5 Potential Trade Targets Cleveland Cavaliers Could Chase During 2015 Offseason
The Cleveland Cavaliers were two wins short of a title last year, so you could make the argument that bringing back the same personnel and hoping for better luck on the injury front is a sound strategy.
But when you've got LeBron James on the roster and have mortgaged piece after piece of your future to win in the short term, sound strategies aren't enough. Which is why, according to reports from ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst, the Cavs are in the trade market.
"The one thing that we did see in Golden State, and it was something that was very difficult for us to deal with, is they have an incredibly versatile team of multiple facilitating playmakers," Cavs general manager David Griffin told reporters, per Windhorst. "That's something we're going to continue to work upon."
Cleveland isn't financially flexible. According to Zach Lowe of Grantland, bringing back the current roster at market rates could result in a combined salary and luxury-tax bill of over $200 million next year—a league record.
Realistically, the Cavaliers have two commodities that might draw interest. The first is their No. 24 pick in this year's draft, which they can't move until after the draft because they already surrendered their 2016 first-rounder to get Kevin Love last summer.
The second is 35-year-old center Brendan Haywood, whose $10.5 million salary is not guaranteed for next season.
It'll be tough to land a playmaking guard with those two assets as bait, so we should probably rule out bigger names like Wilson Chandler, Nicolas Batum, Danilo Galinari and Jeff Green.
What's that leave, aside from diminished expectations? Let's find out.
Financial Housekeeping
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One thing to note here on the finances, and it'll be good to keep this in mind for every player we list: Haywood's current salary, as far as ESPN's Trade Machine is concerned, is only his 2014-15 rate of $2.2 million, which makes matching money under the collective bargaining agreement an in-your-head exercise.
Hawyood is a $10.5 million player for trade purposes now, though, because that's the hypothetical cap hit his salary would represent going forward.
In other words, we're going to fudge the details here. Teams taking on Haywood and the 24th pick in a hypothetical deal will have to include one decent player and some filler to make the money match up under the collective bargaining agreement's requirements.
For the Cavs, a tax-paying team, incoming aggregate salaries can't exceed 125 percent plus $100,000. That's the case for any potential trade partner in tax territory as well.
Potential trade partners with cap room like, say, the New York Knicks, can accept incoming aggregate salaries within 150 percent plus $100,000 of the outgoing money.
Boring, right?
Anyway, just know that the specifics of any deal for Haywood and a pick will be complicated. What follows is a basic, feasible list of primary targets that could (with the right secondary maneuverings) work under the rules of the CBA.
Greivis Vasquez, PG, Toronto Raptors
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Greivis Vasquez would give the Cavaliers the playmaking they desire, and you could argue he'd rank second on the roster behind James as a pure passer if he were to come aboard via trade. The nine assists per game he averaged as a full-time starter with the New Orleans Hornets in 2012-13 attest to that.
Cleveland won't get a dangerous threat in the lane in Vasquez, and he's not a guy who breaks down the defense effectively. But Vasquez has converted over 37 percent of his three-point tries in the past two seasons, which makes him a big enough threat to draw attention.
With his vision and pass-first approach, Vasquez should have no problem keeping the offense humming when defenders run out at him—whether that means a quick step into the lane or an intelligent ball rotation to the open man.
The Toronto Raptors are in a state of flux after taking a big step backward last season. Vasquez is hardly an integral piece of their future plans as long as Kyle Lowry is the main force at point guard, so perhaps general manager Masai Ujiri would welcome a $10 million savings and a first-round talent in return.
Vasquez is due to make $6.6 million next year, so the Raptors would need to add some filler to make a deal work.
Jarrett Jack, PG, Brooklyn Nets
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You know who needs picks and cap relief worse than just about anybody?
That's right, the Brooklyn Nets.
Depending on how their various player options and nonguaranteed deals shake out this summer, the Nets will have somewhere between $59 and $86 million committed to next year's salaries. That second number, obviously, is well beyond the cap and luxury-tax threshold.
Shaving $10 million off that figure by waiving Haywood would help, as would getting rid of Jarrett Jack's $6.3 million salary.
Jack can't rejoin the Cavaliers until after July 1 because of the rule against reacquiring players traded away within a year. Remember, Jack spent the entire 2013-14 season in Cleveland before being dealt to the Nets.
He'll turn 32 in October, and he is more of a shoot-first point guard, but Jack is a solid veteran who, if confined to a limited role, brings professionalism and decent production (14.6 player efficiency rating last year, per Basketball-Reference.com) to the table.
As a second-unit leader, where his shot hunting doesn't take away from more talented players in the starting group, Jack has value.
Mario Chalmers, PG, Miami Heat
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This is a suggestion made on behalf of Cavs head coach David Blatt.
James seems to need someone to belittle, yell at and generally marginalize, and as long as he was with the Miami Heat, that someone was Mario Chalmers. Since returning to Cleveland, James has turned to Blatt to fill the void, and that's probably not good for anybody.
Chalmers makes just $4 million per year, so it's possible the Cavs could get a deal done for him without using Haywood. A cheaper end-of-the-bench type and the 24th overall pick might be enough, although the Heat would probably like to get the cap relief Haywood's contract could provide as they juggle the complicated financial issues presented by having so many free agents—Goran Dragic and, potentially, Luol Deng and Dwyane Wade to name three—this summer.
At any rate, Chalmers has championship experience, irrational confidence in his abilities and a history of surviving alongside James. Miscast as a starter in Miami during the Big Three era, he could fit nicely as Kyrie Irving's backup in Cleveland.
We've seen him stripe it from deep (better than 38 percent in each of James' last three years in Miami), and he's a better ball-mover than current Cavs reserve Matthew Dellavedova.
James has already brought Mike Miller and James Jones to Cleveland. Why not another former Heat teammate?
Jose Calderon, PG, New York Knicks
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Langston Galloway's emergence and Jose Calderon's significant decline last year mean the Knicks should be open to moving on from their veteran point guard.
Calderon will make $7.5 million next year, and if the Knicks could lop off that salary and save another $10.5 million by cutting Haywood, their current stash of nearly $27 million in cap room could grow even more.
We know what Calderon is at this stage of his career. He can't stay in front of anybody on the perimeter, and it's hard to use him in any sort of uptempo attack. But he still shot 41.5 percent from deep last season, and he's always been a low-mistake floor leader.
One thing's for sure: Opposing defenses can't leave him alone on the wing like the Warriors did Dellavedova in the Finals.
The age and injury concerns are real, as Brandon Goldner of Blazer's Edge pointed out in making the case for Calderon as Damian Lillard's backup:
"Coming into the league as a 24-year-old rookie in 2005, he is now 33 and coming off an Achilles strain that kept him out the last 25 games of this season, on top of a calf strain that kept him on the bench for the season's first 13. All told, he played fewer games this past season (42) than in any other in his career. His on-court play also suffered: His first step was noticeably slower, he had more trouble navigating screens, and was less willing to drive.
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The Cavs have had success snatching up underperforming Knicks in the past, though, (see J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert) so maybe they should go back to the well.
Jamal Crawford, G, Los Angeles Clippers
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The addition of Lance Stephenson makes Jamal Crawford's low-percentage, ball-dominant offense redundant for the Los Angeles Clippers—especially if both of those players are slated for second-unit duties. And while the Clips' ridiculously thin bench can't really stand the removal of another rotation player, the salary relief and promise of a No. 24 pick could make adding depth easier.
According to Arash Markazi of ESPN.com, the Clippers have been looking to move their backup guard:
"The Clippers are also exploring trade options for Jamal Crawford, according to sources, and one possibility is trading Crawford and C.J. Wilcox, the team’s 2014 first round pick, to the Denver Nuggets for Wilson Chandler. The Clippers inquired about Chandler last season but nothing materialized.
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Obviously, cap relief and a rookie wouldn't provide the immediate help Chandler could. And DeAndre Jordan's $17 million cap hold means there's no way for the Clippers to free up huge money, no matter how they time their transactions (unless they renounce their rights to DJ, which they'd never do because it would cost them the ability to offer him a fifth year on his new deal).
But if L.A. shaved off Crawford's $5.7 million and trimmed another $10.5 by dumping Haywood, it would be much closer to creating actual flexibility. For a team so locked in and capped out right now, that has to be enticing.
As for the Cavs, Crawford's appeal is simple. He creates shots all by himself, and he can handle the ball as a lead guard. Outside of James, Irving and maybe Smith (who may leave via free agency anyway), the Cavaliers don't have players who can do those things.
Griffin said he wanted facilitators, and for all his faults on defense, Crawford makes things happen offensively.
Salary information courtesy of BasketballInsiders.com.
Collective bargaining agreement information courtesy of Larry Coon's CBA FAQ.
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