Bill Simmons called these trades to go down before the deadline:
Seattle trades Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Mickael Gelabale to Cleveland for Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, my illegitimate brother Cedric Simmons and a 2008 No. 2 pick.
Cleveland trades Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Ira Newble to Milwaukee for Charlie Villanueva and Bobby Simmons.
In all, Simmons predicted that the Cavs would unload:
Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble, Cedric Simmons, Damon Jones, and a No. 2 pick.
Today, the Cavs traded away:
Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble, Cedric Simmons, and Larry Hughes.
That's pretty dead on. The only difference is that Larry Hughes was traded instead of Damon Jones and the No. 2 pick.
Moreover, for those seven pieces, Simmons hoped the Cavs received the following 5 players:
Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Mickael Gelabale, Charlie Villanueva, and Bobby Simmons.
Today, Cavs received:
Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a future 2nd Rd Pick.
So, he did predict that the Cavs would receive Szczerbiak and West from the Sonics but he didn't see Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a 2nd Rd pick coming.
Would you rather have Gelabale, Villanueva, and Bobby Simmons over Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a future second round pick?
In Gelabale, you're getting a throw-in 24 year old French forward who has promising shooting skills. In Villanueva, you're getting a young perimeter big man who's numbers have all declined since his big rookie season. His PPG has dropped from 13.0 to 11.8 to 9.7 the last three years while his rebounds have decreased 0.6 rebounds each year from 6.4 to 5.8 to 5.2. This could be a product of shortened playing time with Milwaukee but it's still not good that the 23 year old hasn't improved in the last 3 years. On the hook for close to $30 million for the next 3 years, Bobby Simmons is a 27 year old who's numbers have dropped significantly from his big year in LA a few years ago. So, all in all, you'd be getting three young question marks who have a combined 19.7 points per game this year. You'd already be getting a shooter in Szczerbiak, why 2 other players of the same size and a shooter in Charlie Newtown?
Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and a future 2nd round pick is a completely different package. You're getting two old veteran big man who have almost 15,000 rebounds between the two of them. Together, they'll help big time down low with defensive presence and selfless offense (both have less than 10 shots a game). And that's the most important thing in this trade. Does Lebron want a 6'11 perimeter player again after Donyell Marshall?
Did you know Joe Smith is younger than Ben Wallace? Did you know this will be his 8th team? And he's never made it to the second round in the playoffs? Remember when he was the #1 pick in the draft? Get this guy a ring please.
Consider this a big big win for the Cavs and a big "Huh?" for the Bulls.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
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Unfortunately for the Cavs, Wallace has the potential to be terrible. The trade helps them, but it also saves Paxson's job. Is it the type of trade Bulls fans wanted to see? Uh, no. Those types of trades happened for teams like Boston and LA - mostly because the Bulls weren't willing to pull the trigger with young "talent" (specifically, Deng and Gordon) that they're probably not going to re-sign anyway. But it does solve one key problem for the Bulls - Ben Wallace and his uninspired (read: wretched) play are gone. Simmons alluded to this, too, without being so harsh on Wallace. I've watched him . . . he deserves harshness. Plus, now the Bulls probably won't make the playoffs (which is fine, because they weren't going to win), save some money over the next three years, and give themselves an outside chance at an upper-tier lottery pick with a good class coming out.
Doesn't alleviate the downsides of the trade, but getting rid of Wallace (to Simmons this post up) is like dumping the really hot girl that you had instantly given up time with your friends with only to find out that she had committed herself to God once you couldn't quite stop spending so much time with her without getting caught; from the outside looking in, things seemed great, but now you get your buddies back and are saved immense frustration at watching potential go unrealized. It doesn't look brilliant from the outside, but in the long run it's for the best.
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