Not that I feel compelled to start a new thread, but what did the NBA followers think of the recent deals that went down? As a Cavs fan, I had written off the season before it started in terms of winning it all. Why? The Cavs rode a perfect storm into the Finals last year by gaining the #2 seed on the last day of the regular season. They overachieved and beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals when Detroit could not hit any shots and LeBron became a one-man wrecking crew.

The offseason was spent doing nothing to improve the Cavs and was further complicated by the holdouts of Varaejo and Pavlovic. Decimated by injuries, the Cavs came back down to earth. Now, I have reason to be optimistic again, but do not think that Thursday's trade will be the move the puts the team over the hump. Hughes sucked and Gooden was consistently inconsistent. They were replaced with Wally World, who has been injury-prone and Ben Wallace, who has disappeared since leaving Detroit. We'll see what happens with those two. The key to this trade, in my opinion, is the play of Delonte West. A stud at St. Joe's in college, he has not been great yet in the pros. But if he can shoot and handle the point, it will provide relief for LeBron. Wallace & Joe Smith will be factors on the defensive side, and Wally World will get some looks from the perimeter when teams double/triple LeBron.

I think the Shaq trade was ridiculous for Phoenix, while the Mavs could have the missing piece with Jason Kidd.