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All-star forward LeBron “The King” James was probably salivating
at the various player trades that have been completed over the past
few weeks. Unfortunately, most trades have been done in the Western
Conference. Phoenix acquired Shaq, Dallas got Jason Kidd, the L.A.
Lakers have Pau Gasol and recently, San Antonio traded for Kurt
Thomas. The West is definitely loading up and it would be
interesting to see who ends up in the play-offs.
Out in the Eastern Conference, three
weaker teams (relative to the West) are dominating this conference
namely the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic. LeBron
must also be wondering why, in the watered down east, his Cleveland
Cavaliers are struggling to keep its No. 5 position.
Obviously, the King needs more than court
jesters to build his empire. At the young age of 23, James is
arguably the best basketball player in the world (Kobe fans would
disagree). Put simply, there is no one as skilled, as strong, as
athletic, and as endowed with basketball “smarts” as LeBron.
Last season, the King single-handedly brought
his lowly team to the NBA Finals only to be shellacked by a more
experienced and deep San Antonio team. The Spurs just kept on
shutting down James and let his teammates pick up the slack
(unfortunately, nobody did).
That James needs to score a ton of points and do
most everything underscores the fundamental weakness of his team, a
team that has no other go-to-guys aside from James. Currently, the
King is leading the league in scoring with more than 30 points per
game, and is also grabbing 8 boards and dishing out 8 assists.
Just before the trade deadline, the Cavaliers
shipped out starters’ Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes plus two other
players to acquire Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from Chicago and Wally
Szczerbiak and Delonte West from the Seattle Supersonics.
Qualitatively, the Cavs acquired a defensive
stopper in Wallace and a consistent inside presence in Smith.
However, expect them to be only temporary in the line-up since both
are in their early thirties and could be shipped out next season.
The Cavs lost a good post player in Gooden who still has a lot of
upside since he is only 26 years old.
The acquisition of Szczerbiak and West gives
Cleveland more depth at in the backcourt. With defenses
double-teaming James most of the time, Szczerbiak is expected to
contribute with his good outside shooting skills. Meanwhile, West is
a pure point guard that the Cavs have been looking for in a long
time.
Still, I don’t expect this trade to bolster
LeBron’s chances of making a return trip to the Finals. Other
teams in both conferences simply have made too many improvements in
their respective line-ups. If James wants to finally wear a
championship ring, GM Danny Ferry needs to pull more strings. This
is simply not enough help.
Please e-mail your comments and suggestions
to raffyrledesma@yahoo.com
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