Brutus1;1098075; said:
Wally still shoots 46% and 42%
Smith shoots better than Gooden.
West can shoot and plays very good D
Wallace plays much better D than Gooden.
I don't think LeBron needs to shoot any more than he alreadyt has been.
Smith and Gooden's offensive game is a wash....Drew was much better offensively than most gave him crdeit for.....Smith HAS to be a better defender though. Drew was lost on defense...he regulary blew weakside help, was always late getting to his man on rotations, and ate pump fakes like Charlie Weiss at.....ok, bad move, Charlie eats everything.
I still think losing Drew hurts our offense. He was a nice valve for LeBron to dump it off too. I don't see Smith creating his own shot like Drew could one-on-one either.
Obviously Ben Wallace's defense is a major upgrade. I honestly think Danny Ferry was envisioning Kevin Garnett as he put this deal together. Wallace is a major liability on offense, as he draws about as much attention as Eric Snow. The good thing is that he can concentrate strictly on defense and offensive/defensive rebounding. Once Anderson gets healthy, I think we'll see a healthy dose of Wallace and Varejeao together. Z just doesn't have the game come playoffs for some reason. I think Z is the ultimate regular season player, but playoff basketball eats him up. I think we can utilize Z like Phoenix will utilize Shaq. About 20-25 minutes a game, and he'll be great in the clutch when we need free-throws and offense.
I don't think we'll even see much out of Wally. He'll probably get 10 minutes a game. His defense is suspect, he can't penetarte, and he completely survives on star players who can suck defenses in. He's basically reaquiring Jason Kapono. I doubt he sees the court more than 5 minutes during playoff basketball when defense is a premium.
I do think Delonte West can add a piece to this team come playoffs. Last year when Damon Jones entered the game in the playoffs, the opposing team immediately exploited the mis-match. We at least now have 2 guys come the playoffs who can handle the ball and not get dominated on the defensive side of the court. Most will recall Larry being hurt in th eplayoffs, and forcing Damon to play more than he should have. I'm probably in the minority, but I still think Eric can bring some value come playoff basketball. His defense is that good.
The best thing about this trade is that we didn't put ourselves in a poor position for next year. As most have stated, it's as if we traded for the same contracts that went out the door. It's a new formula that MAY sneak us into the finals.
Again, I really like Ben Wallace if we are to face Boston in the playoffs. I 100% believe Ben has been brought in to man up on KG.
