The Melo Backpedal

In what has arguably been the busiest, and most significant, two weeks of trading in league history, the Cavaliers last minute deadline deal may have greatly improved their chances of returning to the NBA Finals this June.

LeBron James had been asking, in fact begging, the Cavaliers front office to provide him with help in getting back to the Finals, and GM Danny Ferry delivered with a deal that brought them a slew of veterans, including 33-year old Ben Wallace and 32-year old Joe Smith from Chicago and soon-to-be 31-year old Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from Seattle as part of an 11-player, 3-team deal. As part of the deal, the Cavaliers will part with Drew Gooden, Ira Newble, Cedric Simmons, Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown and Donyell Marshall.

As Marc Stein reports, the deal was the last in a busy month of trades, as several stars, including Shawn Marion, Shaquille O’Neal, Jason Kidd and Pau Gasol, all were dealt to new teams. Many observers believe it was the Gasol trade that triggered a slew of responses among the Western Conference’s top squads, while this one could have a major impact atop the East.
While some may question if this trade really improves the Cavaliers, you have to agree that they needed to do something to have a chance of competing with Boston and Detroit in the East, and to keep LeBron relatively happy. We ripped Danny Ferry for doing nothing in the off-season, but he’s certainly redeemed himself here — even if the deal only slightly improves his team.

“I didn’t think we were good enough to win the championship,” Ferry said, explaining his motives for the move. “I thought we had a very good team. But I do believe if we have a chance to make ourselves better we should try.

“Was it a risk in doing so? Yes, it was a risk. But we’re going to have to make some decisions that have some risk in them if we want to continue to build and grow.”

I, like you, don’t understand how Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilguaskas coexist in the frontcourt together, but I like the fact that they’ve added an interior defensive presence with playoff experience. The addition of Joe Smith, perhaps the interior scorer they’ve lacked all season, will compliment Wallace nicely, so expect to see them playing together a lot while Ilguaskas shares time with another defensive enforcer, Anderson Varejao. While Wallace has played unmotivated in Chicago this season, the belief here is that, like Shaq, he’ll get motivated real quick now that he’s back on a winning team surrounded by youngsters that really depend on him. The main thing here is that the Cavaliers got bigger up front, and that should pay dividends in the playoffs.

“When you have a superstar like LeBron James, it’s important to be able to put shooters around him,” Ferry said. “When you have guys who make the extra passes, having somebody to knock down that shot is big.”

While Wally Szczerbiak is no longer the all-star he once was, he’s still an excellent shooter who’ll get plenty of open looks in Cleveland with LeBron drawing double and triple teams. Larry Hughes, while being a capable scorer at times, wasn’t that shooter that Cleveland so badly needed. Having a shooter like Wally World will be a huge relief for LeBron, who’ll likely get triple teamed as often. Though Szczerbiak still isn’t at full health after off-season ankle surgery, he should be fairly close to it by playoff time. Plus, his wife is from Ohio and he played his college ball there, so he should feel right at home and be well-recieved by the Cleveland fans.

Delonte West was in exile in Seattle, but has the ability to give the Cavaliers steady minutes at the point, which is something they’ve desperately needed — especially with Daniel Gibson currently banged up. The 24-year old guard was a big contributor in Boston last season, and should get an opportunity to provide quality minutes for them this spring.

While this deal certainly doesn’t transform the Cavaliers into the favorites in the East, it probably puts them closer to Detroit and Boston in terms of depth, size, and overall talent. And if I’m LeBron, I’d much rather go to battle with this group than the one Cleveland had last spring.