After Whatever Happened
2012-03-15
Here we are: clothed in soot; scavenging for water; locating the injured by following, like hounds, the sonic trails of muted wails for help. Somewhere a few thousand feet in the distance, embers catch a ruptured fuel line. An orange shape blooms like a rapidly inflating balloon, and we feel heat on the tips of our noses. Those who have perished will not be attributed names. They are part of this new wasteland, some literally fused to it—their skin has melted and coagulated with pavement, steel, and brick. The history of this day will be related in shrieks and gravelly whispers.
Or not exactly. The Cavs traded their backup point guard for a draft pick, the opportunity to move up in next year’s draft, and a couple of mediocre white guys, one of whom has a bloated contract that expires in fourteen months. It’s a half-move, informed by prudence. I think those wondering if the Cavaliers front office thought the team could mount a legitimate playoff run have their answer: no pieces were added and an important rotation player was moved. Those looking for the team to be sold for parts are only partially satisfied. Cavs fans will know more of the front office’s intentions if and when an Antawn Jamison buyout arrives, but as constituted, this team is likely to finish somewhere around tenth in the Eastern Conference.
I like the trade itself; it’s Prestian in its ethos: ship out what you don’t need, take on money in the short-term to improve your position in the draft, and if you finish with a worse record in the process, so be it. A lot of experts are calling this a coup for the Lakers, but I think a lot of experts haven’t seen Ramon Sessions play much basketball. He’s a good backup and a subpar starter, certainly better than Steve Blake or Derek Fisher, but the gap between him and Kyle Lowry is lake-sized. He can score, sometimes in bunches, and he’ll have the odd game where he racks up double-digit assists. He’s ball-dominant, totally capable of having a five-turnover nightmare of a game, and asking him to check a talented guard is like putting duct tape over the mouth of a geyser. I think he’ll be fine in LA, and they’ll be happy to have unburdened themselves from Luke Walton’s albatross-ish contract, but getting a first-rounder and moving up some eight spots in next year’s draft is more valuable to the Cavs than any contribution Sessions would have made over the coming years. (If he even elected to stay in Cleveland, for that matter.)
After one and a half seasons, I’m beginning to get a feel for Chris Grant’s front office philosophy. I think a very specific concept of value is often in the forefront of his mind. We see this more in the moves he didn’t make than the ones he did. There’s no way teams haven’t been inquiring about Anderson Varejao for the past month. Until his injury (which will be healed soon), he was playing the best basketball of his life; he’s a good enough player to turn a fringe contender into a threat, and a threat into a champion. But all the teams that would want Varejao—the Heat, Clippers, Lakers, etc.—don’t have assets of sufficient value. Varejao’s value is probably something like a pick in the mid-teens, and the Cavalier front office can’t stomach trading him for a selection ten spots higher. Nevermind that he’s 29, nevermind that trading him would cause the team to lose more games, and in its own way, produce a sort of value by improving the Cavaliers’ lottery odds. Anderson Varejao is a good player, and he’s going to stay a Cav unless another team offers to send back some legitimate assets.
Following this reasoning, I don’t think Chris Grant and company will make the decision to buyout Antawn Jamison. (Though we will soon find out, obviously.) Unless there were absolutely no offers for ‘Tawn that didn’t involve taking back an egregious contract, they must have had the opportunity in the past couple of weeks to trade him for something. So why would they pay him to do nothing? It seems antithetical to everything else Grant has done in his short tenure as GM. And that’s without taking into account the whole “Dan Gilbert might be terrified that Jamison would sign with the Heat” problem.
So here we are: somewhere between no man’s land and oblivion; outside of the playoff hunt, but not Bobcat-like. I think this is where Chris Grant believes the Cavaliers should be almost one year removed from one of the worst seasons in franchise history. He’s not pressing down the plunger on a detonator or harboring delusions of a first-round playoff upset. Apart from a fanbase divided by virulent theism and atheism, he leans agnostic. And so here we are, here are we because of him.
Don (with-malice),
Cavs fans positive reaction to the trade has almost nothing to do with Sessions as a player. I don’t think you’ll find many of us that wouldn’t agree that “he’ll be just fine”.
He was probably leaving Cleveland in 25 games. With Walton, the Cavs are still $25 million under next year’s likely salary cap. There’s not a downside for Cleveland. That’s really all there is to say about it. Best of luck to Ramon for the rest of his career.
Tom, KI is going to play 35 minutes next year. Why would we sign an expensive PG (which is what Sessions will be on the free market) to play 12-13 minutes a game. It makes no sense. The quick ascendance of KI made Sessions departure this offseason a CERTAINTY. And, again, to the larger group, Walton’s deal ends NEXT YEAR. We lose cap flexibility for exactly ONE offseason, an offseason in which the draft will be the clear focus of our talent acquisition, not free agency. After that Walton is an ASSET as an expiring contract. While I agree there… Read more »
Well, Sessions isn’t exactly a great fit in LA. But regardless, there’s just too much hyperbole all around. It was a pretty nice deal for a guy who was probably leaving – this is the sort of trade that should get 100 words in an AP writeup and get forgotten about. Maybe we could have gotten more, but if you’re of the opinion that Sessions was going to leave (Which, clearly, Chris Grant was,) you probably should have moved him for whatever you can get. Not every trade has to be an A+. This trade, even if it doesn’t yield… Read more »
Sigh… you Cavs fans make me laugh. Only an eternal optimist could glean good things from what LA did to Cleveland in that trade.
Sessions may not be Chris Paul, but he will be playing with perhaps the best line-up he’s had in his career. And the impact he will have by being that much better than Fish/Blake will be substantial.
He’ll be just fine. LA’ll be just fine.
Tom Pestak? Kudos for your realism.
Why all the ranting against Mallory?
It’s no fun if everyone agrees on everything all the time. A lot of the enjoyment in re-building fandom is debating all of these decisions.
To be fair, a list of any teams non-lotto picks over the past 20 years is going to look like garbage and that includes the Spurs. Remember this includes all the 2nd rounders which isn’t what we’re talking about here.
A list of all the picks taken in mid-20s would be more worthwhile.
Tom. I hear you. But I do know we got something for what would have been nothing. I can’t see that there’s a heck of a lot for anyone to argue with.
@ Tom
That list shows the Cavs organization, not Chris Grant. Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Also, you don’t think Daniel Gibson was a success for a second round pick?
Mallory also said things like we could have had Sessions for years to come, when there is NO WAY in hell he would re-sign here to be a back-up and make less money. Or that late round draft picks are worthless. Or when he bicthed about the fact that we didn’t get any expiring contracts to flip next year, even though that’s exactly what Luke Walton is. Or that we should have received the other pick they sent to Houston because it was somehow a better pick, despite the fact that it is Top-20 protected and therefore NOT a better… Read more »
Alex – here’s an unscientific study of how the Cavs have drafted (non lotto picks) in the last 20 years:
Skyenga
Danny Green
JJ Hickson
Shannon Brown
Boobie Gibson
Ejike Ugboadja
Jason Kapono
Carlos Boozer (YES!)
Brendan Haywood
Jeff Trepagnier
Trajon Langdon
A.J. Bramlett
Ryan Stack
Brevin Knight
Cedric Henderson
Z (WOO!)
Reggie Geary
Bob Sura
Donyell Marshall
Gary Collier
Chris Mills
Jimmy Oliver
Stefano Rusconi
John Morton
Chucky Brown
Chris UK – there’s hyperbole everywhere. People I respect A TON are calling Chris Grant a “trade deadline ninja” and “jedi knight Chris Grant”. Some of the natl writers I respect a ton are saying the Cavs got completely owned by the Lakers. The reality is we don’t know if Sessions would have signed here, we don’t know if Sessions is the piece LA needs to make a title run, we don’t know if this draft class is any good, and we don’t know if the #25ish pick will yield anything good. So, opinions should be able to span quite… Read more »
Tom, I think it’s kind of dumb to say that just because we’re the Cavs, our draft pick at #25 is automatically going to fail. Oh yes, because Z was a total flop and Boozer is already out of the league! Earlier I posted a very unscientific study from the 07-09 drafts, and about half of the players drafted between #20 and #30 were good enough that we would want them on our team. So no, it’s not a given that we grab a good player, but I’m thrilled we get a 50/50 shot at a decent player when all… Read more »
Tom. I appreciate Mallory is on the team but come on. One decent comment in 20 crazy ones is hardly a great percentage. I like the guys enthusiasm but he possibly needs to chill the hyperbole a tad.
I agree that when all the smoke has cleared the Cavs might well not have received equal value for Sessions. The trade was not so much about getting equal value as getting something at all. Sessions was destined to be a backup her so ultimately the Cavs traded from an area of strength to hopefully add to an area of need. I am thinking that there will be several developmental bigs available around the acquired pick’s final spot in the draft. If the Cavs can get the best out of several players that should be available they will upgrade a… Read more »
Jason – I went and read all of Mallory’s comments from yesterday. He says things like: ************”My final word on this trade -I totally understand why some are very happy about this – the chance to grab any decent player in the draft is an exciting proposition – we might find a great player there.I still stand by my dislike of this trade for a few reasons – I think we could’ve gotten more, especially given the amount of salary we took on, and, if the pick doesn’t pan out, we received nothing in return for someone who probably could’ve… Read more »
I like the Sessions trade. They didn’t absorb a huge “albatross” contract, like some are saying. Walton is only making around 2m per year than Sessions would have if he had exercised his player option. Grant realizes this team won’t be a serious contender in the two seasons, so he gave up a little cap flexibility (around 2m worth) to add an extra first rounder, and the abilty to move up on another one. As noted, the ability to swap picks in two years between the Lakers and Heat might pay HUGE dividends. So basicaly, Grant downgraded the short term… Read more »
I really hope Mallory Factor reads this article, since he seems to be utterly clueless both about this trade, and NBA basketball in general.
@Pete
I’d like to see the Cavs pick up Oden. It seems like a low risk move. I doubt he has the potential he once had, but even that could be an upgrade. If he somehow managed to get healthy enough to play, I’m sure he’d be playing limited minutes. If he doesn’t, nothing lost. A few millions dollars, I suppose. Not that I want Dan Gilbert to waste his money. But he certainly doesn’t seem to mind spending it to improve the team.
Colin, if we buy Jamison out, we are essentially paying him to stop scoring points. Without his numbers, I’d say the cavs win at most two more games this year. This would put us around the 5 or 6 lottery spot. Pay him not to play.
@GOCavs: Totally agree. I am having fantasies of the Lakers winning it all this year, Kobe retiring, the Lakers fall out of the playoffs next year in the competitive west, and the Cavs get a lottery pick out of this in 2013.
@Jackson: Thank you so much for finally pointing that out. Kobe and Gasol are ancient and Bynum’ health is always a question mark. A major digression next year is not out of the question.
If any place can restart Oden’s career it’s either the Suns or the Cavs. Both have fantastic team physicians and the Cavs have the Cleveland Clinic. I would love to see the Cavs take a flier on him.
Think about it…we wouldn’t really need him to be good for another 2 years anyway. Maybe he can return to form in that time? Even Z managed to get healthy eventually.
Colin, just wanted to let you know that this is probably the best and most accurate post-trade critique I’ve seen. Great job!
Thats a good point dustinello, we really need to be providing the adequate resources to make these picks count. Greg Oden would certainly be worth a flier. He’s 24, not exactly an old man, though his knees are. But if the guy can ever stay on the court, he’s got tremendous upside. I’d love for the cavs to blow a good chunk of cap on signing him to a 1 year deal and bringing him back home to OHIO to see what he’s got. If it doesn’t work out, at least we get cap room back in 2013 to spend… Read more »
Thats a good point dustinello, we really need to be providing the adequate resources to make these picks count. Greg Oden would certainly be worth a flier. He’s 24, not exactly an old man, though his knees are. But if the guy can ever stay on the court, he’s got tremendous upside. I’d love for the cavs to blow a good chunk of cap on signing him to a 1 year deal and bringing him back home to OHIO to see what he’s got. If it doesn’t work out, at least we get cap room back in 2013 to spend… Read more »
I’m a huge fan of Grant’s asset collecting skills. However, I’m concerned that the Cavs don’t have enough college scouting personnel to take advantage of the ridiculous amount of picks they’ve acquired. I mean, they must be working these poor guys to death trying to get enough intel to make all those selections.
Let’s be honest, if we are naming the last two years in C town the Skyenga era than we have a lot bigger problems than we are admitting.
I would just like to add that the specter of Greg Oden is fantastic, but 100% off the current trajectory of the club
Why we didn’t trade Antawn Jamison: it’s hard to trade a guy who makes 15 million without taking back long term contracts.
Didn’t B Scott say nice things about newly-waived Armon Johnson?
And let me echo whoever suggested we pick up Greg Oden!
p.s. so… why didn’t we try to get something for Antwan Jamison?
I will be interested to see what happens to the Cavs now. Ramon really anchored the second unit. Someone has to be pulled off the waiver wire to either play backup 2 or backup 1. And with Boobie and APs injury history, two guys would not be a bad idea. Though hey, we have Kapono to play backup 2 guard… OY.
there’s also no protection on the 2013 swap, so if the Lakers pull a Boston next year, we might be sitting on draft pick 10-15 spots lower than what we had with the Miami pick
Given that we are unlikely to be making any splashes in free agency this offseason, I see literally no cost to taking on Walton. By this time next year he will be an expiring contract, which is an asset.
Given that, I see the trade simply as Session for the pick. With Session likely to leave this year, that seems like a very smart move. I don’t understand how anyone can see this as bad in any way. It’s certainly not an amazing trade, but I am surprised so many fans see it as bad.
Thanks, Pete. I didn’t realize the Dallas pick was protected. Color me satisfied.
@James The Dallas pick is also top-20 protected, as I recall. And next year we get to swap the Heat 1st rounder with the Lakers’ pick if it is higher (and has good amount of potential to be) as sort of a consolation.
also, the skyenga era in cleveland is officially over…
Just realized that Jordan Hill will be under control at least through next season while Ramon will not, so I guess that could explain it, but he’s still a pretty underwhelming player.
I’m happy Cleveland made the deal, but I’m a little baffled by the fact that Houston managed to get LA’s pick from Dallas, while Cleveland got stuck with LA’s pick. The LA pick is almost certain to be lower in the draft (if the season ended today, the LA pick would be 25th and the Dallas pick would be 18th). Ramon Sessions is a better player than Jordan Hill, and we took on more salary. I guess the opportunity to swap 2013 picks makes up for this a bit, but it still seems like we should have gotten the higher… Read more »