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Point guard has the moxie to shoot. He'll play defense
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
The more you ponder the Cavs' acquisition of point guard Mo Williams, the better it seems.
On several levels.
The first reaction was to lament losing a pro like Joe Smith. He was a valuable addition, a good guy and a solid contributor in the playoffs last season.
But he's also 33, and Williams is 25.
Decisions aren't made on sentimentality; they're made on what helps the Cavs win.
And when LeBron James weighs in that the addition of Williams was an ''A'' . . . well . . . who are we to refute it?
The Cavs did not acquire Jason Kidd in his prime, but they do think that Williams is entering his prime.
He brings things the Cavs did not have — the ability to penetrate and to create his own shot.
And the concerns about him can be addressed.
The main one is his defensive ability. In coach Mike Brown's system, guys who don't play defense don't play.
So Williams will have to play defense.
The other one is that he's a ''shoot first'' point guard.
But let's be honest — the first time Williams fires a 20-foot jump shot on the break with James on the wing will probably be the last time.
Anyone in the NBA who wants to win knows he can win by joining James, and those who buck the system for their own good just are not going to succeed. See Larry Hughes.
Williams has $43 million left on his contract, but it's not as onerous as it might sound because it does not spiral up as the years go on. In fact, it goes down.
His salaries start at $8.3 million this season and then go to $8.8 million, $9.3 million, $8.5 million and $8.5 million. If he plays well, those figures at the end of the deal would not be too much to carry.
Too, Williams can opt out of the deal in 2011 and 2012, and he has player options to opt in (who the heck comes up with these terms?) in 2012 and 2013.
His addition moves the Cavs payroll to $84.5 million, but General Manager Danny Ferry also has Wally Szczerbiak in his last year ($13 million . . . $13 million???) and Eric Snow, who is retiring due to injury but still on the payroll (probably hoping to be traded to someone who will pay him $3 million to sit on the bench for a few days).
The team payroll, incidentally, is the second highest in the league — behind only the New York Knicks.
The trade of Smith might have been possible because of the positive buzz about J.J. Hickson, the Cavs' first-round draft pick.
Hickson recently attended the Tim Grgurich Big Man Camp in Las Vegas and impressed those who saw him.
One scout from the Western Conference came away comparing Hickson to Carl Landry, a late first-round pick of the Houston Rockets who had an unexpectedly good rookie season.
It's one thing to do some things in Rookie League.
It's quite another to impress a scout at a camp like the one run by Grgurich, a Denver Nuggets assistant.
Folks might remember a key possession late in Game 7 in Boston when James gave Ben Wallace the ball 4 feet from the basket. Wallace passed to Delonte West, who missed a 3-pointer.
It's what Wallace does, but it also showed the need for a strong forward who can score. Hickson does that.
Let's be real here, though. Landry impressed many by playing 17 minutes and averaging 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds.
If Hickson approaches that he'll give the Cavs what Smith did, and the team will be thrilled.
The trade also seems to give Anderson Varejao a chance to re-establish himself — if he remembers that what made him successful was not driving, spinning, scoop shots that clang off the back of the rim.
As for West . . . he will be back with the Cavs this year. The question is how long. He might sign the one-year qualifying offer, but the Cavs would like a longer-term deal.
The most interesting fallout from the trade will be who starts at guard alongside Williams (assuming he's the starter at point guard).
Brown likes big guards, but his best combination could be Williams and West.
OLYMPICS
Synchronized
diving truly
rates a belly-flop
There's something about the Olympics, which provide the most compelling competition — Michael Phelps — or the most ridiculous.
Athletes like Phelps and Usain Bolt — ever see anyone run that fast with that little effort? — provide moments we will always remember.
But synchronized diving just takes one silly alleged sport and doubles the ridiculousness.
Now, the athletes have to be admired. Their grace and skill are amazing, and their determination and hard work are worthy of great respect.
It's just that these alleged sports lose a little luster when they're viewed in the prism of what actually constitutes a sport.
First, there must be a measurable, quantifiable way to win. No judges scurrying back and forth. No subjective view from the Ukranian that messes things up. No lost points for not going past vertical. A time, a score or a measurement determines a winner.
Second, there must be a ball involved, or a reasonable substitute (like a puck).
Swimming has no ball, and it does have goofy new suits, but time determines who touches the wall first. So it was that we could all watch and see Phelps win that seventh gold medal in that incredible finish by .001 of a second.
Wow.
Rhythmic gymnastics has a ball, but subjective scoring. It does not pass the test.
Folks ridicule badminton, but at least you can tell who misses the birdie.
Judo? Yes, that's an Olympic event, and I really can't tell you how they judge the winner.
Figure skating? Please.
Ice dancing? Double please.
Synchronized diving? What in the world . . .
Where do the Olympics draw the line? At one point ballroom dancing was considered. Ballroom dancers are fabulous. They work hard, their routines require enormous energy and work.
But so does ballet.
Is that going to be an Olympic sport?
''Oh dear, that plie was way off. Two-tenths deduction.''
''He really needs to stick this arabesque.''
This leads to another corollary to the criteria for sport: One must never be described as a ballerina.
This happened last week, when the Associated Press wrote about Nastia Liukin, who won women's gymnastics gold for all-around.
''When she pirouettes on the high bar, turning her body all the way around not once, not twice, but three times, she looks just like a jewelry box ballerina,'' the AP wrote. ''And when she moves from high bar to low, she seems to float, suspended in the air.''
Lovely writing . . . I guess. But for crying out loud. Could this be just a little more over-the-top dramatic?
Now, Liukin's win and her story are marvelous. She, to use the vernacular, is exquisite.
And she does things I'd never dream of trying, though quite simply I'm not about to try any bar that does not have a tap and a stool.
But a jewelry box ballerina?
Think of that next time you see Rodney Harrison motoring over the middle to find a receiver.
Or think of it when you hear Mark Spitz tell Phelps his efforts were ''epic.'' Spitz could not have been more gracious to the guy who was breaking his records.
Epic . . . jewelry box ballerina. See the difference?
I wonder where this ends with the Olympics.
Let's put Monopoly in the Games (it is a game, right?). Or Yahtzee. Parcheesi, anyone?
Monopoly might lengthen the two-week time span because everyone would be holding out for hotels on St. Charles, but at least the winner isn't a matter of who has the most artistic dice roll.
random thoughts
• As of today, Cavs will have $30 million in cap room in 2010, the offseason LeBron becomes a free agent.
Which is a good position for a team.
• Interesting to see LeBron playing some power forward — that would be '4' — in the Olympics. This might just open up new possibilities for the Cavs, who could play James at '4' with two smaller guards and Sasha Pavlovic or Szczerbiak at small forward. Make the other team adjust.
• Browns receiver Braylon Edwards' heel injury — he cut it jogging without shoes when he was spiked by a teammate — brings to mind one of the Browns' Achilles heels: If Edwards goes down for any length of time, the receivers will suffer.
The guys behind Edwards aren't a bunch of Paul Warfields. Might not even be a bunch of Fair Hookers.
Unless a Marques Colston is hiding somewhere in the group.
Watching how the receivers do against the New York Giants on Monday night might actually make a preseason game interesting for a short time.
Then again . . . nah. . . .
• The other concern: Defensive backfield depth. The New York Jets were tossing touchdowns at will, and in this age of spread-the-field, four-wide-receiver offense, there has to be a couple guys behind the starters who can play.
The Dallas Cowboys' receivers might run to Navarre in the opener.
• The Indians report that through Thursday they had scored 336 runs since June 1, which would be the sixth highest total in the league.
Which kind of decimates the theory that the team's struggles are because they can't score.
The Indians' struggles are summed up in one number — 5.25.
That's the ERA of the bullpen.
And that's abysmal.
• Indians relievers have allowed more than one-in-three inherited runners to score and (as of Friday) had gone 20-for-37 in save opportunities — and that's just the guys on the team.
One game the relievers gave up six runs and got nobody out on 17 pitches. Try doing that in backyard whiffle ball. It's next to impossible.
• The team's starting pitching ERA is 4.04, which is the sixth lowest in the AL.
Can anyone say relief?
Why are relievers so up and down? Here's one theory: When they go well they are used a lot. The next year they report with a tired arm and never get the same command or arm strength, so they struggle and don't pitch as much. The next year their arms are strong again so they rebound.
That's the theory at least.
• I want to know why the Minnesota Twins are so good year in and year out, why they never seem to drop off the face of the Earth.
Consider that in the offseason they lost Johan Santana and Torii Hunter, yet there they are about to win the American League Central again.
The Twins are kind of like trying to get rid of an old garbage can.
Ever try it? It's next to impossible. Put an old garbage can on the front for the trash guys and they leave it.
So you take it back in and put it out again the next week. They leave it again.
That's the Twins. There is just no getting rid of them.
• Baseball Prospectus points out that Rick Sutcliffe won the NL Cy Young after the Indians traded him to the Chicago Cubs and he went 16-1. CC Sabathia is 7-0 with a 1.55 ERA for the Milwaukee Brewers since the Indians traded him to them.
Perhaps Sabathia can win back-to-back Cy Youngs in different leagues.
At this point it sure seems like Sabathia will get top dollar when he goes free agent after the season — $25 million per year might be realistic.
Sutcliffe's reward for going 16-1 in 1984: A five-year, $9 million contract.
• This year's Olympics controversy: Underage Chinese gymnasts. Those girls were about as close to being 16 as I am to being George Clooney.
• Bob Costas is the best Olympics host this side of Jim McKay.
• Can't really figure if it has been good to listen to Bela Karolyi.
• Until next time . . . there you have it.
The more you ponder the Cavs' acquisition of point guard Mo Williams, the better it seems.
Get the full article here.
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