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Deals will challenge ability to juggle lineups
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Friday, Feb 22, 2008
Danny Ferry pulled off what didn't seem possible.
He found teams willing to trade for his players. He dumped Larry Hughes' contract. He got help for LeBron James. He brought in a point guard.
And he changed the look of the Cavs almost completely on one Thursday afternoon.
Best hope it works.
Because there are gambles involved, and if the gambles don't pay off, the Cavs will merely have reshuffled the chairs instead of bringing in fancy new ones. Or in this case, old ones.
The main gamble says that Ben Wallace can return to being the kind of player he was in Detroit two years ago and can show that he's not — as many have said and written — declining at the age of 33.
The gamble also says that Wally Szczerbiak can be the shooter the Cavs need, that Szczerbiak's 3-point abilities will mesh well with James' passing.
Statistics can be misleading, but the best thing about this remaking of the Cavs lies in the 3-point percentage for Szczerbiak,
which has improved every one of the last five years — from 37.3 percent to 39.3 to 40.6 to 41.5 to 42.8 this season.
That is good news for the Cavs, because a spot-up shooter like Szczerbiak should fit better in the Cavs' offense than Hughes because of James' ability to drive and pass to the open man.
Szczerbiak arrives with Delonte West, a point guard. That in itself might please fans who have cried for Ferry to acquire a point guard. He did, and this one can play defense — an added bonus.
But the most interesting acquisition, by far, is Wallace.
The Wallace of Detroit
If Wallace is the Wallace who played in Detroit, the Cavs have an inside defensive presence they have not had in James' tenure.
The Ben Wallace who played in Detroit was a powerful presence. He worked, he fought, he enforced, he rebounded and he blocked shots. He earned his status by working for everything — and he was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year four times.
That Ben Wallace was impossible to dislike.
Wallace still can guard the best of the NBA's inside players, and the Cavs acquired him with an eye on Boston's Kevin Garnett and Detroit's Rasheed Wallace — two likely playoff opponents.
But Wallace in one sense was also the Larry Hughes of Chicago, a big-money, free-agent signee who did not live up to expectations and who became the object of fan scorn.
Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that the two were traded for each other.
Wallace signed a four-year, $60 million contract with Chicago prior to last season, then bickered with former coach Scott Skiles over wearing his famous headband.
The Bulls did not allow headbands. In one game, Wallace wore one anyway.
Headbands, happily, will not be an issue in Cleveland. With James sporting one every game, Wallace can probably wear as many headbands as he wishes, including inside out and upside down if he so wishes.
But there are some worrying numbers about Wallace.
His 1.6 blocks are his fewest since the 1999-2000 season. Same with his 8.8 rebounds.
Wallace is not an offensive player — to say the least — but he's shooting 37 percent, his worst mark since he was a rookie. Also, his free-throw shooting invites him to be fouled late in games; his career mark is 41.7 percent, and he's never topped 50 percent in his career.
He's also 33.
What's wrong?
So the numbers beg questions.
Do they indicate Wallace is on the decline?
Are they the result of unhappiness in Chicago?
If they are the result of unhappiness, is it wise to bring in a guy who did not play past his unhappiness when he was making $15 million a year?
Or was Wallace simply a bad fit in Chicago's offense, where he had to be the only inside presence?
Will he be a better fit in Cleveland, where he has Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao to play off and with?
And will it help him to return to a team where he can go back to concentrating on rebounding and playing defense? To being the enforcer for the King himself?
Really, that will be his role again.
And that might be a role he is most comfortable filling.
If anyone is happy about these trades, it has to be Mike Brown. A defensive coach got a point guard who can play defense and one of the strongest inside defensive players in the game.
In the short-term, though, these deals will challenge Brown's ability to juggle lineups, something he was adept at in the first half of the season.
West has missed 10 of the last 20 games with a foot injury.
Sasha Pavlovic is still out with a sprained foot.
Varejao is out with a sprained ankle.
So is Daniel Gibson.
Assuming West starts at point guard, Brown's short-term bench at this moment includes Damon Jones, Eric Snow, Devin Brown, newly acquired Joe Smith (who played fairly well for Chicago coming off the bench) and Dwayne Jones.
The full effects of this trade might not be known until the playoffs.
But if the deals work, what better time to find out that it did?
The Cavs gave up three starters on Thursday (Hughes, Drew Gooden, Ira Newble), but let's get real — none are ticketed for the hall of fame. Gooden will be missed, but there's a reason he didn't play at the end of games — and Smith is highly regarded for his smart play.
Time will tell how much these trades will help, but it sure seems like they were a gamble worth taking.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Danny Ferry pulled off what didn't seem possible.
Get the full article here.
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