CLEVELAND TEAMS

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We all know that Delonte West won’t be back in Cleveland next season. Putting aside the off-court rumors, Delonte was inconsistent last season and his contract makes him a very valuable commodity to teams looking to dump salary, given the $500,000 buyout clause.

The real issue involves Mo Williams. Brian Windhorst is reporting that the Cavs are exploring Mo’s trade value and are open to trading him.

That shouldn’t be a surprise givens Mo’s struggles on defense and in the playoffs. Naturally, it’s hard to figure out where the Cavs are heading without word on LeBron’s decision, but it seems clear that Dan Gilbert and new GM Chris Grant are looking to shake things up. It’s going to be an interesting summer.

UPDATE: Bob Finnan has some interesting tidbits on possible moves.

If the Cavs decide to trade Mo Williams, one possible destination could be Toronto in exchange for Jose Calderon. Williams is a more dynamic scorer and Calderon is more of a distributor. Both are great free-throw shooters, but neither player is a good defender.

Their contracts are similar in amount and length. The Raptors would like to move Calderon and swingman Hedo Turkoglu.

I wonder if the Cavs would be interested in Hedo Turkoglu? He’s another scorer and ball-handler who could compliment LeBron.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Here’s a great photo of LeBron James blocking Boston Celtics’ Glen Davis during the second quarter in Game 3 of their NBA Eastern Conference series on Friday night. Big Baby is a punk, and it was fun to see LeBron stuff him.

Most of us were shocked to see LeBron and the Cavs play so well after looking so bad in game 2, but perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised. Sure, it helps that LeBron seems healthy now, but even great teams have bad games, and it was up to LeBron to take charge and show that he’s the best player in the world. He did that.

The shift in defense also helped. Having Anthony Parker guard Rajon Rondo was a great move. Parker pressed him and then dared Rondo to shoot jumpers in the half-court game. Delonte West and Mo Williams then shifted to Ray Allen, and they hounded him and dared him to drive to the hoop instead of shooting jumpers. It worked.

Mike Brown has taken some serious heat, but even with a superstar like James he deserves some credit for the game 3 performance. Now it’s time to keep up the pressure in game 4.

The Cavs got off to a fast start in the first quarter, but eventually the Celtics heated up and took control of the game. The shots were falling for them, particularly the three-pointers, and the Cavs got a little cold.

It’s the first game, and they had to start without Delonte West and face a tough team while the Cavs had two new starters. You can’t expect them to be in mid-season form, and they weren’t. No cause for worry – as Shaq said they’ll be fine.

The refs didn’t help out as well. The traveling rules apparently don’t apply to Ray Allen and one ref called a ridiculous palming call on LeBron with two minutes left when the Cavs were down four points and staging a comeback. But refs don’t affect games in the NBA – right?

We’ve been hearing about match-up problems posed by the Magic, but the Cavs can win this thing if they just play better. Mo Williams and Delonte West need to pick up their games. In game 3 it looked like they drank too much caffeine before the game.

LeBron James also needs to play better. That might sound crazy given his point totals so far in the series, but James needs to make better decisions. Too many times he threw up long shots without giving the offense a chance. Craig Sager just reported that LeBron admitted this in an interview before the game.

The Cavs have the talent – they just need to execute.

The Cavs rolled over the Pistons tonight as Delonte West returned and scored 25 points.