Why did Cavs give up on JJ Hickson?

[BossHoggin]

I think trading JJ was a bad idea but I'm not going to say it was a bad trade when so little "basketball time" has passed.

[mup]

I remember when the Cavaliers had a chance to trade Hickson for a superstar (forgot which) but the Cavs refused to make Hickson available.

lawl.

That is simply false, and it irritates me so much that some people still believe this. The Cavs offered to include Hickson in a trade for Amare. However, for a second year in a row, the Suns were unwilling to commit to a trade with Cleveland as the deadline neared. The year prior, the Cavs were trying to acquire Shaq from the Suns (for a deal including Wally's expiring contract) and waited things out, only to have the Suns not agree to a deal. Ferry and the Cavs were unwilling to risk another deadline passing with NO trade, so they backed out of the Amare deal while Phoenix continued to "think things over." Instead, the Cavs made the trade for Jamison (where they didn't have to use Hickson).

So no, the Cavs did NOT refuse to include Hickson in a trade for Amare. Sorry.

Thank you. This is exactly what happened.

The myth that the Cavs refused to include Hickson for Amare is one of the biggest NBA urban legends of the last 10 years. Simply never happened. The Suns were dragging their feet and the Cavs pulled the deal so they could go after Jamison instead of dicking around with the fickle Suns and maybe getting left with nothing. The Cavs didn't care about keeping JJ Hickson--- he wasn't even in the rotation at time.

The fact that the Cavs "pulled out" was taken out of context and used as propaganda by media members and others as a means to demonstrate that Cleveland didn't "deserve" to keep James. The reasons the trade fell through were well-documented and well-known at the time, at least locally. The fact that the Cavs were very concerned about getting burned by Steve Kerr and the Suns for the second year in a row was widely discussed leading up to the deadline and it was well-known that the Cavs needed a final decision from the Suns well before the last minute or else would have to move on. But these reasons didn't fit the national media's agenda of "proving" the Cavs incompetent and unworthy to re-sign James, so the alternative theory was quickly fabricated.

JJ Hickson was not even the reason the Cavs had to take the Suns trade off the table. It was the 1st round pick that would have gone with Hickson to Phoenix. The Cavs needed to include that pick to get Jamison. So, the Cavs had to shelve the Hickson + pick to Phoenix deal because they were running out of time to close with Washington and the Wizards wanted that pick. It just so happens that the Wizards did not want/need Hickson and the deal for Jamison could get done without him. While the fact that the Cavs ended up keeping Hickson could make it look to some like the Cavs really wanted to keep him (and pulled out of the trade for that reason), that had nothing to do with it. The Suns were non-responsive and the Cavs needed to pull the offer and their #1 pick to get Jamison.

[TheOUTLAW]

Being a Cavs fan with Hickson was such a roller coaster ride. There were times where he would just be worse than useless but then he'd have a couple months where he'd show talent to be a very good player, but then. he'd always go back. It really was not any progression. Just back and forth. The kind of guy that is always going to split a fan base. Had he not been a knucklehead who was already talking about getting paid I would have wanted him to stay on the Cavs. As it was, he needed to go sooner rather than later.

[Nirvana]

To me, it all comes down to focus for JJ. There were several games where he'd be playing against a premiere talent, like Amare, and he'd come into the game determined to play well and play some great games. That's what made it so frustrating to watch him disappear against seemingly inferior opponents.

The coaches practically have to beg him to rebound and his defense is beyond pathetic. Not Drew Gooden bad, but in the vicinity. (I wonder if JJ got stuck in Drew Gooden's old locker and maybe was infected with something?)

He can be entertaining to watch. He has a surprisingly quick first step and can drive well from around the free throw circle. He'll get dunks too, which is cool. I agree with Outlaw; he's a polarizing character. Half of the fans will be enamored with the good and half will be pulling their hair out at the bad.

[bimmer100]

This thread has proven and shown 1 thing only : All the lebron homers and heat bandwagon fans have been exposed on how well they know JJ's game. It all makes sense now, they went from being a cav's fan to heat fan...

[Prospect Dong]

That clearly was not here because I know of no Cavs fans that believed either of those. The belief was that he was worth more than the crap that people wanted him to be traded for.

Heathmalc, Sportsinfobar, Inboobiewetrust. Not you, sure, but a majority of the cavs fans on the trade board were just nuts about the guy. Heathmalc's "top 5 pick if he'd stayed in college" was my sig for quite a while, so I remember. I suspect you do too.

[mcfly1204]

That clearly was not here because I know of no Cavs fans that believed either of those. The belief was that he was worth more than the crap that people wanted him to be traded for.

Heathmalc, Sportsinfobar, Inboobiewetrust. Not you, sure, but a majority of the cavs fans on the trade board were just nuts about the guy. Heathmalc's "top 5 pick if he'd stayed in college" was my sig for quite a while, so I remember. I suspect you do too.

LOL for using Health as an example.

[Prospect Dong]

I know of no Cavs fans

Heathmalc, Sportsinfobar, Inboobiewetrust

Lol at reading comprehension

[Niko23]

I remember when the Cavaliers had a chance to trade Hickson for a superstar (forgot which) but the Cavs refused to make Hickson available.

lawl.

That is simply false, and it irritates me so much that some people still believe this. The Cavs offered to include Hickson in a trade for Amare. However, for a second year in a row, the Suns were unwilling to commit to a trade with Cleveland as the deadline neared. The year prior, the Cavs were trying to acquire Shaq from the Suns (for a deal including Wally's expiring contract) and waited things out, only to have the Suns not agree to a deal. Ferry and the Cavs were unwilling to risk another deadline passing with NO trade, so they backed out of the Amare deal while Phoenix continued to "think things over." Instead, the Cavs made the trade for Jamison (where they didn't have to use Hickson).

So no, the Cavs did NOT refuse to include Hickson in a trade for Amare. Sorry.

Every Real GM user needs to write this on the chalk board 100 times.

[Kosar86]

He has to be resigned after this year....that would significantly reduce the cap space the cavs have from amnestying Davis and Jamison expiring after this year.

[Luv those Knicks]

His ceiling is Brian Scalabrine.

Thats not fair. Brian scalabrine ceiling can't be measured.

Cause you can't measure something that doesn't exist right?