Agree 100%. At least there's a chance he recaptures his lost form with us. Wallace was clearly going nowhere here.
Woot! I can't complain about this one. I'm glad Pax cut bait when he did. I like it for all the reasons that people have previously mentioned. Drew Gooden was the guy I wanted to sign that offseason anyways. I think he'll do well here. His offense will be a good fit with us, and he's the biggest guy in our frontcourt that can reliably play. For comparisons sake, I think he's a good bit like Joe Smith with an extra 30 lbs. and two inches, plus a better rebounder. I imagine Ben Wallace will look better with the Cavs, but oh well. I really don't think it was going to work out for him here. Drew Gooden is a much better fit. As for Larry Hughes....I'm going to keep my expectations low. At this point, I'd much rather have Ben Gordon. I don't see him as being the answer to anything, or as a signal that we should trade anybody else. As bad as the Ben Wallace signing was for us, the Larry Hughes signing was probably a magnitude worse for Cleveland.....just to put things in perspective. He's a nice salary-neutral insurance policy to have, but with the way Thabo is playing, I don't think it's a stretch to say he should be 5th on our depth list. But still, having him around can't hurt. To trade Wallace and get a modest talent/basketball upgrade while not having to take on any additional salary is a hoot. Realistically, I don't think I could have expected much more. Nice trade, Pax.
I've got exactly the same view of Gooden as you Rosenthall. I see nothing but good things to having him. I'm not a fan of our crowded backcourt now, but look at it this way... Hughes is bound to get hurt within the next couple weeks and clear up the logjam again And welcome to Sports2!
I would have endorsed just about any move that got rid of Wallace. Between his lack of production and his appalling lack of effort, it just wasn't going to be possible for the Bulls to play their brand of basketball with him on the roster. The guys we acquired are covered in warts, but they're playable. And I'll join the pledge not to bash Pax if Wallace plays well in Cleveland. I couldn't care less. He'll be motivated and their roster is structured in a better way for him to succeed without really trying. Now let's see plenty of Noah and Thomas and see what they're made of.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Feb 21 2008, 09:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I've got exactly the same view of Gooden as you Rosenthall. I see nothing but good things to having him. I'm not a fan of our crowded backcourt now, but look at it this way... Hughes is bound to get hurt within the next couple weeks and clear up the logjam again And welcome to Sports2!</div> I think that going from Joe Smith to Gooden is a bit of a drop-off. For this season at least. The knock on Gooden is that he's dumb as a post. When you watch a Cavs game, he's often the subject of those withering looks/eye rolls from LeBron. Given the fact that he's been traded so often, I don't exactly have high hopes for him.
I cannot believe how much we got for Ben Wallace, this is honestly an amazing trade. Getting Shannon Brown was possible the steal of the year, now we have a great insurance policy for Ben Gordon, if he demands too much money, not to mention a great player in general. The fans are going to love him, a Chicago native, high flyer, I'm ecstatic about this.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080222 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Nonetheless, the Cavs feel if they can motivate Wallace to put forth the effort he did with the Pistons as well as on many nights last season, they will be way ahead. Behind the scenes they admit his skills are diminishing, but after spending quite a bit of time watching him in recent weeks, they are also convinced he's not playing up to his ability. The Cavs hope he'll bring them the edge they have been missing, the tough guy on the back line who doesn't want to just take a charge like Anderson Varejao or alter a shot like Zydrunas Ilgauskas but is an enforcer and a basket protector.</div> ESPN's Daily Dime is usually very basic and obvious content, but this article is written by Brian Windhorst, who is as close to Cleveland's organization as you can get with being an employee. So, if this is really what they think, I think this is surprisingly poor scouting by Cleveland's GM. Wallace may have been dogging it under Skiles, but he did not improve at all under Boylan, despite getting all the minutes and compliments he could handle. His rebounding and activity were still well below the level he established in previous seasons.
I'm going to miss Joe Good bye Wallace But Joe I loved Joe's tall size and shooting ability. We still got Du as it seems otherwise I'd miss Du, too.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rwj @ Feb 22 2008, 12:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080222 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Nonetheless, the Cavs feel if they can motivate Wallace to put forth the effort he did with the Pistons as well as on many nights last season, they will be way ahead. Behind the scenes they admit his skills are diminishing, but after spending quite a bit of time watching him in recent weeks, they are also convinced he's not playing up to his ability. The Cavs hope he'll bring them the edge they have been missing, the tough guy on the back line who doesn't want to just take a charge like Anderson Varejao or alter a shot like Zydrunas Ilgauskas but is an enforcer and a basket protector.</div> ESPN's Daily Dime is usually very basic and obvious content, but this article is written by Brian Windhorst, who is as close to Cleveland's organization as you can get with being an employee. So, if this is really what they think, I think this is surprisingly poor scouting by Cleveland's GM. Wallace may have been dogging it under Skiles, but he did not improve at all under Boylan, despite getting all the minutes and compliments he could handle. His rebounding and activity were still well below the level he established in previous seasons. </div> Hollinger's post-deadline piece says sort of the same thing, though: that a scout he's talked to recently feels a significant part of Wallace's problem has been effort. He doesn't say whether it's a Cleveland scout, admittedly. I don't want to waste that much more time analyzing what went wrong with the Wallace signing. I think that there were vividly clear statistical signs that he'd been slipping in his last couple of seasons with the Pistons. I think the Pistons themselves are far, far better individual and team defenders than anyone was giving them credit for, and that an interested Rasheed Wallace in his prime was a better defender than an interested Ben Wallace in his prime. I think that Ben was emotionally stung by Detroit's uninspired attempt to re-sign him, and it carried over to his play here. But I do think a big part of the problem was his effort. Remember the portion of the regular season right before the Jalen Rose trade? I pretty much couldn't watch Bulls games because Rose was so painfully, transparently dogging it on defense. I've gotten that same feeling watching Wallace this year. He basically quit on us. Whether the Cavs get the bounce-back they're hoping for remains to be seen. I won't be shocked if it happens, especially if they figure out a way to curtail Wallace's minutes while somehow keeping him from going postal because of it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Scott May @ Feb 21 2008, 11:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think that going from Joe Smith to Gooden is a bit of a drop-off. For this season at least. The knock on Gooden is that he's dumb as a post. When you watch a Cavs game, he's often the subject of those withering looks/eye rolls from LeBron. Given the fact that he's been traded so often, I don't exactly have high hopes for him.</div> I don't have high hopes, I guess, but I've got middling hopes. He's got 25lbs of beef on him that Smith didn't have. That, coupled with being relatively long lets him be the stay at home guy on defense. That should make things easier for him- hell, even Curry was ok for the Bulls in that capacity. Smith, on the other hand, sucked at it and routinely got pushed around. Wallace didn't like to do it and wasn't very good at it either and was somewhat wasted in that role since he was best playing off a bigger guy. Not saying he's going to be a world beater or anything, but his relative strengths are at least a good match for Noah and Thomas. Offensively Smith was better but defensively his areas of weakness were the areas we especially needed strength.
