NBA Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Dion Waiters Trade Reeks of Desperation

Fresh Videos

By @blackirishpr

LeBron James

Getty Images

Let’s start off by saying that the desperation coming out of this trade is not on the end of the New York Knicks. Any true basketball fan who listened to Phil Jackson’s words would have known that he not only hated J.R. Smith’s contract, but also was trying to rid the team of Iman Shumpert as far back as last season when he was rumored to be on his way to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

For what it is worth, his plan has never changed: rid the team of bad salaries, dump the players that he does not like for his system, keep the ones that will come off the books at year’s end and tank so that the team can have a chance at Duke’s Jahlil Okafor. That was obvious when Jackson traded away Tyson Chandler, knowing that they were a 54-win organization when he was healthy and a 37-game winner — and now five win team — without him. Now on to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Just 35 games into the season is too soon to claim desperation, but with 16 losses under the belt of the new Big Three there seems to be anxious times in Ohio. This is the type of angst that comes from a team that has rumors of coaching discord and is trying to bring new players together through injuries to Anderson Varejao (torn Achilles), LeBron James (knee, back), Kevin Love (back) and Kyrie Irving (back).

That type of shakiness is only heightened by James’ ability to opt out after this season.

If we are being honest, moving Dion Waiters for Shumpert and Smith is not as great of a move as people seem to think. For starters, if both players regain health, it will push the usual sharpshooting of Mike Miller out of the rotation — again — for the streaky 36 percent three-point shooting of Smith.

On a larger scale, if the whispers were true about James not being happy with Waiters’ decision-making, how will he be able to handle Smith’s partying, shoe untying, shoot everything he sees mentality that has proven less effective the last two years? And for as much as Shumpert is touted as a top defender, his defensive player efficiency for the season has been swimming at the bottom of the bowl amongst the total number of players in the league.

That’s not exactly what the Cavs need for their lack of a stopper. And it’s also very reminiscent of the last time James was close to escaping Cleveland. So much so, in fact, that the entire event felt awfully close to when the team panicked and made moves to bring in players like Antawn Jamison and Shaquille O’Neal.

Some people will say that neither Smith nor Shumpert are Jamison or O’Neal, but neither All-Star was themselves when they were traded to Cleveland. This is deja vu at its finest.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on