THREE-WAY DEAL: CAVS-BUCKS-OC
In a three-way trade, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired guard Maurice Williams from the Milwaukee Bucks; Milwaukee acquired guard Luke Ridnour and forward Adrian Griffin from Oklahoma City, and guard Damon Jones from Cleveland; Oklahoma City acquired f
What does it give the Cleveland Cavaliers
With Williams now in the fold the Cavs finally have a perimeter playmaker who can legitimately take significant pressure off LeBron James. Williams is an above-average all-round point guard (if not an elite one) and his arrival means Cleveland can let Daniel Gibson play more shooting gaurd (rather than running the point, where he's less comfortable). Moving Jones fixes a long-standing headache for the team (since he has reportedly wanted out for awhile) and the aging Smith was expendable with the drafting of J.J. Hickson. Cleveland continues here to show they're focused on becoming a contender; adding Williams is a nice step forward, but we'll see if it's enough to get them to the promised land.
What does it give the Milwaukee Bucks
For the re-tooling Bucks the key here was unloading the remaining four years of Williams' big contract. He became expendable when second-year point guard Ramon Sessions simply exploded down the stretch last season, and replacing Williams' contract with Ridnour's (which is more affordable and two years shorter) gives the team much more financial flexibility. Now they can groom Sessions (who is more of a pass-first guy in the mold of new bench boss Scott Skiles) while adding a solid fall-back/depth option in Ridnour. Meanwhile Damon Jones is relatively one-dimensional as a shooter but his contract made the money work and he can provide some perimeter accuracy when needed. Griffin appears to be mostly an add-in to make the finances balance out.
What does it give the Oklahoma City Thunder
Adding two solid veterans in Desmond Mason and Joe Smith makes a lot of sense for a young and rebuilding Oklahoma City team. Ridnour wasn't happy and became the odd man out in their point guard rotation, and Griffin didn't play much for the team in his limited time with them. Mason, who is popular in Oklahoma from his college days at Oklahoma State, will join Smith in giving the newly-relocated team some needed energy, leadership, and savvy off the bench. They both have expiring contracts to boot, while Ridnour had two years left on his deal.
Fantasy impact
