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The Cavs finally jump in the water
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Apparently, The front office of the Cavaliers finally decided that the water was fine.
I'm sure that die-hard Cleveland Cavaliers fans were looking at the acquisitions by teams before the season as well as recent acquisitions made en masse by seemingly every contending team in the NBA. One had to be asking whether GM Danny Ferry was going to wake up from his dreamworld and make a move..any move whether it'd be good, bad or indifferent.
The wait is over.
In a move that is as close to dismantlement as you can get, The Cavaliers sent Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons to the confines of the Windy City in exchange for Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. They also sent Ira Newble and Donyell {I can't find my jersey} Marshall to the Sonics and acquired Wally Szczerbiak and PG Delonte West. They also picked up a second-round pick from the Bulls in 2009.
There are pros and cons to this move. Delonte West is a true PG and thus he'll wind up taking the pressure off Lebron in terms of bringing the ball up the floor. Joe Smith may be a slight downgrade in terms of interior D, but he's a better scorer in the low post than Gooden. Wally Szecerbiak will help stretch the floor on the offensive end, but his impact probably won't be truly felt until the return of Daniel Gibson, who picked the worst possible time to miss 4-6 weeks. The X factor and the man that will make or break this trade is Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace never really fit in with the Bulls and I think a lack of motivation may have been the key factor to him falling off currently. A change of scenery and the benefit of playing with Lebron and an improved frontcourt will hopefully bring back the energy that we saw from Big Ben while in Detroit.
Larry Hughes never lived up to the potential that we saw with him in Washington while he was a Cav, but he played great perimeter D especially on Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups in the Eastern Conference Finals. That's not easy to replace and it'll be on Sasha to help fill the void. Of course, the biggest question is team chemistry with this dramatic roster turnover with this deal. With Daniel Gibson's injury, it'll be an even bigger question and with the season headed toward it's stretch run, Mike Brown will have to work quickly to get this team on the same page.
The immediate impact of this move as well as the Cavs place in the Eastern Conference is in a wait and see mode, but I can already tell you that this move will work in the long run because it achieves a greater purpose.
It boosts the morale of Lebron James.
Lebron James has been constantly up the front office's rear ends {and rightfully so} in terms of getting a deal done. He campaigned for Mike Bibby as well as other players. This deal, while it remains to be seen how it plays out, gives Lebron and Cavs fans assurance that this franchise will do what it takes to put a team around Lebron, a notion that myself and others have been questioning for a long time as move after move was made in the NBA with no Cavs involvement. This keeps Lebron happy and motivated, which is the biggest win for this franchise in all of this.
Enjoy your swim, Cleveland.
