After Tuesday night's game, Byron Scott expressed his desire to hold on to Anderson Varejao past the trade deadline. It has been my opinion for some time now, that both Anderson Varejao and Ramon Sessions need to be traded to other teams for the Cavaliers to acquire the necessary assets to rebuild.
There's still plenty of time before the trade deadline on March 15th, 2012, but it's never too early to start brainstorming some ideas. Below are 5 trade ideas that I think are both doable and attractive to both teams.
Disclaimer: These trades are just speculation on my part (with help from DocRosTov). They are not actually being discussed as far as we know (although they probably should be).
Cleveland sends Anderson Varejao to Memphis Grizzles
Memphis sends O.J. Mayo and 2012 first round pick to Cleveland Cavaliers
This is one of my favorites. Mayo has some obvious talent but doesn't really get good minutes in Memphis and is clearly underachieving. He is a restricted free agent after this season but probably wouldn't garner much on the market. I think he has some potential that could be accessed with a change of scenery and the necessary minutes. With the injuries to Darrell Arthur and Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies find themselves pretty thin on the frontline. This trade makes a ton of sense for both teams, in my opinion.
Cleveland sends Anderson Varejao to Portland Trail Blazers
Portland sends Wesley Matthews and 2012 first round pick to Cleveland Cavaliers
With the addition of Jamal Crawford, the Blazers would now have the ability to trade Wes Matthews and get some defensive help in the paint. Marcus Camby is pretty old and Anderson Varejao next to LaMarcus Aldridge would be a pretty awesome front court. Matthews acts as a viable shooting guard for the Cavs. The draft pick would definitely be at the very end of the first round, so perhaps not that valuable. However, when you're rebuilding, it cannot hurt to add draft picks.
Cleveland sends Anderson Varejao to Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia sends Evan Turner, Tony Battie, and 2012 first round pick to Cleveland Cavaliers
With Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, and Jodie Meeks all in the way of Evan Turner getting proper minutes in Philly, it makes sense for the Sixers to move the young shooting guard to get help up front. Elton Brand and Spencer Hawes have been effective thus far, but that duo is quite injury prone and Andy would provide a significant defensive upgrade. Philly has been one of the surprises in this young season and if they are serious about contending this year, this is a trade that they ought to explore. For the Cavs, Evan Turner gets to come back to his old stomping ground when he went to OSU. Furthermore, he'd probably immediately start at the 2-guard ahead of Anthony Parker. He hasn't really gotten the chance to develop in Philly. Battie would basically be a throw in to make the salaries work, but isn't a terrible big off of the bench. Once again, the draft pick wouldn't be great but still has some value.
Cleveland sends Ramon Sessions to Utah Jazz
Utah sends Paul Millsap to Cleveland Cavaliers
As the Cavs witnessed firsthand on Tuesday night, the Jazz have a bunch of talent in their front court. They ought to be trying to clear up that logjam to give the proper minutes to Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, so Millsap is probably the guy that they'd be trying to move. Sessions is probably better than Devin Harris at this point and could also be used at shooting guard. If the Cavaliers managed to get someone to take Antawn Jamison off of their hands, Millsap would be a nice upgrade at power forward. I don't think this is very likely, but it kind of makes sense.
Cleveland sends Anderson Varejao and Ramon Sessions to Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta sends Al Horford to Cleveland Cavaliers
This is basically a pipe dream, but hear me out. I'm basing this mostly on the idea that I don't think the Hawks know how good Horford really is. He's pretty underutilized in Atlanta and has a great contract. He's a solid low post player that the Cavs could build an offense around. There is basically no chance that this happens, but if it did, I would be ecstatic.
Think these ideas suck? Well, write a comment about it and offer some suggestions of your own.