Trade Deadline Sound Off: Did The Cavs Make The Right Moves?

CLEVELAND, OH — The NBA trade deadline sometimes passes quietly, with a few odds and ends being swapped. Not this year. Not under new Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman's watch.

The team had an extraordinarily busy early afternoon, making three separate trades that brought in four players and shipped out six. Here's the quick math.

Brought-in: Rodney Hood, George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr.

Shipped out: Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Channing Frye, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert

The Cavs also sent their own first round pick to Los Angeles to facilitate the Lakers deal. It was a big day.

For a star-studded, LeBron James-led team to make so many drastic roster moves suggests the front office, and possibly James, were not happy with the direction the team was heading. Now the Cavaliers are younger and more versatile on defense, though the team may have given up some shooting (mostly in the form of Frye).

To be fair, the team had been maligned lately, mired in rumors of locker room tension and on-court chemistry issues. The Cavaliers were 5-5 over the past 10 games, including some humiliating losses to Orlando (blowing a 21-point lead) and Houston (where the team was lambasted 120-88).

The team is ranked third in the Eastern Conference with a 31-22 record. They're behind both the Toronto Raptors (37-16) and Boston Celtics (39-16) in the standings. Many predicted moves were coming. It didn't take Nostradamus to make those predictions.

Still, the reaction around the league to the sheer number of departures and additions has been astounding. Cleveland's own The Miz (of WWE fame) took to Twitter to say, "Holy trade deadline Batman!" Cavs making moves and we still have 90 minutes left."

Former Cavaliers point guard Daniel "Boobie" Gibson spoke highly of the deadline moves. He said on Twitter he thought Cavaliers were "set up to go get this ring now."

One of the low-hanging fruit punchlines, which was repeated over and over on social media, was that the Cavaliers have so many new players there would have to be an ice breaking game held tomorrow to get the roster acquainted.

David Axelrod, a political commentator for CNN, compared Thursday's action to the end of the Godfather (spoiler alert?) when Michael Corleone "took care of all family business!" He added that he's never seen a contending team remake its roster the way the Cavs just did.

So, what do you think of the moves? Tell us in the comments below.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch