Having made up their minds last weekend to trade or release Kevin Porter Jr., the Cavaliers found a taker on Thursday night, agreeing to a deal that will send the second-year wing to Houston. Cleveland won’t get anything of value in return, but was at least able to move off Porter’s salaries for this season and next, opening up a roster spot in the process.
Given how high the Cavaliers were on Porter’s on-court potential following his promising rookie season, the move represents a major step back in the team’s rebuild, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. As Fedor writes, the 20-year-old was viewed by many within the organization as the player with the highest upside of any on the roster, and it was only a few months ago that he was considered virtually untouchable in trade talks.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, general manager Koby Altman made every effort to make things work with Porter, who has made a series of poor off-court decisions, but ultimately felt like they couldn’t get through to him and decided it was time to move on.
“The organization did everything and more for him,” a league source told Fedor. “They went above and beyond. They gave him more chances than most franchises would have.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- While Porter won’t be part of the Cavaliers‘ rebuild going forward, Collin Sexton – who poured in a career-high 42 points in an impressive win over Brooklyn on Wednesday – continues to establish himself as a cornerstone player for the franchise, Fedor writes in a separate story for Cleveland.com.
- After suffering an avulsion fracture in his right hand last Thursday, Myles Turner has missed the Pacers‘ last two games, but he could be back in the lineup as early as Friday. As J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star writes, Turner’s return will come down to how much pain and discomfort he can play through. “There’s really not much you can do for it to heal,” Turner said on Thursday. “No surgery. No time off. It’s just one of those things you’ve got to get used to.”
- In his latest mailbag, Rod Beard of The Detroit News explores whether the Pistons should be playing their rookies more, Jerami Grant‘s role in the team’s rebuild, and the possibility of trading Derrick Rose by this season’s deadline.
The Pistons are a complete mess.
The answer is yes. The Pistons should be playing their rookies more. Id punt on some of the veterans for draft picks if available.
Agreed. The Jeremi Grant signing only makes sense if the plan is to showcase him and then trade him. But all the press on that deal is that the Pistons promised him playing time.
Either they lied to Grant or they don’t understand they’re rebuilding.
I’m not sure where the “lied to Grant” take comes from as he was told he’d get playing time and that he’d be a focal point on offense. Check and check!
The Grant signing makes sense on multiple levels.
1) To show the youngins how to play the right way. How to practice. How to play both ways.
2) They’ll own his bird rights after the contract is up and will be able to offer more than anybody else. If Grant’s improvement is real, he’ll be in max deal territory. Weaver will know by then if he has the right pieces to commit big dollars to Grant.
3) If Weaver determines that the right pieces are not there, but Grant is worth a max, he’ll probably be able to trade him for a sizeable package in year 4) This is a 3-year deal! It’s not unreasonable to think that the Pistons could be seriously competitive in year 3, especially if they hit lottery gold this year.
Pistons don’t get many chances to sign players like this in free agency. You got to get talent if its available. Thats what rebuilding is.
I’ll add that I don’t think anyone thought Blake would be this bad
To be fair the guy averaged 25/8/5 in 18-19 so maybe there was hope Rose + Grant + Blake = 6-8 seed in the East?
Not saying I agree w/ the logic. But I can see where the Grant signing may have came from
The issue is the rotation and the bad spacing that comes out of it…what makes it worse is the answer is right in front of their face, but they run out the same lineups every night, and lose in dumb ways. Plumlee playing 30-35 minutes a night as a starter at the 5, next to Blake, makes zero sense in any universe.
Detroit put together an interesting roster, adding multiple defenders and wing shooters, if they can stay healthy, but their coach has no idea how to use their roster. Instead of developing their young players around their veterans, while potentially competing for a backend playoff spot, they arent doing any of those things. They’ve managed to not develop anyone, while losing, and lowering the value of a couple of their potential trade pieces
Josh Jackson
Wayne Ellington
Saddiq Bey
Jerami Grant
Blake Griffin
Derrick Rose, Delon Wright, Sekou Doumbouya, Svi Mykhailiu, Isaiah Stewart/Okafor/Mason Plumlee (depending on matchup), Killian Hayes (now that he is injured from seeing way too big of a role way too early, Rodney Mcgruder makes sense in that spot in their rotation, or Frank Jackson, depending on matchups/how many days he has left on his 2 way deal)
Here’s an idea. Trade away all the veteran role models and lose. Any young players worth anything will want out, and management will seek veteran role models in free agency when the kids play like kids. Rinse, repeat.
Atlanta tried that, bailed, and overpaid veteran FAs just to get to the middle of the pack.
The timeline plan does not work.
Sexton is a player !! He sure looked great last night.
When the Cavs trade Drummond, think they should try to Myles Turner to go with Jarret Allen? Would be pretty good defensive front court, and cost less than retaining Drummond.
Pretty good…. Can you imagine the blocks!
Block Party every night
Could work bc Turner can shoot 3s decently
Also both are young enough to chase P+R’s most nights
Pistons had a great draft. I think they always knew they were rebuilding. Grant is 28 and is playing like an all star. Probably best FA signing las yr. He was a good 3 n D guy. Now he’s the star of the team. They knew coming into the yr that Rose was going to be moved. Griffin is still coming back but can also be moved. If not by TD then before draft. Loading up for this draft is an excellent move. That’s what I would do.
Sexton is starting to settle in. Even though I like Garland. They are not a good starting duo. And he will not accept a backup role. They can get value for him. Allen, Okoro, Sexton is a solid young core. Cavs are another team that can load up for this draft. By moving Drummond, Love, McGee. They can get back picks, younger players. Cavs can be next yrs Hawks. Draft a great player and some. Sign a good player. Can challenge for playoffs with a solid young team. Even keeping Love next to Allen is a wise move.
Dwayne Casey has shown exactly why Toronto fired him. He cant put together a rotation, and it hurts certain important players on their roster, as well as takes away what would have been important development time for young guys…
I’ve said it a few times, but Sexton took a massive leap the last few weeks before the season shutdown. That being said, it should be interesting to see what they do at guard. I feel like Garland has more of a chance to be a true PG, and Sexton is more of a smaller scoring 2 guard/combo guard. I dont know if I’m a fan of them starting in the backcourt together, against size at the guard spot in this league. I feel like Sexton would be very effective as their 6th man, in a winning environment, but how do you convince a young guy like that they’re as important to their core playing 35 minutes off the bench, rather than starting, based on narratives of importance of those petty things…
Before the Porter jr situation, their building block was looking a lot stronger than just a few months ago…
Garland, Okoro, Porter, Prince, Allen
Sexton, Cedi Osman, Nance, Kevin Love, Windler
They’re going to have to figure out what they want to do with that spot.