The Cleveland Cavaliers finally pull off a trade to bring in another offensive threat to compliment LeBron James.
First off, welcome back Brian Windhorst! Seriously, this is how you come back and make a splash. BW is reporting that the Cavaliers are set to complete a 3 way trade that will bring in Mo Williams from the Milwaukee Bucks.
The most important part of this trade is that it does not involve Delonte West. Instead, the Cavs will send Joe Smith to Oklahoma City and Damon Jones to Milwauke, while Oklahoma City sends Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin to the Bucks. The Bucks are sending Mo Williams to Cleveland and Desmond Mason to Oklahoma City.
This deal finally brings the Cavaliers an exciting playmaker at the point guard position. Last season Williams averaged 17.2 ppg, 6.3 apg, and 1.2 spg with a PER of 17.06. This will allow the Cavaliers to enter the season with a starting lineup of Williams, Szczerbiak, LeBron, Wallace, and Z, with Boobie, West, Kinsey, Pavlovic, AV, and Hickson coming off the bench. On face value, this certainly looks like an excellent upgrade for the Cavaliers, while still maintaining the valuable trading chip of Wally Szczerbiak to still go out and make a big deadline deal if needed.
Windhorst also reports that sources indicate the Cavs still intend to bring Delonte West back, but that this move increases the chances he plays for his qualifying offer. This move also shows the confidence the Cavaliers must have in first round drfat pick J.J. Hickson, as he will be needed to step in much sooner now with the loss of veteran Joe Smith.
We’ll bring you more details and analysis of this trade once we’ve had time to let it sink in.
Author: AndrewSchnitkey
Andrew Schnitkey is a founding editor of WaitingForNextYear. Though he has written about every Cleveland franchise over the years, his primary focus is the Cavaliers and NBA basketball in general.Andrew Schnitkey has written 449 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
YES!
D West screwed himself in this one. Holding out for starting PG money is only good until you’re not the starting PG any longer…
That was going to be my prime point in my follow up piece breaking down this trade, Scott. West tried to take advantage of a fluke situation, and now it may end up hurting his bargaining position.
I’m sorry to to J. Smith go, I thought he was extremely underutilized. But, I think this move improves the roster. Hopefully, Mike Brown doesn’t ruin Mo’s game, too.
Really hate to see Joe Smith leave as I loved his playing style and outside shooting ability….that being said, Mo is an excellent addition to this team. Mo plus whoever we get for Wally (at trade deadline) makes for an excellent squad
We gave up:
-A (soon to be) 32-year-old player with an 11.3 PER last season
-A 33-year-old player with a 14.9 PER for the Cavs last season
And we got back a 25-year-old PG with a 17.0 PER last year.
I’ll take it!
Mo is THE guy this team needs. This is the deal we’ve been looking for. This is huge for the Cavs. You knock out a shooting need and playmaking PG need. Plus, he’s not afraid to play some d.
And don’t be surprised if West is your starting 2 guard on opening day.
This just in….Cavs also trade Mike Brown for General Patton as an offensive minded coach and a bucket of ice water for when Team catches on fire from awesome offensive plays. Am I excited?….maybe.
I like this trade for obvious reasons.
I love this deal, although i still see West starting. Not as a PG however, but as the SG. West played alongside Jameer Nelson at St. Joe’s, where he played SG. He is an ever better SG than a PG, so i think we might see him start there. Not immediately, but if Wally still can’t find his shot, than I see us playing West sometime in the season. But this trade is fantastic for us!
[...] WFNY welcomes aboard Mo Williams « Mo Williams to Cavs rumors now involve Luke Ridnour [...]
This is a great pickup! I often find myself wondering why it’s always the Browns and Cavs Front offices making moves that make me smile and the Indians make moves that make me want to punch things…
Who will be our Victory Cigar with DJ leaving?!?!?
NO MORE PIMP SUITS?!
The only things that I don’t like are his awful contract that he will likely never live up to and that he plays no defense at all. But defense isn’t a problem on this team, perimeter scoring is.
I like the move. 6 assists per game with the Bucks could easily turn in 8-10 with a scoring machine like Lebron. But as Gmoney pointed to, 5 years $43 million isn’t a contract to take on without at least a little wincing.
I’m hoping to see a heymowilliamsthanksforhelpinguswinachampionship.com
instead of the dreaded
heymowilliamsstoptakingsomanybadshots.com
Honestly, if we can convince Mike Brown to have someone other than Lebron carry the ball up the court, I’ll be happy.
I think its also worth noting, in addition to Offensive help, we get Brian Windhorst back. Welcome back, Brian, if you bother reading these.
Oh thank goodness … an offense and a reason to read the ABJ sports again.
Welcome back Brian!
although joe is gone this is a great overall deal we add a YOUNG penetrating gurard who can score from the perimeter and midrange as well and most importantly create his own shot… he def torched the cavs a couple times last season. Now the next move should be before the trade deadline and ship AV and Wally in a deal for a legit #2 scorer. I give Ferry some credit for being creative and coming up big on this one. Hopefully Mo can stay healthy.
Mike Brown is awful, I for one still don’t know why he’s employed. But this is a pretty solid move, should make the cavs more fun to watch. Should being the emphasis there since Mike Brown is so awful.
While this is a good move, remember that Mo works better with the ball in his hands, so how he meshes with LBJ will be interesting (but at least they have the preseason to get acclimated to each other before the games count).
This is awesome, I am not in the least worried about his contract, 8.5 mil a year is about right for a 25 year old PG with his skill set. His defense doesn’t bother me either, because he has lateral quickness and I believe Mike Brown will get him to play good enough defense for us to still be a good defensive team. I wouldn’t mind seeing D-West getting traded in a package with Wally or Andy because that could net us yet another solid player. As of right now we would have to get rid of Wally or Sasha in order to free up enough minutes at guard for Williams, West, and Boobie. Those are 3 short guys which could create problems defensively but because of our system I think they will be alright. Good job, Danny, the Cavs are in my mind so close to a title
Could be good… with a penetrating point guard wally might be useful. Either way, I love this move. See ya Damon. I will miss Joe Smith, though he isn’t getting any younger.
Just watching how comfortable Lebron has been in Team USA’s offense because he doesn’t have to run the show the whole time hes out there makes me really excited about this trade. Joe Smith was a warrior for our squad last year and I kinda wish he could have stuck around to help show J.J. the ropes, but its a price we had to pay to bring in a guy with the ability to create his own shot and create shots for others (not to mention being a certified “Cav Killer” the last couple years). Keep up the good work Danny! Get the Delonte situation taken care of before camp and sit on Wally’s contract and AV’s disgust until something we can’t refuse becomes available.
[...] was cruising WFNY today and the place has caught fire with excited Cavs fans talking about this three-team deal that [...]
I am cautiously optimistic. He is a decent bargain and it seems like a good calculated risk to bring him here.
That being said, he has a 17 PER, and when the Cavs went out and signed Larry Hughes, he had a 22 PER.
I am just pointing it out, because I don’t want anyone anointing this guy as the next Steve Nash and guaranteeing a Cavs championship. We don’t know what role he is going to fill on offense for the Cavs. We don’t know how he is going to get his shots. We don’t know if he is going to be willing to play defense up to Mike Brown standards.
These things always end up coming back to me not having confidence in Mike Brown.
Mo Williams is simply an overpayed/overrated player who put up big fantasy numbers on a bad team. Let see how he does when it matters..
Also may i mention that he still has 4-5 years remaining on that contract. At least Ferry is trying though..Although i dont like this move at all.
Mo’s contract:
2008 $8.35m
2009 $8.67m
2010 $9.3 m
2011 $8.5m
2012 $8.5m (player option – he’s not turning this down)
Mo it’s never to early to learn to play some D! We can get away with it this year and bring Delonte or go big if getting killed at point on D, but he better learn at some point…. Hope he’s not the Shareef Abdul-Rahim of point guards….
The people who got burned by this trade are the ones who collect Joe Smith jerseys.
Love it considering what we gave up
@Tim:Unless they’re looking forward to picking up another one…
I went and checked fan comments over on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. http://blogs.jsonline.com/bucks/archive/2008/08/13/bucks-deal-williams-to-cavs-in-three-team-swap.aspx
Not too much love lost over getting rid of Williams, but a sentiment exists that they could have gotten slightly more for him… they feel he’s a jerk but Lebron will be able to keep him in check here… comments included:
- “ball pig”
- “Me Williams”
- “ridiculous salary”
- “locker room cancer”
- “complete sieve on defense”
It seems apparent he can score, create his own shot but also has blemishes on character, defense and lacks “true” pg skills… I am VERY interested to see what player we get.
PS – check for the funny story of him telling Bogut to shut up!
Congrats Cavs fans. This is a good trade. I’m a big fan of Mo’s game. I posted this video at my site too, but I thought you guys would enjoy it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ui793VPt8Q
Exactly what the Cavs need. Someone to break down defenses. Now LeBron has to do 2 things.
1: Develop a post game. He no longer needs to start every play from 30 feet away.
2: Crash the O-boards. He is the most athletic player in the game. With Mo Williams breaking down defenses, Lebron needs to be like Charles Barkley crashing the boards.
I am so pumped about this season. I remember wanting to get Mo Williams just because I thought we would get 3 more wins a year just from not having to play AGAINST HIM!!! Now we’ve add youth, quickness, tempo, and a SHOOTER!
Of everyone named in the rumors: Monta Ellis, JR Smith, Michael Redd, TJ Ford, THIS is the best move for the Cavs. Honestly – if you look at his age, his contract, the position he plays, and his ability to shoot outside, this was the best move.
Kudos Ferry – this is a GREAT MOVE.
just to point this out, we traded CC to Milwaukee also
so they are our new official trade partner now.