Ben Simmons or not here are three other big names the Cavs should look into.
The Cavs have been targetting Ben Simmons as a piece to trade for. The only problem is no one knows for sure if the Cavs are even likely to land him. Let alone the price he’ll cost. Simmons is a peculiar player in the fact that he’s the most dominant four-tool player you’ll ever see, but the lack of that crucial “fifth tool” (shooting) is such a dogged point of contention.
Not an unfair point, either. The Cavs don’t have many dynamic scorers and the only way a Simmons trade makes sense for the Cavs is if they keep their best pure scorers in Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen. Hence another issue, many think a trade would need to include both of them just to get things going. That’s a non-starter here.
So if the pundits are right about what it would take to get Simmons, then the team should pivot and look elsewhere for a big name.
PG Malcolm Brogdon
I like Malcolm Brogdon quite a bit. He reminds me of a better version of George Hill in Hill’s prime. A much, better version. He’s very good at everything but not great at any one thing, but how many people are that good at so many things? Borgond’s not near the elite-level defender that Simmons is, but he isn’t nearly as bad as the Cavs’ guards have been.
He’s also emerged as a good scorer, not putting up elite stats by any means but his consistency is respectable. He cracked the 20-point-per-game mark in 2020-2021 and has shown to be a good inside scorer. He’s only shot 38% from the three-point line last year, but that would’ve put him third on the Cavs last year in proper context, and on far more attempts than either of the Cavs’ starters at guard.
He’s a solid, if not uninspiring distributor with the ball, and would probably make more sense for him to be the two-guard next to Ricky Rubio in any lineup. You wouldn’t need to give up nearly as much for Brogdon as you would for Simmons, hypothetically, and the impact may be just as good long term.
The only problem is that the Pacers will likely only trade him if they decide to blow up their roster. If they did, there are a few assets to look forward to trying to acquire at that point, namely T.J. Warren. If you can’t get both, Brogdon would be the way to go. Of course, you’d have to send back one of the young guards to make the minutes’ situation work.
SG C.J. McCollum
Admittedly, C.J. McCollum would be a better player to try and get as a complimentary piece in any other trade. He’s an elite-level shooter, but McCollum isn’t the same high-level passer as Ben Simmons and he’s arguably not as good as a distributor as Malcolm Brogdon. That’s fine, that’s not his game. That’s the point though, McCollum really shouldn’t be viewed as the big piece to get you over the hump, more like the last piece to the puzzle.
So unlike Brogdon or Simmons, you’d only go after McCollum if you’re already playing well and in the hunt for the playoffs. If come March, the Cavs are over .500 and hammering away on opponents, that’s when you’d go get McCollum.
McCollum is an elite scorer and hovers around 40% from the three-point line nearly every game. He’s able to stretch the floor and score inside. The big issue with McCollum is that he’s not a very tall guard, at only 6’3. The good news is that he’s usually around a 0.0 on the defensive +/- side of things. That means that he’s not a liability, he’s just not a stopper. He can hang with a team’s third-best shooting option and do good work.
Even though it doesn’t impact the roster in any way, he’s a local guy and a fan of Cleveland sports. He’d be someone who would give it his all, and for that reason alone I’d love to see him as a Cavalier.
Pascal Siakam
Pascal Siakam has his flaws and if we’re being fair isn’t a superstar in the NBA. In fact, if I had my choice of big men, I’d rather have Ben Simmons than Siakam. That doesn’t mean that if the Simmons deal fell apart that Siakam wouldn’t be a great get. He would.
Now Siakam has some issues. Namely, he’s not a playmaker for others. He’s the guy you get the ball to, not the guy you get the ball from. So any deal would need the Cavs to retain either Ricky Rubio or Darius Garland because Siakam isn’t Simmons, he can’t run the offense. That’s ok. He’s also an iffy wing-shooter, at a career 32% shooter from three. Now in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, he shot 37% and 36% from three. It was in ’19-’20 that saw his best from the arc, as he shot a career-high of six three-point attempts per game.
That’s more than Garland and Collin Sexton attempted in 2020-2021 for context.
So Siakam has his flaws, and the Cavs would likely start him at the three-spot (small forward), which is fine. He might be out of position a bit, but in lineups that include Lauri Markkanen and Sexton, he’ll be fine.
What makes Siakam such an ideal fit is that he’s a defensive-minded player, who can crash the boards and pass out from the low-post. Being able to get the ball back out to a wing player when getting doubled isn’t always an easy thing for a big to do, and to see Siakam have this ability is encouraging.
Plus, if the Cavs go with an all defensive lineup of Rubio, Isaac Okoro, Siakam, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, it’s very likely that teams will have a hard time getting a few points in, let alone any long-sustained runs.