Let's dig into the latest — and last — flurry of trades.

Cleveland-Chicago-Seattle
Cavaliers get: Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Joe Smith, future Chicago second-round pick
Bulls get: Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons
Sonics get: Ira Newble, Adrian Griffin, Donyell Marshall

For the Cavs, is swallowing Ben Wallace's huge contract worth the addition of Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith?

Wondrous Wally can shoot with anybody, has a limited handle, and an unlimited ego. He can establish and maintain proper defensive positioning, but he's too slow off the mark to be considered an adequate defender. Delonte West has guts and a nifty shot, but is too slow to play point guard at a playoff-caliber level.


Together, Szczerbiak and West lack the speed and quickness of the departed Larry Hughes and Shannon Brown, but are much superior shooters. In any event, the Cavs have done nothing to resolve their point-guard dilemma.

Smith is a pro — curtail his minutes and he can score in the low post, grab unexpected rebounds, and always be in the right place at the right time. If he can stay healthy, he's a modest upgrade over Drew Gooden.

Ben Wallace is ready for the glue factory. Will he be content to back up Zydrunas Ilgauskas? And when Anderson Varejao returns, who sits: The younger, quicker, much more active Varejao? Or the rapidly shrinking Ben?

Overall, the Cavs got appreciably slower and their perimeter defense got worse. Except for an occasional foray by LBJ, forget about fast breaks and early offense. From now on, it's half-court basketball — and with Wallace on the floor, look for LBJ to be two-timed on his every touch.

Cleveland's grade: C+

Chicago added several interesting players without yielding any of their core guys.

Gooden is an average power forward, getting by on effort more than on skill. Look for him to split time with Tyrus Thomas and provide a modicum of post-up scoring.

Hughes is best in a wide-open game where he can either pull or get to the hole, but do the Bulls have enough defense and board-power to get out and go? Probably not. Still, how soon before Hughes takes over Kirk Hinrich's PT?

Brown is another runner, an improving shooter, and a vastly underrated player. If he buckles down and works harder on his game than he has thus far, Brown could be the sleeper in the deal.

Simmons' main task will be to keep the last seat on the bench warm.

Now comes the real test for the Bulls. How well can they compete with Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray manning the middle? But hey, this tandem can't be any worse than Wallace was all by himself. At least they'll hustle on every play.

All at once, the Bulls are younger, quicker and more motivated. Now if only Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng could get their heads straight, then perhaps the Bulls might have a viable future.

Chicago's grade: B

Seattle continues to pay more attention to its crystal ball than to the next game on its schedule. Ira Newble and Adrian Griffin will be gone and forgotten by the Fourth of July. Only the sad remnants of Donyell Marshall's once potent game will stick around.

At least Sam Presti continues to be true to his commitment of totally rebuilding the roster he inherited. Once all the expiring contracts have expired, the Sonics will have enough cap-free bucks to buy Donald Trump.

Seattle's grade: B+

Posted by crzymdups:

the argument that Wally and Ben will be expiring deals in two years sounds a lot like the logic of trading for Mo Taylor (which outraged people here).

Ben is not what he was. Wally is not what he was. Delonte is solid. This was a weird trade and a huge risk - as in risk of upsetting Bron further.