Earlier this week the Cleveland Cavaliers sent guards Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for dynamic point guard Ramon Sessions and 7'0 centre Ryan Hollins. This is the first major roster move by our new GM Chris Grant and the beginning of our new look Cavaliers team. It is not a massive trade by any means, but the Cavs will be better for it.
Sessions is 24 years old and still has his best years ahead of him. He's coming off a poor year in Minnesota where he struggled to adapt to an undefined role on the team and not much playing time. Lets be honest, the T-Wolves as an organisation are a complete mess so it must be a struggle for every one of their players. However, Sessions enjoyed success in his first 2 years in the league with Milwaukee, setting their franchise record for assists with 24 against the Bulls in April 2008. Yes, 24 ASSISTS. In one game. Crazy. Terry Pluto had said that Sessions is "exactly the type of player the Cavs should be adding at this stage of their life without Lebron James." What does he mean? Sessions, partnered with new head coach Byron Scott's up-tempo approach, is going to bring some fun to the Quicken Loans Arena. Ramon will be pushing the break, getting up the court quickly and injecting some excitement into Cleveland basketball. Gone are the days of watching Lebron dribble out the shot clock. Scott and Sessions will make this Cavs side fun to watch at the very least. Again, Pluto sums it up best: "The Cavs have a backcourt jammed with guards who love to fire away from long distance - Anthony Parker, Mo Williams and (Daniel) Gibson. They don't have a pure point guard such as Sessions." Well, now we do.
The coup of this trade is obviously Sessions, but the Cavs also gained depth and height to our understaffed group of centres. 25 Year old 7 footer Ryan Hollins will probably start the new season as a backup, but I expect he will see more minutes in Cleveland than he has at any other stage in his pro career. His height, quickness, and athleticism, plus his ability to pull off spectacular blocks, will ensure he will be given a chance to shine in Byron Scott's new Cavaliers team. At 25 he is still developing and hopefully he can blossom into a force under the basket.
The only negative aspect to this trade is that, like every trade, we always have to say goodbye to someone we used to root for. Delonte West became quite a fan favourite during his time in Cleveland, but he had a troubled season on and off the court last year and it was his time to go. Sebastian Telfair, who shined briefly during his limited stay in town, is again being shipped off to another team in a trade. This will be his second stint with the Timberwolves and I've lost count of how many clubs he has played for during his time in the NBA. I think Telfair could have found a home in this new team - he is the type of PG that Scott could mould into a real floor general, but apparently the front office felt that Sessions would be a better fit and that Telfair would have to be sacrificed to achieve this. I hope Delonte and Sebastian find success in their NBA futures, but I doubt it will be in Minnesota.
So Sessions and Hollins are the new boys in town to help the city of Cleveland recover from "The Defection" and return the Cavs to the top of the East. Its going to take time, longer than we probably expect, but the acquisition of Sessions is a positive step in the right direction.
Thanks for reading.
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