The Cavs took part in a three-team player shuffle, and then surprised us again with another move. The Pistons were the league’s hottest team, while Andrew Wiggins has started to show Cleveland the error of their ways. Trevor Booker showed the basketball world why he needs to buy a lotto ticket, and the ‘Meal Ticket’ gives a performance for the ages.
This is The Week That Was.
Cleveland Is Wheeling And Dealing
If you decided to come up from under the rock you had been living under, then you’ve probably heard about the six-player trade between the Cavaliers, Thunder, and Knicks from Monday night. Dion Waiters goes to Oklahoma City, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert end up in Cleveland, while the Thunders’ Alex Kirk and Lou Amundson, along with the Cavaliers’ Lance Thomas, all make their way to New York. Furthermore, Cleveland received a protected 2015 first-round pick from the Thunder, but also sent away their 2019 second-round pick to New York.
-This Vine was posted by Steve Terada
You can find out more details about this trade here, but from the outset, it looks like everyone benefits. The Cavs get the shooting and defensive depth they desperately need, the Thunder get a scorer to fill their ‘sixth-man shooter’ role, and this deal can help the Knicks save $20 million. The Knicks look like the biggest beneficiary when you consider the financial aspect, but overall it seems to be a win-win-win if you ask me.
… But just when you thought Cleveland was done attempting to bolster their team, they decided to shake things up again by sending two protected first-round picks (one being from the Grizzlies that the Cavaliers acquired in 2013, and the other coming from the Thunder in the first trade I mentioned) to Denver for center Timofey Mozgov and a 2015 second-round pick.
That’s a steep price for a guy who averages about nine points and eight rebounds a game this season! The Cavaliers are clearly in ‘win this very minute’ mode, and have operated with disregard to whether or not Kevin Love will even come back after this season.
More information on this second trade can be found here, but Denver essentially gets additional financial wiggle room and can use the picks to help build a playoff team in the future. Cleveland basically gets a guy to fill Anderson Varejao‘s shoes. Doesn’t seem like the wisest move on Cleveland’s part, but they are pulling out all the stops to frantically win this season. They also waived guard A.J. Price on Wednesday to free up a roster spot. Sounds like an open invitation for Ray Allen, no?
Good Riddance
-This GIF can be found on Deadspin
Until losing to the Atlanta Hawks 106-103 on Saturday, January 9th, the Detroit Pistons went on a seven-game winning streak after waiving Josh Smith. Just goes to show what a difference one guy makes, huh? Three of the teams they beat during the stretch were the Spurs, Mavericks, and Cavaliers (who they crushed 103-80 despite a healthy LeBron James). In contrast, the Rockets sputtered to a 3-4 record in their first seven games with J-Smoove, so both the Pistons’ and Rockets’ stretches serve as a huge testament to just how much his inefficiency can hold a team back. Smith doesn’t even crack the league’s top 180 players in player efficiency this season, and a lot of that is due to the nearly three shot attempts from the perimeter he’s averaged per game since leaving Atlanta and hitting just roughly a quarter of those.
The Pistons have since replaced Josh Smith‘s perimeter shooter role with the conglomerate of Jodie Meeks, D.J. Augustin, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Kyle Singler. Meeks, Augustin, and Singler all have career three-point percentages around 37 percent, while Caldwell-Pope has hit about 33 percent of his three pointers throughout his career, which means that these four guys together are a stark improvement over Josh Smith for this role. Smith’s release has also freed up super-human rim protector Andre Drummond to do what he does best, dominate the post. During the seven-game win streak, Drummond averaged 16.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game! Those are other-wordly numbers, my friend. Josh Smith is a versatile, all-around talent, especially on defense. It’s not that he’s not a good player, but that he is a poor fit for the offensive role that the Pistons and Rockets gave him.
You Should Have Kept Me, Cleveland
Andrew Wiggins was seen as the next LeBron in high school, but his lack of assertiveness in Kansas tempered expectations slightly. Most thought Jabari Parker would be the league’s rookie to make the most impact right out of the gate. Fast forward from the Kevin Love trade to now, and Wiggins is shutting up the naysayers by leading all rookies in scoring with roughly 14 points per game. You can expect that number only to rise. As of the afternoon of Saturday, January 10th, Wiggins is currently on a six-game streak with at least 20 points scored, dating back to December 30th, 2014. During that span, he has averaged 22.2 points on 49.5 percent shooting, 6.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. Last week, Wiggins had a very nice game against the Suns in a close 113-111 loss, in which he scored 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting. No one is talking about Wiggins, but people should and I’ll show you why. Let’s examine a couple of his highlights from that Suns’ game, shall we?
Look at the athleticism on display on this fastbreak with that hard side-step to the basket.
-This Vine was posted by cvbg22
Notice the agility he shows on this spin to the hoop.
-This Vine was posted by Kenny Roda
Wiggins is already a top-of-the-line defender, and his offense has rapidly improved as the season has progressed. Overall, he’s much further along than anyone had expected him to be.
Trevor Booker Hits Shot of the Year (Ever?)!
-This GIF was posted on Reddit by user playalisticadillac
Per NBA rules, you can’t hit a shot with less than 0.3 seconds left, but you can count on Jazz forward Trevor Booker to find the loopholes in the system. With just 0.2 seconds left on the shot clock towards the end of the first half of Friday night’s 99-94 loss to the Thunder, the Jazz had to inbound the ball and sought to figure out a way to make the most of their limited time. What did they come up with? Having Gordon Hayward inbound the ball to Trevor Booker in the post so Booker can hit the ball over his head into the hoop, while he stood 12 feet away from the basket with his back turned. Sure enough, it was legal and counted. This play is just as awesome as it is hilarious!
Boom Boom Pau!
-This Vine was posted by Gustavo Vega
On Saturday night, Pau Gasol made all kinds of history during a victory against the Milwaukee Bucks. He scored a career-high 46 points in the win, however, he did not only make history for himself, but for the league as well. He’s the first person in the last 30 years to record 46 points and 18 boards at the age of 34 or older. Only Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley recorded at least 40 points and 15 rebounds at age 34 or older in that time span. The Bulls have not had any single-game performances of that magnitude since Michael Jordan went 69 points and 18 boards during an overtime win against the Cavs on March 28, 1990. Another interesting note is that out of Gasol’s three 40-point performances, this is the only one where his team actually won. After that game, the Spanish big man is averaging 18.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.
Jonathan Ebanks is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Jonathan, check out his archive and follow him @hogz4lyfe.