The Cavaliers need some help. After winning 18 of 19 games, they’ve lost six of their last eight. Cleveland is falling off the rails — again — and the Cavs have to fix it if they plan on returning to the NBA Finals for a fourth straight season.

Lineup changes won’t help; the Cavs are what they are. But if they want to shake the roster up, a trade isn’t too wild of an idea.

The Cavs’ roster assets are limited, but they received Brooklyn’s 2018 draft pick as the gem of the Kyrie Irving trade. They also own their own pick, most definitely a late first-rounder. Now, Cleveland is in a position to flip those picks as the Feb. 8 trade deadline draws closer.

And after LeBron James reportedly chewed his teammates out after back-to-back embarrassing losses — 28 points to Minnesota and 34 points to Toronto — a change might be needed to right this ship.

 

Yes, Cleveland has the best basketball player on planet Earth in LeBron James, and yes, the Cavs have another two All-Stars on the roster with Isaiah Thomas and Kevin Love, but that hasn’t been enough.

 

Cleveland has the oldest roster in the NBA with an average age of 30 years old. Ideally, it’d like to get younger and more athletic, specifically on the wings and on the interior.

J.R. Smith was a key piece of Cleveland’s 2015 championship trip, but as SB Nation’s Cavaliers site Fear the Sword notes, he hasn’t been getting it done defensively this season.

Smith’s -1.37 [defensive real plus minus] ranks 416th of 468 players. His -0.9 [Defensive Box Score Plus Minus] is his worst since 2014.

Per Steve Shea’s defensive rating stat (explained here), Smith ranks as the worst perimeter defender and worst overall defender in the NBA this season (of 192 players with at least 650 minutes played).

 

The Cavs have a 113.8 [defensive rating] with Smith on the floor and are 7.3 points/100 possessions better defensively when he sits. This ranks in the 8th percentile in the NBA.

Every Cavs rotation player has a better dRTG with Smith off the floor.

 

Jae Crowder is a physical, versatile defender, but he’s enduring the second-worst shooting season of his career and hasn’t shown the same juice on the other end. Dwyane Wade has been a blessing off the bench as a playmaker for the second unit, but the experiment starting him alongside James went wildly wrong early into the season. Iman Shumpert, who has been out with a knee injury, is having one of his least productive seasons playing the fewest minutes of his career, too.

 

The Cavs could also use a boost at the center spot. After he earned a massive contract extension with his play in the 2016 NBA Finals, Tristan Thompson has seen his role reduced. He now plays minutes in spots while Kevin Love gets the start in favor of a faster, more spread-out lineup.

Cleveland is in a peculiar place once again. And there are a few options out there to get the Cavaliers back on track if teams are willing to let players go for the right price.