The Cavaliers have dealt 23-year old power forward/center J.J. Hickson to the Sacramento Kings for 23-year old small forward Omri Casspi and a conditional future first round pick.  The pick is lottery protected in 2012.  It is also somewhat protected all the way until the 2017 season, so if the Kings don’t make the playoffs for a while, the Cavaliers will have to wait for the draft pick.  Hickson played in 80 games (66 starts) for the Cavaliers last year and he averaged 28.2 minutes, 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  In his three years with the Cavs, Hickson played in 223 games (139 starts) in which he averaged 20.9 minutes, 9.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.

Omri Casspi will be the starting small forward for the Cavaliers starting in 2011-12.  Casspi played in 71 games (27 starts) for the Kings last year and he averaged 24.0 minutes, 8.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  He has played in 148 games (58 starts) in his first two years in the NBA and he is averaging 24.5 minutes, 9.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Casspi has shot 37.1% from three point range in his career so he should help the team spread the court a little more.  I like the addition of Casspi, but I don’t think the Cavs got enough back for Hickson.  The Cavs better hope that rookie power forward Tristan Thompson is ready to rock in 2011-12.

26-year old center Ryan Hollins has picked up his player option to return to the Cavaliers in 2011-12.  He will make $2.5 million bucks next year.  Hollins played in 70 games (16 starts) for the Cavaliers last year and he averaged 16.9 minutes, 5.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  He has now played in 275 games (47 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 13.0 minutes, 4.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  The Cavaliers hope that Hollins plays like he did at the end of the 2010-11 season as he showed some toughness for once.

The Cavaliers took 21-year old, 6’9″, 260 pound power forward Milan Macvan out of Serbia with the 54th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft.  Macvan played in 52 games for four years in Europe last year and he averaged 19.6 minutes, 10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.  He has now played in 216 games in four years overseas and he has averaged 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  This would be a good pick if the Cavs thought he would come to the U.S., but it looks like he won’t.  This could be a wasted pick, which is something the Cavs really can’t afford at this point.

The Cavaliers took 20-year old, 6’8″, 225 pound power forward Tristan Thompson with the 4th overall pick of  the 2011 NBA Draft.  Thompson played in 36 games for Texas last year and he averaged 30.9 minutes, 13.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.4 blocked shots per game.  Thompson shot 54.6% from the floor last year but most of his shots were coming near or in the paint.  But, Thompson is a terrible free throw shooter as he only made 48.7% of his shots from the charity stripe.  The Cavs think they can coach him up as far as the free throw shooting is concerned.  It will be interesting to see how much P.T. Thompson gets initially for the Cavs as he is behind both J.J. Hickson and Antawn Jamison on the depth chart at power forward.  He appears to have a nice upside as he is a good defensive player and rebounder already, and he’s only 20 years old.

The Cleveland Cavaliers took 19-year old point guard Kyrie Irving with the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft last night.  Irving is 6’2″, 180 pounds but he could get bigger as he is still young.  Irving played in 11 games last year for Duke and he averaged 27.5 minutes, 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  He shot 52.9% from the floor and 46.2% from 3-point range last year at Duke.  It will be interesting to see how much P.T. Irving gets next season with Baron Davis, Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson all still on the Cavs’ roster.  Irving has been mostly compared to Chris Paul of the Hornets and the Cavs would be ecstatic if he’s that good of a player down the road for them.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a rough season in 2011-12.  But, they are armed with the #1, #4, #32 and #54 picks in this Thursday’s NBA Draft.  The Cavaliers are also talking deal with a lot of teams.  If the Cavaliers keep the #1 and #4 picks, most draft experts have them picking PG Kyrie Irving and C Enes Kanter.  I can also see some other scenarios for the Cavs though.  With small forward being such a need for the Cavaliers, I could see them taking Derrick Williams with the #1 overall pick and PG Brandon Knight, PG Kemba Walker or C Enes Kanter with the 4th pick.  The Cavaliers could also deal the 4th pick for an established player like Rudy Gay of the Grizzlies or to a team with multiple first round picks like the Bobcats who are sitting at #9 and #19.  Depending on who the Cavs pick with the first two picks they have, I can see them drafting for need in the second round.  They are desperate for help at SG and SF.  The Cavaliers can’t afford to miss with their first three picks as they are going to be a big part of the foundation of the future of the team.

Center Ryan Hollins and SG Anthony Parker are free agents heading into this off-season.  Hollins has a player option for the 2011-12 season.  If he’s worried about P.T., he will exercise his option to stay with the Cavs.  If he’s only worried about money, he might leave.  I think the Cavaliers are o.k. with whatever Hollins decides to do as he played much better late in the year.  Anthony Parker has stated that he would like to stay with the Cavs.  I think the Cavs will consider bringing him back, but only as a backup.

25-year old PG/SG Daniel Gibson turned in a solid, if inconsistent, year for the Cavaliers in 2010-11.  Gibson played in 67 games (15 starts) for the Cavs last year and he averaged 27.8 minutes, 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.  He has now played in 316 games (67 starts) in his first five years with the Cavaliers and he is averaging 23.7 minutes, 8.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game on 41.8% shooting from three point range.  “Boobie” Gibson is now #5 in Cavaliers’ history in 3-pointers made with 467 of them.

39-year old center Shaquille O’Neal came to the Cavs in a deal with the Suns prior to the beginning of the 2009-10 season.  He proclaimed to come to Cleveland to win a Ring for the King.  Well, that didn’t work out too well.  O’Neal played in 53 games (all starts) for the Cavaliers in 2009-10 and he averaged 23.4 minutes, 12.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  Yesterday, O’Neal decided to hang up his sneakers and retire from the NBA.  He played in 1,207 games (1,197 starts) in his NBA career and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 blocked shots per game.  Cavaliers’ fans got to see a fading Shaq, but it was nice to see a sure fire Hall of Famer donning a Cavs’ uniform for a year.