The other trades

Let me say from the beginning that I don't care about every trade or about every team, so for some trades, I may not discuss every player involved or every team involved.


Mike Bibby to Atlanta Hawks: This is good for Mike Bibby in that he gets away from Sacramento, which isn't going anywhere real soon, and goes to a team that should make the playoffs. I was hoping he would end up in Cleveland so Lebron would have someone who could orchestrate the offense and hit open jump shots. Lebron has a lot of the tools to play the point, i.e. passing, patience, court vision, but when he doesn't have a point guard on the court with him, he has too many possessions where he just dribbles and dribbles and dribbles and dribbles, and then shoots a contested jump shot. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing the Cavs pick up the pace. They're 18th in the NBA in pace, after ranking 11th, 16th, 18th, and 20th in pace during Lebron's first four years. Look, Mike Brown, I know you like the Spurs system, but Lebron isn't a slow power forward/center like Duncan. He's a super fast, super tall, super strong point guard/small forward. Let him run, for God's sake.

Kurt Thomas to San Antonio: Good pickup for the Spurs, though I think they'll miss Brent Barry's shooting (48 fg%, 43 3p%, 7.3 ppg, 19 min)

Pau Gasol to Lakers: The Lakers were already a really good team before the trade, and I don't know how it will all fit together when Andrew Bynum returns, but either way, the Lakers are the best team in the NBA right now. Yuk.

Jason Kidd to Mavericks: This was obviously a great move for Kidd to get away from New Jersey to a contender in Dallas. First of all, Dallas is good. They won 58, 60, and 67 games the last three seasons, and they're on pace for 56 this season. They should have one championship to show for it, but even if they don't, they are a very capable team. Though Kidd isn't as good as he used to be, he's still a lot better than Devin Harris. Harris is a nice player, but he doesn't make his teammates better or create for teammates, which is what a point guard is supposed to do. The Mavericks rank 23rd in the NBA in assists per game. Harris averaged 5.3 per game. Also, Kidd is a great rebounder. Yeah, the Mavs are already a good rebounding team (+2.8 margin, 4th in NBA), but they're now a great rebounding team. I think they're a bigger player for the Western Conference than some people realize.

Cavaliers add Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, and Joe Smith and lose Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, and Ira Newble. Let's start with the players they let go: Larry Hughes : 'Nuff said. Donyell Marshall was supposed to bring shooting and general role player stuff (rebounding, defense, spacing, hustle, etc.). He's been good enough at the latter, but not so good at the former (32%, 35%, and 35% from 3 in his three years in Cleveland), including his wide-open miss that would have won the Cavs game 1 of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. Ira Newble is a solid 12th man, no more. Drew Gooden has decent skills and is a good rebounder, but I get the impression that he isn't considered very smart, including by Lebron. His minutes can easily be divided between the new big guys and Anderson Varejao.

What about the new Cavaliers? Ben Wallace is old and not as good as he used to be, but he can still defend. I wonder if he'll be more productive playing the 4 alongside Ilguaskas instead of defending other centers straight up. Cleveland is already good defensively, and this should them defend better. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about Joe Smith. I've heard he's a good midrange shooter and a solid defender. Basically, he's Kurt Thomas, I gather. Or at least, I hope. Wally brings a last name that begins with four consonants, and secondarily is a good shooter (49/41/86 career, 46/43/84 with Seattle this season). I don't think he can do anything else, but that's what his teammates are for. Delonte West should not be mistaken for a point guard, but he's shown he's capable of shooting (49/39/85 in 05-06, his second season) even if he's only shooting 39/34/67 this season. I suspect playing alongside Lebron won't hurt his shooting percentages, unless he's Donyell Marshall.

In summary, the Cavaliers are really good. They have great defense and rebounding, a deep frontcourt rotation (Ilgauskas, Varejao, Big Ben, Smith), shooters (Daniel Gibson, Ssczcsczszcsczsscerbiak, Damon Jones, Sasha Pavlovic, and potentially West), an underrated defensive coach in Mike Brown, and most importantly, the superstar who can tie it all together and cover up everyone's weaknesses (i.e. the bigs' subpar offensive skills, the shooters' inability to create for themselves). We'll have to wait and see how this turns out but I think we can offically say that Lebron has a pretty good supporting cast. Not great, but good enough to win a championship.

They could still use a point guard, though.