Workers at the NBA rumor mill are working long hours as the countdown to the June 20 two-round draft begins to pick up speed.
The Cavaliers are trading up from the fifth pick to get the fourth pick from New Orleans or even the third pick from the Knicks.
Check that. They’re trading the fifth pick to the Bulls at seven or the Hawks for picks eight and 10 to acquire more picks and players.
One way or another, the Cavs will trade guard J.R. Smith to a team that wants to cut him to create salary cap space. That might be the safest bet of all.
If there was a way for Cavs general manager Koby Altman to trade sideways, he might consider that, too. Adam Silver, who looks more like a mortician in a black-and-white horror movie than an NBA commissioner, loves all the trades on draft night because it gets people talking about his league.
One thing is certain: A six-game improvement from the dismal 19-63 finish of 2018-19 will not satisfy Altman or team owner Dan Gilbert as the Cavaliers continue a rebuild that began in February of 2018 when they made deadline trades in anticipation of LeBron James leaving through free agency last summer.
To that end, Altman wants to get better as quickly as possible. Whether he does that by trading players on the current roster to acquire players from other teams, trading up, or trading down, is what makes this NBA draft so unpredictable, because other teams are thinking the exact same way.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to report the Cavs might be willing to trade the fifth pick to the Hawks for picks eight and 10 and then use the eighth pick on Cam Reddish, the 6-foot-8 shooting guard/small forward from Duke.
Wojnarowski also suggests the Bulls as a trade partner for the Cavs. The Cavs would give Chicago the fifth pick, Jordan Clarkson and John Henson and get the seventh pick, Bulls shooting guard Zach Lavine and a future second-round pick.
Lavine, 24, is the type of player who could accelerate the rebuild. He averaged 23.7 points a game for the Bulls last season while starting 62 of 63 games.
The top of the draft is set with the Pelicans taking Zion Williamson of Duke with the first pick and Memphis taking Ja Morant of Murray State second. The Knicks would have to be overwhelmed to part with the third pick, which is expected to be R.J. Barrett of Duke.
Sam Amico of Amicohoops.net, in an interview on WKRK-FM 92.3, said the Cavaliers are exploring ways to acquire the third pick in the draft from the Knicks. The Cavs own the 26th pick in addition to the fifth pick in the first round. They also own Milwaukee’s first-round pick in 2021. Amico suggested the Cavs would have to give the Knicks all three first-round picks just to move up two slots June 20.
The Pelicans have the fourth pick in addition to the first after agreeing to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers. The teams interested in trading with the Cavaliers might try to jump the Cavaliers and trade with New Orleans instead to draft Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland, who has become the flavor of the week in the final days before the draft. In fact, one report has the Knicks working out Garland on June 19. Barrett would slip at least one spot if the Knicks make a last-minute decision to draft Garland.
Altman worked under Pelicans director of basketball operations David Griffin when Griffin was the Cavaliers’ general manager. Altman has the resources to swing a deal with Griffin if the Cavaliers want the fourth pick badly enough. Altman could include forward Kevin Love in a trade. Griffin as general manager of the Cavs traded Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota for Love in 2015.
Sticking with the fifth pick would still give Altman the chance to draft a potential starter. Assuming Williamson, Morant and Barrett do go 1-2-3, four of a group of five that includes Garland, De’Andre Hunter, Jarrett Culver, Coby White and Reddish would have to be left for the Cavs at five.
Altman can get a fine player by playing it safe, but that isn’t his way.
