The Cleveland Cavaliers may not be done making trade deals this season, as reports have the team interested in adding a backup for Kyrie Irving along with some wing depth and names like Jose Calderon, Jeremy Lin, Gerald Green, Tyler Ennis or George Hill could be options at the deadline to join LeBron James for general manager David Griffin.
The Cavaliers have already made significant additions to the roster in recent weeks, adding JR Smith, Timofey Mozgov and Iman Shumpert in deals with the Knicks and Nuggets. The Cavaliers got off to a slow start this season and when LeBron James went down with an injury, the team dipped under .500 and looked bad. But now they have bounced back and have won a number of games in a row and they are starting to look like a more complete team.
According to a recent report, the Cavaliers players felt that earlier in the season and in the preseason that the roster was not built well enough to compete in the playoffs this year. Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com did a nice rundown of the Cavaliers situation after the trades and he quotes anonymous players saying that they felt the team was not good enough before the moves to get past the second round of the playoffs. Losing James for two weeks hurt the team and one player said that the "unbalanced roster" was a strong reason why the team struggled to open the season.
According to the report, the Cavaliers could look at trading Brendan Haywood now rather than this summer, as he has a $2.2 million contract for this season and a non-guaranteed $10.5 million coming.
Haywood's contract can't be used in any sign and trade deals and that could limit the options for the Cavs over the summer, so they will likely think about trading him now rather than this summer. Tristan Thompson is heading towards a new contract and shumpert will be a restricted free agent and that could spark the team to make some moves now.
Marc Stein at ESPN.com writes that the team could look at adding a backup guard for Irving down the stretch and he names players like Jose Calderon, Jeremy Lin, Gerald Green, Tyler Ennis or George Hill as options that could be available. The Knicks and Cavs have already pulled off a trade this year, while the Lakers could look at dealing Lin after Kobe Bryant was injured. Ennis or Green could be moved by the Suns at the deadline as well.
David Blatt has been under fire numerous times already this season, but it appears the Cavaliers have weathered the storm. The team has won some games in a row since dipping under .500 and the trade with Smith and Shumpert that moved Waiters has helped to open up the offense. Mozgov adds a much needed defensive element up front and that became even more pressing for the Cavs after Anderson Varejao went down with an injury. The team so far has received a nice return on their trades and while many have assumed they are done dealing, Haynes writes that another trade could be on the way.
