cavs close to two deals...
- Thread starter BRad1055
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I'm hearing 10-player trade. Seems like Cleveland made out pretty well, getting Ben Wallace and Wally Sczerzbiak while trading away Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. Cleveland also gets underrated PG Delonte West in this deal, and Seattle gets back an assortment of role players like Chris Duhon and Donyell Marshall.
Looks like this bad boy is actually going down:
The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to have beaten the NBA's annual trade buzzer to get LeBron James some of the fresh help he's been openly craving.
In a three-way, 11-player trade with Chicago and Seattle that has been submitted for league approval, NBA front-office sources say that Cleveland will come away with four new teammates for James, headlined by Ben Wallace from the Bulls and sharpshooter Wally Szczerbiak from the Sonics.
The league office was notified of the deal before Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trading deadline, sources said, and is currently reviewing the trade details as required for formal approval.
After Cleveland watched two longstanding trade targets land elsewhere -- Mike Bibby in Atlanta and Jason Kidd in Dallas -- sources say that the deal calls for the Cavaliers to receive Wallace, Szczerbiak, Seattle point guard Delonte West, Chicago's Joe Smith and a future second-round pick from the Bulls.
The Bulls, apparently abandoning their gamble on Wallace less than two seasons into the lucrative four-year deal they used to sign him away from Detroit, would get Cavaliers forward Drew Gooden and swingman Larry Hughes along with Cavs reserves Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown.
The Sonics, shedding Szczerbiak in the name of additional payroll flexibility, come away with the expiring contracts of Cleveland's Ira Newble and Chicago's Adrian Griffin as well as Cavs veteran Donyell Marshall.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3257159
The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to have beaten the NBA's annual trade buzzer to get LeBron James some of the fresh help he's been openly craving.
In a three-way, 11-player trade with Chicago and Seattle that has been submitted for league approval, NBA front-office sources say that Cleveland will come away with four new teammates for James, headlined by Ben Wallace from the Bulls and sharpshooter Wally Szczerbiak from the Sonics.
The league office was notified of the deal before Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trading deadline, sources said, and is currently reviewing the trade details as required for formal approval.
After Cleveland watched two longstanding trade targets land elsewhere -- Mike Bibby in Atlanta and Jason Kidd in Dallas -- sources say that the deal calls for the Cavaliers to receive Wallace, Szczerbiak, Seattle point guard Delonte West, Chicago's Joe Smith and a future second-round pick from the Bulls.
The Bulls, apparently abandoning their gamble on Wallace less than two seasons into the lucrative four-year deal they used to sign him away from Detroit, would get Cavaliers forward Drew Gooden and swingman Larry Hughes along with Cavs reserves Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown.
The Sonics, shedding Szczerbiak in the name of additional payroll flexibility, come away with the expiring contracts of Cleveland's Ira Newble and Chicago's Adrian Griffin as well as Cavs veteran Donyell Marshall.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3257159
I don't think Cleveland is gonna be satisfied if they're thinking this deal will get them competitive with Boston.
Big Ben, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West? Kudos to a team wiht an actual GM -- that is just brilliant stuff given the absolute garbage they had to work with. Two shooters to space the floor for LeBron, one of them a major scorer to take some pressure off of him, and the other a PG where they are weak. And then 2 smart veteran roleplayer bigs as well? That's not a perfect crew by any stretch, but given what they had to work wiht that is an amazing haul. Like that team much much better now than I did a couple of hours ago.
I think being back beside real bigmen will help Wallace. He struggled ever since he left Detroit. Chicago was constantly rotating guys in at the PF spot and most of them were more along the lines of tweeners. From what I saw Wallace was simply too outmatched. Having BIG Z beside him should ease the load that they expected him to carry on his own.
I have a feeling people are going to blow this trade out of proportion and call it in Cleveland's favor. If this were five years ago, I would have agreed. However, fact of the matter is, the Cavs are living in the past, and they are hoping that, apparently, Sczerzbiak and Wallace can resurrect their games. Both players, particularly Wallace, are washed up and already at the twilight of their careers.
I don't think Sczerzbiak has regressed too much, as his whole career has been based on shooting the basketball at extremely high efficiency from everywhere, and he's still doing that today. He's just a tad too one-dimensional, and a tad too old for a mutating league that has pressed its reliance upon multi-skilled, multi-talented athletic players. He's very consistent and will give his dues, but will also give extremely porous defense as well. I don't expect his numbers to change with Cleveland, but I don't think he's the scoring/star option LeBron wants if they are to give away Larry Hughes in exchange. Maybe Cleveland sees the poor man's Michael Redd option in Wally after they failed to get Redd a couple of summers ago, but he's far from it.
Wallace. Wow, the Bulls got rid of his pee-poor play and his horrible contract; talk about killing two birds with one stone. And the Cavs inherited. While I don't think either Wallace or Shaq will have a renaissance in lieu of new scenery, I don't think Wallace will help that much, either. The Cavs were a very good defensive team last year already, and losing Drew Gooden for Ben Wallace just makes your team 8 years older at the PF position. Wallace is already a shadow of his old self, not really reaching those high steal/block levels he's enjoyed earlier in his career, his rebounding is down, and oh yeah--his offense makes his team play 4-on-5 most of the time. I don't know why the Cavs wanted to get rid of Gooden so badly--maybe they thought he was too role player-ly for a 4th overall pick--but whatever the reason is, they didn't get a good bargain in return at all.
Delonte West is someone I'd consider a sleeper. I really like his all around play, and he's a 6'4" legitimate PG who can actually pass the ball solidly, shoot the ball well from three, and play above average defense particularly in blocking shots (for a PG!). I don't think he's been given a fair shake at Seattle or Boston, and with the Cavs in need of a legitimate PG and youth, West will probably have a chance to get minutes.
I don't think Sczerzbiak has regressed too much, as his whole career has been based on shooting the basketball at extremely high efficiency from everywhere, and he's still doing that today. He's just a tad too one-dimensional, and a tad too old for a mutating league that has pressed its reliance upon multi-skilled, multi-talented athletic players. He's very consistent and will give his dues, but will also give extremely porous defense as well. I don't expect his numbers to change with Cleveland, but I don't think he's the scoring/star option LeBron wants if they are to give away Larry Hughes in exchange. Maybe Cleveland sees the poor man's Michael Redd option in Wally after they failed to get Redd a couple of summers ago, but he's far from it.
Wallace. Wow, the Bulls got rid of his pee-poor play and his horrible contract; talk about killing two birds with one stone. And the Cavs inherited. While I don't think either Wallace or Shaq will have a renaissance in lieu of new scenery, I don't think Wallace will help that much, either. The Cavs were a very good defensive team last year already, and losing Drew Gooden for Ben Wallace just makes your team 8 years older at the PF position. Wallace is already a shadow of his old self, not really reaching those high steal/block levels he's enjoyed earlier in his career, his rebounding is down, and oh yeah--his offense makes his team play 4-on-5 most of the time. I don't know why the Cavs wanted to get rid of Gooden so badly--maybe they thought he was too role player-ly for a 4th overall pick--but whatever the reason is, they didn't get a good bargain in return at all.
Delonte West is someone I'd consider a sleeper. I really like his all around play, and he's a 6'4" legitimate PG who can actually pass the ball solidly, shoot the ball well from three, and play above average defense particularly in blocking shots (for a PG!). I don't think he's been given a fair shake at Seattle or Boston, and with the Cavs in need of a legitimate PG and youth, West will probably have a chance to get minutes.
Those pieces would have little value for us (West aside -- always liked him).
But they sure do for the Cavs. The whole point when you have LeBron is to surround him with pieces of very particular roleplaying types, and they basically went down a checklist with it. All of this Big Ben isn't what he once was, Wally is over the hill or whatever stuff is irrelevant. If those guys are no better than what they have been THIS year the Cavs still got better, and better organized. And if those guys drink from the fountain of youth they got a LOT better. And all of the guys they picked up have nice defineable roles/games (except West who is now the starting PG). The frontcourt is suddenly all about banging and defense, with one big center to provide offense. In West, Gibson, Wally, Pavlovic the wings are suddenly full of shooters to create space for LeBron and knock down the open jumpers he creates. Its just a much better looking, a much more rationally built team than it was just a few hours ago.
I'm not saying it's a bad deal for them, just chiding you a bit for your suggestion that Cleveland has the real GM. It's a lot easier to turn your garbage into slightly more effective/better fitting garbage when you a) have LeBron, b) aren't trying to turn that garbage into expiring deals in a rebuild, which is harder.
It's a bold move, kudos to the Cavs and all that, but I wouldn't be trading GMs with Cleveland any time soon, I can tell you that much.
It's a bold move, kudos to the Cavs and all that, but I wouldn't be trading GMs with Cleveland any time soon, I can tell you that much.
Well, the Kings were halfway there the other day when they picked up 4 new guys for 1. At the least, a little Rogers and Hammerstein would be fitting for 'Getting to Know You' the next day. lol
edit: I do think Paxson has a HUGE selling point with Lebron in Cleveland, and I'm sure makes his job alot more easier.
At the least, a little Rogers and Hammerstein would be fitting for 'Getting to Know You' the next day. loledit: I do think Paxson has a HUGE selling point with Lebron in Cleveland, and I'm sure makes his job alot more easier.
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Yes. Getting a reliable shooter was an absolute must for them. Expectations for Wallace were too big in Chicago, he'll be able to do his dirty work better with this much offensive talent around him.
Excellent move by the Cavs, they now have enough big bodies to put on KG or the Pistons come playoff time.
Excellent move by the Cavs, they now have enough big bodies to put on KG or the Pistons come playoff time.
Exactly. They didn't need to do anything drastic, they just needed to bring in players that better complement what their superstar likes to do (take advantage of good spacing, drive and kick on the collapsing defense, take over in the fourth). When you give a guy like LeBron four good shooters (Gibson, West, Pavlovic, Sczerbiak), and some good veteran big men, he should have no complaints.
And they did it without bringing in anyone who needs the ball to be effective, like Mike Bibby. I don't think they can come out of the East again, unless Boston suffers injuries and Detroit decides to let LeBron dunk 30 times a game again, but they have a much better shot now, and next season and the season after that, then they did yesterday.
Good trade for the Cavs.
And they did it without bringing in anyone who needs the ball to be effective, like Mike Bibby. I don't think they can come out of the East again, unless Boston suffers injuries and Detroit decides to let LeBron dunk 30 times a game again, but they have a much better shot now, and next season and the season after that, then they did yesterday.
Good trade for the Cavs.
Bad trade. It's good right now, but remember that Lebron is only what, 23? I think they could have gotten a much better, YOUNGER player for Drew. The Cavs got lucky last year and they are lucky to even make the playoffs this year. IMHO they need to look for players in the long run, not right now.
Come one, you have Lebron. Build a dynasty, not a mediocre team that only gets worse with age.
Come one, you have Lebron. Build a dynasty, not a mediocre team that only gets worse with age.
