From Distance: Trade Grade Idiocy

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether some of the folks writing about the NBA have actually watched the NBA. Or to take it a step further, have any idea about how the salary cap or draft capital function.

Following the trade deadline, The Ringer website, soon to be purchased by Spotify, dropped a trade grade column that must have been written by a child with extensive NBA 2K-whatever experience.

Look, I can deal with a lot of bad takes. It isn’t really in my nature to go back and rub it in other people’s faces when they have a take that is terrible. I am fully aware that for every accurate prediction I have had, (Luka’s success, Sexton’s overrated hype), I have had some less than stellar calls, (Walter Edy Tavares’s NBA success, Dame Lillard as an overall minus). I think I have uttered the words “I told you so” approximately three times over my nearly 40 years on planet Earth. It’s not my style.

To be fair, I do have a tendency to tell people how it IS right now, so I don’t need to do it retroactively. I have been known to express my strong opinions as facts. But really only when I have thought about something a great deal. I digress. 

So, it really takes a laughably AWFUL take by a writer or talking head to get me actively annoyed. Some dude at The Ringer succeeded. It was so bad, I’m not going to even link it here so he gets an extra click. It’s on that site and he isn’t a great writer. That should be enough to satisfy the bibliography Gods.

Cleveland Cavaliers

In: Andre Drummond

Out: Brandon Knight, John Henson, 2023 second-round pick (lesser of Golden State’s or Cleveland’s)

Getting nothing at the deadline for a valuable player like Tristan Thompson and his expiring contract is one thing; trading for another expensive center in Andre Drummond, who can decline his player option and hit unrestricted free agency this summer, makes it even more bizarre. Hanging on to Kevin Love, with his injury history, age (32 next season), and $91 million left on the books is inviting a lot of risk, even if there weren’t any enticing offers out there. How a team that should clearly be in “sell mode” ends up losing draft assets at the deadline is hard to fathom. Taking a chance on Drummond accepting his player option and sticking around for a season would be fine for a team close to playoff contention. That’s not Cleveland.

Grade: F

What is this dude babbling about? One can’t execute trades that weren’t there.

On TT:

Tristan Thompson is not an impact addition for any of the teams that had the right combination of contracts to trade for him. There was noise out of D.C. but ultimately the Wiz preferred to continue to play five shooters on their path to the abyss.

The teams that would appreciate TT’s services are more than ready to wait for any potential buyout. Thompson would be a pleasant pickup, but not a definite need for those championship contenders. I didn’t expect TT to be traded at all. I do expect him to be bought out post Drummond trade.

On Kevin:

It has been widely reported around the league that the Cavs think that another team should package a couple decent assets in order to acquire Love, while the other GMs believe Love’s salary, age, and production require the Cavs to toss in the extra-asset. There was no traction around the league for ANY trade.

Love’s mediocre play this season certainly didn’t stoke any potential fires. Altman, Love, and the rest of Cleveland should focus more on turning the rest of the team into a rational combination of guys instead of waiting for a trade. I don’t see it coming this summer either unless Altman finds religion on Collin Sexton and packages him with Love to some confused Sexton loving team.

On Draft Capital:

The lesser of two 2023 second round Picks is hardly a thing. Could it be repackaged at some point to grease another deal? Sure. But the Cavs hardly emptied their treasure chest.

On Andre Frickin Drummond:

It is easy to get seduced into thinking that “the modern NBA” has no place for non-shooting big men. When the Rockets are beating the Lakers with the shortest starting lineup since the early 60s, I understand how children can be confused into thinking the NBA is a wings’ game.

Let’s get this straight. Small ball can work.

Big Ball works better.

It’s not about size, it is about skill-set. When the Rockets traded for Russell Westbrook, they acquired a guard who cannot shoot from the perimeter. Russ might as well be Ben Simmons with a confidence disorder. The Rockets stumbled out of the gate because they went from playing with four guys who could shoot the rock with one rim-runner in Capela, to three guys who can shoot, a rim-runner, and guard aimlessly hanging around the perimeter or crowding the lane in the dunker’s spot.

To be average, a modern NBA offense necessitates three three-point shooters, a rim-runner, and a low-usage ball-mover. To be good, make sure that low-usage ball-mover can actually hit the three too when necessary. To be great, have a point guard who can shoot the three off the bounce and a center that can Pick and Pop AND/OR Roll.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Dallas Mavericks.

Andre Drummond is a good to great basketball player who has never played with a decent point-guard, good stretch-four, and a three and D guy at the same time.

Tobias Harris and Blake Griffin each provided some real professional play at the four next to Andre over the last few seasons, but the Pistons were never able to pair him with a real lead guard.

Reggie Jackson has been either injured or horrendous for 90% of his Pistons’ tenure. Detroit’s playoff loss to Cleveland was hard fought, but that team featured almost zero perimeter shooting and was wracked with ball-stoppers.

Now, I’m not saying that playing with Collin Sexton and Darius Garland is going to make Drummond’s life much easier. What I am saying is that if you surround Drummond with four other guys who can shoot and someone who actually knows how to run a Pick and Roll, the offense will be just fine even in this “modern NBA”.

Drummond doesn’t have to be as effective as Rudy Gobert as a screen-setter and rim-runner to still be a positive offensive player.

Defensively, the Cavs desperately needed back line help to cover for the worst defensive back-court these eyes have ever seen. Again, I think Garland has potential to be a crafty defender while I am totally out on Sexton’s potential to be a viable two-way player. Sexton has Wiggins/Lavine disease. The tools are there while the effort is intermittent, focus terrible.

“What Ben, Sexton busts his tail every play!”

Nope. No, he does not. He is not an inherently lazy player, but he rests on the defensive end every third possession both in mind and body. There is simply no excuse for how many buckets he gives up in transition and/or by getting back-doored. When I analyze game film, I search out the guy who missed his assignment in transition. It is almost always Collin. He is the main problem.

Drummond helps clean up that garbage. He may not be a Gobert level defender, but he isn’t as far off as you might think. He has led the league two of the last three years in defensive efficiency according to basketball-reference. RPM doesn’t like him quite as much, nor does my eye test all the time, but he is absolutely a winning player.

Drummond will instantly be the best defensive big man the Cavs have employed since peak Anderson Varejao and is in the mold of Ben Wallace (for good and bad).

He moves incredibly well laterally, easily staying with all sorts of offensive players. That being said, I hope the Cavs change their defensive philosophy if they are going to start Drummond and Love together. The Cavs haven’t switched as much as a rule this year, but they should do it even less with Drummond as a back-line of defense. The defense should do its best to funnel the offense into him instead of require him to dance with guards on the outside.

So excuse me if I find an F Grade to be one of the worst takes of this NBA season. The Cavs had a chance to rejuvenate Kevin Love’s passion, cover the kids’ defensive mistakes, liberate TT to go to a contender, and turn expiring contracts into a trial period with one of the most productive, albeit old-school, big-men in the league. They took that zero risk chance all for the price of a 2023 second-rounder.

F.

You…might be wrong.