Milwaukee Bucks General Manager John Hammond continues the clean-up process to rid the 'mess' made by Larry Harris while he was GM.
The Milwaukee Bucks, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City franchise, made a three-team trade Wednesday afternoon, with the headliner being the Bucks' starting point guard.
Cleveland only gets Williams, who will provide LeBron James with much needed help at the point guard position when he returns from Beijing in late August.
Milwaukee gets two point guards in return; Damon Jones from Cleveland, and Luke Ridnour from Oklahoma City. They also receive Adrian Griffin from Oklahoma City. Jones is making his second appearance as a Buck.
Desmond Mason will once again return to Oklahoma City, where he played with the Hornets when they were driven out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Cleveland also sends Joe Smith to join Mason.
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I believe that Ridnour will provide solid backup to last year's breakout player in Ramon Sessions, unless the newly signed Tyronne Lue shows great output prior to October.
From a Bucks fan standpoint, I always knew that a Mo and/or Redd trade was possible, even after Milwaukee acquired Richard Jefferson from the Nets.
The guy who is getting the rawest deal in all of this is Milwaukee's Desmond Mason.
He came to the Bucks in the Ray Allen trade, and immediately became a fan favorite in Milwaukee. After a couple of years, Mason was traded to New Orleans for Jamaal Magloire when Harris told him that no deal was in sight.
Mason went on to call Harris "a snake in the grass" for the double-cross.
The bad feelings apparently sub-sided when Mason was signed as a free agent by Milwaukee before the 2007-08 season by that same snake who traded him away.
The Bucks then drafted a couple of small forwards in the 2008 draft, putting Mason and often injured Bobby Simmons on the hot seat. But when the Bucks traded away Simmons to New Jersey, it appeared that Mason's job was safe, except that they received Jefferson in return.
All of Milwaukee should've seen a Desmond Mason trade coming, as he continued to move down the depth chart with each transaction made. It's just too bad though, because Milwaukee will now have to look somewhere else to provide pure energy off the bench.
I think we can officially say that the Milwaukee Bucks are now 'rebuilding'. And they are clearly building around Olympians Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut.
The organization is also hoping that this new group of talent can not only produce wins now, but in the future.
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3 months ago
OKC and Cleveland come out much better teams in this deal. LeBron gets help and OKC gets a solid rotation player along with great cap relief.
I'm not sure that Milwaukee came out a better team in this trade though. They essentially get two average point guards for a very good one, while the other two teams fill significant needs.
3 months ago
Great news for Lebron...he should have an even better year
3 months ago
Thank you Bucks, for allowing us to rid ourselves of Damon Jones and his evil contract! AND got a quality guard to go with (or for) Delonte West. Man, all I need is Eric Snow and Ben Wallace to retire!
3 months ago
Solid move by the Cavaliers organization. Mo Williams is a really really solid point guard who will definitely be of great assistance to Lebron.
Thanks for the article.
3 months ago
I think you folks are missing the ball!!! Ramon Sessions avg 11+ pts, 11+ assistas, and 5 boards in 10 games as a starter last april. We know garbage games can be deceptive, but no doubt that the bucks, and coach scott skiles want a pass first point, remember sessions going over 20 assists in a late season game. He will start, and will keep RJ and Redd, as Well as Bodut, and Charlie V happy with shots.
OKC gets a nice player, and certainly cleveland gets a guy who may help them, but wasn't Delonte West prety big for them in the playoffs last year? (I don't remember, but I thought he played well.) Don't be surprised to see Milwaukee offer West the contract that Cleveland won't give him, which will be a better long tern deal than over paying a shoot first point in mo williams. (Which is a good fit with LBJ ./. I get that.)
Question is, is Mo Williams the piece that keeps LBJ in Cleveland??? I don't think so! Simply put, Milwaukee saw that winning with Mo wouldn't happen, no matter the numbers. Solid move by them even though they really didn't get a lot in return. Addition by subtraction as they say!
from 3 months ago
Paul-
I don't know why people like you keep asking "Is this the guy that will keep LeBron in Cleveland?" They asked the same thing three years ago: "Is Larry Hughes the same guy to keep LeBron in Cleveland?" Hughes bombed big time, but guess what? LeBron still re-signed in '06.
One thing's for sure: The Cavs have never had a point guard of Williams' capabilities since they traded Andre Miller in '02. That kind of scorer and playmaker has not been seen on the shores of Lake Erie for quite some time. It will be interesting to watch how Mo can contribute to what has so far been a stagnant offense.
from 3 months ago
Wow, how did I forget Ramon. I'm going to change that right away. Thanx Paul. Luke will provide a decent backup role, which is what his whole career is turning out to be.
3 months ago
I think this is a big move for the Cavs. Now they have a playmaking point guard that can shoot the ball and get the ball to Lebron. The Cavs finally might have a point guard to make the other team think about.
3 months ago
I'm not so sure Mason got a raw deal. He went to school at Oklahoma State so he immediately becomes the team's most popular player.
This was a good trade for Cleveland. They have nobody under contract for in 2010 so they've got the salary cap space to burn. I'm surprised they couldn't do better with the expiring contracts of Jones and Smith but Williams gives them what they thought they had in DeJuan Wagner.
Milwaukee gets nothing but cap space. Ridnour is a bust under contract for only one more year after this one. Jones, Griffin and Smith expire at the end of the season.
A good trade for everybody. I gotta give John Hammond credit. He got rid of Simmons and Williams' contracts. He got a good scorer in RJ for almost nothing. He got Lue and Elson for nothing. He chopped a year off their rebuilding plan.
from 3 months ago
I was glad to see Simmons go, and with the play of Ramon Sessions, you knew that Mo's time as a Buck was coming to an end. Larry Harris flushed this team down the toilet, and Hammond's is doing a great job on trying to restore the greatness that once was in Milwaukee.
I agree, it looks like a win-win-win situation.
3 months ago
Paul-
I don't know why people like you keep asking "Is this the guy that will keep LeBron in Cleveland?" They asked the same thing three years ago: "Is Larry Hughes the same guy to keep LeBron in Cleveland?" Hughes bombed big time, but guess what? LeBron still re-signed in '06.
One thing's for sure: The Cavs have never had a point guard of Williams' capabilities since they traded Andre Miller in '02. That kind of scorer and playmaker has not been seen on the shores of Lake Erie for quite some time. It will be interesting to watch how Mo can contribute to what has so far been a stagnant offense.
from 3 months ago
Lebron's extension was shorter than possible, either to make more money when he reupped later or to keep the pressure on the Cavs to improve over that time... Or both. Regardless, he would have been a restricted free agent if he didn't sign that extension and would have ended up in a long term deal that would have cost him money in the long run. You really think the Cavs would even consider not matching any offer sheets he signed?
Mo Williams is the best the Cavs have had in years but, all he has ever been is a shoot first PG on a bad team. Williams has also only played more than 70 games once in his career.
Overall, it's good to see the Cavs make a move to try to help Lebron, but personally I'd think they'd want a pass first PG and to have a scorer at another position. Williams' former teammate, Redd, probably would have been a better fit.
3 months ago
I'm shocked that the Bucks traded Mo Williams. I always he felt that he was one of the most underrated players in the NBA. He'll get some coverage now!
from 3 months ago
He was a bit underrated I agree, but he still could've been better than what he was...by a long shot. I'm excited to see what Ramon can do for a full 82.
3 months ago
Mo Williams isn't THE piece that puts the Cavaliers over the top, but he makes them a much better team. And the idea that LeBron needs a reason to stay in Cleveland is wishful thinking. He's not going anywhere.
3 months ago
Not really sure if this will HELP the Cavs. That's what Damon Jones was supposed to do when HE was in C-town, but he was garbage. Being from the Clev. area I've watched them do nothing more than make horrible moves, that LOOKED good on paper, but did nothing for them when it came time to put it all together on the floor. Even Before King James' arrival. They've never really been able to do it. Don't know what it's going to take. When LBJ made his debut, HE lived up to the hype-but STILL couldn't/can't get the Cavs the trophy. Almost doesn't count in the NBA. The Cavs have it all wrong, though things may look good on the clip board, you need guys that gel with each other-and they just don't understand that. It would have been real interesting to see what may have happened if Carlos Boozer had never left. That, really was the last time that the Cavs played the best as a team, for what ever the reason. They didn't rely totally on LeBron then, yes he was still the main go-to guy, but things were different and they just have never been the same. After that, they started pulling all these goofy trades and NO trades that just made things messy. I understand they MADE the Finals a couple yrs. ago, but THAT was entirely BECAUSE of LB. Everybody knows that you can't do it by yourself(except the Cavs) and that's what they NEEDED him to do 'cuz no one else COULD do anything. It will be interesting to see if Williams helps out at all, but I've learned with the them-you CAN"T have high expectations and this is another one that I won't/don't. It may just be the curse of Clev. that does it to everybody-I just hope LeBron doesn't get fed up with it all too- and want to take off for someplace else. I think he might already be getting to that point though. I would be.
3 months ago
Jamaal,
there are plenty of *dead-weight Caucasoid players* with contracts as equally evil as you claim Damon Jones' is. Do you also scrutinize/characterize them, as equally as you do Jones? Or, do you stick to the peculiar B/R culture, to give them 'a pass' according to site mantra?
from 3 months ago
He's talking about people involved in the trade. If you want to know about some white players with terrible deals, here are some: Mark Madsen, Brian Cardinal, Brian Scalabrine.
3 months ago
Milwaukee has stated that Luke Ridnour will be the starting PG.
3 months ago
Have to agree with j. - don't know how well this actually helps the Cavs, who would benefit greatly from a true point guard who can get the King the ball in ideal spots. Mo Williams can score, but if his acquisition means Delonte West leaves, I think it's a wash.
3 months ago
When you consider that the Cavs were only a LeBron 3 point shot away from sending the Celtics packing last season and they were indeed in the NBA Finals two seasons ago, I cannot see hwo the addition of a quality scoring PG like Williams doesn't make them the prohibitive favorite to represent the East in next year's Finals. They have Gibson returning and they still have Big Z and Varejo. I think the Cavs are the team to beat in the East on the strength of this one move.
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