Big deadline deal

Danny Ferry pulled off a blockbuster today, and I, for one, am thrilled.

For anyone who may not have heard, in a complex 11-player, three-team trade, the Cavaliers got Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from Chicago, and Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from Seattle. We also get Chicago's second-round draft pick in 2009. Second-round picks don't usually turn out to be impact players, but Carlos Boozer was a second-rounder, and if he weren't a liar and a cheat, he'd have been an All-Star for us this year instead of Utah.

We gave up two regular starters, Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden; a part-time starter, Ira Newble; a veteran who's contributed before, but not this year, Donyell Marshall; and two guys who have very rarely left the bench, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons.

Here's a look at the exchange in table form, using this year's per-game averages (and I apologize for the columns not lining up better):

Acquired:
------------Min--Pt--Rb-Ast--St--Bl-FG% FT% TO
Wallace----32.6--5.1-8.8-1.8--1.4-1.6-.373 .424 1.0
Szczerbiak-23.6-13.1-2.7-1.4--0.3-0.3-.460 .843 1.1
Smith------22.9-12.0-5.3-0.9-0.5-0.6-.466 .807 1.0
West-------20.7--6.8-2.7-3.7--0.9-0.5-.388 .667 1.9

Lost:
------------Min--Pt--Rb-Ast--St--Bl--FG% FT% TO
Gooden----30.7-11.3-8.3-1.0--0.7-0.6 .444 .728 1.8
Hughes----30.3-12.3-3.6-2.4--1.5-0.3 .377 .815 1.8
Newble----16.0--4.3-2.8-0.3--0.7-0.2 .449 .769 0.8
Brown-----14.6--7.0-1.2-1.1--0.7--0.1 .369 .609 1.3
Marshall---14.3--3.7-2.7-0.5-0.2--0.8 .295 .778 0.6
Simmons---9.7--0.7-2.1--0.0-0.3--0.7 .333 .000 0.6

A couple of observations to start off with: The Cavs are getting four guys who have played regularly this year, and only giving up two. Newble's started a bunch of games recently, but even in games he's started, he hasn't played very many minutes. Brown's 14.6-minute average is a bit misleading; he's only played in 15 of the Cavs' 52 games. Marshall's only played in 11, due to injury. Simmons only played in seven. Hughes started 32 of the 40 games he played for us this year, but has been somewhat limited by injury. Gooden started all 51 of the games he played. Oh, and no, that .000 in Simmons' line is no mistake; he's missed all eight of the free throws he's put up this year.

My thoughts on the players we're getting:

* Wallace has started every game he's played this year, missing three to injury. He's not having a great year, it must be said. He's never been much of a scorer, but in his peak in Detroit, he was close to 10 points a game. He's 33 years old, and obviously on the far side of his peak. That said, he'll give us some of the defensive toughness in the post that Zydrunas Ilgauskas lacks (as much as I love Z). Of course, he's an absolutely dreadful foul shooter, which could be a liability in close games.

* Szczerbiak has only started one game for the Sonics, but was a starter for years in Minnesota, and more recently Boston. I imagine he'll start for the Cavs, with fellow former Miami RedHawk Ira Newble out of the picture. But we'll have to see how that plays out, I suppose. Szczerbiak's numbers are down this year, but so are his minutes. I'm confident he'll do well in starters' minutes with the Cavs. I hope I'm not looking at it through Miami red-colored lenses, but I don't think I am. Wally's no spring chicken at 30, so it might take his body a little while to adjust to more playing time, but he's averaging 15 points in 32 minutes a game for his career. And he's an outside shooter, which will clear up the lane a little bit more for LeBron.

* West is listed as a shooting guard these days, but he started as a point guard in Boston, and that's the thing the Cavs have been missing the most. Hughes was playing the point against his will, and frankly not doing a great job of it, as 2.4 assists vs. 1.8 turnovers a game will attest. It's hard to say if West will move right into the starting lineup, having not played the point in a while, but that's got to be what Ferry had in mind when he traded for him. He's taken kind of a step backwards this year, but I'm guessing Danny's thinking his foot problems are behind him, and if he gets the regular minutes he was unable to get in Seattle, he'll be fine. I admit I have some trepidation about that, but the other point guards who were available got snapped up by other teams, so I don't blame Ferry for grabbing West. He's only 24, so he's definitely got some upside. It's worth noting, however, that Delonte's the only player coming to Cleveland who hasn't played in some games in which he's been available.

* Smith has started 35 of the 50 games he's played this year. He's a 13-year veteran who had his best years in the mid-'90s with the Gol-dern State Warriors. I haven't seen him or heard about him much this year, but a quick look at his career numbers indicates he's having his best year since 2004-05 with Milwaukee. He'll rotate into the power forward and center spots with Z, Wallace and Anderson Varejao, who's due to get healthy soon.

Hughes and Gooden have both had some nice moments for our Cavs, but they've both ultimately been disappointments. Hughes has always fancied himself a featured scorer, which he'd never be on a LeBron James team. So he's wasted a lot of possessions jacking up outside shots, and he's no outside shooter. And Gooden's been really hard to count on. He's been invisible in a lot of games, on both ends of the floor. The other four guys we gave up have been non-factors.

So yes, I like this trade. I'm pretty excited about seeing this team together once Boobie Gibson comes back from his ankle sprain and everybody's had a few weeks to get to know each other.