How Would You Grade the Mo Williams Deal?
The Cavs get an A- for landing MoDuring Team USA’s game this morning, I think it was Mike Breen who mentioned that when LeBron was asked about how he felt about the Mo Williams trade he said, “Happy, very happy.” Getting that type of reaction from LeBron is worth an “A” on its own. And remember that the Cavs management made that happen by giving up a clown (Damon Jones) and Joe Smith.
Cleveland:
But we can’t give this deal completely rave reviews just yet, as anyone who’s seen Mo play knows that he’s a ball hog on occasion, and most of the time downright selfish. Some of his Bucks teammates admitted to being frustrated with his style of play last year hours after he was dealt. That’s a pretty strong sign that they wanted him out.
A-
Milwaukee:
The face of this franchise has subtly changed. With Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson as a potent 2-3 combination, they need a point guard who can distribute the rock. Though he had that memorable 24 assist game last season, Ramon Sessions‘ one performance isn’t enough to entrust him with the starting position hands down. Thus, Luke Ridnour is a nice addition, as he’ll hopefully push Sessions to earn that job.
Damon Jones contract will expire soon enough, as will Adrian Griffin‘s, opening up enough cap to add a serviceable power forward alongside Andrew Bogut.
B
Oklahoma City:
Listen to this. After the ’08-09 season, the Oklahoma City Whatevers will have an absurd amount of cap space as the following guys’ contracts are all expiring after this year:
* Chris Wilcox‘s $6.8 million
* Donyell Marshall‘s $5.9 million
* Desmond Mason‘s $5.3 million
* Joe Smith‘s $4.8 million
* Robert Swift‘s $3.6 million
Tally that up and you get $26.4 million. With a generally lottery-bound squad that is built around a strong nucleus, Clay Bennett’s group is built for the future. They could end up with a shot at one of the premier big men in the draft and/or free agency next season (Carlos Boozer, Andrew Bynum will be around). NBADraft.net already has them taken Ohio State incoming freshman 7-0 C B.J. Mullens.
While Mason will help slightly this season, this move is for the future.
B+
How would you grade this deal?
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August 14th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Jah says:
I would (and already have) graded this deal in a similar fashion. Check out below, comment #45:
http://dimemag.com/2008/08/breaking-news-mo-williams-traded-to-the-cavaliers/
August 14th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Jimmy says:
Cleaveland = B Mo gets paid way too much!!!!
Milwaukee = C- Luke got skills but pikin up to bums like Damon Jones and Adrian Griffin is not good!!!!
Oklahoma City THUNDER = C + Mason is only a one dimesional player and Joe Smith can do work but he is up in age. They def. building for the future. GO THUNDER!!!!! haha
August 14th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
me says:
f. The expiring contracts they gave up were more valuable than the dude everyone will say is nothing more than a terrible contract by December. Varejao, mo- how do gms keep their jobs when they give so much money to trash? Even as straight up players I’d take joe smith over mo.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Coop says:
I think everyone’s a winner here to be honest. The Cavs HAD to do something and clearly they weren’t going to get a star so they got a decent guy who could be a very nice 2nd option. Was pointless the Cavs saving those contracts given their cap situation so they took a chance and that’s better than pissing Bron off further. It might work out it might not but something had to happen and it did.
Milwaukee presumably hope to land a decent pf during the draft as they likely won’t be able to get a decent FA now unless there’s a Denver-style fire sale of talent. If Sessions (or Ridnour) work(s) out then it’s very nice.
Seattle (I refuse to call my team anything else) did well and just set up for a big push for a top tier talent (and it doesnt have to be in 09!)
Thumbs up all ’round right now
August 14th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Kevin K says:
cleveland doesn’t need another ball controlling combo guard since lebron is going to handle the ball 90% of the time anyways… they need a consistant low post scorer who can D, not varejaeo or ben wallace. i would have tried to trade for a guy like marion, who can D, doesn’t need the ball in his hands, and will get you 12 boards a night while being a better offensive player than V and Big Ben combined.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
daquest?on says:
i see some fights between mo williams and lebron in the future….in the next few years oklahome city might become the next portland
August 14th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
AY says:
This will work because mo williams has none of the weaknesses that plagued larry hughes. Mo williams doesn’t defend like larry hughes, and as everyone knows, that was the problem with the larry hughes era: he spent so much energy on defense and when it was time to catch and shoot, he couldn’t do it. And as everyone knows, just because you have the ball in your hands ALL THE TIME on the only system you succeeded in means that you’ll be even better without the ball playing along lebron. Armed with a larry hughes minus that annoying defense thing, I fully expect the cavs to contend for “most luxury tax paid” with new york.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Reed Ewing Frazier says:
@ Dime Why all the hate for D. Jones why is he a clown?
@ Cavs fans He still leaving in 2010 I don’t like LeBron but I would still take him on my squad.
@Coop Man I’m sorry about your team that was some BS taking them to OKC but goodluck!!
KNICKS UP!! all the rest down!!
August 14th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Andrew Katz says:
Jah, didn’t see that but it’s a pretty good breakdown. The only thing that we really changed in this list is slating Ramon Sessions as part of the equation in Milwaukee.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
David Brandon says:
I like the B+ for Austin’s No Name Franchise. They get another young guy coming in next year and have enough cap room to put some money down on a nice 4…
cleveland cleveland cleveland….they’re doomed to having players w/ the wrong agenda forever it seems like. i dont see mo as the kinda dude they need. just b/c you have someone thats willing to take shots, doesnt necessarily make them a great fit; i.e. ricky davis, antoine walker in boston (cause he WAS just chuckin, ok), jr smith (i like jr, but he takes bad shots sometimes. really bad shots.), and there’s a couple more guys. cleveland needs a point guard, but they also need a 4 REALLY bad. look at Z’s game. he gets his double double’s, but he’s really more of a finesse player. they need a banger. they need kwame brown. LOL! ok, so dont need kwame’s ass, but damn, SOMEbody. at the one spot, they need someone who’s gonna be a threat to get guys the ball. mo’s not that dude. they need tj ford circa ’06. or before he started whining. whichever’s better.
for the bucks…. eh. who really cares? sorry milwaukee fans, but its like…for real? you got the brewers. *shrugs*
August 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
David Brandon says:
coop’s over there livin in denial, ya’ll… LOL
August 14th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Ashlov says:
A season or two of Mo hogging the ball will have Lebron primed to leave in 2010. Wade-Lebron-Beasley in 2010, baby!
August 14th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
kobeef says:
Cavs = F-
Garbage in, garbage out. Have we seen this before? Yes.
It has the same feel as the Wallace trade. Not really going to make a difference except that in 8 months Lebron will be more pissed off about his garbage team.
Delonte and Boobie were probably better options than Mo. If you want someone to chuck the ball at leat let Boobie do it so he can hit a few shots.
Bucks = D
Moving Mo is a good thing cause it means Jefferson and Redd will actually see the ball in crunch time. That said, it feels to me like a trade for Udonis Haslem would have been a better use of Mo and Miami probably could have used Haslem to help Bogut and Charlie V.
OKC –
I really don’t care. Hopefully bad so the fans hate Clay like the rest of the world. Clay should have to forefit Durant and Westbrook to a team in a real city.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
elk burger says:
good trade for all teams involved. that’s why it was done. all you lames on hear hatin are the same dickheads wrong about everything else ALL the time. Bench the salt. leave the crystal ball sh*t to cleo.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
elk burger says:
bitches lol
August 14th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Jah says:
Cleveland now has a consistent offensive threat in the backcourt, LeBron, a beefed-up front court (Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejo, Ben Wallace) and a small army of long range threats (Mo Williams, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Wally Szcerbiak).
I see many wins this year.
Just putting that out there…
August 14th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
S-SiN says:
joe smith hit a bunch of clutch-ass jumpers off the pine for them when they really needed some o against boston down the stretch, how quick ya’ll forget that kind of input? mo? i dunno..
August 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
S-SiN says:
also, i wonder if i’m alone thinking bout this.. when will (if ever) the L allow plain player-4-cash trades??? cmon now..
August 14th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Luigi says:
horrible for CLE..LBJ will rock his ass….n be pissed
MIL…good. bkuz they got some decent role players
OKC…decent. they got the cap space. to sign a top-flight or 2nd class superstar
August 14th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
MoxWestCoastRep says:
Sessions is Legit. Bucks will be improved next year.
Mo is a good pick up but still not enough to win the east.
I wonder how the Olympics will effect all the guys come next season? They may be in mid season form, but some of them could be gassed come play off time!?
Something to think about
August 14th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
khandor says:
Oklahoma – A
Milwaukee – B
Cleveland – C
http://khandorssportsblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/cavaliers-one-step-forward-one-step-back/
August 15th, 2008 at 2:16 am
hotdog says:
Redd is not Lebron. If he tries any of his antics with him he will get an earful from the king. I think that’s the problem the Bucks had last year, Redd wasn’t the leader he ought to be.
I’ve seen late game situations where Mo was making plays for his own and totally ignoring Redd. I’ll bet he wont be able to do it with Lebron.
Call it the Jordan effect or whatever. When Rodman came to the bulls he knew that whatever he did MJ would still be bigger than him so he just did his job defending and rebounding.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Coop says:
Reed Ewing,
I think Dime are hating on Basketball Jones because he’s a joke of a human being. He thinks he’s awesome, moans about his role, moans about getting traded repeatedly, all the while failing to realise that his ONLY marketable skill is being about to hit wide open 3s.
Up the Seattle Supersonics!!!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:37 am
karizmatic says:
D for the Cavs…it leaves them with a bunch of perimeter players and very light at the big positions. Unless they make another Trade, preferabley get rid of Pavlovic Szerbiak, or West or some combination of the 3 for a big man it is not going to make a difference. They’ll win 40+ though just because they have Lebron.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:38 am
khandor says:
Relative to the other teams in the Eastern Conference that have measurably improved their squad this off-season …
e.g.
DETROIT … replacing Flip with Curry, adding Kwame
ORLANDO … returning Battie, adding Pietrus, Johnson & Lee
TORONTO … adding O’Neal
PHILADELPHIA … adding Brand, Ivey & Rush
ATLANTA … adding Evans, Morris & Richardson
INDIANA … adding Ford, Nesterovic, Rush & Hibbert
CHICAGO … replacing Boylen with VDN & adding Rose
NEW JERSEY … adding Najera, Jianlian, Dooling, Lopez, Anderson & CDR
CHARLOTTE … replacing Sam Vincent with Larrry Brown
MIAMI … return to health of D-Wade, adding Chalmers
NEW YORK … replacing Zeke with Walsh/D’Antoni, adding Gallinari
the Cavaliers accomplished very little exchanging Joe Smith for Mo Williams.
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What Danny Ferry NEEDS to do … is go out and get an under-valued Guard with a true specialty … like JJR (ala John Paxson, Craig Hodges & Steve Kerr for MJ’s Mighty Bulls) … and replace Mike Brown with a head coach who has a well-developed wholistic “Philosophy of Basketball” (ala the ZenMaster) which meshes with the sublime talents of his superstar (LBJ) … i.e. mimicking the exact moves that Jerry Krause made 20 years ago in Chicago.
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Right now, it’s painful to watch the useless wheel-spinning that’s going on in Cleveland.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am
McLovin says:
Miami also added Beasley…just a thought
August 15th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Kobeef says:
@Khandor
I like what you are saying. Almost every other team in the east added players this year and most of them were better than Mo – so this really doesn’t make Cleveland any better next year.
So far I see the east playoff race like this
1. Boston
2 Detroit
3. Washington
4. Philly
5. Orlando
6. Toronto
7. Cleveland
8. Milwaukee/Atlanta
When you look at it, almost every east team has at least two All-Star players except Cleveland. Philly is going to be nasty with Brand and Miller at the helm and more than capable backups Iggy, Beast and Thad. Orlando has an upgraded SG with Pietrus and Dwight/Rashard/Hedo are only getting better. Toronto has two low-post monsters in Bosh and O’neal plus one of the best PG’s in the game in Calderon. Washington has the triple threat, Milwaukee now has Redd and Richardson on the wings…
The east is back but Cleveland missed the memo and didn’t do enough.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
khandor says:
McLovin,
Thanks for filling in the gap I left there for Miami, re: Michael Beasley.
===================
Despite my appreciation for Jose Calderon …
the Raptors will NOT be finishing that high up in the Eastern Conference this season.
There are other teams in the East that have improved themselves more than Toronto has this off-season … and the Cavs, even though Mo Williams doesn’t help them at all, remains a far superior team to the Raptors.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
khandor says:
sorry … meant to drop this link, re: Calderon
http://khandorssportsblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/el-matador-es-el-numero-ocho/
in that prior message, as well.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
elk burger says:
If Lebron got to the final with Eric Snow at the point…
how the FUCK could this be a bad trade?
Cleveland will be like New Orleans Hornets were last year… none of you haters will respect them until its too late to hop aboard the bandwagon. DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS