Cavs made a huge mistake and traded the wrong big man

[sip]

Yeah, he played as well as he had over his career in general. Wasn’t bad, had some streaks, but just not consistent or a centerpiece on a real contender. Glad he’s playing well. This isn’t some trade I want to see the other side fail. Those picks are going to be high and Ainge may package them for a better pick eventually, and Mitchell has been borderline MVP contender, so I’m glad Lauri is playing well. Those familiar with him just understand it likely won’t last. He’ll stay decent, but he’ll have a ten game stretch where he shoots 20% from 3 also.

I guess you missed the fact that he is doing this without shooting well from 3. The guy is in the best shape of his career and taken his game to completely different level. Once he gets hot from 3 he is going to put up some huge numbers for that stretch.

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I’ll bump this thread in three months and he’ll be averaging 16 and 8 on average efficiency, and there is nothing wrong with that, but Lauri is a limited player. Everyone gets excited about him when he first arrives, then reality sets in.

How exactly is he a limited player? What doesn't he do well?

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[VanWest82]

He might be better than Dirk but can he reach 13 games Bargnani?

[yoyoboy]

He was stuck in CLE he had quite few bad games for them . Clearly he needed a new team and new start

Really? That's news to Cavs fans who watched every game last year.

Also, he wasn't stuck here, he chose to sign with the Cavs. It was a S&T.

Yeah by all accounts Lauri loved being here and was really shocked by the trade. Most Cavs fans badly wanted to keep him and thought he played excellent in his first year playing a completely different role. Apparently Ainge weren’t willing to get the trade done unless Markkanen was coming back, so unfortunately there was no way of us throwing in Caris instead or anything like that, or else we would’ve.

None of what he’s doing in Utah so far has surprised me. I’m so happy for Lauri and hope he keeps this up. He’s such a talented player for a guy his size.

[Catchall]

I think Lauri is good enough to be the third guy in a Big Three scenario. I think he still needs other guys to get him some space to get open looks and to drive. He's been playing well on the defensive end, and I've been surprised how well he can pass it. I just think his role is to be your Al Horford if you've already got Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Or maybe he's like MPJ if you've got Jokic and Murray.

[Bolivar]

Frankly I've mostly watched some highlight reels and 4th quarters but I'd recommend that to some "doubters" as well, at least watch how he scores his baskets. There's a few jumpshots per game but most importantly he drives to the basket and doesn't shy away from contact at all. He's done something very very well in his physical prep to the season, he seems very comfortable in his tall frame now. That wasn't the case in Chicago, there he would mostly just hope to get the ball to get a jumpshot off but it was other players who drove to the basket and thus had kind of earned their way to get big points and big contracts. Cavs Lauri was something in-between I guess, the potential was there but the Cavs fans weren't particularly high on him. Now he's had excellent physical summer training, a good Eurobasket tournament as the obvious #1 player in the Finnish roster etc. It might be that he kind of peaks early (=about now) and then the long season starts to show, but let's hope he stays healthy throughout the season.

This thread is a bit too click-bait though and the Dirk trolling doesn't help, but guess there will be a better active thread sooner or later.

[Knightfall]

Reading this thread is funny. Can really see who watches the games and who doesnt bother and just talk. You have people saying he's now back at his position at PG yet he's been playing SF every game as numerous people have kept saying he has been.

Guy puts up a good season at SF in cleveland and follows it up with a better season at SF in Utah, the team is winning and people are still screaming he's a PF like fools. Alot of peope really showing they're not actually in tune and watching the games. Just talking to try to sound smart even lying to try to push their pointless opinions.

[PaKii94]

"Better version of Dirk" is too much (making that claim is going to derail the entire thread), but as the #1 Lauri Markkanen supporter on the forum, I am not surprised to see him doing well. He has a lot of the ideal tools, despite the health issues.

I dispute your #1 Lauri supporter claim I've been calling for this version of Lauri since his rookie season!

[PaKii94]

Reading this thread is funny. Can really see who watches the games and who doesnt bother and just talk. You have people saying he's now back at his position at PG yet he's been playing SF every game as numerous people have kept saying he has been.

Guy puts up a good season at SF in cleveland and follows it up with a better season at SF in Utah, the team is winning and people are still screaming he's a PF like fools. Alot of peope really showing they're not actually in tune and watching the games. Just talking to try to sound smart even lying to try to push their pointless opinions.

Yup. And you can also easily see the bulls fans who haven't watched him recently

[jazzfan1971]

He's definitely a better Pete Chilcutt.

[Knightfall]

Reading this thread is funny. Can really see who watches the games and who doesnt bother and just talk. You have people saying he's now back at his position at PG yet he's been playing SF every game as numerous people have kept saying he has been.

Guy puts up a good season at SF in cleveland and follows it up with a better season at SF in Utah, the team is winning and people are still screaming he's a PF like fools. Alot of peope really showing they're not actually in tune and watching the games. Just talking to try to sound smart even lying to try to push their pointless opinions.

Yup. And you can also easily see the bulls fans who haven't watched him recently

I'm a Bulls fan and I agree. You're 100% right. I also felt the Bulls were not developing him or WCJ correctly and considering they both improved after leaving the team I was right. I also didnt like how they used Lauri.

[antonac]

OK, I'm sold. I saw a pic of Markkanen and thought it was blake griffin.

But bigger.

That can shoot.

[Backcountry]

I don't think the Cavs traded the "wrong big man", because they got Mitchell in return. However, I think Markkanen will have a great year (unless Ainge trades him somewhere that's a bad fit in the name of tanking), and I chose him as my MIP prediction in the pre-season poll because of his performance at Euro Cup.

[Hoppy1]

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

Read on Twitter

So you're saying that Markkanen, a career 15.4 PPG / 6.8 RPG player who's 25 years old and already had his fair share of injuries, will become a better version of Nowitzki? The same Nowitzki, who's arguably a Top 20 ATG, who had 25/10 playing 80 games per season when he was the same age?

Don't let stats or facts get in the way. OP remembers when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

[JonFromVA]

Yeah, don't try to make Cavs fans hate Lauri?

We didn't set his trade value, the rest of the league did that.

The Cavs would have gladly done a Lauri for Mitchell swap straight up (with filler), give or take some picks coming back to us because we were the team trading big for small (this used to be a big no-no) ... but go read the threads on the game board declaring that RJ Barrett was worth 2 first rounders by himself and everyone the Cavs was offering was filler.

Mitchell has been way more than advertised - and if we're really going to judge by a half dozen games - he's been playing at a level we've never seen anyone sustain for a season.

Is it wrong for both sides to be happy with a trade?

[JonFromVA]

Frankly I've mostly watched some highlight reels and 4th quarters but I'd recommend that to some "doubters" as well, at least watch how he scores his baskets. There's a few jumpshots per game but most importantly he drives to the basket and doesn't shy away from contact at all. He's done something very very well in his physical prep to the season, he seems very comfortable in his tall frame now. That wasn't the case in Chicago, there he would mostly just hope to get the ball to get a jumpshot off but it was other players who drove to the basket and thus had kind of earned their way to get big points and big contracts. Cavs Lauri was something in-between I guess, the potential was there but the Cavs fans weren't particularly high on him. Now he's had excellent physical summer training, a good Eurobasket tournament as the obvious #1 player in the Finnish roster etc. It might be that he kind of peaks early (=about now) and then the long season starts to show, but let's hope he stays healthy throughout the season.

This thread is a bit too click-bait though and the Dirk trolling doesn't help, but guess there will be a better active thread sooner or later.

Some very solid points here.

I do expect Lauri coming off Eurobasket and no other post-season besides 2 play in games is physically ahead of the league. As other teams and players start to get serious in another month or so and if Utah is still seen as a threat, you will see opposing coaches start to game plan for him.

Injuries of some sort are pretty much an inevitability. Even if it's nothing serious, the twisted ankles and blows to the knees, back, etc, take a toll.

And that's always where the true test of a #1 option begins - dealing with the best defenders, coping with doubles teams, and playing hurt without losing that edge.

[madmaxmedia]

Yeah, don't try to make Cavs fans hate Lauri?

We didn't set his trade value, the rest of the league did that.

The Cavs would have gladly done a Lauri for Mitchell swap straight up (with filler), give or take some picks coming back to us because we were the team trading big for small (this used to be a big no-no) ... but go read the threads on the game board declaring that RJ Barrett was worth 2 first rounders by himself and everyone the Cavs was offering was filler.

Mitchell has been way more than advertised - and if we're really going to judge by a half dozen games - he's been playing at a level we've never seen anyone sustain for a season.

Is it wrong for both sides to be happy with a trade?

I guess the Jazz also made a huge mistake and traded the wrong small man.

[Revived]

I don't think the Cavs traded the "wrong big man", because they got Mitchell in return. However, I think Markkanen will have a great year (unless Ainge trades him somewhere that's a bad fit in the name of tanking), and I chose him as my MIP prediction in the pre-season poll because of his performance at Euro Cup.

If he can stay healthy, I agree he will be a candidate for MIP.

[Dick Tate]

I think the Cavs are too busy winning to notice their mistake.

[Blacksheep25]

I think the Cavs are too busy winning to notice their mistake.

True. Plus add in Dean Wade playing half his minutes and shooting 60% from the field and over 50% from three and playing excellent defense. We liked him, but it isn’t like there’s a problem he’s gone. We kind of like Donovan Mitchell and winning.

[INKtastic]

Wrong big man? They sure weren’t going to trade Allen or Mobley and are thrilled with Mitchell.