Today's roundup involves Jeopardy!

• The Indians dropped their third in a row yesterday, as the New York Stinking Yankees came from behind to beat them 3-2, behind a two-run homer by Curtis Granderson off probable soon-to-be-former Indian Jake Westbrook in the eighth. Westbrook pitched pretty well, giving up three runs in eight innings on four hits and two walks against five strikeouts, while pitching to a very powerful Yankee lineup. But he gave up two home runs, and that was his undoing.

• Shin-Soo Choo again showed why he's the best player on the Tribe. Not only did he hit an RBI double that temporarily put the Indians ahead 2-1, he threw out Granderson trying to stretch a single into a double. Replays showed Granderson should have been called safe, but still, it was a heck of a play by Choo, who fielded it off the wall and gunned it to second in one motion.

• The game drew 27,224 fans, which is the Indians' third-highest home attendance of the season. (The top two were the home opener and Nationals rookie Stephen Strasburg's second major league start.) That's due to two factors: One, the Yankees always draw well in Cleveland; and two, Alex Rodriguez is one home run away from his 600th. With Mr. Rod failing to go deep last night, we can expect another large crowd tonight. Too bad for the Indians' bottom line the Yankees are only in town for four games; the Tribe remains 30th out of 30 teams in home attendance.

• Westbrook's contract is up at the end of the season, and while he probably won't be all that expensive next year, given his injury history, it makes sense for the Tribe to flip him for prospects because they're not playing for anything this year. The trade deadline is this Saturday, so this might well have been his last start as an Indian. On the other hand, Westbrook seems like the kind of guy who might help a contender for the rest of the year and then come back to Cleveland. Who knows.

• Jhonny Peralta is also in the last year of his contract, and I don't see any reason not to get prospects for him too. No doubt Mark Shapiro will see what he can get for a lot of players, but off the top of my head, those two guys are the ones who seem most likely to go. Peralta's been kind of a disappointment the last couple of years, both with the bat and the glove, but he could help a contender who's got a hole in the infield, such as Colorado.

• The Cavaliers made a trade yesterday, sending Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair to the Timberwolves for guard Ramon Sessions, center Ryan Hollins and a second-round draft pick. West has been a starter before, and has done some nice things on the court, but he was highly inconsistent this past year — possibly due to his legal troubles — and I'm not very sorry to see him go. Telfair is just a throw-in; he never contributed to the Cavs in any meaningful way. The 24-year-old Sessions only averaged 8.2 points and 2.1 assists last year for the Wolves, but that's in just 21.1 minutes a game, and he had 20 points and 24 assists in one game. He's got an upside. Hollins, 25, will probably never be more than a backup center, which is fine. We'll need one. Anderson Varejao will probably be the starter, with Z and Shaq both gone.

• OK, a game show is not a sport, but this too cool not to mention: The "Jeopardy!" Clue Crew spent some time at the Cleveland Clinic at November, filming an entire category's worth of clues for the show. The Cleveland Clinic category will come up Friday. I DVR "Jeopardy!" and look forward to getting all the questions correct.

The second half approacheth; other thoughts

• The Indians open the second half of the season tonight against the Tigers, with opening-day starter Jake Westbrook also starting the first game of the second half. I don't suppose it makes much difference, because the Indians ain't goin' nowhere nohow, but I'd have started Fausto Carmona tonight. He's been the team's best starter thus far, and he didn't pitch in the All-Star Game, so he's rested. But that's a minor quibble.

• The Tigers, though they are a strong 48-38 overall, are a surprising 16-25 on the road. That's probably an aberration, but regardless, the Tribe has a fighting chance in this series.

• I don't have time to write a complete second-half preview, but in a nutshell, here's what I think we'll see the rest of the season: trades of veterans with expiring contracts, and a lot of young players trying to prove they belong in the majors. It's hard to imagine that they could be much worse than they were in the first half, but if they get rid of their high-priced talent and put the games in the hands of unproven youngsters, that is in fact entirely possible. But it doesn't matter much. The important thing is trying to contend in 2012 or 2013. Preferably both.

• Shin-Soo Choo could be returning soon, which would be a big help. He hit off a tee Wednesday and took some swings in the batting cage Thursday, and says he feels close to 100%. The Tribe's offense isn't very potent even with Choo in the lineup, but if they're going to score some runs in the second half, he's going to have to be one of the guys who knocks them in. Asdrubal Cabrera will likely also be back soon; he's currently on a rehab assignment in Akron. He's not the run producer Choo is, but he can hit some, and his slick glove is always welcome.

• And now ... the Cavaliers. A judge has given Delonte West eight months' home detention rather than jail for carrying weapons in Maryland. He will be allowed to leave home for practices and games, which means he'll be able to play. There's no stopping the Cavs now ... (I would like to point out that West didn't actually use his guns on anyone, but I guess nobody much cares.)

• It took the Houston Rockets less than a day to match the Cavs' offer to guard Kyle Lowry, so the Cavs are still looking for a backup point guard. They may also be looking for other players. They seem to have a hole at small forward, for example. I can't remember who was there last year, but I think I remember hearing he's gone.

• Oh, yeah. I remember now. Here's something cheery for those who wish ill on the Miami Heat next year (which I'm thinking is pretty much all of us): LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were all on the team that represented the United States in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, which is basketball's version of the World Cup. Not only did that team not win the title, they didn't even get there. They were eliminated by Greece in the semifinals. That Greek team had exactly one NBA player on it (Vassilis Spanoulis), and I've never heard of him.

• Someone named "dkbfish" just commented on my last post about how he's getting back at LeBron with "forever ungrateful" T-shirts. I don't think whoever that is cares about my blog at all, he's just trying to sell T-shirts. But what the hell, I left it up. Maybe he'll send me a free one. (cough)

Delonte's back

From a basketball perspective, it's good to have Delonte West back. The Cavaliers probably would have beaten the Charlotte Bobcats with or without him yesterday, but his 13 points in the second half certainly helped in the 90-79 victory.

But I have my doubts about Delonte West as a human being. I know, he's diagnosed with bipolar disorder and all that, and I can forgive him for carrying three concealed weapons, as long as he didn't actually hurt anybody. And while it was bad that he missed all of training camp and the first few games without giving an excuse, I can accept that he needed some time to get his head together. But his wife had him charged with domestic violence last week, and that's the part I have trouble overlooking. He reportedly grabbed her and tried to take her wedding ring and purse after accusing her of cheating on him. That's far from the worst thing I've ever heard of a man doing to a woman, but still, I have a hard time rooting for a guy who has apparently used his physical strength to overpower his wife.

On the plus side, the Cavs are now 2-2, and still seem like a strong bet to go a long way in the playoffs. Whether they're a championship-caliber team or not remains to be seen, as it will take them some time to gel. But I look forward to enjoying the ride.

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.