The Cleveland Cavaliers made big moves at the NBA trading deadline that will help them in their quest to repeat as Eastern Conference Champs.
Defence, front court depth, shooting and a little versatility.
If it sounds like all the items you'd like to add to your team, then call Cleveland Cavalier General Manager Danny Ferry and ask him how he convinced two other teams to give you those pieces.
In a blockbuster three way trade with the Bulls and the Sonics, the Cavs have made themselves relevant again and are ready step back into the top tier in the Eastern Conference.
Cleveland acquired Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, and Delonte West in the transaction. Wallace is a key defensive presence and is the kind of role player, albeit over paid, that every championship team needs. Big Ben already has a championship ring from his time in Detroit to show for his celebrated role player status. Yes his best offensive move is a put back or a dunk and his free throw shooting, at times, makes Shaquille O'Neal look like Steve Nash, but on this Cleveland team with LeBron James, his offense is not needed.
Smith is a solid experienced veteran who understands how to play and will adapt to a role and play within it. Drew Gooden would occasionally break away from the designed play call but Smith won't do that with near the regularity of Gooden. Szczerbiak is the perfect complimentary player. He, like Wallace, is over-compensated with a contract based on previous success, but the Miami of Ohio product can make shots and help stretch the defence. In the West, the Cavs get a combo guard who was learning to play the point during his time in Boston before being dealt to Seattle. West is a good defender and will be another option for Mike Brown.
Brown had said at the turn of the calendar in January that his team needed to get back to the defensive mind set that help produce an appearance in the NBA Finals last season. With the exception of Szczerbiak, who is more offensive minded, Brown has been given some people that will take pride in defending consistently. Add Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varajao and Cleveland has a big front line with energy to accompany good post and good defense.
The Chicago Bulls have had problems scoring inside and since the acquisition of Ben Wallace at the start of last season, there has been little improvement. In Gooden, Chicago will get a bit more offense. Larry Hughes remains an enigma and would have been best served to stay in Washington where he played some of his best basketball. Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown were added to make all the numbers work.
Seattle unquestionably has an eye to the future acquiring draft picks and veterans with favourable contracts in Donyell Marshall, Adrian Griffin and Ira Newble.
In Toronto, the Raptors made a move in acquiring Primoz Brezec and cash from the Detroit Pistons for Juan Dixon.
Brezec had a couple of good seasons in Charlotte in 2004-05, and 2005-06 when he averaged 13.0 and 12.4 points per game respectively and has showed that he can score in the low post. Brezec is not exactly a speed demon but he is a big body that will help when you match up with the likes of other big front lines in Cleveland, Detroit and Boston.
The trading wasn't done in the west and New Orleans made a nice deal in acquiring Bonzi Wells and Mike James. Wells will give the Hornets some more scoring and relive some of the pressure on David West and Chris Paul. Wells is a slasher and remember a couple of seasons ago he had a solid playoff showing in Sacramento scoring 23.2 points per game in the post season.
So hold all tickets until the races are over in June. It's too close to call right now and you'll have a better idea in later April after teams that have made deals use the next 25-30 games to fine tune.
