Cleveland Cavaliers NBA 2015 news: Brendan Haywood, 24th overall pick to be traded for point guard

Wikipedia

The Cleveland Cavaliers came up short in the recently concluded NBA Finals and are now looking for a point guard this offseason after being manhandled by the facilitators of the Golden State Warriors in their championship series.

Guards Stephen Curry (2015 MVP), Klay Thompson, Leandro Barbosa, Shaun Livingston and forwards Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala (2015 Finals MVP) and Harrison Barnes were the players for Golden State who were capable of bringing down the ball and facilitating during the Finals.

"The one thing that we did see in Golden State, and it was something that was very difficult for us to deal with, is they have an incredibly versatile team of multiple facilitating playmakers," Cavs general manager David Griffin said.

"That's something we're going to continue to work upon. The more playmaking facilitators you have that know how to play the game, the better off you are, and I think you saw the value of that in the team that ultimately did win," he added.

In their pursuit for a point guard that can play alongside Kyrie Irving, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported that Cleveland is looking to trade center Brendan Haywood along with the 24th overall pick in this year's draft.

Haywood has a $10.5 million pact with the Cavs which is unguaranteed for next season if they waive him on August 2.

The contract will draw interest especially if a team is looking to offload salary or use Haywood's contract for another trade deal, Windhorst said.

Landing a point guard via trade is huge for the Cavaliers since reserve playmaker Matthew Dellavedova and shooting guard Iman Shumpert are impending free agents.

Although Cleveland must wait for the draft to end to trade their 24th overall pick after already dealing away their 2016 first-round pick including him in the deal that sent versatile forward Kevin Love to the team.

Haywood was used minimally last season only playing in 22 games averaging 1.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 blocks.