I think this deal works for all 3 teams. seattle frees up their cap enormously, cleveland gets needed perimeter shooting and chicago gets a forward with a low post game and a big guard(who can play next to gordon or hinrich) who can do a variety of things. Larry Hughes didn't forget how to play as much as this was the worst team in the league for him to be with as it made him exclusively a jump shooter. He looks a lot more comfortable in chicago already.
Not really, at least not defensively. They had one of the best defenses in the league last year (safe to assume Wallace was part of that), though they still had scoring issues. Even last year however one of their key problems is limited low post threats and no beast to draw doubles--of course Ben Wallace wasn't going to help that. Chicago doesn't have a Z, let alone a Lebron. This year who knows what Chicago's deal is, they are clearly playing worse than their talent. And yes Ben Wallace and his contract might have been part of that (chemistry). Honestly I never liked the Chicago deal for Wallace in the first place. But in the current debate we are not discussing whether Wallace has a good contract, or whether the move in terms of Clevelands long term salary issues is wise--we are determining if the 4 incoming rotation players will help them more than the 3 outgoing come this year's playoffs. I think that is a slam dunk yes answer. His stats don't suggest it. Wally's man is averaging 14.2. That is a lot better than any Cleveland guard or swingman not named Lebron http://www.82games.com/0708/0708CLE.HTM Now I wouldn't use this to say Wally is an ace defender (stats don't account for if he is guaring weaker individuals). But no I don't see why he would be particularly more exploitable than Pavolic or Brown or Newble, and he brings a ton more offense to the table. If it comes down to it they can use Lebron on the tougher offensive opponent in crunch time. Though maybe not adequately recognized Lebron is one of the more disruptive covers in the league of opponents guards and swingmen. Glad you agree the Cavs look better on paper. Yes injuries would be critical. Wally, Z and Smith might even qualify as injury prone. But the Cavs are in position where they can be very moderate in all their role player minutes because of their depth--this reduces chances for overuse injuries or for tired players getting out of position and getting an acute injury. I would say their injury risk is no greater than Hou (where we play Tmac, Yao and Battier a ton) or Phx and MDA's notorious and dimwitted short rotation or Utah or Den (who also play a number of key guys a lot).
It's going to take time for them to pull it together and play good every game. This move was all about the playoffs and they have 20+ games to figure it out.
