Cavs need to flip Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love

LeBron James has reached out to Kevin Love about playing together in Cleveland, according to NBA trade rumors reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. James is the smartest player in the league and recruiting Love to the Cavaliers is a no-brainer. Love is one of the best players in the league; a rebounding machine that can dominate offensively from the low post, the mid-range area, or by bombing threes with great efficiency. His proficiency throwing accurate outlet passes is second to none. Together with James and new coach David Blatt, the Cavaliers would have a top-five offense that would dominate both in transition and in the half-court.

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But for Cleveland to acquire Love, they’d most likely have to surrender number one pick Andrew Wiggins. There are other young pieces on the roster – Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett – but Wiggins is quite clearly the Cavaliers’ best trade asset. To this point, the Cavaliers have been reluctant to put Wiggins on the table in trade talks with Minnesota, and for good reason.

While LeBron is only 29, he’s already got a lot of mileage on his legs. For his career, he’s averaging 39.5 minutes per game in the regular season. James participated in the 2012 Olympics and is coming off four straight finals appearances. When he’s locked in, he can still be one of the best and most disruptive defensive players in the league. But given his workload the past few seasons and all he has to do on offense, James is understandably susceptible to coasting on defense.

Much of Wiggins’ value, especially early in his career while he’s still developing his offensive game, will come in his perimeter defense. He has the size, length, and athleticism to match-up with the league’s best scorers. Being able to guard the other team’s best player will relieve pressure from James, especially in the regular season.

With the salary cap playing such an integral role in team building, Wiggins’ value as a cheap asset cannot be understated. Even if he ends up being worthy of a max-level extension in a few seasons, his cap number won’t be as high as Love’s likely will be when his current deal expires in two seasons. In the short term, he’ll be playing on a rookie deal that’ll afford the Cavaliers more cap flexibility than if they were to take on Love, who makes over $32 million over the next two seasons (assuming he picks up his player option in 2015-16). Take a look at Love’s career per-game stats:

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Generated 7/18/2014.

In Miami, James was dominant running a wide-open offense predicated on three-point shooting and driving to the rim. Much of what the Heat did was made possible by Chris Bosh‘s ability to stretch the floor from both the four and five spots. Love can’t play heavy minutes at center – he’s not as good defensively as Bosh and can’t protect the rim – but he’s one of the deadliest outside shooters in the league. He would give the Cavaliers freedom to play the same wide-open style offense that Miami did. Of course, that philosophy also fits in with what new coach David Blatt wants to do.

Blatt comes from Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague, where he built his reputation as a tactical offensive wizard whose teams excelled running wide open offense predicated around the pick and roll. Mike D’Antoni‘s Suns brought that style back into the mainstream in the mid-2000s and now much of the league is running some variation of his offense. Blatt’s offensive philosophy is in-line with the modern-day game. In James and Love, he’d have two superstars who are tailor made to run his offense.

And while adding Love would propel Cleveland to great heights offensively, he doesn’t fit an immediate need. As is, they can just slot Wiggins and James in at the forward spots and be just fine. For Cleveland, a rim protecting center is a much more immediate need. In a way, the situation is similar to Carmelo Anthony‘s free agent tour just a few weeks ago.

Had Anthony left New York for Houston, the Rockets would’ve been adding another offensive dynamo to an already dynamic offensive team. Although Anthony wouldn’t have fit an immediate need, it was almost universally agreed upon that his addition would’ve made Houston a better team. Their offense would’ve reached a level few teams in the league could match on a night-in, night-out basis.

If the Cavaliers wanted to pursue dealing for a center, they could call Atlanta about

. Bo Churney at Hardwood Paroxysm made a

compelling case

for why Horford makes more sense for the Cavaliers than Love does. Horford is a strong defensive center and though he’s not a three point shooter, he’s more than capable of stretching defenses with a strong mid-range jump shot. The Cavaliers could call Memphis about

or the Pacers about

.

in Milwaukee would be a nice fit as well.

Having LeBron James on your roster opens up a plethora of previously unavailable options on many fronts. That’s certainly true here as it pertains to the Cavaliers and player acquisition. There are many trade avenues available for the Cavaliers to explore, but few of them, if any, will end up being as attractive as acquiring Love. But that isn’t just true for Cleveland. They’re not the only team in pursuit of Love’s services.

Before James signed in Cleveland, the Golden State Warriors were the favorite to win the Love sweepstakes. The biggest hurdle in those talks has been Golden State’s reluctance to throw Klay Thompson into a trade, but that can change at a moment’s notice. Frankly it’s shocking that Golden State hasn’t agreed to throw Thompson in already. There’s something to be said for holding out and trying to get the best trade possible, but James signing in Cleveland should’ve spurred the Warriors to try and get a trade done immediately. Boston has also been long rumored as a possible Love destination. They don’t have a player to trade as sought after as Thompson or Wiggins, but they do have a plethora of draft picks to move.

The presence of other teams on the market limits the amount of posturing Cleveland can do as well. Unless Love comes out and says that he’s not going anywhere but Cleveland, there is a possibility the Timberwolves could strike a deal with another team. Golden State may not have LeBron, but they’re certainly a team that Love should be open to going to.

Because of the salary cap and Cleveland’s defensive deficiencies, trading Wiggins for Love isn’t black and white as trading a rookie for a superstar typically would be. But having LeBron means the Cavaliers will be good no matter who is playing next to him. He covers up for the deficiencies of the players around him; just look at some of the supporting casts he’s brought deep into the playoffs. The Cavaliers should be looking to add another superstar and Love is the best one available.

Wiggins has star potential, but players of Love’s caliber don’t come along very often. And as we’ve seen with Dirk Nowitzki and Carmelo Anthony when the Knicks are smart and play him at power-forward, having a dominant stretch-four can make all the difference offensively in today’s NBA where many pick-and-roll defenses are predicated around sagging bigs into the paint area to protect the rim. Worst case scenario, Wiggins bottoms out as an above-average athlete and good perimeter defender. Useful, but not uncommon. We know what Love is, and we know what he can do for an offense. With Love, there isn’t a concern of whether he’ll ever reach his star potential. He’s already there.