Ferry Shouldn't Let the Ship Sail on Hickson

Cavs beat writer Brian Windhorst reported earlier today that as the trade deadline nears and G.M. phones around the league begin to ring teams are looking to add promising forward J.J. Hickson to any deal involving cap relief in the form of Zydrunas Ilgauskas' expiring contract. Cavs G.M. Danny Ferry has so far been loathe to include the second year player and I have to say: Thank God.

Anybody who's watched the Cavs recently can see why teams would be intrigued by Hickson. He's incredibly athletic, has good - if raw - post moves and is the age of the average college junior. He has tremendous potential and upside, and under the joint tutelage of Lebron and Shaq has started to realize his promise.

And it's for that exact reason that Ferry should be (and by all accounts is) wary of including Hickson in any trade.

The Cavaliers at this point in the season have the best record in the NBA at 42-11, two games ahead of the Lakers plus a tie-breaker due to sweeping L.A. in the season series. Further, unlike last season they have a winning record against the league's top 8 teams - including home-and-home victories against the Hawks, a handling of the Magic and the two aforementioned victories against the Lakers.

As constructed this group can compete with any team in the league. Confronted with the size of the Magic and Lakers they can roll out a line-up of Shaq, Z, Lebron, JaWario and Mo - or even the ridiculously large Shaq, Z, JaWario, Parker and Lebron. Against smaller lines they can dominate with Andy, Lebron, JaWario/Parker, Delonte and Mo. Their combination of size, speed, athleticism, strength and shooting is singular in the league, as is their ability to morph to cancel out the strength of any team in the NBA.

That's the long way of saying these Cavs, by many qualitative measures and by John Hollinger's playoff odds calculations, currently look like the team to beat in the league. When met with offers for any player Ferry has to balance the value of Hickson and his seemingly bright future with what the Cavs would be getting in return. While many long-suffering Cleveland fans might be OK to damn the future and go all-out for the title this year, Ferry must weigh his options considering what's best this season AND going forward. A trade that gives the Cavs an extra 5% chance of winning this year and yet hamstrings us next year is unacceptable. Shaq and Z - both on the wrong side of 35 - are both expiring contracts this year and even without their huge deals the Cavs won't have more than $5 million to spend on a free agent.

Andy, for all his value to the Cavs, is energy, glue, intangibles and defense, Powe - who is an unknown at this point since he has yet to play a game since microfracture surgery - has never been more than rebounding and defense and Jawad Williams plays as more of a tall wing 3 than a 4. Hickson is the only scoring 4 this team currently has short of Lebron sliding away from his natural position and playing power forward, and he is not close to realizing his full potential.

This Cavs team is a championship caliber group with amazing versatility, some of the best depth in the league and the league's best player. Next year our front court depth is paper thin and we will not have a legit center under contract unless we pull Sasha Kaun from his tour in the Russian league. While we have a very real opportunity to use Z's contract to improve for this season he's our only real hope of solidifying our front court moving forward and a trade of J.J. Hickson only makes that worse.

I know everyone worries about this New York-created idea that Lebron James is going to bolt from Cleveland at the first chance he gets but realistically there is no situation in the league better than the one he has here. A team built around him with an owner willing to spend and a G.M. able to turn Damon Jones into Mo Williams and Larry Hughes into Shaq. A group of quality role players that have gelled perfectly together playing some of the league's best defense allowing a 2nd best 94 points leading to a league-leading +7.4 point differential.

The goal is not just to win this year. A winning team that's dismantled next year and bounced in the first round is not going to interest Lebron. A winning team that's set up to win or at least compete for a title every year for the foreseeable will. And for that, we need J.J. Hickson.