For once the East gets a deal done... will this get lebron the help he needs?

So here is the latest trade that went down at 2:59 PM, one minute before the trade deadline is as follows. Next to the team name, I will give my grade for each team for this particular trade.

Cavaliers get: A-
Bulls F/C Ben Wallace
Bulls F Joe Smith
Bulls 2009 2nd-round pick
Sonics F Wally Szczerbiak
Sonics G Delonte West
Bulls get: B-
Cavaliers F Drew Gooden
Cavaliers G Larry Hughes
Cavaliers F Cedric Simmons
Cavaliers G Shannon Brown
Sonics get: D+
Cavaliers F Ira Newble
Cavaliers F Donyell Marshall
Bulls F Adrian Griffin



So here are my thoughts on this trade:

First off, I'm a fan of of Donyell Marshall, he grew up in Reading,PA, which is where I was born, so I have always liked him and followed his career. Unfortunately, he was plagued by injuries this year. It's sad to see him go from a contender to a pretender, but that's not what we are here to discuss.





Larry Hughes and Ben Wallace were in the same position: Both had signed big contracts (Hughes in 2005, Wallace in 2006) and both were getting booed terribly at home games. A chance of scenery might be good for both. Larry Hughes has played better as of late and could give he Bulls a shot at making the playoffs in the week Eastern Conference.
Wallace is very good on defense, which is just what the Cavaliers needed, but he is terrible in every other aspect of the game. Wally Szczerbiak adds 13.1 ppg to the Cavaliers , which will make up for the points per game they gave up while trading Hughes (12.3 ppg)who will need him to get at least that every night because the Cavs are very week except for Lebron. I think IF Big Ben can be the defensive presence of a few years ago, the Cavaliers are one of the top teams of the East. I also like the Points (11.3 PPG) and Rebounds (5.30 RPG) that Joe Smith will bring to this team. Delonte West will be a nice addition to come off the bench. He is averaging 6.8 PPG'sthis year, and I think he can get more minutes than the 20.8 he was getting in Seattle he should be able to bring alot more points per game to the table in Cleveland. I think he is a big piece to this trade, even if he looks like a throw in. If he gets some minutes, I think he can average about 15-20 points and be that other "go-to-guy" on this team besides Lebron. When Lebron gets double teamed you may just see it go out to Delonte. One thing that could help is if he is able to work on his Free Throw percentage. Right now for the season he is only a 66% FT shooter.
The Bulls can use Hughes, who I said before has been playing better as of late, and Gooden, to try to make a push for the playoffs along with new team mates Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng. Of course, at 9 games under .500 they shouldn't even be in the playoff discussion, but because the Eastern Conference is so TERRIBLE, they might get in. If they can 21-9 the rest of the way ( yes it's a long shot, but they play in the East so it just might happen), they're a playoff team.
The Sonics aren't going anywhere but now they just gave up some decent players and got almost nothing in return. They are the losers of this trade. Terrible move by their front office. They should at least pulled a draft pick from one of these two teams (maybe that 2nd rounder the Cavaliers got in the deal from the Bulls) or a couple 3rd rounders, OR SOMETHING! They got nothing.


Here is how I rate the Eastern Conference after these trades

1. Detroit Pistons. I know there are people hating me for not putting the Celtics #1 but the Pistons have a team full of superstars who have been NBA Champs as of late, so they have the experience factor. I'll take Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace over Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen 9 times out of 10
2. Boston Celtics. Seriously, if they had ANY playoff experience, they could have that top spot, but they don't and I think that if it comes down to it in the playoffs, the Pistons will take them out.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers. They were already one of the top 4 teams in the Eastern Conference. Before this trade, I had them right behind Dwight Howard and the high flyin' Orlando Magic. I feel like Wallace on defense and Smith and Szczerbiak on offense make this team THAT much better. Lebron finally got the pieces he wanted, though this isn't EVEN CLOSE to as good as picking up Jason Kidd or Mike Bibby, it still makes them a much better team and they have a shot to be back in the NBA Finals this year.

For more information on this trade, please go here

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3257159