Altman Takes A Big Swing

The so called “Core 4” is no more.

The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their remaking of their roster by trading Darius Garland and a second-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden.

And even with De’Andre Hunter trade and this deal, you still wonder if there is more roster shuffling to come.

It reminded us of the roster purge at the 2018 deadline when Altman moved Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and Isaiah Thomas is a series of deals that netted the wine and gold Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., George Hill, and Rodney Hood.

Moving on from Garland has always made sense to us because of the small backcourt Cleveland had pairing him with Donovan Mitchell, and Garland’s lack of defensive and his propensity for turnovers, particularly late in games and in the playoffs.

Which brings us to Harden. We have had issues with the 11-time All Star, mostly because of his style of play, which is difficult to watch, and that he has orchestrated his exit from a number of teams. His conditioning has also been a question at times.

On the other hand, as a talent, he is better than Garland. Garland’s career high scoring average is 21.7 points and his best in assists is 8.6. He’s a 38.6% shooter from three, last year knocking them down at 40.1%.

This year, at age 36, Harden is scoring 25.4 points, dishing out 8.1 assists, and his career mark from long range is 36.2%.

And he’s 6’5″.

We guess if the Cavs were going to have a ball dominant guard who doesn’t play defense, they might as well lean into it and get one who is bigger and better.

Another factor for Cleveland is the diminishing value of Garland. He played in a career high 75 games a year ago, but prior to that, the most games he’s ever played was 69. And the toe injury he incurred at the end of last year appears to be chronic, so we bet Koby Altman figured now is the time to cash out on the guard who had the longest tenure on the roster.

We do have concerns about Harden’s fit with this group. He does he affect the chemistry? Will he accept playing less minutes in order to be fresher in the playoffs? On the other hand, he is also playing to get another contract so you would think he’d be on his best behavior.

Why do we expect another move? Look at the logjam Kenny Atkinson will have to deal with. In addition to Harden and Mitchell, he has Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, the two other newcomers in Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis, and Craig Porter Jr. to fit into the rotation.

That’s a lot of players at the #1-#3 spots. And that’s if you consider Dean Wade a #4.

And we will repeat, we still feel the Cavaliers need to get bigger up front.

It’s a big swing from Koby Altman for sure. We felt for a couple of years that the top of the Cavs’ roster was flawed. Did he fix it? We will know for sure in the next two months, but he did something because we think he knew that running it back wasn’t going to get the team to the next step, that is getting at least to the conference finals.

But make no mistake, Harden is a huge risk. But in another year, what would Garland have brought back in the teade?