Carmelo Anthony was always projected to be a good fit with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fans dreamed of days where we’d sign or trade for him and get their own “Big Four” in wine and gold. But with the recent news that Kyrie Irving has requested to be traded off the team before this upcoming season the fit of Anthony is that much greater. He now is the perfect center piece of the kings ransom the Cavaliers are searching for in return for the superstar point guard. With Irving leaving their will be a larger role in the offense for Anthony to take over. He has the ability to be a gifted scorer and taker of moments of delivery. But Anthony has also shown when playing for team USA that he can be a lethal spot up shooter. This paired with LeBron James will be a deadly duo.
When looking at potential deals that involve Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony there are endless three team options. The most interesting part is Cleveland isn’t looking for the typical haul a team tries to get for a superstar they’re instead searching for pieces to match against Golden State. There are 28 teams in the league you could pull into a trade that ultimately leaves the Cavaliers in a better situation against the Warriors this upcoming season. The Cavaliers have claimed they want to get veteran pieces, a young prospect, and picks in return for Irving. The perfect third team in these talks is Phoenix they have young prospects if they’re willing to budge on them, if not they’re young enough where they still could use assets to turn into more picks. A three-team trade could possibly end up like this
Cleveland Receives
– F Carmelo Anthony
– G Eric Bledsoe
– 2018 First Round Pick (NY, Top 5 Protected)
– 2020 First Round Pick (NY, Top 10 Protected)
New York Receives
– G Kyrie Irving
Phoenix Receives
– F Channing Frye
– G Iman Shumpert
– G Kay Felder
– 2018 Second Round Pick (NY, Unprotected)
Cleveland gets Carmelo Anthony, Eric Bledsoe, and two first round picks (top 5 and top 10 protections). I feel like this is a realistic haul we aren’t getting to much but we also aren’t getting fleeced for a star player. Carmelo can fill in for a ton of scoring and next to LeBron will flourish. He will be able to get his shots and is a wing who can be better on defense than he gets credit for. Eric Bledsoe while not amazing is a good point guard who can score, play defense, and run an offense. While that won’t be his primary role next to James he will be able to get the offense flowing when James is resting. While the two first round picks won’t mean much right now come the trade deadline they could be used to bring in a Paul George or Demarcus Cousins type player who is a star but is also a free agent who could be determined to leave. Going into game one of the season the Cavaliers could be running a line up of…
Eric Bledsoe | Carmelo Anthony | LeBron James | Kevin Love | Tristan Thompson
Tristan and to a lesser extent Kevin Love can switch to guards, Bledsoe is able to cover the point guards, Anthony and James can rotate on forwards and shooting guards. Which most are nearly the height of Carmelo. This will also allow them to take less of a beating against bigger defenders. That line up as is with being completely centered around LeBron could beat Golden State. But if you were to flip those first round picks and maybe some other pieces into DeMarcus Cousins and going into the playoffs you have a line up of…
Eric Bledsoe | Carmelo Anthony | LeBron James | Kevin Love | DeMarcus Cousins
It’d be debatable that the Cleveland Cavaliers could be the favorites for the NBA championship. While losing Kyrie Irving could be bad for the team in the post LeBron era it could be the best thing to happen to the team in the LeBron era. Instead of trading Kevin Love who is way undervalued we get to trade Kyrie Irving who is anything is overvalued. The added benefit of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony being good friends allows Anthony to be the perfect centerpieces of the Kyrie Irving trade haul.
