The Cavs have made a lot of moves in the last 20 years to try to jump start their franchise and make them a competitive team in the NBA. Here is the look at the comically bad trades in that time period.
Darius Miles…the next Keven Garnett?
July 30, 2002
Cavs Get: Darius Miles and Harold Jamison
Clippers Get: Andre Miller and Bryant Smith
This trade was controversial, yet exciting for Cavs fans in the summer of 2002. Andre Miller was heading into the final year of his rookie contract and showed no interest in returning to Cleveland. Keep in mind that Andre Miller was averaging 16.5 ppg and 10.9 apg. To give you perspective, Miller has still yet to reach those numbers again. He peaked too early. Before the draft, the Clippers and Cavs were reportedly working on a deal that would send Miller to LA and both Odom and Miles to the Cavs. Jim Paxson wasn’t able to close the deal before the draft, but he refused to let go of Miles. The Miles for Miller trade was eventually executed the night of the draft.
As a 13 year old Cavs fan at the time, I couldn’t have been more excited. Darius Miles was supposed to be the next high school phenom. He was going to revolutionize the league. Miles was selected 3rd overall in the 2000 draft by the LA Clippers. This was a draft that was headlined by Kenyon Martin and only featured 2 all stars when it was all said and done. Clippers GM, Elgin Baylor, realized his mistake and decided that this was his opportunity to unload a draft bust for a top point guard. I think I was excited about him because he started the horns thing with Q Richardson in his rookie year.
In the end, Darius Miles became a bust for the Cavs. He was more successful portraying a basketball superstar in the movie, The Perfect Score. But unfortunately, this wasn’t the worst trade that the Cavs made in the 2002 draft.
July 30, 2002
Cavs Get: Chris Mihm
Bulls Get: Jamal Crawford and cash
As I already stated, the 2002 NBA draft was lacking some talent. In fact, it might be one of the worst drafts of all time considering the number one pick, Kenyon Martin, was the best player to come out of the draft and he is an NBA journey man as a bench role player.
Jamal Crawford has gone on to win the 6th man of the year award and has averaged 16.5 ppg over his 13 year NBA Career. I distinctly remember watching his draft highlight reel and liking him because he wore a headband. It was during the Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells years where they made it cool to wear headbands. Maybe not the best rationale for liking him, but hey I was 13. The video below shows Crawford finding out that he just got traded during his press conference where he was still wearing his Cavs draft cap.
Chris Mihm on the other hand was a big scorer in college with the Texas Longhorns. However, his game never translated to the NBA. He played some of his best basketball with the Lakers as a backup, hustle player. Keep in mind that we actually had to give the Bulls cash to convince them to get rid of Mihm in exchange for Crawford. So the lesson we all learned is that we should draft guys that wear headbands and look cool. Just saying.
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