Or Maybe This Guy
February 21, 2008Friday’s roster…ugh
February 21, 2008Just reported on WKNR2. The Cavaliers have completed a trade with the Chicago Bulls and Seattle Supersonics. The Cavaliers get Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from Chicago, as well as Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak plus an additional 2nd round draft pick. The Chicago Bulls get Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown. Seattle receives Adrian Griffin, Ira Newble and Donyell Mrashall.
So here are the Cavs leaving- Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Ira Newble, Shannon Brown and Donyell Marshall. Total value of contracts leaving- $29 million. Total value of contracts coming in- $34.869 million. Wow. Wallace is under contract for two years after this one. (The same as Hughes.) Wally is under contract for this season and next (an expiring contract for next season.)
Your starting five for the Cavs? LeBron, Zydrunas Illgauskas, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West at point? Does Daniel Gibson get a shot at PG again? What is your take on the trade?
The early word on the radio is this is a good trade for the Cavs. I have to step back from this one and think about it for a minute. The only player that I’m remotely excited about in this deal is Delonte West. And he is still quite unpolished. I don’t know if he’s ready to step in and be the trigger man for a championship team.
Tell me the next time the Cavs play the Bulls there won’t be a shimmer in Larry Hughes’ eye…
Here’s an interesting perspective. Next year, at the trade deadline the Cavs will have the following players to dangle as expiring contracts- Wally Szczerbiak $12.275 mil, Joe Smith $5.2 mil, Damon Jones $4.17 mil, Eric Snow $6.7 mil. That’s a little more than $28 million coming off the books after next season. Part of my fear with a trade was that the Cavs would be losing some of next year’s flexibility, but that appears to be safe for now.
Of course now we have to deal with not just resigning Daniel Gibson after the season is done, but also Delonte West if the Cavs are interested in keeping him. And of course there is the Andy Varejao contract dilemma.
Let’s bottom line this one, are the Cavs a better team because of this deal?
7 Comments
Typing Szczerbiak all the time for our new posts is going to get real annoying real quick. That’s why I don’t like this deal.
That, and the fact I think Ben Wallace’s contract might actually be worse than Larry’s was. I’ll give Ferry credit for going for broke again, though. Dude doesn’t make a lot of moves, but when he does, he sure likes to go all in.
At least the Cavs are starting to focus on the types of positions they need. Point guards, actual three point shooters. The quality of what we’re getting is still questionable but I think this is a step in the right direction. Ben Wallace stunk as a member of the Bulls but he’s the perfect type of player for a team with Lebron. He can’t score so all he does is block shots, rebound and play defense. On most teams that isn’t enough, on this team I think he’ll work better than expected.
Plus there is definite upside in Wally and West (I’m not typing Szczerbiak ever again).
The deal with Chicago seems awful to me…..the ONLY good thing is dumping Hughes contract. I’d take Hughes and Gooden any day over Ben Wallace and Joe Smith (and their contracts), which was what the trade with Chicago was. The trade with Seattle seems good….good outside shooter and depth at PG for a bunch of benchwarmers.
I don’t think Hughes does much for the Cavs as a team. He is a slasher which doesn’t fit well with the rest of the team considering Lebron is at his best when he goes to the basket. He has been playing well lately so I think its smart to sell high. I agree with you that Ben Wallace doesn’t appear to be much better than Gooden who clearly fit well playing with this team (and who is paid much less). But he was valuable to the Pistons during the playoff runs they had and so he’s got playoff experience and I think, especially with this team, more potential than Gooden.
I think the trade as a whole is probably good for the team . Lebron makes the players he plays with better and Wally and West both have potential as role players in the right environment. I think especially if you factor in the expiring contracts the cavs will have to play with next year this trade on balance looks very favorable.
I think the best that we can hope for on the Wallace front is that he gets excited about the role he will play in Cleveland. Joe Smith isn’t playing bad ball this year. Smith = Gooden. Remember, Drew doesn’t play in crunch time anyway. When Varejao returns this gives the Cavs quite a few line-up options.
After breaking down the stats and efficiency ratings of the players in this trade, I have to say that I think trade absolutely makes the Cavs a better team. Good enough to win a championship, though? Well, that’s another question.
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