Cavs made a huge mistake and traded the wrong big man

[mg]

He's still over-paid, Sure hes a good player but he doesnt do any of the defensive things you need a big to do and hes not that elite offensively to make up for it

What? He's making $16mil per season. That is roleplayer money. If anything he's underpaid.

With that said the Dirk comparison is ridiculous. A 7' prime Gordon Hayward is a much better comp. Lauri is much improved after his season in Cleveland but is not a #1 franchise guy that will lead a team to playoff wins. He can be scouted and shut down in a playoff series. Lauri can be fine defensively in the right scheme but doesn't have the athleticism of a true franchise PF such as Evan Mobley.

[JN61]

I made a thread during European championships and said he will be excellent player for years to come and important future asset when they start to compete. Might even be fringe all-star.

There will be a lot of crows to eat when I pump that thread some time this season from the people who said he can't play.

[Johnny Bball]

I think it’s hilarious the jazz have won two already.

[JN61]

Lauri is a good player and starter and is still clearly improving his game and has upside,but he's not a superstar or star player in the league.He's like the 3rd or 4th guy on a true contender.But hats off to the Jazz with the 2-0 start,their a lot like the Nets before Kryie and KD showed up with a deep talented team that lacks a true superstar/star player.

While I agree he is never going to be superstar he still has all-star potential. You have to remember Markkanen has never player with elite PG. Imagine Markkanen-Westbrook/CP3 pick and rolls in their prime. Straight up lethal combos from the best pgs of this era to make their big men look elite.

Still in my opinion the European competitions showed that he has now taken a leap to be that guy to make plays even without proper PG (which he has always lacked)

[jbk1234]

Bad defender.

He's an underated defender, but he needs a rim protector alongside him and he never had that in Chicago.

I was, and still am, displeased that both Agbaji and Lauri were included with all that draft capital. That should've been an either/or situation with Ainge. Having said all that, Lauri is a bit of a streaky shooter and he can have off nights. He doesn't have that go-to, mid-range move like Dirk that's practically indefensible. When he's not hitting from deep, the rest of his offense is still a work in progress.

[JJ_PR]

The Cavs traded the right guy. It's apparent that they were ready to give up on the tall line-ups. It was highly successful last year, but I don't think there was any upside left. It was time to move on.

The Dirk comparison is laughable & disrespectful. Dirk is an all-time great. Markkanen is a nice young player but that's it.

[hoosierdaddy34]

He’s just shooting a lot. His True Shooting is 56% which is about league average. He’s been decent but let’s not get carried away by two games and let’s not completely ignore the other end of the floor where he is marginal at best. I’m sure the Cavs arent regretting their decision keeping Allen and Mobley over him

[Bornstellar]

When you start saying things like a better version of an all time great big man, your opinion kinda loses all credibility. Lauri is a good player but in no way does he have anywhere close to Dirk level potential

[BoomFizzle]

Cavs probably didn't make a mistake by trading Lauri, but the Levert trade was a definite mistake. As somebody who enjoyed watching the Cavs last year, I was really disappointed with the Lauri trade. Not because Lauri was particularly great, but because it was a breath of fresh air to watch a team do something differently. Allen, Mobley, Lauri was working well. Everybody on the team was getting touches offensively, and buying in defensively.

It seems like more or less every team now just goes with an isolation heavy offense with the ball being with the smalls - Cavs just joining the club, which I find sad. Players like Lauri are relegated to spot up shooters (which he isn't actually that good at)

[JRoy]

lauri will develop into a better dirk after an enormous 2 game sample size. never change realgm

Better than Dirk because racism or something.

[Cavsfansince84]

It wasn't a mistake. Lauri can become a good piece for Utah without it being a mistake for the Cavs. Much more so if the Cavs end up winning a title in the next 3-4 years. It's not like we traded him for a 2nd rd pick.

[Tor_Raps]

The cavs probably didn't need to trade the player assets along with those juicy draft picks too. They should have found a way to send out Love instead.

[imDatknicksTape]

Spoiler:

once a non-black player starts playing solid, yall start this, smh. its gonna be a black league for a while, news flash

and yea, doncic is blk inside.

Don't interject race politics into basketball threads. It just gets people heated and derails the thread. -b

[Pelon chingon]

Prime Dirk was a whole problem respect to the legends. Those Kings/Mavs playoff games were so much fun.

[G R E Y]

Bad defender.

He's an underated defender, but he needs a rim protector alongside him and he never had that in Chicago.

I was, and still am, displeased that both Agbaji and Lauri were included with all that draft capital. That should've been an either/or situation with Ainge. Having said all that, Lauri is a bit of a streaky shooter and he can have off nights. He doesn't have that go-to, mid-range move like Dirk that's practically indefensible. When he's not hitting from deep, the rest of his offense is still a work in progress.

Hey if OP can make a statement like better version of Dirk I can make one based on our pre-season game versus the Jazz

I defer to those who've seen him play more, it's just when he was on the Bulls he was well, uninspired defensively. Don't really recall how he looked in the Cavs but having other bouncy bigs next to him who could get blocks certainly helped.

It's more about the effort from the admittedly limited minutes I've seen. He was sort of done with Chicago so hopefully some maturity and a fresh start on the Jazz help. Bigs do usually take longer to develop, and a clear role plus experience in the league work in his favour.

[celticfan42487]

I mean to be fair Lauri didn't belong at the SF spot anyways, he always belonged at the big spot.

So good for him and his career, and the Cavs made a trade about winning that was serious, it was time to get a player that actually belonged at the SF position and is a 3 and D guy there to compliment their roster.

So good for Lauri to get to put up stats which... checks profile... ah yes we're making a thread about 20 ppgs on 45% fg and 29% 3 point shooting... great. But also play in a role that suits his frame so he can get rebounds again.

And good for CLE who is actually serious about winning to get someone who can guard wings to makeup for the red carpet defense that Donovan Mitchell plays and hopefully not have to rely solely on Mobely and Jarret finding ways to not foul out before the half.

The Cavs didn't get this though... Lauri and Agbaji were going to get most/all of the minutes at SF and are now on the Jazz...

Ummm

Yes, where he can jack up shots and get a RealGM thread made about him being the next Dirk for somehow putting up 20 ppgs on 45% shooting. And no longer playing the SF spot. So good for Lauri.

And Lauri can't play real defense at the SF spot, which the Cavs need someone with exceptional defense at the SF spot because Mitchell can't play defense at any position in the NBA.

So it's a win win. Lauri's only role post trade for the Cavs would be a backup big which would kill his career, and it would basically force Kevin Love to retire because he'd just be doing Kevin Love's role 10x better than he can right now on the Cavs.

It just wasn't a good fit. But now that they have a team and are actually trying to win for real Lauri can goto a team and jack up as many shots as his heart desires, playing a position that his skill set and physical gifts demand he plays to show off all he brings on the court, and the Cavs can pursue the missing piece at SF that can tie everything together for them and bring them a ring.

Who that is I have no idea. Honestly maybe Jaylen Brown. But since he's not available I guess throw a late first at the Suns for Jae Crowder and hope for the best.

[BobbyPortisEyes]

Markannen is very skilled for his size. Decent ballhandler and passer, and actually has some playmaking ability.

Seems like it took 5 years for the Americans realize that Lauri is able to do also other things than stand behind the line and shoot 3 pointers like Cavs and Bulls used him.

Will Hardy develop him to better version of Dirk. That is sure.

(Best rim protector in NBA owned so hard by Lauri)

Read on Twitter

Let me guess.. you're from Finland.

[Black Jack]

I agree, Cavs got too cute with their twin tower lineup, Mitchell and Garland would both benefit from extra spacing.

So you want Cavs to get rid of one of their 2 current excellent bigs?

Mitchell and Garland should CREATE spacing by hitting some outside shots!

[TheLand13]

I don't think Cleveland will have any regrets about trading him, but we don't have enough games to go off of to make this distinction. We need more time before we can come to that conclusion.

But regardless of the matter, I don't think Lauri playing at SF would have been the ticket to Cleveland making that next big leap. Getting Mitchell is. And Mobley and Allen are not the people to give up in that kind of scenario, as they are far too good at what they do to even be considered trade options.

[jameslayfa342]

I think it’s hilarious the jazz have won two already.

This should be the general takeaway from this thread lol