awe-inspiring mid-range scoring binges. The echoes of his “And One!” shouts will likely reverberate throughout the Q for all time.

It must have been difficult, and most likely a little embarrassing to be pulled from the starting lineup in his hometown of Philadelphia shortly before the Cavs lost to the Sixers (who incidentally got their first home win of the season that night). Instead of being notified about the impending trade, Dion was left to chat with reporters about how many tickets he had secured for friends and family coming to see him play. Then, he went out on the court in his Cavs uniform and warm-up gear and got to wave to his contingent in the stands before the national anthem. He was even left to be announced last in the starting lineup (his first start since the third game of the season). Unfortunately, with just over a minute left before tipoff, word of the trade finally got to the Cavs bench, and Waiters, (along with Amundson and Kirk) was unceremoniously whisked off the court and back to the locker room.

It was sadly a weirdly surreal ending for Saint Weirdo in a Cavs uniform… but his time had run it’s course. After all, there was only so much of these kinds of antics that the King would tolerate…

https://vine.co/v/OHDjYbBiO9q

In the end, we now have the benefit of hindsight to know how these trades panned out. David Griffin didn’t though. He knew that the future success of this team relied heavily on the prudence of the moves he was required to make. Sure, he could have held back and waited to pull the trigger closer to the trade deadline, but he could sense the team was on the verge of slipping away… and he wasn’t going to go down without taking a few swings.

Looking back at this pivotal moment in recent Cavalier history, it’s hard to imagine what path this team might have gone down if not for these moves. Griff turned a somewhat disappointing and often churlish lottery pick, some spare parts and a couple of protected first round draft picks into everything this team needed to compete for a Championship over the last two seasons. Even though Mozzy is gone, for at least one season, he was the rim protector the Cavs so desperately needed. Shump is still young and under contract, and has shown he is one of the premier perimeter defenders in the league. And Swish, well… he’s proven to not only be a model citizen, but also a key piece of a Championship team.

In some ways, this Moment seems to be ranked a bit low on this list… if only because without it, so many of the Moments to come would not have been possible.

All hail the Almighty Griff!