Last week I wrote a column expressing my opinion that the Cleveland Cavaliers should consider trading LeBron James.  In the days following that column's publication, I received a few dozen emails and while some readers expressed their agreement with me, the majority of those who wrote to me strenuously disagreed with my column.

One of the angry emails included a finely tuned argument from RealGM?s Cleveland Cavaliers columnist, Keith Berzanske.  Below is his response and in italics are my rebuttals.  

But I'll give it a try here the reasons not to trade LeBron James...

1. STATISTICAL

Statistically, James was the 2nd in the league in player efficiency rating this year (behind Kevin Garnett). His rating was 28.24.

Player Efficiency Rating

Historically, this is the highest ever for a player his age, and extremely rare in general for a player to break 28. These are the only players that have done it even once since 1979-1980 (with minimum games/ minutes necessary to qualify):

Hakeem Olajuwon 11

Karl Malone 10

Shaquille O'Neal 9

Michael Jordan 9

Magic Johnson 9

Larry Bird 8

Charles Barkley 8

David Robinson 7

Kevin Garnett 5

Moses Malone 4

Patrick Ewing 3

Tim Duncan 2

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 2

Dirk Nowitzki 1

Tracy McGrady 1

Kobe Bryant 1

Chris Webber 1

Clyde Drexler 1

Kevin McHale 1

Alex English 1

Adrian Dantley 1

LeBron James 1

That's a pretty good list - 22 players, 13 of whom are listed as part of the 50 greatest players. 6 other players who are perennial All-Stars that only accomplished the feat ONCE. And Duncan and Garnett, arguably 2 of the top 5 players in the league for the past 8 seasons and then LeBron, who is in his second year and not even old enough to drink, and hasn't even begun to reach his prime.

Now consider all of the great players and perennial All-Stars that are not on the list during this time period, some that have never even come close to this statistical achievement:

Allen Iverson

John Stockton

Isiah Thomas

Kevin Johnson

Gary Payton

Vince Carter

Jason Kidd

Ray Allen

Alonzo Mourning

Grant Hill

Scottie Pippen

Dominique Wilkins

Brad Daugherty

Dennis Rodman

Tim Hardaway

Chris Mullin

Mark Aguirre

James Worthy

Mark Jackson

Mitch Richmond

Larry Nance

Robert Parish

George Gervin

Julius Erving

2. TRADE HISTORY - SUPERSTARS

Now, how many of these players, the creme de la creme have EVER been traded (not considering what happened with guys like Ewing and Olajuwon, when they get traded in the final season or two when they have nothing left)

Shaq

Barkley

Drexler

McGrady

Webber

Dantley

Plus, Abdul-Jabbar was traded earlier in his career when he was even a bigger stud, and Malone left one team as a free agent to sign with another.

The team that gets the superstar always ends up better off, except in the case of Dantley, except that Dantley was no longer a stud and he was traded for Mark Aguirre, who at the time was equal if not better talent.

Barkley was traded for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang - Suns go to the Finals, and 76ers languish in the lottery for years

Abdul-Jabbar won 5 titles with the Lakers, while the Bucks never amounted to much better than 4th best in the East.

Shaq led Miami to a 1 seed this year, while the Lakers went from the Finals to behind the Clippers, even though they got 3 starters (Odom, Butler, and Grant) and a 1st round pick in return.

Houston was better with McGrady this year, and Orlando missed the playoffs.  Their record improving as much as it did can be attributed to adding Dwight Howard and returning Grant Hill.

Webber was traded by Golden State to Washington for Tom Gugliotta and 3 first round picks in 1994. The Warriors have not made the playoffs since.

The Wizards traded Webber for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe in 1998. Sacramento made the playoffs every year since and were title contenders, while the Wizards just now have made the playoffs.

Drexler goes to the Rockets, they win the title.

Moses Malone led Houston to the Finals. He leaves as a free agent to go to Philly. Two years later, they win the championship, while Houston wins 14 games and ends up with #1 pick overall in back to back seasons.

You just can never trade guys like this and get equal value. It doesn't work. And the players and picks these teams received in return are much better than the deals you are proposing for LeBron James.

BOTTOM LINE:
If Golden State wanted LeBron, any talks would start with Baron Davis AND Jason Richardson, plus picks.

Same goes for any other team. Suppose you wanted to get Garnett - would you even trade LeBron for Garnett straight up? Garnett has not led his team to a title, even a finals. But LeBron may yet be able to do so.

Of course, with any equal value in players, the salaries won't match. This makes the ludicrous prospect of dealing LeBron near improbable anyway. The only comparable players to trade LeBron for straight up are Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire, and neither one has the potential LeBron does. Wade is an assassin, a great player, but he has had the luxury of having much better teammates to play with.

3. PANIC BUTTON

What is the hurry? Why not just take your time and build around James?

It took Michael Jordan 4 years to even win a playoff game, and that wasn't until he got Scottie Pippen. It took Stockton and Malone 14 years to make the Finals. It took Barkley 10 to get there, and Shaq 8 and Olajuwon 10 to win one. Most players struggle out of the gate to help their teams achieve - look at Dirk's rookie year. Iverson did not make the playoffs untill his third year. Jermaine O'Neal rode the bench for 4 years.

The exceptions are Bird, Magic, and Duncan, but examine that - the Celtics had McHale, Parish, and Dennis Johnson to paly with Bird, while the Lakers had Kareem and other talent, and then were able to add James Worthy and Byron Scott. The cupboard was not bare. Duncan got to play with a healthy David Robinson. Kobe had Shaq- how do you think his career would be if he had been drafted by Golden State?

LeBron has already improved the team a huge amount despite the hit we took losing Boozer for nothing and getting zero out of 3 of our last 4 lottery picks, Diop, Wagner, and Jackson.

Don't panic.

Let's see how well Luke Jackson can play. What free agents can we sign? How good can Anderson Varejao be?

4. COMMON SENSE - DRAFT CONSIDERATIONS

Considering how few of these players come along and how lucky the Cavaliers were to win the lottery and get James, why trade him away. Even if I got ten first round picks, it wouldn't be worth it.

A - Any team that gets LeBron is a playoff team/championship contender for the next 10 years, so the draft picks are at the low end of the round.
You're not exactly getting studs in return, unless you get a miracle pick like Karl Malone or Andrei Kririlenko - unlikely.

B - Why trade LeBron for picks hoping to get a player who MIGHT be LeBron?

This is akin to dating Natalie Portman for 2 years and the dumping her because your friend tells you that he will give you phone numbers of 20 aspiring actresses. Of course, the actresses might get fat or go crazy, or maybe they are stupid, or just can't get back on D. Meanwhile, newly single Natalie Portman is snatched up by the same friend, and they move into an apartment across the street from you and have wild sex daily in front of a large bay window at the exact times you sit at your desk facing the window trying to get one of the other 20 girls on the phone.

In other words, the risk greatly outweighs the reward. You are better off hanging on to Portman and hoping that she eventually agrees to marry you without a prenuptial agreement and bear your children, yet still maintain a tight body and then sign on to do the new Star Wars trilogy Episodes 7-9 while taking a cut from the box office, allowing you to play poker and watch basketball with your friends the whole time she's off shooting on location in Tunisia. And hey, even if she quits the movies and you have no kids and never get married, you still get to sleep with Natalie Portman for a few years.

I don't think I can make a clearer analogy here...

5. I have no more points, so I'll summarize

WHY GM's MAKE TRADES:

(A) improve talent

(B) improve chemistry

(C) trade long term for short term, try and win championship

(D) clear salaries off cap

(E) trade short term for long term, acquire picks that give team better shot down road, since it is currently in mediocrity and unlikely to improve with current roster

I don?t see how any of these apply here. I think you are arguing (E), but the Cavaliers are not mired in mediocrity at this point. They are going to get better. If you consider that they have no outside shooting, an unstable situation at point guard, no coach or GM, and a center who has broken his foot 5 times, it's amazing that they finished 42-40 and only 3 games out fo the 5th spot in the East. If you let Luke Jackson come back, Sasha Pavlovic, Anderson Varejao, and DeSagana Diop improve, and most importantly bring in a couple of outside shooters, the team will continue to improve. And don't forget that LeBron has merely scratched the surface. That 28 efficiency rating is probably a low mark for the next ten years. He may challenege Jordan's modern record of 36.99 and average a triple double.

Bottom line - there's absolutely no upside for the Cavaliers to trade LeBron James

Now, trading Z to clear room for Ray Allen ? that I am on board with.