Luol Deng to Cavs, Bynum and Draft Picks to Bulls, Bynum Waived by Bulls Immediately | WrestleZone Forums

Luol Deng to Cavs, Bynum and Draft Picks to Bulls, Bynum Waived by Bulls Immediately

JGlass

Unregistered User
Remember when Luol Deng was the subject of trade rumors around the trade deadline almost every year for a while? Then recently it seemed like the Bulls just accepted that they were stuck with him forever until the end of time or his contract, whichever came first.

The All-Star small forward has been shipped over to Cleveland in exchange for the All-Star center, but one of these All-Stars isn't going to be playing any games for his new team. The Bulls waived Andrew Bynum in order to avoid paying him more money than they have to, meaning that he's only going to make $6 million from the $24.8 million contract he signed with the Cavs this previous off season.

In addition to Bynum, the Bulls have acquired several of their conference rival's draft picks, including Sacramento Kings' 2014 first-round pick (which should be a lottery pick), the Portland Trail Blazers 2015 and '16 second-round picks, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Cavs in 2015 if the Cavs' pick is outside the top 14.

In my eyes, this trade shows us a few things.

1) The Cavs aren't trying to build their team through the draft- Irving, Waiters, and Thompson are all early lottery draft picks from Cleveland, and apparently the Cavs think they've gotten all they can get from the draft. It's hard to blame them when all three men are performing very well this season, and the Cavs only seem to be a few pieces away from being a championship contender. Luol Deng adds a more veteran presence to what is otherwise a young team, and should help the players around him continue to develop. Is it too late for the Cavs to turn this season around and become a playoff contender? In a weak Eastern Conference and about a month and a half to go before the All-Star break, it's hard to say no unequivocally, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

2) The Bulls are looking to rebuild- It seems weird to say that considering they are in second place in the central division, but they do currently have a losing record. But while the Bulls aren't an older team, they're not exactly a young one either. Jimmy Butler is young and talented, but after that their youngest starter is Noah, whom is 28 years old and turns 29 in February. Taj Gibson, the man that seems to be in the process of being groomed to take over for the aging Carlos Boozer, is also 28 and turns 29 in June. Derrick Rose is only 25, but with all the injuries he's suffered there's no telling if he'll ever be the top-quality PG he once was. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bulls trade away a few more of their players in an attempt to grab more first round picks in an attempt to get young players that they can build a future around.

3) Andrew Bynum is not long for this league- I think we've all known this since he sat out a full season in Philadelphia, but the fact that a team would sooner waive the former All-Star than even give him a chance to play is the icing on the wall and the writing on the cake. I would imagine there is a team out there that would be willing to give him a chance, but Bynum shouldn't expect to sign for half as much as he did with the Cavs. I have no idea which team would be crazy enough to sign him, but he is very talented, and perhaps there's a coach in this league that thinks he has what it takes to motivate the listless Bynum.

4) The Cavs have leverage when it comes to LeBron James- Luol Deng is in the last year of his contract, but with 19 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game, he's making a strong case for getting that contract extended. Cleveland may come sniffing around LeBron James come free agent season, but they're not going to be as desperate to sign James now that they have a perfectly fine option at small forward that they could just as easily resign. If the price isn't right for LeBron James, the Cavs may just pass on signing him altogether. Then again, is there any price to high for LeBron James?

This is an interesting trade that will certainly shake up the NBA's Central Division. What are your thoughts on the trade?
 
If you like PER, Luol Deng is ranked 6th in the league in it among SF's. Hollinger also developed a stat in his time at ESPN called EWA (Estimated Wins Added) that is something like WAR in baseball, in which Deng ranks 8th. Taking the stats roughly and with a bit of salt, I think we can easily say Deng is a top ten SF in the NBA right now. Compare to the Cavaliers production with their previous small forwards - Earl Clark ranked at 49 in PER and EWA. Alonzo Gee and Anthony Bennett, the teams other small forwards, were ranked at second to last and last, respectively, in both stats. Again, with the same qualifiers, it's no stretch at all to say the Cavaliers were getting the absolute worst production out of small forward of any team in the NBA, and they replaced that with a top 10 SF whose known to be able to play a ton of minutes every night. This is perhaps the single greatest upgrade any team in the NBA could have made using reasonably available talent during this season, and they did it for not a lot. Bynum was clearly not a fit anymore and they were going to waive him anyway, and the draft picks involved aren't a lot. The Sacramento first rounder is heavily protect and essentially requires Sacramento to make the playoffs to get it - not likely barring future upgrades. The second rounders are, well, second rounders. You can find good value there but your odds are low. Also, none of the draft picks involved ever belonged to Cleveland originally, leaving them with their suite of originally owned picks. That said, the Bulls also have the right to swap picks with the Cavaliers if the Cavaliers are not in the lottery, so if this winds up being a disaster and the Cavs finish worse than the Bulls but still make the playoffs then the Bulls get a better pick. But given that both teams play in the same conference this seems somehow unlikely to me.

Meanwhile, Cleveland loses little value from Bynum. He was reasonably productive when on the court but you just can't seem to get him to want to play basketball anymore, so what are you really losing? The Cavaliers still have a good center in Varejao and a solid backup in Zeller, and plenty of options for a third center in house.

This trade is a significant upgrade for the Cavaliers and no pun intended, but the ball is in their court now. They are only three games back of a playoff position and they need to fight their way back into contention. Just going .500 this season could feasibly land them in 5-6 seed territory in the East. Hopefully Deng can be both the on the court option they so desperately need and an off the court catalyst for a surge toward the playoffs for the Cavaliers.

Looking ahead, though, this is also a very smart deal in that the Cavaliers now acquire the Bird rights to Deng, meaning he is extremely re-signable for them as an alternative option to the dream scenario of landing LeBron James in free agency. You pointed out that this gives them some leverage in negotiations with him, JGlass, and you're quite right. It also gives them good insurance against it if they can re-sign Deng.

Overall, this is one of the smarter trades I've seen pulled off in the NBA recently, so kudos to Chris Grant for taking advantage of a team looking to tank in very smart fashion.
 
Good trade for both sides. The Bulls weren't going to want to pay Deng the type of salary he'll be looking for after this season and with Rose's uncertain future they needed to prepare for the future. This trade saves them some money and gets them a few future picks.

The Cavs have a lot of young talent but they were very weak at the SF spot and didn't have much in the way of veteran leadership. Deng will provide an instant upgrade and help the Cavs win some games immediately in a weak Eastern Conference. Whether this trade is a big success for the Cavs depends on both Deng's health and what happens this off season. Deng may help he Cavs win a few more games then they would have otherwise and help them make the playoffs but if they lose in the first round and then lose Deng to free agency without replacing him with someone better, this trade will be a bust for them.
 
Cavs upgraded their SF position this season where they have nobody for a push for the playoffs without losing anything of much value. Even if Deng don't resign they didn't lose much. The picks were too protected or horrible to be of much use and Bynum was already a bust anyway.

Bulls did a salary dump and avoided whatever the repeated tax thing was. That's it. The only potentially viable pick is top-12 protected this season, top-10 from 2015-2017. Bulls better hope the Kings draft well in the next 2 years to challenge for the playoffs by 2016 or 2017 to increase the value of the pick because I sure as hell don't see them getting any pick lower than 12 or 10 next couple of years. 2 second round picks from Portland and a protected rights to swap picks next year with the Cavs isn't much either.
 

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