Unless you live under a rock you know that about the blockbuster trade that involved James Harden. The full details of the trade are Houston Rockets sent James Harden to the Nets, and a 2023 Second Round Pick (Rockets) for Victor Oladipo, Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs 2021 Pick Swap (Nets), 2022 First Round Pick (Bucks), 2022 First Round Pick (Nets), 2023 Pick Swap (Nets), 2024 First Round Pick (Nets), 2025 Pick Swap (Nets), 2026 First Round Pick (Nets), 2027 Pick Swap (Nets). The Pacers sent Victor Oladipo, and a 2024 2nd round pick (Cavs) for Caris LeVert and a 2023 second round pick (Rockets). The Cavs sent Dante Exum, 2022 1st round pick (Bucks), and a 2024 2nd round pick (Cavs) for Jarrett Allen, and Taurean Prince.
Now that’s a lot of details and if you’re just doing a quick look over you see that the Nets got James Harden a top 5 player in the league they must’ve won the trade, the Rockets got a shit ton of picks they must’ve won, the Pacers switched out Oladipo who was going to walk next year for a young promising player in Caris LeVert. That’s all good and everything and this trade might be one of those rare trades where every team wins, but the real winner is the Cleveland Cavs.
They traded away Dante Exum who is hurt all of the fucking time. Everybody has said how much potential Exum has, but he’s allergic to the court. In the last 3 years he has only played a total of 70 games. If the world potential is constantly thrown around for a player, it’s never a good sign. I have the potential to be an astronaut because I’m a human, but that’s never going to happen instead I’ll just be a miserable mailman. The Cavs also traded away a 2022 1st round pick, now if this was their pick that would be a big problem since Cleveland will probably be in the lottery, but it’s not their pick. It’s the Milwaukee Bucks pick, and until the Greek Freak decides to flea Milwaukee they will be picking in the bottom part of the draft. Then the Cavs threw in a 2024 second round pick, and unless you’re going to find a diamond in the rough like Draymond Greene 2nd round picks are almost useless.
The Cavs got Jarrett Allen, and if it wasn’t for DeAndre Jordan who is BFF’s with Kevin Durant, Allen would be starting. My opinion is if Jarrett Allen was starting he would be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
Allen is only 22 and will be the perfect center to go with the young core of Colin Sexton and Darius Garland. Fans need to incorporate Allen’s name with the best nickname in the league in Sexland. If you know the Cavs roster they already have a starting center with Andre Drummond so why trade for a young promising center?
Drummond is a free agent next year and even though he puts up historic rebound numbers he’s not what you want in a center for today’s league. He’s not a defensive anchor, and is limited in his offensive game. If he’s not scoring on putbacks or lobs he’s not that efficient.
Drummond will probably be traded this year or the Cavs will just let him walk next year. The Cavs got 2 players in this deal, and the second is Taurean Prince. Prince could be a solid role player who provides good defense, and decent offensive numbers. Prince’s career year was in 2017-2018 when he was scoring 14.1 points a game. If he could get back to those numbers he could be a solid starter for the Cavs to go with Sexland, and Allen. The Cavs can now have their rookie Isaac Okoro come off the bench until he develops more.
Even though LeBron left Cleveland high and dry for the glamour of Los Angeles it looks like Cleveland is finally rebuilding into a promising young team.
