Making sense of what happened in Cleveland

The Cleveland Cavaliers stole the show at the trade deadline Thursday with three blockbusters in quick succession.

Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman shipped out six rotation players to four different teams to rebuild a new supporting cast in the blink of an eye. Everyone expected changes, but nothing like this.

Let's make sense of a wild day for the Cavaliers.

Why did they do it?

Cleveland needed to shake things up because the previous lineup wasn't working.

It goes beyond losing 13 out of its last 20 and dropping to third in the East with a negative point differential on the season. The Cavaliers were alarmingly bad in a string of shameful national television appearances, and the war of words between everyone in the organization painted a picture of dysfunction. It was a toxic situation that had to change.

Cutting bait on Thomas and Crowder was difficult, but necessary. They weren't able to replicate their success in Boston, and, worst of all, Thomas caused too much drama both behind closed doors and in the media. It just wasn't worth the headache, so they were flipped for two players in Clarkson and Nance who could be productive rotation pieces.

Adding Hill and Hood was a no-brainer, especially at that price. Hill slides into the starting spot, while Clarkson takes up Rose's backup minutes. Hood is an upgrade over Crowder, especially on offense.

Letting Wade walk was difficult as well, especially since he thrived in a bench role, but the Cavaliers had to give him that respect of deciding his own future after tearing down the roster. Wade preferred to return to Miami, and the Cavaliers honored his request.

How will they line up?

Tyronn Lue will have his work cut out for him, as he needs to find new roles and integrate his new pieces with just two months before the playoffs.

His teams famously don't practice, but Lue will have to change that policy, as it's now a race against the clock to maximize every off day. However, he'll still have to be careful in his management of James' workload.

The starting unit should be mostly unchanged, just with Hill instead of Thomas. Hill should be a better fit on both ends, as he's miles better on defense and doesn't dominate the ball like Thomas. Lue could also swap Hood for the struggling J.R. Smith, but Smith has come on strong of late, so there's no immediate need.

With Kevin Love slated to miss up to eight weeks, Hood could start regardless. That spot belonged to Crowder for much of the year, and while Hood is undersized at small forward, he's proven to be a streaky shooter that's liable to explode for 20 points on any given night.

What happens after Love returns is unclear. Do the Cavaliers downsize to maximize scoring with Love at center? Or do they knock Hood back to the bench and start Love with Thompson? Much of that will depend on how Hood performs in the coming weeks.

The bench will be more complicated since the lineup is entirely different. Nance offers more paint presence on both ends, but Frye's spacing was a key to Cleveland's success. It's also not a given that Clarkson - a high-usage, low-efficiency bench piece - can replace what Wade did.

Will it work?

The Cavaliers have two goals: Return to The Finals this summer, then re-sign James.

These reinforcements will help, but they're not a silver bullet. Hill, Hood, Clarkson, and Nance are capable rotation players, but not much more. The floor is higher - they're healthier, younger, and happier than their predecessors - but the ceiling is lower.

Nobody comes close to matching the level of what a healthy version of Thomas supplied last season. The onus to create offense still rests on James' shoulders, which could go either way. James taking up more possessions is always a good thing, but not if he gets worn out before the playoffs.

Those four should keep the Cavaliers competitive in the East, but none of them are definitive difference-makers against the Golden State Warriors should Cleveland return to The Finals. Cleveland can field more dynamic lineups with more wings to match the Warriors, but again, they'll only have James to create all the offense.

As for keeping James, that's also up in the air. He didn't give any assurances to Cavaliers management, but what choice did they have? He isn't guaranteed to stay if things go well, but he would have definitely left if things stayed the way they were. Altman, under the direction of team owner Dan Gilbert, made a last-ditch effort to retain the best player on the planet.

Will they regret it?

The Cavaliers made every effort to right the ship, with the exception of coughing up the vaunted 2018 first-round pick from the Brooklyn Nets.

They stood firm on that front because they needed something to hedge against James walking this summer. They further reinforced their future with pieces like Clarkson, Nance, and Hood, should they choose to re-sign him. It's definitely a lot better than moving forward with a handful of aging ring-chasers.

However, Cleveland did take a major risk by taking long-term money from the Lakers, who are expected to be their foremost competitor for James. Los Angeles can now take on two maximum salary players this summer, and it would be a PR nightmare if it was Cleveland that made that possible.