Friday, February 22, 2008

Cavs send Gooden to Bulls

Ex-Jayhawk reunited with Hinrich

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Cleveland — Drew Gooden will be reunited with former Kansas University teammate Kirk Hinrich in Chicago.

In an 11-player trade Thursday involving Cleveland, Chicago and Seattle, the Cavaliers sent Gooden to the Bulls, for whom Hinrich plays.

The Cavaliers acquired center Ben Wallace from the Bulls and forward Wally Szczerbiak from the SuperSonics, two players to possibly get LeBron James and the Cavs through the Eastern Conference and back to the finals.

Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry, unable to finalize major deals in the past, pulled off a colossal one in the final hours before Thursday's 2 p.m. deadline.

The Cavaliers sent guard Larry Hughes, forwards Gooden and Cedric Simmons, and guard Shannon Brown to Chicago for Wallace, one of the game's top inside enforcers, and forward Joe Smith.

Cleveland acquired the sharpshooting Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West from Seattle for forwards Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall.

The Cavaliers also will get Chicago's second-round pick in 2009. The SuperSonics will receive guard Adrian Griffin from the Bulls.

Gooden, who started 51 games for the Cavaliers this season, is averaging 11.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game this season.

Plagued by injuries this season, the Cavaliers are nine games behind Detroit in the Central Division and are fourth overall behind Boston, the Pistons and Orlando in the conference standings. James, who is having an MVP-caliber season, had hoped Ferry could pull the trigger on a deal as the deadline neared. But Cleveland's superstar probably couldn't have imagined such an overhaul.

Comments

KGphoto (anonymous) says...

Christ!

I've never seen a more meaningless shuffle of mid- level turds in my life.

The real story hear are the careers of three desperate GMs.

It's like a really nervous black jack dealer exploded the deck of cards on all over the floor, then picked up the cards and crammed them back together.

For Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

February 22, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

CreightonBlujayhawk (anonymous) says...

That is not a meaningless shuffle.

Cleveland just replaced guard Larry Hughes, a guy who has not been consistent at shooting the three, with Wally Szczerbiak who shoots the three at over forty percent. Given the fact that Lebron James is probably the best in the game at getting to the basket and finishing, it is more important that Cleveland surround him with sharp-shooters than with players like Hughes.

Delonte West also will have a bigger role in Cleveland than he did in Seattle.

Not to mention the fact that Ben Wallace swapped for Drew Gooden is not even a "shuffle of mid-level turds." Wallace is considered a star caliber defensive player, and many people think he has just been in the wrong situation this year with Chicago. Chicago, by adding Drew Gooden, gets a big guy with some scoring ability to go with the defensively minded Joakim Noah.

From what I've read, Seattle made this trade for financial reasons. I don't really know how the trade exception works so I won't comment on it.

This is an awesome trade for the Cavs, and a good trade for the two non-contenders. When you have Lebron James, you really don't need anything other than solid role players who can shoot. Cleveland made this deal without losing Daniel Gibson and Big Z, both of whom are probably the best offensive compliments to James on a consistent basis (Hughes can score 40 points in one game, but then fail to reach 10 points in the next 20 games).

February 22, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Purposive (anonymous) says...

You got it right, Creighton -- this wasn't a blockbuster deal, but it will have a substantial impact on the teams involved next season (and maybe even this post-season)

February 22, 2008 at 3:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

CreightonBlujayhawk (anonymous) says...

Also of note...

Because the trade left the Cavs so short-handed for tonight's game, they went ahead and signed Billy Thomas from the D-League. Who would have thought that another Jayhawk would be involved with this trade?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview;_...

February 22, 2008 at 5:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )