Jan 19, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Memphis Grizzlies small forward Rudy Gay (22) is defended by Chicago Bulls small forward Jimmy Butler (21) during the second half at the United Center. The Grizzlies won 85-82 in OT. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

The Memphis Grizzlies, a team that the Cleveland Cavaliers just got done dealing with, have made another move. This time around, however, the assets involved in the trade were more prominent of names than Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and Jon Leuer. Rumors that were said to have gone to their resting place became resurrected on Wednesday when the Grizzlies conducted a three-team trade with the Toronto Raptors and the Detroit Pistons. Rudy Gay, a very talented player that Memphis had been looking to move due to his $37 million contract over the next two seasons, has finally been moved despite trade talks simmering down according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The trade requires three big-name players in Gay, Jose Calderon and Tayshaun Prince, but there is much more to the deal. Below you can see which players/assets each team received:

Grizzlies:

-Received Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye, Ed Davis and a second-round pick from the Raptors

-Sent: Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi

Raptors:

-Received Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi

-Sent Jose Calderon, Ed Davis and a second-round pick

Pistons:

-Received Jose Calderon

-Sent Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye

This trade affects the Wine and Gold in such a way that the Pistons are Central Division rivals with the Cavs. Calderon will be a free agent in the summer, so whether or not the Pistons pick him up after the season is over is unknown. Calderon is a point guard who is known for giving Kyrie Irving troubles, and is currently averaging 11.1 points and 7.4 assists with a PER of 19.4. Prince has two years left on his contract and is owed $14.9 million over the next two seasons, while Daye will become a restricted free agent in 2013. The Pistons lose their starting small forward and a backup in Daye, but now have an interesting point guard tandem of Brandon Knight and Calderon.

The Cavaliers will be matching up with the Pistons two more times this season, and the first of those two meetings will happen on Friday. It is still unknown if Calderon will be available for the game, as the trade has only been agreed to in principle.

It will be a very different situation for Prince, as he has spent all 11 of his seasons with the Pistons. That includes seven playoff appearances and one championship in 2004. Prince is currently averaging 11.7 points and 4.6 rebounds, while shooting 43.4 percent from three. Detroit saves a lot in this deal, as it moves them $25 million under the salary cap beginning this July.

As for the Grizzlies, they were a team with the highest championship implications in the franchise’s 17-season history. Gay was without a doubt a pivotal part to the team’s success so far this season, but the team needed to look forward to the bad contract they would have to assume if they kept him past this season. However, I do think this move puts this team at more of a disadvantage to win in the playoffs this season. Davis is a better frontcourt member than Speights and Haddadi combined, so that move is a major win for the Grizzlies.

Jan 12, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Memphis Grizzlies power forward Marreese Speights (5) shoots the ball over Dallas Mavericks power forward Elton Brand (42) during the game at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Grizzlies 104-83. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

And it’s final. With rumors of a deal brewing between the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers early Tuesday morning, a trade between the two teams has finally come to fruition. With that said, Cavalier fans should be extremely happy about this one. The Grizzlies were in talks with teams regarding their current situation with Rudy Gay, who is owed $17.8 million and $19.3 million over the next two seasons respectively. Those problems seem to have been solved with one crafty trade, which includes no superstar names, with the Cavs.

When power forward Kevin Jones was assigned to Cleveland’s D-League team — the Canton Charge — it was evident that a trade would happen soon. That speculation ending up being true, as Cleveland has received three bench players in Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby from Memphis, along with a 2015 first round draft pick according to the official team website. The Cavaliers sent over the hardly-utilized forward Jon Leuer and Memphis was able to shed the $6 million that puts them under the luxury tax threshold.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN was one of the first to report on the trade:

Just filed to ESPN: Cavs & Grizzlies are in talks on a deal that would send Marreese Speights & Josh Selby for Jon Leuer. Picks involved

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) January 22, 2013

First, let’s clear up some information about the pick that the Cavs have received:

• As of right now, the pick is a 2015 first rounder
• It is protected from picks 1-5 and 15-30 in 2015 and 2016, which means when the Cavaliers do receive the pick it will be of the lottery variety
• If the above scenario does in fact not happen, the pick carries over into 2017 and 2018, when it will become protected only from picks 1-5
• If Memphis doesn’t end up in the 6-14 range in 2015/2016 or in the 6-30 range in 2017/2018, the pick will carry over until 2019
• If Cleveland doesn’t receive their pick once it reaches the 2019 NBA Draft, it becomes unprotected

Jan 19, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard Wayne Ellington (3) with the ball during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Even though the three players acquired in the trade won’t be available to play tonight against the Boston Celtics, the Cavaliers also waived point guard Jeremy Pargo to create space. After filling in for Kyrie Irving following his left index finger earlier in the season, Pargo played sparse minutes. In fact, Pargo only played 86 minutes off the bench since Irving returned on December 11 against the Los Angeles Lakers. In the 25 games he has seen time in this season — which includes 11 starts — Pargo has averaged 7.8 points and 2.6 assists, while shooting 40.1 percent from the field.

And even though Jones was assigned to the Charge to make room for a possible trade with the implications such as this one, he has been recalled to get ride of the gaping hole that is on the roster until Cleveland receives the Memphis players officially. Power forward Jon Leuer was the lone Cleveland player involved in the trade, and there is no love lost in dealing him away. He only appeared in nine games for the Cavaliers and averaged 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds. Again, Leuer was splitting time between Canton and Cleveland before finally being whisked away. He wasn’t able to get the job done on a depleted frontcourt, so his utility was far down the scale.

As for the Cavaliers, they have made their bench more applicable with their acquisitons. Ellington and Selby provide depth in the backcourt, which means that Daniel Gibson could be on his way out of Cleveland. His contract expires at the end of the season and he has been battling injuries over the past few seasons. Plus, there may be a team out there looking for a guy who could provide a fourth quarter spark in the playoffs. Ellington has played in 40 games so far this season and is averaging 5.5 points, while shooting 42.3 percent from three. The backup shooting guard will most likely see time behind C.J. Miles and Dion Waiters. In contrast, Selby has only played in 10 games for the Grizzlies. He spent a couple of games with the Reno Bighorns, but he has a higher ceiling and skill set than Pargo would have had in Cleveland at the point guard position. Shaun Livingston is doing an applaudable job for now, but we could see Selby sneak in and start playing some meaningful minutes.

Speights seems to be the player that most fans are excited about. He is listed as a power forward and will most likely take minutes away from Luke Walton, according to Conrad Kaczmarek of Fear the Sword. The 6-10 Speights is currently averaging 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in the 40 games he has seen action in this season. He has logged, on average, 14.5 minutes throughout the 2012-13 campaign and will see extended playing time with the Cavaliers. Out of all the players that Cleveland received in the trade, fans have to be thrilled with acquiring a guy who will take added minutes away from Tyler Zeller.

Cavalier fans have to be happy about this trade. They still have expiring contracts in Luke Walton and Daniel Gibson that could end up being traded before the February 21 deadline, they made their bench better, no horrible or glaring contracts were taken on and they got what they most wanted out of the trade — a first round draft pick. Memphis may have solved their monetary issues, but Cleveland came away with the W in this one.

Jan 4, 2013; Charlotte, NC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson (13) shoots over Charlotte Bobcats power forward Tyrus Thomas (12) during the first half at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Curtis Wilson-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao will miss his 10^th straight game on Monday, as the team is already in Chicago for their Monday night matchup with the Bulls. With each successive game that Wild Thing misses for the energy-deprived Cavaliers, the NBA trade deadline approaches ever so closer – 3 p.m. on Thursday, February 21 to be exact. During Varejao’s absence, there have been two glaring trends happening during that time.

Those include a positive correlation between the number of games Andy has missed and the play of Tristan Thompson since the sidelining of Varejao on December 19 and the negative correlation of Thompson’s job as the interior force and the number of days leading up to February 21. Although Vareajo’s on-court presence may be repelling teams from making trade talks with the Cavaliers front office, the newfound aggressiveness and board-hoarding play of Thompson may have increased Cleveland’s interest in dealing the longtime Cavalier big man.

To put this into perspective from a statistical standpoint, let’s take a look at Thompson’s numbers in the nine games that Varejao has been out:

Scoring Output

• The sophomore power forward has averaged 13.2 points, with a high of 19 against the Charlotte Bobcats
• Varejao, through 25 games, has averaged 14.1 points, with a season-high of 35 points against the Brooklyn Nets (November 13)

Rebounding Monsters

• Thompson has averaged 12.9 boards, and is currently eighth in the NBA in offensive rebounds on the season (averaging 3.64 rebounds) and fifth over the past two weeks (averaging 4.40 rebounds)
• Andy is still first in the NBA in regards to rebounds per game, with an average of 14.4 boards (averaging 5.52 rebounds on the offensive glass)

Shooting Efficiency

• The No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft is shooting an even 50 percent from the field, attempting 9.8 shots during the span of the last nine games
• Wild Thing has shot 47.8 percent from the field this season, the third-lowest mark of his nine-season NBA career

Shot Blocking (Cavs rank last in the NBA as a team)

• The former Texas Longhorn has rejected 1.1 blocks on average, and is averaging 0.7 blocks on the season
• Varejao has averaged 0.6 blocked shots so far in the 2012-13 NBA season

Usage

• Tristan has clocked in 36.3 minutes per game since Varejao has been out, and before then he was averaging 29.3 minutes
• Varejao is leading the Cavaliers in MPG this season (averaging 36.0 minutes)

Hot Spots

• Thompson:

-At the rim – 60.7 percent

-3-9 feet – 32.3 percent

• Varejao:

-At the rim – 62.5 percent

-3-9 feet – 30.0 feet

Dec 7, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic (14) looks to drive to the basket past Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao (17) in the second half at Target Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves won 91-73. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The numbers are similar, but the point that I’m trying to get across is that Thompson has grown up immensely when the team needed him. Most, including me, doubted that the starting power forward would emerge as a pivotal contributor in all aspects of the game this season. Seven double-doubles in the past nine contests is the output that I wanted from Thompson down the road when the Cavaliers initially drafted him. He’s already shown he can be that kind of threat, and his follow-through mentality has been one of the brightest spots during this mini stretch.

With that said, I think Varejao trade talks will, again, start to heat up. On Saturday we saw rumors of the Cavaliers being in talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves according to reports from the News-Herald. The presumed trade, which is said to be nowhere near close to happening, would send back power forward Derrick Williams. The Cavs would also be interested in nabbing center Nikola Pekovic, and Kevin Love would not be in the question at all.

Williams is currently averaging 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds in his second NBA season, while Pekovic has been making noise as of late. He recently had games of 21 points and 15 rebounds against the Portland Trail Blazers and 28 points and 11 rebounds against the Phoenix Suns over the past five games. He is averaging 15.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 0.9 points, while shooting 50.3 percent from the field in his third season.

Personally I wouldn’t take this deal (Varejao for Williams and Pekovic) even with additional pieces or draft picks, but I’m apt to listen to what other teams have to offer. I’m very impressed with the recent play of Thompson, so any and all Varejao trade talk will make my ears perk in the coming weeks.