The longest river

Chapter 253 "I thought he came to assist us"

"The Mavericks' interior defense is poor, and I think my choice was correct."

The following day, James directly responded to Davis's questions in front of reporters.

His words sounded reasonable, but they were not accepted by his teammates.

After all, if a point guard doesn't have any assists throughout the game, it's like a center not getting any rebounds; no matter how reasonable the reason, it just seems like an excuse.

Moreover, James' response completely enraged Davis.

What was originally a covert rivalry between them has now become public within the Cavaliers.

This contradiction also affected the Cavaliers' record, which fluctuated significantly in late November.

This public conflict was finally resolved after the loss to the Nets.

"Anyone who causes trouble in the team again, get out of here immediately."

Yang Shuai came here to play basketball, not to watch his teammates cause trouble.

This kind of thing should normally be handled by the coach, but Scott clearly doesn't have the same ability as Phil Jackson. In addition, the defensive counter-attack tactical system didn't work as planned, and he hasn't yet earned the respect of most of the Cavaliers players.

After Yang Shuai reprimanded them once, there were no more overt conflicts within the Cavaliers, but the undercurrents of infighting continued.

Finally, in December, Fratello and Scott visited Yang Shuai.

"We are prepared to trade Ricky Davis."

The conflict between James and Davis has reached an irreconcilable point, forcing management to make a choice between the two.

This choice was not unexpected.

Davis was only a fringe player in the NBA for the first three seasons with the Cavaliers, but he seized the opportunity of the team's rebuilding and made a name for himself.

He can score, but he is essentially an inefficient wing scorer and is easily replaceable.

Moreover, he is already 24 years old, while James is only 18. Just like Jerry West refused to trade Kobe for Grant Hill back then, potential is a factor that general managers will definitely consider.

Not to mention the commercial factors, despite Yang Shuai's brilliance, James still occupies an important place in the Cavaliers' marketing.

No matter which general manager you have, if you had to choose between James and Davis, you would never choose Davis.

However, this is the management's idea, and they came to Yang Shuai to take his opinion into consideration.

If Yang Shuai is determined to keep Davis, then they will definitely have to readjust their strategy.

"I have no opinion."

Yang Shuai's reaction was the same as before.

Or rather, he wouldn't choose Davis over James.

However, his perspective differed slightly from that of Fratello and the others.

He didn't choose Davis mainly because of Davis's habit of telling everything to the media.

If internal conflicts within the team are not made public, then they are just internal conflicts.

For example, he got into a fight with Eddie Johnson on the Pacers back then, but it was resolved internally and no one outside knew about it, so it didn't affect the team.

But Davis said everything, giving the impression that the Cavaliers were in turmoil, and reporters naturally swarmed over like flies drawn to a scent.

Of course, there is another very important point: James is currently at his lowest trade value, and the return on trading him now is also the lowest. If he were traded now, it would really be like what some fans have said, that it would have been better to trade him directly during the draft.

Seeing that Yang Shuai did not object, Fratello breathed a sigh of relief.

From his perspective, if he were to trade James at this point and James were to rise to prominence later, he would be branded with shame.

The agreement on trading Davis has been reached, so the next question is what type of player to trade for Davis.

"LeBron can't play point guard."

Even Scott, who initially propelled James to this position, drew his own conclusion after observing for over a month.

During the draft, some media outlets touted LeBron James as an all-around player who could play from point guard to center. Putting aside the unrealistic position of center, at least until James' shooting becomes more consistent, we shouldn't even think about having him play point guard.

This is actually a difference between the perspective of professional basketball and that of fans. For example, for many years only Magic Johnson was able to play point guard effectively, while other players of similar size could only play as playmaking wings.

Scott's implication was that he wanted to trade Davis for a real point guard.

"It would be great if we could trade for a player like Ron Harper."

Scott's Harper here is naturally the Bulls' role player version, mainly playing defense, but occasionally he can also contribute in scoring and playmaking, and he can even play from one to three.

It's clear that although Scott defeated the Bulls with Yang Shuai back then, the Bulls were deeply ingrained in the minds of that generation of players.

However, at present, this is indeed the type of team that is most suitable for the Cavaliers.

Because James can't guard guards, and Scott won't assign Young to lead the defense, they desperately need a defensive spearhead.

This is also one of the reasons why Scott didn't choose to keep Davis, because Davis, who came from a self-taught background, was even worse at defense than James.

Does the league have players of this type?

Of course there is.

The most fitting candidate is Larry Hughes of the Wizards.

He is even younger and healthier than Hughes and Harper.

However, the key issue is that Davis is unlikely to be traded for Hughes.

Scott clearly knows this, and he currently has a suitable candidate in mind who is also a potential trade partner: Eric Snow of the 76ers.

Snow, Iverson's backcourt partner, wasn't very well-known, but he was an excellent defender.

Furthermore, Snow is also an Ohio player. He was born in Canton, which is very close to Cleveland, so if he is traded to the Cavaliers, it would be like returning to his hometown team.

(Yang Shuai: You guys have a huge gathering of Ohio players here? Are you also going to bring Jim Jackson along?)

Yang Shuai still remembered Snow's words, after all, they had faced off against the 76ers in the Finals. Snow's defense was indeed good, but he was only 1.91 meters tall, so he had a hard time defending shooting guards of that size.

In this era where wing players are prevalent, this already limits his effectiveness. Of course, more importantly, Harper and Hughes don't have the ability to be the main or second option on a championship-contending team, but Snow really doesn't have much scoring ability.

James was already left wide open because of his inconsistent shooting. If Snow joins in, Yang Shuai will be able to enjoy a CBA-style scrubbing service every night.

"I think we don't have to limit ourselves to point guards, after all, we don't need the players we traded to handle too much of the ball."

Yang Shuai shared his thoughts.

He phrased it rather euphemistically, but in reality, this is a basic requirement.

The conflict between Davis and James stemmed from a dispute over ball possession. If this were a player who still needed to handle the ball a lot, it would be the same old story in a different guise.

Once you understand this point, then it is indeed as Yang Shuai said: you don't need to limit yourself so much, because the more limits you set, the fewer options you have, and the more chips you have to pay in the transaction.

"Anyone who can shoot threes and play defense is fine." Under Fratello's questioning gaze, Yang Shuai gave more detailed requirements.

The concept of 3D players didn't exist in this era, but that's how Yang Shuai started his career, and he knew how valuable these role players were to championship-contending teams.

Scott hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Yang Shuai could guess what his worries were.

"Let LeBron try again. If it really doesn't work out in the end, I'll play point guard."

Yang Shuai has the confidence to say this, after all, he played this position with the Trail Blazers back in the day.

Of course, he still hopes that James can make his shooting more consistent. After all, what position you play is secondary. When it comes to the playoffs and when everyone is targeting each other, the competition is about who has fewer weaknesses.

After this discussion, Fratello quickly took action.

His primary target remained Hughes, but as expected, the Wizards rejected him outright.

Hughes is now Yao Ming's backcourt partner, averaging over 18 points per game this season, a feat the Cavaliers simply cannot match.

Because Yang Shuai relaxed his requirements, Fratello then set his sights on Shane Battier.

Battier was the 6th overall pick in the 2001 draft. In addition to meeting the requirements, his personality was the opposite of Davis'. He was a natural team player, the glue that held the team together, and even had the nickname "President" in college.

Unfortunately, this player is also someone the Cavaliers can't afford to play for.

It's not because of his good performance on the court. Battier has played in the NBA for three years. Apart from his decent performance in his rookie season, he has been getting worse and worse. This season, he has been relegated to the bench.

Rather, since the Grizzlies moved to Memphis, they have been committed to building a team culture, and Battier is the most crucial part of that.

Battier is now the Grizzlies' second most important player after Gasol.

The first round of negotiations between the Cavaliers and the Grizzlies was unsuccessful, but their negotiations did not end there.

Because the other Grizzlies player that the Cavaliers are interested in is someone the Grizzlies are willing to negotiate with.

James Posey.

Posey was selected 15th overall by the Knicks in the 1999 NBA draft. He then played for Denver and Houston, and in the second half of last season with the Rockets, he averaged 14 points per game. In the offseason, he was signed by the Grizzlies to a four-year, $24 million contract.

Don't be fooled by Yang Shuai's annual salary of over 3000 million. In this era, the maximum starting salary for a rookie player is only 900 million. As a player whose rookie contract has just ended, Posey's salary is not low at all.

The Grizzlies paid this price hoping he could become the team's core player on the perimeter.

However, the Grizzlies quickly discovered a problem after signing Posey: his performance with the Rockets was just a flash in the pan, and he did not have the ability to truly control the ball.

After playing for a while, the management even realized that his functions highly overlapped with Battier's, which made his situation with the Grizzlies somewhat awkward.

If he plays as a substitute, this contract will definitely be a waste of his time, but if he plays as a starter, it will push Battier to the bench.

On the contrary, Davis is exactly the type of player they need who can handle the ball, so it can be said that both sides get what they need.

After a series of negotiations, the Cavaliers and Grizzlies reached a trade agreement. The Cavaliers sent Ricky Davis and two second-round picks to the Grizzlies in exchange for James Posey.

The two teams negotiated a lot behind the scenes, but the deal was finalized very quickly, leaving virtually no opportunity for rumors to spread.

Therefore, this deal quickly attracted heated discussions after it was revealed.

Keep in mind that the season has only been going on for a little over a month, and Davis was one of the Cavaliers' two core players last season.

In addition, Davis had complained about James in public on more than one occasion, which was also seen as a trade that solidified James's position on the team.

The day after the trade was finalized, Percy showed up in the locker room at Quicken Loans Arena.

He looked a little sleepy, probably because he didn't sleep well last night.

However, upon seeing Yang Shuai, his sleepy eyes instantly opened, and he excitedly stepped forward to shake hands and bump shoulders with Yang Shuai.

As one of Yang Shuai's main rivals in high school, Posey held a grudge against Yang Shuai for dunking on him back then, but nowadays... what dunking? That's a fond memory of his student days with the GOAT!
Unlike Snow, who was born in Canton, next to Cleveland, or James in Akron, Posey, like Yang Shuai, is a true Cleveland native.

Working alongside Yang Shuai to revitalize their hometown team was something he never dared to dream of.

So when he heard that he had been traded to the Cavaliers, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep. He rushed over that very night, and then quickly completed his physical examination before reporting for duty.

James then stood up and warmly welcomed Posey.

On the one hand, he had heard about Posey’s achievements when he was in Akron. Every player who can make it to the NBA must have a significant presence in the hearts of fans in the local state.
On the other hand, the management chose to send away Davis, who was at odds with him and whose playing style overlapped with his, and then brought back a wing player. This means that he will continue to play point guard in the future. How could he not be happy?
The Cavaliers' first practice session after the trade was surprisingly harmonious.

This was unexpected, yet also quite reasonable.

Posey doesn't demand the ball, which means that Davis's ball possession was immediately freed up after the trade.

James' current ability can't handle more ball possession, which means that the extra ball possession automatically flows to other players, mainly Boozer and Ilgauskas.

This indirectly alleviated the team's ball possession problem.

Moreover, Posey's arrival finally gave the Cavaliers a defensive anchor besides Young, which greatly improved the Cavaliers' current defensive situation.

Although there haven't been any official games yet, judging from the reactions in training sessions, this is undoubtedly a positive trade for the Cavaliers.

Just as fans were still discussing the Cavaliers' trade, a report from a non-mainstream media outlet successfully caught their attention.

The report quoted an interview Davis gave after arriving in Memphis, and the article's title was a striking sentence:

I thought he was there to assist us.

(End of this chapter)