Did the Cavs Get LeBron a Wingman?
NBA August 14th. 2008, 11:30am
Weird deal in the NBA Wednesday: the Bucks sent shoot-first point guard Mo Williams to the Cavs, and a bunch of mediocre players swapped teams. Oklahoma City got Desmond Mason and Joe Smith and Milwaukee landed Luke Ridnour, Adrian Griffin and Damon Jones. Williams, a gunner who starred at Alabama and was thought to be the heir apparent to TJ Ford in Milwaukee, seemingly will end Delonte West’s brief stint in Cleveland. [Aside: Via True Hoop: Brian Windhorst scooped this story ... while in a hospital bed. That's f'ing incredible.]
Awhile back, we wondered what Danny Ferry was going to do to keep LeBron around. Is this the move? Doug Collins noted this morning during the USA-Greece game that LeBron had never played with a 17-point-per-game scorer. Obviously Williams is an upgrade from Larry Hughes and West … we’re just kind of not sold on him as an elite wingman. Still, when you consider the Cavs were a lucky PJ Brown (!!) jumper away from defeating the Celtics in game seven at the Garden … it’s tough to kill this move. Would have liked to have seen the Cavs grab an inside talent, but maybe rookie JJ Hickson is their guy.
The Bucks are a mess. They have six point guards (Ridnour, Ramon Sessions, Damon Jones, Tyronn Lue, Charlie Bell and Royal Ivey), an awesome SG (Redd), a flotilla of SFs (Richard Jefferson, Bobby Simmons, Joe Alexander and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), a tweener at PF (Charlie Villanueva), and a capable C (Bogut). If that doesn’t reek of 32 wins, we don’t know what does.
Oklahoma City – eh. (Still listed as Seattle some places.) Desmond Mason is on his second tour of duty with the franchise (he played in Seattle a while back), and also starred at Oklahoma State, so maybe this was done to stir interest in locals. Not sure how he’s going to get burn with guys like Kevin Durant and Jeff Green ahead of him. They’re still looking at a lineup of Westbrook, Durant, Green, Wilcox and Collison, which is a great collection of college talent … but still at least a year or two away from being a 35-win team in the NBA.
Photo: Icon Sports Media
46 Responses to “Did the Cavs Get LeBron a Wingman?”
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August 14th, 2008 at 11:33 am
oh boy. Im surprised no prediction of NBA Finals
August 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am
If there’s anybody who’s going to convince LeBron to not go to New York, it’s Mo Williams.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’m not sure this is “the move” that puts them over the top, that would have been James Posey (kidding). But I like the deal, giving up Damon Jones (overpaid stiff) and Joe Smith (decent but old) for a young guy that can score is an upgrade. Lets remember they don’t need a true PG, they need a guard who can do some of the ball handling and score consistently when the king gets him a wide open look.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Mo Williams = Mo Winning
August 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Remember they still have Wally’s and Eric Snow’s expiring deal to play with, if necessary.
But this is a gigantic upgrade to the roster. Delonte is great on D, but an awful shooter. Boobie is a great shooter but can barely bring the ball up the court.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Cavs fan here happy with the deal – let’s hope he doesn’t flop like Hughes.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Not sure that Cavs are done either. West will likely sign a 1 year deal, which gives the Cavs the ability to use him as trade bait also. They have my namesake’s expiring contract ($13m!!!), Varejao, Pavlovic, and now West all as possible trade bait to get different faces in Wine and Gold for next year.
I could see West heading elsewhere sooner than later for a serviceable post man off the bench.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I think this is a good move for the Cavs. Williams scored over 17 points a game and over 6 assists a game. He can get the ball to Lebron in a good position, and keep the defense honest with his shooting. He is a decent 3 point shooter.
The Cavs starting line-up should be Williams, Gibson, Lebron, Wallace and Z. Off the bench they have West, Varejo, Sasha, Wally and Hickson. That should be enough for a high seed in the East
August 14th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Sessions put upi eye-popping assist totals the last month of the season. THey didn’t win any games though…
Sessions, Redd, Jefferson, Villanueva, and Bogut is a decent top 5. But Skiles is a bad match for the lineup.
Bobby Simmons went to the Nets in the Yi deal.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Varejao is not trade bait. He’s an integral part of the plans.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
The Cavs have LeBron. That should be enough for a high seed in the East.
/fact
August 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
The East is going to be a fight this season.
Detroit and Boston are about the only teams you’d expect to take a step back while Orlando, Toronto (if O’Neal can play 70 games), Miami, Atlanta, Philly, and Washington could be vastly improved.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Threadjack:
Internet darling Sacramone might still get a gold medal.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/14/underage.gymnasts/index.html
August 14th, 2008 at 11:52 am
The Cavs have Mike Brown. That should be enough to make Cavs fans nervous.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:52 am
she already has a gold medal…in America’s heart
/except heartless fetch
August 14th, 2008 at 11:52 am
“Oklahoma City got Desmond Mason and Joe Smith”
^That’s going to take some getting used to, hearing about OKC in the NBA.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:53 am
i think it makes them a better team, but NBA Champs better? nah.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:53 am
@NickP… The Cavs are still salty about AV’s holdout last year. If someone asks for him in a package to get a better post player, he is definitely in play. Although, they’ll definitely be fine if he doesn’t get moved too.
You’re right in that I wouldn’t say that he is being used as bait though…
August 14th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Internet darling Sacramone might still get a gold medal.
I didnt see any pictures of her ass in this link.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
The already excellent Cavalier supporting cast gets even better with this move (I know people will scoff, but the way they played defense against the Celtics while LeBron struggled with his jumper and turnovers, yet they were still so close to getting past them shows how underrated they were).
They’ll miss Joe Smith though, especially with the continuous decline of Ben Wallace.
I’m not 100% convinced they move Wally. If they come out and play well this season, they’ll be reticent to mess with that – especially if he’s shooting well.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:57 am
kobe sucks
August 14th, 2008 at 11:57 am
August 14th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Why don’t they just bring back Craig Ehlo?
August 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
nothing the cavs do will keep lebron from going to europe
August 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
the big deal will be once again at the trade deadline with all that expiring money. i like this move a lot though, the questions still remains whether or not mike brown can actually develop an offense
August 14th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
anyone wanting to bash SG? she is defenseless. here’s you chance
August 14th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
/necessary threadjack
Artest is officially a Rocket as of today…
August 14th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Saw this on truehoop
I’m guessing J-Kidd
August 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Joe Smith is nice, but he’s our 9th man. JJ Hickson will be fine in his role.
Yeah, but I don’t see any better post players becoming available in a trade. Maybe D-Lee. Varejao is extremely underrated. It would take a lot to want to move him.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Pretty funny article on Cleveland.com….Damon Jones was on First Take yesterday morning talking about the lack of moves the Cavs and Danny Ferry had made, gets in his limo to go to the airport and his driver told him he got traded.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I don’t think West stays with the team, but that’s just a guess. Wallace as a starter? really? Thought Joe Smith was decent in the postseason last year. not sure hickson can duplicate his effort yet.
jb – was in the PM roundup yesterday, i think
August 14th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Front page of cleveland.com sports page has a picture of Williams burning Damon Jones off of the dribble. Not going to miss that.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Why not? All he needs to do in that lineup is play defense, block some shots and grab boards. Although he is declining, I still think he can fill that role.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Damon Jones is like Chad Johnson but with none of the ability.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
@ TBL fuck me
Hows Madden I hearing different opinons some say it sucks others say its the best since 2005?
August 14th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Wally was terrible for the Cavs last year shooting wise. Mo is a big upgrade if he takes away Wally minutes.
Joe Smith was a decent player, but they got a above average gaurd for him. You can replace what Joe Smith gives you fairly easily.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
@JB, played Madden for the first time last night, I like it, really liked the Madden IQ thing, I sucked balls or maybe it was Tavaris Jackson’s fault.
I got Aaron Rodgers to throw 5 picks.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Anyone else immediately Google her to see what she looks like?
August 14th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Hughes averaged 22 points and 4.7 assists per game in the year before moving to Cleveland. He averaged 18.8 points per game the year before that. So if you’re going to say Lebron’s now playing with a 17 point scorer, you can’t say he never has before.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
late to the party…
meh on the move…but it can’t hurt right?
August 14th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
@spence… Why meh? They gave away a nobody in Amon Ones (No D and No J) and a good but fragile (bad knees) Joe Smith for a lead guard who is just hitting his prime. I am really digging this trade.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
meh because, frankly, i haven’t seen enough of Mo Williams to think that he’s worth getting rid of big-depth. that was one of the reasons the cavs were playing well down the stretch was because joe smith was a great reserve for Z. now all our eggs are in hickson’s basket? sure he played great in the summer league, but that means jack shit…and aside from Z and Andy, they have ben wallace and a rook for bigs.
don’t get me wrong, from what ive seen, mo is pretty good, but i haven’t seen enough to be like, “WOW.” let’s not fool ourselves, nobody has seen that many bucks games.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
People read truehoop? Do you have a learning disability?
Madden is good enough. Its not 2005, but its light years better than last year. I’ve missed having a football game for a year, so it will have to do.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Cavs lose some big man depth, so what. Maybe that means they will play smaller a style that might help Lebron florish a little more in the halfcourt. Right now they only have Z, Ben, Varejo Hickson and Darnell Jax. But they got back a starter in Mo Williams. You can find 4th string servicable bigs easily.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
In what universe is Damon Jones a point guard?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Nobody gets his points like Mo Williams.