Cavaliers’ general manager Koby Altman waited as long as he could for the team he put together over the summer to come together. When it was evident that wasn’t happening, he blew it apart at the trading deadline.
Altman made four separate deals, sending away six players to acquire four. The Cavaliers are younger and — at least they should be — hungrier than when dawn broke on Feb. 8. Altman reshaped the roster while managing to hold onto the first-round pick belonging to the Brooklyn Nets.
Gone from the Cavaliers is whiny, defense-challenged Isaiah Thomas, classy center/forward Channing Frye, unreliable guard Derrick Rose, fragile guard Iman Shumpert, under-achieving forward Jae Crowder and steady bench player Dwyane Wade.
Added to the roster are guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Larry Nance Jr. — the son of former Cavalier Larry Nance — from the Los Angeles Lakers, point guard George Hill from the Sacramento Kings and guard/forward Rodney Hood from the Utah Jazz.
The math shows the Cavaliers aren’t done. The trade deadline has passed, but they have two roster openings they can fill with veterans whose contracts can be bought out.
Clarkson will come off the bench. He averaged 14.5 points, 3.3 assists and three rebounds a game in 53 games with the Lakers.
Nance also will come off the bench. He is averaging 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds. He was picked 27th overall in the 2015 draft, and former Lakers coach Byron Scott said Nance would be a lottery pick if the 2015 draft were redone.
Hill is shooting 45.3 percent from three-point range. Hood, who will be a restricted free agent in July, is hitting 38.9 percent of his shots from long range.
So the starting lineup will likely have Hill and J.R. Smith at guard, Hood and LeBron James at forward and Tristan Thompson at center. Kevin Love, who is sidelined until late March or early April with a broken hand, would replace Hood when healthy.
Now the mission for coach Tyronn Lue is to acclimate the new players to the Cavs system as quickly as possible. The Cavs play in Atlanta on Feb. 9 (that could be a much depleted crew, depending on how quickly the new players join the team), in Boston on Feb. 11 and in Oklahoma City on Feb. 13. They are off the following eight days for the All-Star break.
Clarkson, Nance and Hood are each 25 years old. Hill is 31. Wade is 36, Frye 34, Thomas and Rose each 29, and Shumpert and Crowder each 27.
The Cavaliers before the trade looked tired and old on defense late in games in part because they were the oldest team in the league. Hill is superior to Thomas defensively. Shumpert has been a non-factor since early in the season.
“Hood, with nearly a 6-foot-9 wingspan, has the length to wreak havoc defensively,” according to a critique last year in deseretnews.com. “For him to reach an elite level, however, he needs to be in tune for 48 minutes.”
Altman deserves credit for not being stubborn. Thomas and Crowder, especially, never seemed to fit in with James and the rest of the Cavaliers. They were the key players acquired from Boston, along with the Nets’ pick, in the trade that sent All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in August.
Thomas played in 15 games for the Cavaliers since returning from his hip injury. There is a chance he will start playing the way he did with the Celtics before the hip injury sidelined him, but so what? The Cavs have been patient with him long enough.
Hill averaged 10.3 points and 2.8 points a game in 43 games with the Kings this season. His 45.3 percentage on three-pointers is a huge upgrade over Thomas’ 25.3 percent shooting.
The additions should be a wake-up call to everybody on the Cavs roster and a notice to the rest of the league: These aren’t the same old Cavaliers anymore.
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