Wow. Finally a trade deadline that really causes a flurry of activity and actually sees players move from one team to another. Unlike baseball where the talks of A-Rod going to the Cubs actually translates into a prospects for utility infielder named Cabrera deal. Anyway, the most talked about deal was the 11 player exchange that took place between the Cavaliers, Sonics, and Bulls which saw the Cavs receive Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Ben Wallace, and Delonte West, the Bulls get Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, and Shannon Brown, and the Sonics get Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble, and Adrian Griffin. There's also a Bulls 2009 second round pick that went to the Cavs.Now, this is a pretty good deal in terms of contract management. The Cavs are now over the salary cap and paying a pretty hefty luxury tax for it. There's also the possibility of earning the dubious distinction of being the highest paid club in the league next year. However, they unloaded a couple of expiring contracts and Larry Hughes' monster deal which seemed immovable a few weeks ago.
What this also does is give the Cavs expiring contracts for the 2010 season when Lebron becomes a free agent therefore freeing up potential resources to re-sign the superstar. I guess Dan Gilbert wanted to convey the message that ownership is dedicated to winning now and not in some foreseeable future
From a pure basketball standpoint, this trade seems to make sense. I will qualify that statement by adding the caveat that trades sometimes look great on paper but don't live up to their potential on the court. Wallace gives the Cavs a great interior defensive presence for shot blocking and defense. However, his offensive repertoire is famously limited and his defensive abilities can be neutralized by a power forward who likes to play outside, such as Rasheed Wallace or Dirk Nowitski. However, depending on Coach Brown's offensive schemes (which are notoriously bland), Wallace may see some more open dunks due to teams double teaming Z and Lebron as well as help that comes in from possible penetration by Delonte West.
Joe Smith is a solid overall player that may not match the production of Drew Gooden, but won't match Gooden's propensity to stop thinking at crucial moments. He has composure that can only be taught with with age and experience. He also gives the Cavs 4 decent to good big men in the game at any time, which is a great defensive asset in playoff basketball.
Delonte West is my favorite piece of this deal. He finally gives the Cavs a solid option at point guard who can run the fast break and has tremendous court vision and poise. All he needs to do is take care of the ball and compliment Lebron. He's also a decent outside shooter who gives the Cavs another three point option after Boobie Gibson. West has the potential to make the Cavs offense more dynamic with his penetration ability and ball handling skills; something the Cavs lack when Eric Snow is on the floor.
Overall, this deal looks like a mea culpa for Danny Ferry. He had to do something to keep Lebron happy for not obtaining top flight point guard (Jason Kidd) and for signing Larry Hughes to a terrible contract. Somehow he convinced the Bulls to take that Hughes and it worked. However, the Cavaliers shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. What good is a slasher on offense when all Mike Brown runs are pick and roll plays for Lebron? This deal wouldn't have been necessary had Ferry put the appropriate parts together 3 years ago. So is a deal novel if it could have been rendered superfluous by correct past decisions? Probably not, but at least the Cavs made moves to keep Lebron happy. And in the end, that might be the best thing to result from this "blockbuster".
2 comments:
Your comments on Hughes are a hindsight situation. Remember, we tried to sign Ray Allen first. After he said no we tried to sign Michael Redd and he said no. Larry Hughes was the next best player available and coming off a good year. Even if someone is not a perfect fit, how can you predict that a player’s production will fall off by that much.
I always thought Larry didn't come to play every night. On the nights he did, he would be productive. But usually he would just mope around and brick shot after shot. Just getting rid of his attitude is an intangible that will make this trade a net-plus for the Cavs.
Quick thoughts:
Wally needs to stop trying so hard and relax, cause his shot looks very flat right now.
Wallace is fine. Had some nice dunks off pick and rolls with LeBron against the T-Wolves.
West, as you said, is the best part of the deal. Really knows how to push the ball.
Smith looks great so far and can hit consistently a mid-range jumper - a rarity in the NBA.
yeah but danny ferry should have sat down with his coach and say, what players would be the best fit with our system? and when you looked at larry hughes, he wasn't a good outside shooter and got most of his points by moving off the ball.
he was basically doomed to an off guard position on a team that already had an off guard (lebron). i know lebron plays small forward but his style of play is more off guard, like kobe or jordan. what we needed was someone who could 1)create their own shot and 2)can hit it from the outside consistently.
michael redd and ray allen are the same type of player, larry hughes is more of a rip hamilton. he is completely different than redd and allen. hughes was marginalized because his skill sets were similar to lebron's, but obviously not as refined. i can't see how thats hindsight, its what everyone was saying when we signed him.
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