Which team benefits the most from the three-way deal? The least?
This Wednesday morning, a three-team trade between Cleveland, Brooklyn and Boston was announced a day after it was reported by Chris Sheridan that LeBron has a 90 percent chance of landing in Cleveland. With the trade, Cleveland has agreed to sent Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev to Brooklyn, as well as Tyler Zeller and a protected first-rounder (more on that later), to Boston. Brooklyn also traded Marcus Thornton to Boston and the draft rights to three prospects back to Cleveland.
Now, let’s get to the details and the team-by-team analysis:
Boston Celtics: B+
Boston gets: Marcus Thornton-Tyler Zeller, Cavs 2016 protected pick. Top 10 in ’16, ’17 or ’18. Unprotected in ’19.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2014
In this deal, Boston received Tyler Zeller, Marcus Thornton and a protected 2016 first-round pick.
This first-rounder is protected if it’s in the top 10 in 2016 and remains so in 2017 and 2018. If Boston still has not received this pick, it will be unprotected in 2019. The sweetest part of the deal for Boston is the players (or lack thereof) they had to give up. For a first-rounder, a contributing big man and a solid guard, Boston gave up nothing. They just got quality players for free. Nothing! They got to welcome the unwanted players that got in the way of Cleveland’s path to LeBron for no cost other than eating up a little salary.
In Zeller, they get a young 7-footer who averaged 4.0 rebounds off the bench and is only getting better. In his rookie campaign, Zeller had a PER of 11.0 while starting most of the season in place of the injured Anderson Varejao. Last season, Zeller (coming off the bench) PER rose to 15.4 – an above-average mark. This is a good replacement for Kris Humphries and adds more young talent at the center position.
Thornton, coming from Brooklyn, is also a nice addition. He is good offensively, shooting 43.1 percent from the field and averaging 13.4 points over his career. Last year, he struggled mightily in Sacramento (9.7 PER, 38.1 percent shooting) but came to Brooklyn a new man, where he shoot and played much better (16.1 PER, 41.4 percent shooting). He will also be a good addition off the bench in Boston.
These two players (and possibly the first-rounder, later) sigificantly improve the Celtics’ depth. With quality players at multiple positions (Rondo/Smart, Bradley/Thornton, Olynyk/Zeller, etc.), Boston could somewhat resemble the Spurs by spreading around playing time more for better performance late in the year. The Celtics get a B+ for acquiring this help without giving up assets.
Brooklyn Nets: C
In three-way deal, Brooklyn gets: Cleveland’s Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2014
Brooklyn played a key role in this trade. In the deal, the Nets acquired Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev from Cleveland. On the other side, they sent Thornton to Boston and will also send the draft rights to Ilkan Karaman, Christian Drejer and Edin Bavcic to Cleveland. They helped Cleveland free up space and helped Boston get quality players, but didn’t really get much out of this trade for themselves. I was surprised they didn’t get any picks out of this deal, especially with Boston getting a first-rounder.
However, they do get some value out of this deal. Jarrett Jack is the essence of a journeyman and will bring veteran play and leadership (not that Brooklyn needs more, but it can’t hurt at the very least). Deron Williams had injury and play issues last year, only appearing in 64 games while averaging 14.3 PPG, the lowest mark since his rookie year. Jack fills a need at the backup point guard position and can lead the second unit for Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Karasev has upside as a player, but he hasn’t proved himself in his 22 appearances.
Jack is a needed player and will be a good fit for Brooklyn, but it’s questionable what this move does for the Nets beyond shaking things up. They essentially traded three prospects for one and exchanged a backup at shooting guard for a backup at point guard. The deal didn’t really hurt the Nets, how much better did it make them? Hey, maybe they think LeBron will be less of a threat to them in Cleveland. We’ll have to wait and see.
Cleveland Cavaliers: A
In 3-way, Cavs get: Draft rights to Nets prospects: Karaman/Drejer/Bavcic. And cap space — more than the $20.7M needed — to sign James.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2014
Cleveland traded players for cap space, and it did it well. The contracts of Jack, Zeller and Karasev were ditched in order to generate cap space, but the Cavs also had to give up a first-round pick. If they get LeBron James, that won’t matter. The deal freed up more than the 20.7 million needed to sign LeBron. Experts have discussed how James wants a “sign,” an aggressive move from a team that’s pursuing him. Not many teams have done that, and Cleveland’s earlier five-year deal for Irving was considered the biggest so far. Now, Cleveland has made another move that makes its intentions clear.
If the Cavs sign James with the space created from this deal, it would be the greatest “trade” ever. Jarrett Jack and Karasev plus a late first-rounder for the greatest player of this generation? I think so! The fact that this move may allow them to sign James is what makes them the true winners of this trade. After this deal, the Cavs will have around 24 million in cap space, which could also be used to pursue Mike Miller, a player with whom LeBron has said he wants to play. With that, the Cavs could have made three notable moves to get their man. This deal is a safe measure also, because if they don’t sign James it won’t be catastrophic, but if they do it could be franchise-altering. Cleveland needed to make a move to free up cap space, and it chose some of the best players to send off in order to do so. The Cavs havs definitely made an impression and are now that much closer to signing LeBron James.
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