What’s Next For The Cleveland Cavaliers?

What’s Next For The Cleveland Cavaliers?

the Cleveland Cavaliers just lost in round two to the Indiana Pacers Most of this was due to significant injuries to their core four players but not an insignificant amount of it was their biggest weaknesses being exposed As much as I would love to chalk this series up purely to bad luck because I do love this Cavs team there’s still a pretty significant amount of things that I think Cleveland needs to consider changing Despite this disappointment I think this team still has a championship level ceiling And with the Boston Celtics all but certainly being out of the equation next year the East is short of a dominant team to stand in their way Unless someone else props up it’s possible But let’s talk about what this Cavs team can do to seize the opportunity and possibly make it to the Promised Land next year or the coming years Hello everybody Welcome to Rusty Bucket Subscribe to the channel or drop a like on this video and check us out over on Spotify and Apple Podcast if you would like to enjoy this as an audio only experience I am going to be recording this video ahead of game five Donovan Mitchell is going to be playing despite getting injured at the end of game four So there’s a decent chance they will end up winning this game I don’t think they’re going to go down without a fight despite the 3-1 lead especially with everybody at least technically playing Healthy is probably the wrong expression but they are all playing If this comes out after game six or especially after a game seven there is a chance that that those games will change and contextualize some of the commentary and make it a little bit different But but for the most part I’m confident everything that I’m going to say here will remain relevant regardless of the next one to three games That said it’s possible that some could flip on itself real quick But first things first I do want to say this The Cavs don’t have to do anything major at all There’s going to be some wild in the thumbnail and I’m going to talk about some wild ideas but probably the best course of action is to stand pat I’m going to be presenting a safe route as well as two alternative extreme routes where Darius Garland ends up getting moved I don’t think they need to do that but I do think they need to consider it depending on what could be available As I was watching this team through games one and four I could not help but feel very bad about Cleveland’s defensive ceiling due to their perimeter defense Similar to how the Utah Jazz with the Rudy Goar era were pretty much entirely a good defense just because of him the Cleveland Cavaliers are kind of entirely a good defense because of Evan Mobley and Jared Allen and they can’t do this completely on their own especially against a very wellspaced and paced team in the Indiana Pacers Mobley and Allen should be the foundational pieces of a dominant defense not just a pretty good one and one that hasn’t even been pretty good in this series really DeAndre Hunter is a solid defender though he is a little bit underwhelming given his physical profile He is a score for he is a score first player That is his mentality So he’s not as great defensively as I would like him to be It would be great to just say insert him into the starting lineup and the issues are solved but that is not the case Isaac Aoro is a great defender but unfortunately he cannot shoot He’s one of those regular season decent percentage shooters who is going to get wide left wide open in the playoffs And also he’s not like such a great defender that it can often make up for that like it’s really hard to play him because his defense is not ultimately as impactful as you need it to be to make up for his offensive weaknesses And Max Streus and Dean Wade both do a solid job on defense but not enough to be like great and really even good defenders I guess good is fine but it’s relative Not someone that the offense is worried about Donovan Mitchell is not a huge liability on defense despite his height because of his strength and length He plays way bigger than his height actually is but he’s still not a good defender And Darius Garland I think tries his best most of the time It’s not a matter of a deficit and effort Rather I just feel like his feel for the defensive end is there Like normally a smaller guard you can take advantage of that by being in passing lanes and picking the ball picking the pocket all the time but he just doesn’t really do that stuff He’s just too small And effort is not going to be enough if you’re going to be that small because the average NBA player weighs 25 more pounds than Darius Garland And the average NBA player is 5 in taller than Darius Garland And that’s obviously taking into account other guards when you have a wing switched onto him That’s entirely up to the offense if they’re going to score right there because your defense is going to have to collapse and leave somebody open And if you leave somebody good open which happens a lot versus the Pacers you’re going to get cooked So I think they either need to find a really good defensive wing who can also reliably hit his threes to be inserted into the starting lineup or they need to trade Darius Garland for a great two-way player someone who can be an all-star on offense and a great defensive player someone who will also more or less fit what the Cavs are going to try and do However of course it is going to be drastically different because you’re not going to find a player who’s that similar to Garland As I said they should probably play it safe It’s the more reasonable option Let’s look at what they actually have to move So assets wise Isaac Aoro still has some value He’s going to be 25 going into next year So you know if a team’s looking for a kind of you know give us a good 3 and D mostly D player who’s young and for not much you know we would be they’re there’s going to be teams interested in that Jaylen Tyson is a young guy I don’t know a whole lot about him but I believe he was a late first round pick and he is solid so he’s worth something Dean Wade has also been pretty good Pretty good NBA player pretty solid consistent NBA player so that helps And Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill are both free agents However they unfortunately cannot be signed and traded unless they get under the first apron which is possible but we’ll talk about that right now because as for the money situation they are over the second apron which means no mid-level exception no trade exceptions no sign in trades but there is a decent chance that they should be able to move a couple of contracts to clear some salary because between Tyson Aoro and Wade that would get them under the second apron And that puts them at about $20 million and I think they’re about 12 to 14 over it right now So I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a salary dump move from them And the main point what matters here what is important to understand is they have to be precise with the money in these trades unless they’re also getting under the apron And in free agency they’re only going to have access to the below like the minimum guys That’s it So they would have basic they basically have no buying power when they are not including anyone in the core 4 However Aoro’s contract couple of solid players who are cheap There’s enough here to get a good player from a team that does not really have much purpose for them So for the safe route obviously no matter what you’re going to resign Tai Jerome you could possibly consider a sign and trade if you get under the apron but I think you keep him here because after these playoffs I think his value is going to be reduced a ton and you’re going to be able to pay him a lot less than you were going to if he was going to ball out in the playoffs So that’s the silver lining is you’re probably going to get him on a good deal I do think it’s also like regardless of if they go on a safe path or not Cleveland should overhaul their bench unit at least a little bit I don’t think guys like Sam Merrill Aoro or Dean Wade really need to stay I think you should find guys who are great at three and D instead of with Merrill you have someone who’s great at shooting With Auro you have someone who’s great at defense and Dean Wade you have someone who’s solid at both Both It would be nice if you either got more guys who were solid at both or like at least one dude off of the bench who’s really good at both They should also consider trading Max Struce because he does make 16 million a year which I think is just about the most amount I’d be okay paying him But his contract could end up being a useful asset I think ideally he would be your eighth man with DeAndre Hunter and Darius Garland Yeah that’s 67 Yeah 678 that’s how that counts So yeah with those not Darius Garland Ty Jerome with Ty Jerome my camera went dead Something I also want to keep in mind when I say that they should upgrade their starting three is that DeAndre Hunter will likely be playing major minutes and regularly being their closing option at the three So while it will be a starting caliber guy it would be a 25 to minute 25 to 30 minute per game guy Now as for some middle of the pack options guys you can get without moving any of your core four Well if OKC flames out in the playoffs especially if Lou Dort shoots as poorly as he did in game four going forward I could see him possibly being available Oiadbaji might be a risky option because he can be hot and cold but he shot 40% from three this year and he’s a pretty damn good defender Also a good finisher at 67% at the basket this year Moses Moody I have a feeling will be on the trade block after after this year’s playoff So he’s a good 3ND guy even though he was not very good to close the series versus Minnesota Royce O’Neal is an option I really like because he could be pretty damn cheap for how good he is because he’s 40% from outside on six attempts per game and he’s a good defender I would like someone a little bit taller but I think he can live with that And I also think Houston will likely be moving one of either Tari Een Dylan Brooks or Jabari Smith this off season possibly in bigger moves so they can’t get in on that But if you could get any of those three that would be awesome Especially Jabari The idea of getting him to play small forward at 6’10 while being a very good three-point shooter I think it would just add to the dominance of the defense Having all that length out there would be really cool but on top of that you need to get some cheap free agents As I mentioned you would not have a mid-level exception if you stay under the second apron So or stay over the second apron So Larry Natch Jr Thomas Bryant and Jericho Sims are some options for some backup fives I don’t think Clint Capella is gonna be a minimum guy but possibly if he is he’s someone you could also look at I really do think they need to get a good backup center because as of right now it’s Tristan Thompson and that’s just unacceptable So one way or the other they definitely need to get a backup five upgrade I think Gary Trent Jr AJ Green Tim Hardaway Jr these are guys that I’m going to mention as options for three-point shooters over and over again as are Nick Batum Torian Prince and even Tory Craig But Tory Craig kind of stinks so I wouldn’t go that way In the conservative laid-back not doing anything crazy approach I’m going to say that they trade Dean Wade plus Jaylen Tyson for some minor draft compensation and they don’t pick up Craig Porter Jr or Chuma Okkeek’s contract which gets them under the second apron So the starting lineup would now be Darius Garland Donovan Mitchell Royce O’Neal Evan Mobley and Jared Allen But now you have to consider that under this apron you do have a $5.2 $.2 million mid-level exception So some candidates for that Trey Jones Chris Paul or Dennis Schroeder And then maybe Nquille Alexander Walker I feel like Dennis and Naw both set their value too high at this point to only get 5.2 but Nquille has shot poorly in the playoffs thus far and his minutes have been reduced as time has gone on Uh but Dennis Schroeder also just did a huge playoffs and I think the Pistons are going to want to really bring him back So I don’t know how realistic that option is but just to be optimistic let’s say that they get Dennis Schroeder because I think that is your best option because it would mean a lot to have such a good defensive guard available when well they don’t really have a very good defensive guard otherwise That would mean that their bench unit is Dennis Schroeder Ty Jerome Max Strus and let’s say Larry Nance Jr and Torian Prince That is pretty exceptional for only moving Aoro Wade and Jaylen Tyson Royce is a good enough actually very good three-point shooter So you can play him unlike Isaac Aoro and Dennis Schroeder his his defense off of the bench man would that help them when they’re getting killed on the perimeter I think something like this or I mean even if it’s Moses Moody Chris Paul and Thomas Bryant instead like either way this is a great light retool for a contending team But now we’re going to get a little cuckoo crazy with it All right this is nothing that I’m saying needs to happen but it’s stuff that is on the table worthy of consideration I think Again I’m I’m riding with this core 4 That makes the most sense But would you consider if they’re feeling like if the Cavs decided that Garland and Mitchell just won’t work on the largest stage what could you get for Garland Losing him means that you’re going to be taking a hit in the shooting department and especially the playmaking department Something I’ve been saying this whole series is that Garland kind of sets the table for the team in general Even though there’s not a massive disparity between his assist numbers and the next couple of guys in line in terms of getting the offense in its flow and spreading the playmaking energy Darius Garland brings that to the table and you really saw how stagnant their offense gets without him So you do risk a lot in the flow of the offense which is what made Cleveland so good So there’s a lot of risk there You’re losing ball handling passing playmaking offball movement However his defense has been a big issue for them multiple times and trading him could make sense with the right package I have two ideas One of which is actually insane The other not so much but you’re still trading an all-star So it’s a little bit insane after having that good of a season and getting so many injuries So the first idea I had was CJ McCollum and Herb Jones from the Pacers From the Pacers From the Pelicans I can’t read Garland and Dean Wade combined make $46 million in salary And CJ and Herb Jones combined make $44.6 million in salary And you throw in one or two of their $2 million guys if necessary to get that to 46.6 Uh either way I think you can make the money match again if you get under that apron With CJ you will be keeping the high volume high percentage three-point shooting I actually think their numbers are pretty comparable in that department and you’re still going to get a 20 point per game level score And his playmaking chops are good He’s no Darius Garland by any means but he’s not a slouch in the defense department And and he’s not a slouch in the playmaking department However he is going to be 34 going into next season which is significantly out of line with the timeline of the rest of this team The most interesting thing to me here though what matters the most to me is Herb Jones and what his defense would be like paired with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen I think you’d take a hit a pretty significant one to your all-time great offense but I think you’d be improved enough on defense to be a borderline all-time great offense and an all-time great defense Herb is the best wing defender in the NBA more or less as far as I’m concerned His last full healthy season he was the only AllNBA or alldefensive first team player who was not a big man That being the first year where it was not defined by positions but pure ability and he is the only wing who got all defensive first team He’s also a solid shooter but he’s also got the Auroro thing of low volume high percentage so I can’t feel as sure about it Although Aoro has never shot as well as Herb did last season He’s not a stamped and sealed shooter as I like to say but he also is such a good defender that he can make up for it a lot more than Aoro can I also think that you could get a first round pick out of this deal and use that for something else because New Orleans has access to a treasure trove of first round picks And if the Pelicans want to build around Zion Darius Garland would be the perfect pick and roll partner for him Perfect guy to find him on the fast break Of course there’s rumors that the Pelicans want to get off of Zion but Zion was also present for their draft lottery So I don’t know what the hell that situation is but if they want to go in the buildar around Zion direction Darius Garland in exchange for CJ Herb and a first round pick is a pretty big home run So at that point your starting lineup would be CJ McCollum Donovan Mitchell Herb Jones Evan Mobley and Jared Allen And again a bench with Dennis Schroeder Ty Jerome Max Larry Nance and T and Torian Prince That’s pretty good but you do run the risk of CJ falling off and his timeline’s just not going to be the same Next season Mitchell’s going to be 29 Garland is going to be 26 Allen 28 and Moy 24 This core has a good five plus years together in that group of four players Can’t say the same if it was CJ I would say at that point it’s a core three and waiting for CJ to get too old But the last crazy idea I had and I do mean crazy I want you to understand how crazy this is What about a Jaylen Brown Darius Garland swap Hear me out Garland Aoro and Tyson combined make 53 a.5 million and Jaylen Brown makes 53 million next year There are a lot of possibilities going into the summer for Boston Jaylen Brown had a down year shooting the ball Point guard Jason Tatum’s weaknesses were exposed versus New York and there’s a lot of chatter about them needing to get an actual point guard And they’re also about to have a weird down year anyways so I could see some pretty seismic shifts happening If you wanted to get Boston a playmaking point guard who is a much much much better three-point shooter than Jaylen Brown which is important for how Boston’s offense works and you still get a 20 plus point per game score well Darius Garland’s going to be as great of an option as there is available I don’t think you’re going to get anyone better than DG from trading Jaylen Brown Their defense could take a hit I mean it would take a hit It would definitely take a hit but it would make their three-poin heavy/decisionmaking predicated offense all the deadlier And for Cleveland they’d again have a 20 plus point per game score Jaylen Brown also took a big leap as a playmaker this year Obviously he is definitely no Darius Garland in that department but I do think Cleveland’s offense as long as they hold to their principles strong enough can work with Mitchell as the point guard and Jaylen as the two And they would also be so so so much better on the defensive end of the floor They’re also or at the very least they were the biggest threat to each other in this conference So that does make them trading their star players for each other kind of weird Then again the Bucks were cool with Drew going to the Celtics I’m pretty sure that ended up being a three-team deal and not just two separate trades But maybe they actually had nothing to do with that Either way rivals tend not to make big trades with each other but let me read off the final three lineups that I am proposing Donovan Mitchell Jaylen Brown Max Struce Evan Mobley and Jared Allen as your starting lineup And then let’s say Trey Jones this time to get an extra playmaking boost rather than Dennis’s defense And then Ty Jerome Dean Wade and let’s say Gary Trent Jr and Larry Nanch Larry Nance Jr Then there is CJ McCullum Donovan Mitchell Herb Jones Evan Mobley and Jared Allen Let’s say it’s Chris Paul this time just for the sake of mixing it up Ty Jerome Max Drew Larry Nance Jr and Torian Prince off of the bench And finally what I would do for real because I just think playing safe is the right move Darius Garland Donovan Mitchell Royce O’Neal Evan Mobley and Jared Allen with Dennis Schroeder Ty Jerome Max Strus and let’s say Larry Nance Jr and Torian Prince off of the bench Let me know what you think of my proposals and what you would do if you were the Cleveland Cavaliers this off seasonason But that is it Shout out to Rudy for editing this video and goodbye

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0:00 Intro
1:37 The Problem
5:15 Safe Option
12:23 The Cuckoo
16:47 The Cuckoo 2

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