Fantasy Basketball: How Will Timofey Mozgov Fare In Cleveland?

Earlier this afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers continued revamping their roster. This time, they acquired center Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nuggets. Here is how the trade shapes up:

On the surface, this seems like a steep price to pay for a career backup like Mozgov. That said, those two first round picks are protected. One is top 18 protected this year, and top 15 protected in following years. The other will go to Denver if it falls between picks 6 and 14 in the next two years (it comes from the Grizzlies). It is top five protected after that.

The Cavaliers are in win-now mode, as evident by their offseason trade for Kevin Love. They gave up this year’s first overall pick in Andrew Wiggins to get him. The signing of LeBron James has taken this team from rebuilding to contender.

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The Cavaliers are hell bent on not making the same mistake that they did when they had LeBron the first time around. They are putting first class talent around him, and solidifying their bench. The bench had a big hole in it with the loss of starting center Anderson Varejao for the season. This forced top backup Tristan Thompson into a starting role, a role in which he was doing well in.

This is the second trade in three days for Cleveland, as they are trying to build a team that can not only win the East, but keep up with the teams in the West. They made a drastic improvement to their perimeter defense with the addition of Iman Shumpert. Now they get a true center in Mozgov. Whether he will start or not remains to be seen.

This was not some spur of the moment thing. The Cavs have reportedly been after Mozgov since Varejao went down.

Mozgov is only averaging 25.6 minutes per game this season. He is averaging 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds. Those numbers aren’t any better than Thompson’s (9.7 points, 8.1 rebounds). Chances are that Mozgov will be used much the same as he was in Denver. Him and Thompson figure to be mostly in a timeshare, with each seeing around 25-30 minutes per game. From a fantasy perspective, neither of their values will likely be affected in the short term. Thompson stands to lose some minutes, but probably not enough to cause a huge dropoff in numbers.

The true fantasy altering will take place on the Nuggets. They are sitting at 15-20, which will more than likely leave them out of the playoffs in the Western Conference. The trade of Mozgov for first rounders is a great deal for them, especially considering the depth they still have in the frontcourt. The play of Jusuf Nurkic predicated this move, and if you followed Dave Fuqua’s advice, you are sitting in a great position right now.

Nurkic receives the biggest boost in value from this deal. He will be the starter at center for Denver now. J.J. Hickson will be the top backup to him and PF Kenneth Faried. Javale McGee figures to be in the mix once he returns, but that could be far off. He is dealing with “soreness” in his tibia, and is without a timetable for a return. This gives the Nuggets ample time to evaluate what they have in Nurkic.

Kenneth Faried may receive a small boost in fantasy value if only because he won’t be able to fall victim to Brian Shaw’s rotations as much. Besides Hickson, the only true backup at PF is Darrell Arthur. Arthur may be worth a flier in deeper leagues for those of you desperate for help in points or rebounds.

So, Faried and Nurkic gain the most from a fantasy persepective. It may be worth sending out some offers to see if you can land one of them.

If you are a Mozgov or a Thompson owner, you likely won’t see much of a change either way. Thompson owners may experience a slight drop in production. If you can sell Thompson for his current value, it might be wise to do so. This is your only window. However, it does come with some risk. He may remain the starter over Mozgov depending on how the two play. Though I am inclined to believe that the person that they gave two first round picks for will not ride the bench. They paid this price to bring him in to start.

Next: Can Jusuf Nurkic Help You Win?

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