Cavs Acquire Mo Williams in 3 Team Trade

[gc1530]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3533552

Cavs Receive: Mo Williams
Bucks Receive: Damon Jones, Luke Ridnour, Adrian Griffin
OKC Receives: Desmond Mason, Joe Smith

I know there was some mention of the trade in another thread, but I thought it would be appropriate to make a more definitive one.  Mods feel free to merge

[BadBoyBosh]

good, now lets get dwest

[JSD]

Wow huh? I like this move for the Bucks. They set themselves up nicely short term and long term.

[zerophase]

well, lebron gets his pg. this may be a championship year for the cavs.

[wdleehi]

How much of an upgrade is Williams in terms of setting LeBron up? 

[cons]

 joe smith was at times the cavs 2nd best player. at other times, that player was delonte west. now it seems they're both out of the picture. not sure what sense this makes for cleveland.

[EJPLAYA]

Maybe they are a little better at point than they were, but the upgrade there is completely offset by the loss of Joe Smith. He was big for them all year and was a great calming influence on their team. Who is going to guard KG now?! We know Wallace can't do it anymore, and if they think Sideshow Bob Varaejo is ready or able then they are nuts. This IMO sets them back further. If they don't sign a premiere big, which there aren't any left,  then they have just guaranteed Lebron is gone in 2010.

[PointGaurd]

I like What OKC has , with Durant and D. Mason at the wings, and Westbrook looking good at the point.  J. Smith off the bench or starting for offense.  And Wilcox and whoever else.  Nice moves for a team that I thought was in the dungeon.

[Who]

Wow this is an odd-ball trade

Great work by Cleveland, JJ Hickson just made the rotation, love that. Mo Williams is a good upgrade at the point. They got better. Long term Mo's contract is an irritation but the fact he doesn't have a PG bone his body won't affect Cleveland because they've no offense to speak of. He's well capable of playing off of LeBron.

Oklahoma got rid of another contract which serves their purposes. Joe Smith will help some of their kids out, teach them how to play the game. Desmond Mason gives them .... did Mason come out of Oklahoma? College? Grow up there? Something rings a bell there ... a solid two guard and a good defender. Lots of benefits for Oklahoma.

Milwaukee got rid of an atrocious contract so that's a win. They took back a bad contract in Ridnour but got some cap relief. Not sure why the wanted Ridnour or what purpose he serves. Hopefully Ramon Sessions starts if not Ridnour will do an acceptable job, I don't like that they put another player in front of Sessions. Ridnour's a very good offensive point guard and a pass first player, he'll help out in those regards. For a team looking to move up from 30th in the league in defensive efficiency though ... let's just say he hurts the cause.

[BballTim]

  I'll agree with the Joe Smith Comments. They now have 3 players taller than LeBron that you'd expect much from and only one of them can score. Smith played pretty well against us in the postseason. They needed to keep either him or Z on the court instead of trying to play with a non-scoring Wallace-Varajao combo.

[CelticsWhat35]

If Mo Williams is healthy, this is a big pickup for the Cavs.  One of their biggest problems has always been the failure to get scoring from anyone other than LeBron.  Williams is a guy that, not only can score, but he can create for himself and others.

They also still have Wally's expiring contract.

It's true that the loss of Joe Smith should not be overlooked, but if you watched the playoffs, as much as Ben Wallace has regressed in the past few years, he is still a much better defender than Joe Smith, and he defended KG much better than Joe Smith.

[Redz]

I know he's not the focus of the deal, but why can't Joe Smith find a home?  The guys played pretty well the last several years. Send him to the C's if he needs someone to appreciate him.

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Foolish trade for the Cavs.

Joe Smith was huge for them all year, which was already mentioned...but I found him to be rather huge in the playoffs. Don't we all remember Joe Smith's 8/8 FG performance against the C's in like game 3 or 4 (i forget which one it was). Bottom line is that Joe Smith's veteran savvy hasn't been replaced.

This trade also solidifies Delonte as a backup, which he won't be happy to hear considering he was looking to get a new contract to pay him more than D.Jones (their previous backup). Now that DWest IS THE BACKUP there's no way they give him what he wants (aka 5 years 21 million). This just means he'll (gulp) settle for the 2.1 Million this season and go wherever he wants next season (fingers crossed it's back to bean town). 

So all in all this trade makes Cleveland worse (i.e. frontcourt and veteran leadership) and allow for the possibility of Delonte returning to Boston next season.

[td450]

Very interesting.

I really don't think this helps the Cavs enough. I agree losing Joe Smith was significant. Wallace is deteriorating rapidly and they needed a long defender like Smith, particularly against the C's. Hickson might end up being a decent player, but he is unlikely to match up very well with KG like Smith did. Without Smith, and with a slower Wallace, I don't see them being as tough inside.

The issue with Mo Williams is that he has a contract that demands he carry a heavy load. He has to be competitive in the championship sense, meaning he has to be able to slug it out with the better point guards in the league that he will meet in the playoffs, and not just school the teams without strong point guards. I'm not sure he does that. I see him more as a $6-7M player than a $10M player.

[wdleehi]

It is not a bad trade for Cleveland.  They can now sign and trade West to replace Smith. 


It is an upgrade at PG.  Still, not enough to get past Boston.