Shams: Watson to CLE, Strus to LAC, picks to DEN

SlimShady83 · Post #21 » by **SlimShady83** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 1:40 am

Cavs won this but the fit will be weird

I'm now expecting Kuminga to Lakers next, not sure how I feel about that.

R-DAWG · Post #22 » by **R-DAWG** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 2:02 am

Is there room to bring back Harden under the apron?

Post #23 » by **MoneyTalks41890** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 2:03 am

R-DAWG wrote:Is there room to bring back Harden under the apron?

I think they have like 28m now after the Tre/Whitmore swap

jbk1234 · Post #24 » by **jbk1234** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 2:06 am

I hate that the first is unprotected. Don't mind trying to roll a hard six, but I'm not emptying my wallet to do it.

I hope Watson works out. If he doesn't, it's going to be hard to justify keeping Altman around.

Post #25 » by **Mavrelous** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 2:06 am

Watson got paid in the end, good for him, good for Denver getting a valuable 1st for him.
I like Watson more the Kuminga for the Cavs, but he has his ?, Clippers got a good rotation player for free.
St3in was strongly hinting this deal was immenint.

giberish · Post #26 » by **giberish** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:00 am

Kind of surprised a deal got done. Not easy given apron restrictions and teams mostly having filled out rosters at this point.

I'm not sure Watson is a lot better player than Strus, but he makes a lot more sense as a starting SF. Denver got good value but downgraded on-court.

Devilanche · Post #27 » by **Devilanche** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:01 am

mademan wrote:
Devilanche wrote:What’s in it for LAC . In a vacuum love the value for Denver and for Cleveland . But not sure if it’s directionally the right move for Denver and positionally the right fit for Cleveland.

Guess further moves are required .

Strus is a solid role player. If the timing is right for some team, they can get more for him than they gave up. If not, they can try and re-sign him at the end of the season

LAC have a lot of wings that they need invest minutes in.

babyjax13 · Post #28 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:03 am

Cleveland has some nice depth now and have addressed one of the big issues with Donovan, which is that he needs long perimeter defenders on the team. I like how they look right now:

Harden/Mitchell/Mann
Mitchell/Merrill/Thomas
Watson/Tyson/Hezonja
Mobley/Watson
Allen/Mobley/Bryant

Godaddycurse · Post #29 » by **Godaddycurse** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:06 am

babyjax13 wrote:Cleveland has some nice depth now and have addressed one of the big issues with Donovan, which is that he needs long perimeter defenders on the team. I like how they look right now:

Harden/Mitchell/Mann
Mitchell/Merrill/Thomas
Watson/Tyson/Hezonja
Mobley/Watson
Allen/Mobley/Bryant

Mann was traded for whitmore. I thought hezonja was a scam

giberish · Post #30 » by **giberish** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:07 am

babyjax13 wrote:Cleveland has some nice depth now and have addressed one of the big issues with Donovan, which is that he needs long perimeter defenders on the team. I like how they look right now:

Harden/Mitchell/Mann
Mitchell/Merrill/Thomas
Watson/Tyson/Hezonja
Mobley/Watson
Allen/Mobley/Bryant

Is that really a lot of depth? Most of the backups listed are starters at other positions. Outside of Merrill who off the bench is really a solid rotation player?

Obviously with the money in their starters they're bench is going to be limited but it's going to be a concern.

Blazinaway · Post #31 » by **Blazinaway** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:07 am

jbk1234 wrote:I hate that the first is unprotected. Don't mind trying to roll a hard six, but I'm not emptying my wallet to do it.

I hope Watson works out. If he doesn't, it's going to be hard to justify keeping Altman around.

does "unprotected" matter nearly as much with the new draft rules?

babyjax13 · Post #32 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:09 am

giberish wrote:
babyjax13 wrote:Cleveland has some nice depth now and have addressed one of the big issues with Donovan, which is that he needs long perimeter defenders on the team. I like how they look right now:

Harden/Mitchell/Mann
Mitchell/Merrill/Thomas
Watson/Tyson/Hezonja
Mobley/Watson
Allen/Mobley/Bryant

Is that really a lot of depth? Most of the backups listed are starters at other positions. Outside of Merrill who off the bench is really a solid rotation player?

Obviously with the money in their starters they're bench is going to be limited but it's going to be a concern.

I think it is. They are multipositional enough to absorb a lot of missed time from players. They have, IMO, 7 starting-caliber players in Harden/Mitchell/Merrill/Watson/Tyson/Mobley/Allen. Merrill is on the lower end of starting caliber and some of the other guys are in the lower quartile, too, for starters - but not a lot of teams have a 1-7 that can compete w/that.

Didn't realize Mann had been moved for Whitmore, but Whitmore has also shown he can at least score, so if someone goes down he is a warm body.

babyjax13 · Post #33 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:10 am

Since Reese is getting waived I'd actually like Cleveland to sign him. I think he is fine at the end of a rotation.

JimmyPlopper · Post #34 » by **JimmyPlopper** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:11 am

Trae Young / Bub Carrington / Tre Mann
Bilal Coulibaly / Tre Johnson
AJ Dybantsa / Kyshawn George / Justin Champagnie
Alex Sarr / Will Riley / Khris Middleton
Anthony Davis / DeAndre Ayton / Tristan Vukcevic

JimmyPlopper · Post #35 » by **JimmyPlopper** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:11 am

babyjax13 wrote:Since Reese is getting waived I'd actually like Cleveland to sign him. I think he is fine at the end of a rotation.

Are you referring to Alex Reese?

babyjax13 · Post #36 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:12 am

JimmyPlopper wrote:
babyjax13 wrote:Since Reese is getting waived I'd actually like Cleveland to sign him. I think he is fine at the end of a rotation.

Are you referring to Alex Reese?

Julian Reese, on the Wizards

jbk1234 · Post #37 » by **jbk1234** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 3:45 am

Blazinaway wrote:
jbk1234 wrote:I hate that the first is unprotected. Don't mind trying to roll a hard six, but I'm not emptying my wallet to do it.

I hope Watson works out. If he doesn't, it's going to be hard to justify keeping Altman around.

does "unprotected" matter nearly as much with the new draft rules?

Arguably more. You no longer need to be really bad to convey a top-3 pick.

Captain Ballmer · Post #38 » by **Captain Ballmer** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 6:45 am

Devilanche wrote:
mademan wrote:
Devilanche wrote:What’s in it for LAC . In a vacuum love the value for Denver and for Cleveland . But not sure if it’s directionally the right move for Denver and positionally the right fit for Cleveland.

Guess further moves are required .

Strus is a solid role player. If the timing is right for some team, they can get more for him than they gave up. If not, they can try and re-sign him at the end of the season

LAC have a lot of wings that they need invest minutes in.

Garland-Strus-Ingram-Rui-Lopez
Dunn-Wagler-J.Miller-DJJ-I.Jax
Beal(+)-Gradey-K.Sanders-B.Miller-Yanic(+).

Waive Broome and Cut Christie before guaranteed. Mathurin S&T for trade exception and 2nds?

Unless Beal granted minutes right away I expect him slowly integrated. But even this lineup I feel sorry because Kobe Sanders needs rotation minutes.

bgrep14 · Post #39 » by **bgrep14** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 10:03 am

jbk1234 wrote:I hate that the first is unprotected. Don't mind trying to roll a hard six, but I'm not emptying my wallet to do it.

I hope Watson works out. If he doesn't, it's going to be hard to justify keeping Altman around.

Agreed, there should’ve been top 2 protection on the pick imo but that’s the only problem I have with the trade.

R-DAWG · Post #40 » by **R-DAWG** » Thu Aug 20, 2026 10:29 am

Blazinaway wrote:
jbk1234 wrote:I hate that the first is unprotected. Don't mind trying to roll a hard six, but I'm not emptying my wallet to do it.

I hope Watson works out. If he doesn't, it's going to be hard to justify keeping Altman around.

does "unprotected" matter nearly as much with the new draft rules?

And why should Altman’s job be on the line? He has done a very good job rebuilding this team post LeBron to one of the top teams in the East. The Donnovan Mitchell swing has been successful. And the team was in the eastern conference finals last year.

Now - do I love turning Garland into Harden, or going further into pick debt for Watson - I don’t. But Cleveland has a top-10ish player in his prime in a somewhat wide open eastern conference, so you kind of have to go for it.

In a perfect world, you would turn Harden and Allen into Myles Turner and Derrick White types - a 3 and D rim protector to better space the floor and a bigger combo guard next to Mitchell - but that would require Mobley developing into a true #2 scorer.