Mike Miller, Brendan Haywood traded to the Portland Trail Blazers

In what appears to be a salary cap dumping attempt to re-sign the likes of Tristan Thompson and JR Smith, the Cleveland Cavaliers have traded veterans Mike Miller and Brendan Haywood to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers will also send cash to the Cavs for two future second-round picks.

After being one of the NBA’s best sixth men for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013-2014, Miller took a veteran minimum deal to reunite with LeBron James in Cleveland. That decision was nothing short of an absolute failure for Miller, as the following season was by far his worst in his NBA career.

Playing in only 52 games, Miller averaged two points per game, shot in the 30’s in field goal percentage (32.5 percent) for the first time in his career, and averaged just 13.5 minutes per game. David Blatt used Miller very incorrectly as he did many players on that Cavaliers team.

The Trail Blazers will likely waive Miller and Haywood so they can sign with a team that will give the players more opportunities at success.

Portland is obviously a team that unloaded a lot of its team from last year, including every starter except Damian Lilliard. This move is to bring in as much depth as possible to back up what they have already. Miller can still be a solid bench player – if not waived – and should get a lot of playing time behind CJ McCollum at the shooting guard spot.

Brendan Haywood should be able to serve as a quality backup center -if kept – as well for Portland, another player that wasn’t utilized well at all in Cleveland. This is a good move by Portland to add great bench pieces to a team that’s beginning a rebuild.