Cavs send two protected first-round picks to Denver to secure deal…
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The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their busy week as they agreed on a trade deal with the Denver Nuggets for center Timofey Mozgov.
It is understood that negotiations have been on-going for months and the Cavs have parted with two protected first-round picks in order to get the deal done.
Cleveland will send a future pick they own from the Memphis Grizzlies from a 2013 trade and a first-rounder they acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week in a deal involving Dion Waiters.
In addition to Mozgov, the Cavs received a 2015 second-round pick.
The Nuggets (15-20) are likely to miss out on the playoffs this season and so are in the process of clearing money from their books while they also picked up a $4.6m trade exception from the Cavs.
Meanwhile, Mozgov has a strong relationship with Cleveland coach David Blatt as they spent time together while the latter was coach of the Russian national team at the 2012 Olympics.
The Cavaliers have been desperate to bring in a player to bolster their front court which was considered weak prior to the season starting and was only further damaged when Anderson Varejao was ruled out for the season with a torn Achilles.
“Coach Blatt is extremely excited to have added Timofey and I think that’s something that’s a great fit for all of us,” general manager David Griffin told reporters.
“We get up here and we talk about this all the time. We talk about fit, we talk about taking time to grow together … His numbers didn’t need to be flashy. We’ve got three guys that are top 20 players in the NBA. Those guys can be flashy. We need guys that do the dirt work.”
Mozgov is averaging 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds this season and he will be pleased to know that his arrival received the approval of LeBron James who said it was “something that we need” but he insists that it will be important for the roster to get healthy so that the new players can integrate.
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