Analyzing the analysis

Since I don't have the inclination to do the sort of in-depth analysis Nick provided, I'm just going to piggy-back his and offer my own thoughts. Also: mine will appear above him on the page and look more important since I wrote it later.

When I first learnt of the mega deal
Learnt?

that Danny Ferry and the Cavs had swung, I was completely and utterly shocked. Shocked: both that the Cavs were able to unload their resident albatross, Larry Hughes, and that they were able to add some quality pieces in the process. I wasn’t thrilled with the trade, but I was certainly pleased. The Cavaliers are probably still a few key guys away from having a championship club, but this deal appears to bring them closer to that ultimate goal.
I was also pretty surprised to hear about the deal and Nick, you were in fact thrilled. It's definitely a bold move for the Cavs. I balked at it at first, but I've come to appreciate it, at least on paper. We don't lose salary-cap flexibility (Hughes and Wallace essentially cancel) and seem to have gotten significantly better (though thinner on the bench; trading 6 players for 4 will do that) in the short-term.


Much to my surprise, the reviews of this trade among fans and talking heads, err, media members, have been extremely mixed.
Bayless, as Nick pointed out, is an ass, and Pluto's take was balanced and restrained. Like Terry says, the impact of the deal can't be properly judged until after this postseason. Bill Simmons summed it up nicely by saying that any deal where one team ends up with 4 of the best 5 players has to be considered a success for that team. Now, onto these trade myths...


“Ferry didn’t get a point guard!”
Like who? Bibby? Kidd? Byron Scott? Me? People never seem to tire of complaining about us not acquiring non-existent players. All the CaVs need is a top-flight PG, as if they grow on trees. All the Tribe needs is a big bat in left field, available at your local Big Bats in Left Field store (on sale!) All the Browns need is an entire defense. Well, that one's almost true.

“Larry Hughes was healthy and playing good basketball!”
I'll defer to Nick's analysis of this.

“Ben Wallace is washed up!”
I said that, and I'm still not convinced that he'll be the key player here. I'm more interested in the other acquisitions. Wallace isn't the player he was, and I wonder how he'll coexist with Varejao. I hope the other guys can replace the scoring dropoff from Gooden to Wallace.

“Wally Szczerbiak can’t replace Larry Hughes’ scoring!”
Szczerbiak, to me, seems well suited to the Cavs style of play - how can you guard this guy AND LeBron?

“Drew Gooden was one of the Cavs’ best players, and a damn good rebounder!”
Why are all these people lodging their complaints with exclamation points? Isn't anyone just talking? Anyway, I think Nick was a bit harsh on Gooden - he was indeed one of our top players and very good on the glass. My take is that you have to give up something to get something. Gooden was our something, but he's not an elite player, and it's a loss I'm comfortable with.

“Ferry just traded one bad contract for another!”
Yep. See previous comment re: something/something. Did you expect that we could get the best players AND make a salary dump? We weren't trading with Memphis, after all.

“Trading six players is too much turnover!”
I don't see how losing Newble, Brown, Simmons, and Marshall can possibly be construed as a negative. Not ever playing Brown while he was here - there you might have a point.

“Hughes’ departure leaves the Cavs’ perimeter defense vulnerable!”
Oh well. If there's one thing we learned during last year's playoff run, it's that Mike Brown can coach good team defense even when not handed especially good individual defenders. If Brown can continue to do so and integrate Wallace's presence, we'll be just fine defensively.

“What’s going to happen to all of the ‘Loudville’ section names?!”
I feel like every time I went to a game I ended up in Ira's Newblehood - I'm excited to try out some new locales.

Hopefully I'll soon find myself enjoying a Cavs win in “West's Wing,” “Joe’s Jungle,” or as one of “Ben’s Bitches” . I'm not even going to try to beat "Wally World.”