Cavaliers get:
Bulls F/C Ben Wallace
Bulls F Joe Smith
Bulls 2009 2nd-round pick
Sonics F Wally Szczerbiak
Sonics G Delonte West

Bulls get:
Cavaliers F Drew Gooden
Cavaliers G Larry Hughes
Cavaliers F Cedric Simmons
Cavaliers G Shannon Brown

Sonics get:
Cavaliers F Ira Newble
Cavaliers F Donyell Marshall
Bulls F Adrian Griffin


What we lost
I'll miss Joe Smith. The guy was playing really well. Adrian Griffin? Whatever. Ben Wallace? Thank you Jesus. Seeing this guy play all the time, I just couldn't stop thinking of how bad of a signing it was. I liked it at first, but it became clear not only is he not the same player, but we really didn't need a guy like him. Better off keeping Chandler, but oh well.

What we gained
I dunno if we'll get better with this trade, but it served 2 of our needs. Gooden isn't a post player, but he can give us post scoring from time to time. Something we obviously need. He's a solid rebounder, decent defender, and decent (all-around) offensive player. Larry Hughes, well the jury is out on this guy. I dunno how he went from being so good in Washington to being borderline useless in Cleveland. I think a lot of it has to do with LeBron always having the ball in his hands. Hughes just didn't fit there. It was a bad signing by them in the first place. I think Hughes fills a need, a TRUE shooting guard and a player who can create off the dribble. He's also a good playmaker and decent defender. Shannon Brown? I can't say. People said he had a lot of talent. I don't know why he didn't get any run in Cleveland. Cedric Simmons? Don't know anything about him.

Bottom line is, we rid ourselves of Ben Wallace. Thank God for that. On paper, we look pretty good. Good enough to get in the playoffs anyway. I'm interested to see how we play.

P.S. Massacre, please take Ben's pics off ASAP.

I'll email Commish right away about that Wallace image.

When Pax made this trade, I think he was so enamoured at the thought of getting Wallace off his hands, he really didn't care who he got in return. I think if Hughes can stay healthy he can produce. He's been playing great ball in February, including a 40 point game. Gooden is a consitent, aggressive rebounder and we certainly needed one. I'm sure Kirk is happy with Gooden being a Bull, as well. Can't comment on the rest of the guys, though. Brown has yet to show us what he can do, same applies for Simmons and his forehead.

And his forehead..



I like him already.

"I'll decide after I see us play".

I am disapointed about the trade of Joe Smith, but we must trade Wallace now.

To know if is it a good trade, I want see the nivel of Gooden and Hughes.

For Griffin ==>

So what do you guys think now? Hughes and Gooden played pretty well for having not practiced with the team. Hopefully Hughes starts next game. Deng too.

Hinrich/Duhon
Hughes/Gordon/Thabo
Deng/Nocioni/Thabo
Gooden/Thomas/Simmons
Noah/Gray

Man...I don't like the fact that Duhon didn't play. He needs to be out there. Does this make Gordon expendable? Or do we need his scoring? If we could get a solid big for Gordon I say we do it.

So I'm glad that we shipped Wallace out.

A little sad about losing Smith.

We will see what the new guys can bring to our team.

This trade wasn't about talent. It was more about finance and flexibilty. Why?

Drew Gooden: Better in the post then Joe Smith and much younger.
Larry Hughes: Similar salary to Ben Wallace but much easier to move in a trade. He was brought here as the first step in ridding ourselves of Ben Wallace's hefty contract.
Shannon Brown: Lengthy shooting guard with one year remaining on deal. Much better then Adrian Griffin and younger.
Cedris Simmons: Very similar player to Tyrus thomas and his contract pays him half as much. This allows Paxson to trade Thomas and still have a project Power forward. That can dunk for the fans.

As I said : This is just the beginning. This summer will be busy for the Bulls. I see Paxson trading away alot of players and rebuilding this team. Now he has the flexibility to do that and it only cost him a couple old guys to do it. This trade wasn't intended to make the team better talent wise, It was to make Paxson's job this summer a bit easier.

GMJames wrote:Drew Gooden: Better in the post then Joe Smith and much younger.
Larry Hughes: Similar salary to Ben Wallace but much easier to move in a trade. He was brought here as the first step in ridding ourselves of Ben Wallace's hefty contract.

Right.

GMJames wrote:Shannon Brown: Lengthy shooting guard with one year remaining on deal. Much better then Adrian Griffin and younger.
Cedris Simmons: Very similar player to Tyrus thomas and his contract pays him half as much. This allows Paxson to trade Thomas and still have a project Power forward. That can dunk for the fans.

Don't know if Brown is much better then Griffin. Both are not playing many minutes this season.
Would like to see more from both players, at least when playoffs are out of reach.

GMJames wrote:As I said : This is just the beginning. This summer will be busy for the Bulls. I see Paxson trading away alot of players and rebuilding this team. Now he has the flexibility to do that and it only cost him a couple old guys to do it. This trade wasn't intended to make the team better talent wise, It was to make Paxson's job this summer a bit easier.

After this disappointing season I'm ready for a busy summer. But I'm not sure that it will be busy. We will see...

The record may not reflect it, but we've been playing better since the trade. More effort all around. I'm sure it has a lot to do with actually getting healthy as well.