Lose & Win, Win & Lose: Your 2012 Cleveland Cavaliers
“Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose.” – White Men Can’t Jump
The reason anyone cares about sports is because we keep score. The line between winners and losers is clearly marked without ambiguity by looking at the scoreboard after the game. Keeping score to determine winners and losers is fundamentally what makes games compelling. Though producing an entertaining, lucrative product that satisfies fans is essential for professional owners, winning is the end-goal for organizations (except, of course, for the Browns and the Washington Generals), and it is why the game is played.
That being said, the Cleveland Cavaliers should be doing everything they possibly can to tank this season. Because if they win, they really lose; and if they lose, they really win.
Any half-serious fan understands the cyclical nature of professional sports: Unless you’re the Yankees or the Red Sox and have unlimited and unchecked capital to outright purchase the best players, you cannot have a winning franchise every single year—even the teams fortunate enough and savvy enough to procure talented players will see those same players get older and suffer diminished skills, or have players leave via free agency seeking a better financial offer or situation.
In order to level the playing field, pro sports leagues are designed to give the worst teams the best chance at drafting stars by letting them pick the highest in their respective yearly drafts. The hope is that the worst teams can gain respectability through savvy drafting and shrewd front-office maneuvers.
Additionally, any half-conscious fan knows the drudgery that accompanies perennially mediocre teams. The only worse thing than being a losing franchise is being an average franchise. The Atlanta Hawks are a perfect example of being stuck in NBA purgatory. They always sneak into the playoffs being one of the bottom seeds, and routinely get treated like a would-be Ryan Gossling attacker in an elevator.
By being a middle-of-the-road team, the Hawks have little hope of finding a star in the middle parts of the draft, and have little chance to parlay their current roster, which is made up of some good, but not franchise players into anything substantial.
Between Kyrie Irving playing above everyone’s expectations (and making his teammates better with his ability to collapse defenses), Anderson Varejao having a career season where he is playing more like an All-Star than a solid role player, and Byron Scott’s roster puppeteering getting everyone to play hard night-after-night, the Cavaliers have outperformed all preseason expectations.
There are currently 10 teams either tied with, or with a worse record than the Cavs, and who would have an advantage going into the lottery. This is why General Manager Chris Grant should be waking up every night to nightmares of the Cavaliers morphing into the Atlanta Hawks. This year’s NBA draft is expected to be rich with talent, and with Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson looking like they are only going to grow as players in the future, the time to lose is now.
Which is not to say that Chris Grant and Dan Gilbert should take notes from the movie Major League and bring in the NBA’s equivalent of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn and Pedro Cerrano in order to ensure a losing season, but rather, they should trade some pieces that are helping to get the Cavs several wins this season, but who don’t have a future with the team.
Antawn Jamison and Ramon Sessions are veteran players who are contributing this year and have some value around the league, but who don’t figure into the Cavs future. Jamison is in his 13th year and well past his prime, but still scores over 15 ppg. Sessions, in just his 4th season is contributing 9 ppg and 5 assists off the bench. However, due to Antawn’s age and Sessions being relegated to the bench behind Irving, they would both be more attractive to teams that are looking to add a veteran scorer to contend this season and to teams without a viable point guard, respectively.
Trading both of these players for draft picks and/or young prospects that could be utilized in the future would do nothing but help the future of the organization without helping the Cavaliers turn into the Atlanta Hawks.
Also, Chris Grant would be foolish not to listen to offers for Anderson Varejao. Even though the 29-year-old veteran is having his best career season and playing out of his mind right now (averaging almost 11 points and 12 rebounds), if you can get a lottery pick in this stacked upcoming draft, you have to seriously consider it. Even though Varejao is a coach’s dream with the intensity and hustle he brings night-in and night-out, he will never be more than a really good role player.
Professional sports are not about loyalty or heart-warming stories: they are billion-dollar businesses. The Cavaliers should know firsthand that there is no loyalty in sports, only paychecks to be collected and better offers to consider. I’m sure that Carlos Boozer and LeBron James would be more than happy to remind Cavs’ management that if they’ve forgotten.
Although Jamison, Sessions, and especially Varejao have contributed to the Cavaliers, Cavs management needs to do whatever they can to build a championship contender—even if they have to trade a fan-favorite and lose some games to do it.
– Adam Redling
Ten Cent Beers 
Awesome article, Adam. Here are my thoughts:
1) Any time you can relevantly quote “White Men Can’t Jump,” you have to do it.
2) Five years ago, did anyone think that when coming up with an analogy for some bad-ass ass-kicking, one of the best options would be a link to a Ryan Gosling movie scene?
3) Not sure you are going to catch much resistance to the idea of trading Jamison and Sessions. ESPECIALLY Jamison, assuming you can get anything for him.
4) But that’s a big assumption. I’m not sure how much value he brings anyone. He might be most valuable as an expiring contract to the Cavs. I would hate to trade Jamison for $15 million worth of crap that extends beyond 2012.
5) That being said, I have a hypo: pretend the Memphis Grizzlies are furious with themselves for signing Rudy Gay to $15M/year contract. Would you trade Jamison for Gay? … Basically, that question boils down to: would you be willing to take on Rudy Gay at that contract? I think I would. But I think I value Gay more than most.
6) Some people want them to win. I don’t get it. Totally agree with you here. This roster is not winning a championship. Free agents aren’t going to flock to Cleveland. My adoration for this beautiful city is unfortunately not shared with most NBA players.
7) They need to strike gold in the draft again this year. I think there is a big difference between a top 7 pick and the 12th pick, this year especially.
8) Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, MKG, Harrison Barnes, Jeremy Lamb. In that order. Those are my guys for the Cavs this year.
9) I have been wavering on the whole trading Varejao thing, but I think I disagree with you. If he can continue to play at this pace (sizable if), you have to keep him. You’re not going to get something equitable in return and you would create such a gaping hole.
10) Say we can trade him for Boston’s 16th and 20th picks (As Bill Simmons suggested). Do you really want to give up Andy and all that he brings (hustle, fan fare and apparently talent) for some gangly center rated BEHIND Meyers Leonard and another average athletic guard? No thanks.
11) Perhaps the best part about trading Andy would be that it would result in a lot more Cavs losses, giving us a better shot at Davis/Drummond and giving us a franchise big. But I’m not sure it’s worth that risk.
12) My biggest hesitation to trading him at this point might actually be that he has developed such great chemistry with Kyrie. The young PG seems to love him. On and off the court. I’m not so sure “no loyalty” is the best message to send to Kyrie in his first year.
Couldn’t the Indiana Pacers be considered the counter-example to your argument? Atlanta is sort of everyone’s measuring stick of long term mediocrity in the NBA, but the same could be said about how Indiana had built their team. They’ve been a fringe playoff team (8,9,10) in the past few years, but seem to be breaking through this year.
Look at Indiana’s draft picks the past few years; they haven’t had a top 10 pick yet continue to grow through trades, and building around their young core of Collison(via-trade), Granger(17th pick), and Hibbert (17th pick). Paul George also seems like a very nice young player drafted in 2010 with the 10th overall pick. What else do I like about the Pacers? They haven’t tanked seasons. Instead, they built confidence by almost making the playoffs with a young team. Finally breaking into the playoffs last year and being competitive with Chicago, it has carried over into this year.
Do I consider Indiana a title contender? No. But they have a lot of pieces in place, and with the right trade they could be contenders for years to come. I don’t disagree with you Redling, but I do see the other side as well. Won’t we look stupid if we trade Andy, Sessions, and Jamison to ensure a solid draft slot, and then it turns out Harrison Barnes(Or any lottery pick) is a total bust?
Let’s put it on ownership and management to find those guys in the 10-20 range who can be players. Those guys always are there, and that’s why these guys get paid a ton of money to do this job.
It’s a weird thing to say, but Andy getting hurt is the best thing that could have happened to the Cavs–they get to keep him, while at the same time, lose some games to get into the heart of the lottery (hopefully). I would really hate getting rid of Andy because he plays his ass off, but he couldn’t be the Pippen to anyone in the leagues Jordan. The strategy of losing games to benefit in the lottery is truly a pathetic play by all accounts, but I think it’s necessary in this case: it serves a function, but is degrading and demoralizing–like wearing a fanny pack. There is no guarantee that whoever the Cavs pick in the draft will be a star, but a better pick helps their chances, obviously. As for the Pacers, I don’t think they have what it takes to make a strong run at anything substantial; although, the league doesn’t really have any teams that currently look like a lock for the finals. It’ll be interesting to see if any contenders make a blockbuster trade to get Howard or another star to improve their chances.