Mike Bibby, Cleveland Cavs are a Perfect Match

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently one of the NBA's hottest teams. They are 7-3 over their last ten games and are 14-4 in 2008. They feature arguably the league's best player in LeBron James, a legitimate seven-footer with a surprisingly deft shooting touch in Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and two of the more underrated power forwards in the game in Anderson Varejao and Drew Gooden. They also went to the NBA finals last year. Tradition and common sense would seem to dictate that the Cavs stand pat, and let their assembled pieces continue to grow into the team they were at the end of last year, rather than make a trade in the middle of the season and potentially wreck any semblance of team chemistry. The problem with that theory is that, at best, the team would be no better off than it was last season; an over matched one man show that got swept out of the NBA Finals. Something needs to be done to upgrade the Cavaliers.

Undoubtedly most Cleveland fans are clamoring for Jason Kidd right now, but that's just not going to happen. The Cavaliers do not have the pieces to offer in a trade for one of the best point guards in the history of the NBA. A more realistic approach is necessary. Enter Mike Bibby. Sure, Bibby may lack some of the quickness he possessed earlier in his career when he partnered up with Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic and turned the Sacramento Kings into the league's most exciting team. But what Bibby lacks in quickness he makes up for with an excellent outside shot and playoff experience galore. He may not be the Robin to James's batman, but he is a savvy point guard who can excel in a system that does not require him to be the primary scoring threat. Everyone knows that James is essentially the point guard on the team and that good things always seem to happen when he has the ball in his hands. However, adding Bibby would allow James to play off the ball a little more often and relieve him of the added work of bringing the ball up the court and getting the team into its sets on every play. Additionally, though his numbers are slightly down this year, Bibby's ability to make the clutch shut is well known, and his presence on the court should help create more space for James to operate. These are all traits that the Cavs current point guards sorely lack.

So what would it take to make this trade work, and would the Sacramento Kings even agree to trade Bibby at all? The answer to the latter question would seem to be a resounding yes, despite what their management has indicated. Bibby and combustible forward Ron Artest haven't exactly been the best of friends since Artest joined the Kings a couple of seasons ago. At least one of them has to go, and as hard as it might be for the Kings to give up one of their last links to their glory years, Bibby would be the right choice. He was injured for much of the early part of the season, and backup Beno Udrich filled in capably. Granted Bibby has only been back from injury for about a dozen or so games, but he has put up numbers similar to Udrich this season. As an added bonus, a trade of Bibby would open additional playing time for dynamic combo guard John Salmons and improving swing man Francisco Garcia, two younger players who should continue to blossom over time. In the NBA, if you are not a piece or two away from a championship, you should be rebuilding. The Kings have started the process nicely, and a trade of Mike Bibby could speed up the progression even more.

Of course, that begs the question of what it would cost the Cavaliers to obtain Bibby. First, let's look at his contract. He has two years left on his contract and will make roughly $13 million this season. Because the Cavaliers are over the salary cap, they will have to send the Kings contracts totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million in order to match the contract coming in. The obvious candidate for the Cavs to ship back to the Kings is Larry Hughes, who is owed twelve million dollars this season and could be relegated to the bench with the arrival of Bibby. The problem with that deal is that the Kings would have no use for Hughes as he plays the same position as rising star Kevin Martin, and needs the ball in hands to be effective. Therefore the Cavs will have to get creative. A package of Donyell Marshall, Cedric Simmons, Ira Newble and Dwayne Jones would make the salaries work. The Kings would likely accept this trade because they need size, which Simmons and Marshall offer, and Newble is a solid defender who can play well without the ball. Also, Newble and Jones both have contracts that expire at the end of this season, so the Kings would get some cap relief.

For the Cavs the deal is simple. By going through with this trade, they would not be giving up any of their core players with the possible exception of Marshall. Simmons might one day turn out to be a decent player, and Newble is a hard-nosed guy that might be nice to have in the playoffs, but the acquisition of Mike Bibby is worth those losses. The Cavs are already $20 million over the salary cap, so the cap relief they would have received from the expiring contracts they traded away is minimal at best. Besides, LeBron James only signed a three year contract extension so the time to win is now. This team made it to the Finals with Eric Snow as its starting point guard last year. Now maybe they can win a few games in the once there if they add a playoff tested veteran who has made clutch shots throughout his career. Maybe they could win it all, with Mike Bibby.