CHAPTER 557: CHAPTER 274: 2015 NBA TRADE DEADLINE

After Hansen came back from his vacation, Griffin quickly came to visit him.

When Hansen first arrived in Cleveland and interacted with Griffin, he had emphasized the issue of draft picks.

After all, it was not easy to sign people in the Cavaliers’ area, and strengthening the team entirely depended on him to choose some quality rookies.

Especially since, in order to trade for Hansen, the Cavaliers had given the Grizzlies their first-round picks for three out of the next five years, making those draft rights even more precious.

This was also the reason why Griffin came to find Hansen.

The Cavaliers didn’t have many valuable chips, and without using the draft rights, the reinforcement they could do was quite limited.

Hansen was aware of this, but when Griffin laid out the possible trades on the table, Hansen was still somewhat surprised.

Javale McGee topped the trade list.

Yes, that McGee, known to Hansen as ’Olazhuki,’ who from the neck down was all Olajuwon.

He started his career with the Wizards, where he was trained as a starting center, but after moving to the Nuggets, he had become a substitute, and over the past two years, major injuries had drastically reduced his attendance.

He had renewed a 4-year $44 million contract with the Nuggets in 2012, and there was still a year and a half left on that contract.

It was easy for the Cavaliers to trade for him, simply by exchanging Bargnani straight up—salary matched, and the Cavaliers could even scoop a protected first-round pick from the Nuggets.

Hansen immediately passed on it.

McGee was fine in every aspect—a seven-foot center with height, arm span, speed, and jump—all of which were very suitable for the era of small ball.

The main issue lay in his basketball IQ, which was not just low, but frustratingly low; even JR seemed like a genius compared to him.

Put it this way, McGee being a regular on O’Neal’s ’Shaqtin’ a Fool’ wasn’t any kind of discrimination; it’s just that many of his on-court actions could easily cause the coach to have a stroke.

Moreover, the Cavaliers already had two headache-inducing players, Irving and JR; adding McGee would turn them into the Cleveland Rehabilitation Center for Problematic Youths.

Hansen certainly didn’t have the energy to be the warden of such a facility.

The second person on the list was Timofey Mozgov.

The Nuggets had chosen Nu’er Jiqi this year and found him quite promising after giving him some playing time, which wasn’t enough; they wanted to offload McGee and Mozgov as well.

Mozgov also had a year and a half left on his contract, but it was only about $10 million for two years, with the second year being a team option.

Considering his season average of 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, the cost-performance ratio was quite high.

Because of this, his price was much higher—requiring two protected first-round picks.

If Hansen remembered correctly, Mozgov was supposed to join the Cavaliers on this trade deadline.

His strengths and weaknesses were very clear: his strengths included rim protection and explosive power as a big man; his weaknesses were being born in the wrong era.

His lateral movement was too poor, virtually without any mismatch defense capability, and he couldn’t defend outside, suited for regular season matches but easily targeted in the playoffs to the extent of not being able to play.

If the Cavaliers could trade for him using only Hawes, it would be worth it, but two future first-round picks seemed too great a loss.

Hansen reviewed several other candidates, but not many could bring substantial help to the team.

That was normal; setting aside the issue of chips, in an era when even Big Gasol could play center and become an All-Star, you knew how scarce truly useful big men were in the League.

However, Hansen was stunned by a name he saw later on.

Garnett?

Garnett would be 39 years old this coming May; this season with the Celtics, he averaged only 7.5 points and 6.8 rebounds, and his shooting percentage was only 45.5%.

Note, this was data from a tanking team, and his tank was nearly empty.

But if Hansen remembered correctly, Garnett’s previous contract included a no-trade clause.

He remembered now; Garnett seemed to be the one who returned to Minnesota this year to end his career.

But Cleveland was not Minnesota, not to mention his rookie period jumping on Boston’s scorer’s table screaming "I am your daddy," and just recently he had broken through Garnett’s defense—would Garnett be willing to waive his no-trade clause?

If you were talking about Durant wanting to come to the Cavaliers, Hansen might see it as more likely.

But, you never know, if Garnett really came, he could set the tempo himself and earn a hefty dose of hate.

Well, forming a group, Hansen had done that too.

Never mind how much fuel Garnett had left, after all, his name was Garnett. With his disposition this season upsetting LeBron fans and Kobe fans alike, as long as someone led the way, the rhythm would definitely skyrocket.

"KG, if the trade doesn’t go through, then target the buyout market."

While reviewing earlier, Hansen noticed some who had absolutely no trade value, like Stademeyer, with a big contract of $23.41 million, with buyout being essentially the only option.

Where possible, save the draft picks without using them.

Time quickly advanced to the trade deadline.

The first deal that broke out shocked the entire League.

The Heat traded two future first-round draft picks and a bunch of fringe players to the Phoenix Suns for the Dragic brothers!

What, are you playing NBA 2K?

After the trade, the Heat’s starting lineup would be Dragic, Wade, Durant, Deng, and Big Gasol!

Were the Suns taking revenge on the entire League?

Not exactly, because those two first-round draft picks from the Heat were indeed for the future, one in 2017 and the other in 2021.