Taking stock of the East playoff picture post-trade deadline

The Boston Celtics saw several East teams make moves at the deadline while they stood pat; how — if at all — did it change the East playoff picture?

Cleveland Cavaliers

In a move reminiscent of the Hawks, the Cavs also loaded up with a high-profile center, Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond. They sent out just a second round pick and the contracts of forward John Henson and guard Brandon Knight in an apparent move to kick the tires on the UConn product.

With two other expensive big men on the roster in Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, it will be very interesting to see how the team moves forward if it truly plans to avoid buying out one of the three.

This move could help Cleveland in future seasons to know if they’d like to keep the prodigious rebounder on the team, but Drummond very well could opt-out of his current deal and leave this summer, so it may simply end up being a means of lowering the cost of a roster not going anywhere soon.

Grade: Mostly TBD, but the Cavs may get a little better if they can navigate another surprising big man glut.