Dude wasn’t even playing the first 25+ games. “Starters” don’t average 18 minutes a game. You can’t be serious giving me the “he’s on the floor to start the game stuff”…Boobie hurt, Sasha hurt, Brown liking D. Brown off the bench, D. Jones gets more minutes…You can’t call Newble a real starter, maybe a default one.

He’s quoted as having a Cavs vs. Jazz Finals.

I truly feel like he watches games why many of the blowhards just catch glimpses. He loves the NBA and I find myself agreeing with him maybe more than anyone that follows the NBA affliated with ESPN, TNT or what have you.

His adoration for LBJ this year has been borderline stalking…and he’s right as all of us Cavs fans know.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080223

marvel at how he actually writes like he’s see n the cavs play this year!

gasp as he mentions that an LBJ-led team needs consistently from it’s parts!

thrill as he now thinks the cavs are the eastern favs this year over his beloved celtics and actually backs it up with a cogent argument!

again, best analysis yet…

- I am excited about the trade. I like it. Patrick McManamon likened it to shuffling chairs. I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll assume he was sleepy at the time. I think this trade is like playing 5-card draw. Ferry saw Hughes and Gooden as a pair of 6’s with his Ace kicker in LeBron. They were good enough to win a few hands, but not likely to bring home the big pot. So he threw them in and picked up some unknowns, hoping that things work out.

- When it comes to bigs, the Cavs traded one-for-two. That’s the way it has to be if you want to have success in this league.

- It’s funny how the talents of incoming players get inflated. Delonte West has spurts where he looks like a good player, but those were so rare that he found himself as the third-string point guard on a team that is 25 games under .500. He has size, but does not have the speed to push the ball, or to stay in front of opposing guards defensively. He wasn’t Andre Miller before the Cavs acquired him, and he’s not going to be Andre Miller now. Adding West merely gives the Cavs a chance to compare him to Boobie Gibson, as both will become restricted free agents after the season.

- All of the players the Cavs added are slow. Wallace and Smith are old guys with a lot of miles on their legs, while Szerbiack makes Z look fleet of foot. At least we know Ferry wasn’t bowing to pressure from the media to turn the Cavs into a running team.

- Ben Wallace’s attitude will be a huge factor in the success of this trade. If he is willing to accept his role as defender and rebounder, then things should be fine. If he thinks he should be treated like a top-20 player, then he’s going to be a distraction. I’m also worried that when Wallace is on the floor, opposing teams will constantly double-team LeBron like they used to when Eric Snow was getting minutes.

- Normally, I would expect veteran players to chafe at Mike Brown’s “offense.” Guys that have been around the NBA know a bad offensive gameplan when they see it. But all of these players are coming from teams that had terrible offenses as well. Szerbiack and West were playing in Seattle, where the coaching staff decided to spend the entire season watching Kevin Durant shoot them to another top-3 lottery spot. Wallace and Smith were playing in Scott Skiles’ offense, which became Jim Boylan’s offense, but never stopped sucking. As a result, the new guys might be less inclined to constantly complain about their offensive role, as Larry Hughes was wont to do.

- At the end of they day, I think Szerbiack will be the player that has the most impact on the Cavaliers. If he can be a more efficient version of Hughes on the offensive end, that will be an upgrade. And there’s a chance that his huge expiring contract could be the linchpin in a big deal next year. And I expect to see a lot of Wally jerseys sold between now and the playoffs.

- I like Joe Smith, and thought he would be a nice addition a while ago. But I didn’t think the Bulls would move one of their few productive players to another team in the division.

- At the end of the day though, I like this trade because it should renew the enthusiasm about the team. All the talk about the need for a trade was more psychological than anything else. The Cavs and their fans had gotten a little complacent, a little bored, and this big shake up could pay big dividends in the short term. As of Sunday, the possibilities for the season are endless yet again.

Go Cavs.

Mike C.

“The trade sucks, Danny Ferry sucks, Mike Brown sucks, Dan Gilbert sucks. Just when Larry Hughes begins to show why the CAVS brought him in we ship him out. People, where do I begin?”

1. Upgrade your team. Done. Wallace can’t score, but he gives the Cavs tough defense and rebounding and his numbers will go up playing for a contender. Joe Smith can replace Gooden for the next year or two, and we weren’t going to have Drew any longer than that anyway. Wally can help the Cavs spread the floor which is what they’ve needed to do for three years now. He’s also big and can create his own shot. West is a decent point guard who plays good defense, and he’s still young and may improve/

2. Don’t give up any core guys. Done. Gooden is an above average player but constantly misses defensive assignments. He has one good game and then one bad, and often disappears for long stretches of time. Hughes has always been a disappointment, can’t stay healthy and was so banged up by the end of last year that he was useless in the finals. Shannon Brown was never going to see the light of day here. Newble and Marshall were bad contracts that provided little to nothing–they had to go. Cedric Simmons…see Shannon Brown.

3. Don’t dig a financial hole for your team. Avoided. Wallace is a bad contract, but so was Hughes. We’re not on the hook for a long time with any of these guys and will still be able to look into free agency for 2008 and especially 2009.

I just don’t see how anyone can say the Cavs did poorly with this deal. I see this is as a slight to moderate upgrade of their current roster, which with Lebron, just might be enough.