Double Trade Down For Cavaliers in NBA Draft (Part 1)

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a great deal of options when it comes to the NBA Draft, free agency and how they rebuild their team. Winning the NBA Lottery put the focus on who in the big draft would become the next big young player on the Cavs. Yet could the Cavs benefit from trading out of the #1 pick and create a dynamic, deep and more veteran roster just using that pick? This is a 2 part post, this one in the morning and the next one coming around lunch time (1PM).

We had previously looked at the possibility of trading Dion Waiters and some future picks to the Philadelphia 76ers for the #3 pick. You can click here to see that article. The Cavs could get both Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid while the 76ers get a perfect running mate who is from Philly along with a bunch of future picks. Today we return to the 76ers for a trade partner but in a trade down scenario. The 76ers tanked this season with the hope of adding Wiggins and were heart broken when they fell to #3. This trade fixes that:

The Cleveland Cavaliers Trade the #1 Overall Pick to the Philadelphia 76ers from the #3 Overall Pick and Nerlens Noel

For the 76ers: The 76ers are desperate to find a scoring, wing player to partner with Michael Carter-Williams. Wiggins is that player who could change the future of the franchise. The 76ers still have the #10 pick to address their front court, and currently have Thaddeus Young who provides solid scoring from the 4 spot. Noel didn’t play a minute last year and was one of two pieces they got from the Pelicans in exchange for Jrue Holiday. The 6ers can’t risk not getting their #1 player and risk the value of Noel to do so.

For the Cavs: The Cavs do a 2 for 1 by moving down 2 spots. Noel is the type of shot blocking player that can anchor everything the Cavs do at the end of the floor. The Cavs will still have a Top 3 pick in a draft that supposedly has 3 star players. The Cavs add a center and either will have the option of Embiid, not a perfect fit with Noel but could work for both, or Jabari Parker. Parker is a unique scoring talent that, next to Noel, could be a perfect hybrid 3/4 player. He can score inside and out but struggles to defend. The Cavs will have the option to move down once again if they get a deal that fits them well. Without a further trade down though the Cavs get 2 young stud players for the cost of the #1 pick.

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Cavs Lineup

For the sake of this two part article we assume that either Embiid or Dante Exum is the pick at #2. In this situation we will assume Parker is the pick. The Cavs would then run out a starting 5 of Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Jabari Parker, Anderson Varejao and Nerlens Noel without including any other moves in free agency, trades or the draft. The bench would still have Jarrett Jack, Sergey Karasev, Anthony Bennett, Matthew Dellevadova, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller. The Cavs would have a ton of cap space with those 11 under contract. A solid starter 3 man or a stretch 4 would be a great fit for this young team.

Later today you will see the next move, obviously a trade down that we think would benefit the Cavs both short and long term.

What do you think of our first move?

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