Cleveland Cavs acquire center Spencer Hawes from 76ers

The Cleveland Cavaliers today acquired center Spencer Hawes from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for forward Earl Clark, center Henry Sims, and two second round draft picks, Cavaliers Acting General Manager David Griffin announced.

Hawes is an underrated and improving young big man who not only has three-point range on his jumper, but also is a decent shotblocker.

"We felt adding a player of Spencer's caliber and experience will complement our frontcourt rotation well and we are very excited to have him in Cleveland,” said Griffin. “Spencer is a very skilled big man, who was having a career year in Philadelphia this season. We look for his ability to both shoot from the perimeter and defend the basket to help us, and at 25 years of age his game is still growing on both ends of the floor. In acquiring Spencer, we had to move Earl and Henry and we thank them for their contributions to the Cavaliers.”

This season, Hawes has appeared in 53 games (all starts) for Philadelphia, averaging career highs of 13.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists (most among all NBA centers) in 31.4 minutes per game.

The 7-1, 245-pound center is also shooting .399 from the three-point line and .782 from the foul line, both career highs. Hawes ranks fifth among all NBA power forwards and centers in three-point shooting percentage this season (minimum 100 attempts). He also ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference in blocks per game at 1.3 and is tied for ninth in double-doubles with 19 on the season.

In exchange for Hawes, the Cavs sent Clark, Sims, the Cavs 2014 second round pick and the Memphis Grizzlies 2014 second round pick acquired in July 25, 2012, trade with the Grizzlies to the 76ers.  The 76ers have acquired multiple second round picks in three separate deals today.

Clark was hyped as a key free agent signing this offseason by the Cavaliers brass after he had a breakthrough year for the Lakers.  However, he failed to live up to expectations, and potentially took away minutes from top draft pick Anthony Bennett, so the Cavs deemed him expendable.

By Staff of The Daily Sports Herald and news services