Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
Eh, I wouldn't say masterful. Clarkson's contract is bad and on the books for two more seasons after this. Hill is not even close to what he was in his prime, defensively this season he ranks marginally better than Isaiah. Yes we can expect him to up the effort level, but he's a mild upgrade and his shooting stats are skewed by low volume. Hood is decent, but his injury history/soft reputation doesn't bode well for playoff basketball. And if it is Perkins who ends up filling the buyout spot, that's a nothing add. They also have no rim protection, and are set up to get destroyed on the glass. If they draw the Pistons in round one, they could easily lose that series watching Drummond average 10 offensive boards a game (and something stupid like 25 total).
The Cavs are better than they were yesterday, but they've been playing .400 basketball the past two months. It doesn't take much to improve. They're still banking on LeBron going mental and having the greatest postseason ever....and even then, the Celtics and Raptors are much deeper and have actual teams together. Oh and it doesn't change Lue being a terrible coach either. Frankly if they fire him and hire Fizdale, then they're a lot more intriguing than anything these trades did.
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To me the mastery is the complete about face when they realized the game was up. They did their usual fill the team with vets looking for a championship early this year. It clearly wasn't working and they jettison them all. Thomas the malconent also down the road.
Yet they didn't totally give up the chance as they know Lebron has taken their team to the Finals before with a nothing team. They still have Love and they have made themselves better. Unlike the Raptors pretend stars Lebron takes over the game on both ends. Defensively and rebounding he can just own if he wants to and, of course, offensively he is unstoppable. Any team playing them will be up against the refs as well. I'ts not like he hasn't done this before and taken a so so team to the Finals.
But even moreso is the astute planning for the future. They clean house and bring in some decent placeholders. Without giving up the Brooklyn pick. They can readily transition to the rebuild. They will deal Love for a good return and away they go. Thats pretty slick and takes a pretty honest admission that hey maybe we can't win it this year. But let's cobble together the best we can and see if Lebron can do it again. Meanwhile they get a jumpstart on the rebuild. That's very solid management.