Ok, I hate to lose Gooden, he wasn't used for any offense which is odd because his college career was good scoring at Kansas. He essentially gave us what Boozer did before. Boozer now, has offensive plays for him. But having Lebron didn't require Gooden to be the top scorer, especially with the solid shot of underrated big man Z. Hughes had a good year in Washington, got the huge contract from us, dumb move because he's supposed to be a scorer but here, he was not and could not accept the fact that Lebron is the main man, not him. Plus the guy(Hughes) gets a blister and has to sit for a month. Wally World should be interesting because when he played against us, the guy seemed to never miss. Getting Ben Wallace is good for defensive purposes, but how does a pro shoot 40% from a free throw line and make his money? He better be THAT good defensively. He should help with new enthusiasm. The other two....West and Smith......will fill their roles. Ira Newble is a good player defensively, Seattle will like that. The Cavs should be in better position to compete with the Western teams if it cam eto finals again and definitly helps them overall in the East. Side note; Drew Gooden and CC Sabathia(Cy Young winning Indians pitcher) from the Indians are friends.....one friend gone this year....CC gone next year.
apoch-BW has been moving, but he was at Detroit for a long time. I know, I am a Pacers fan and as such, need to keep my senses about Detroit, just about every year. However, it is not a particularly good year to be a Pacer fan, but they have been great for a long time - maybe this is the time out they needed to get in a good draft position.
I haven't see Chicago play this year but if Big Ben still has that fire then he'll be huge for them. That fire is dead. To be honest, this may be a decent trade for both teams (but never a good trade, because no real talent was exchanged). Wallace may be able to salvage something of his defensive reputation playing PF next to a big, offensive C. Hughes may fill a need as a decent slasher on a team made up primarily of jump shooters - as opposed to being a crappy jump shooter on a team that already has the best slasher in the NBA. But let's be honest, this is trading garbage for garbage, bad contract for bad contract. To really understand the context, go read Cavs blogs like heylarryhughespleasestoptaking
somanybadshots.com or Bulls blogs like Blogabull to see how ecstatic each teams' fans are to get rid of Wallace and Hughes respectively. The first time Hughes goes 1-14 from the field, and the next 50 times Wallace airballs a free throw will make the fans of their new teams see the light. The best player, or at least the player who is playing best, in this deal is Joe Smith.
This trade definitely improves the Cavs but I cannot see it helping them pass up the Celtics or the Pistons without some help from those teams themselves. The best accquisition for the Cavs here is Wally Szczczczcz, if he can stay healthy it gives the Cavs somebody who can take the pressure off of LeBron James. The same cannot be said for Ben Wallace. He may still be a good defensive player, but he is far from the player that won a championship with the Pistons. The Cavs have traditionally had a hard time getting offensive support from players not named LeBron, adding Ben Wallace does not help.
The Pistons just demolished the Suns by thirty. That was a very enjoyable game.
