Maurice "Mo" Williams rejoins the Cleveland Cavaliers after LeBron James re-signs with the team, Williams is a good fit as the Cavaliers hope to reach the NBA Finals again next year....By Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough
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| Maurice "Mo" Williams |
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| LeBron James |
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Cleveland Urban News.Com
Sportswriter Karl Kimbrough |
By Karl Kimbrough, Cleveland Urban News.Com sportswriter (kimbrough@clevelandurbannews.com). Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Leaders In Black Digital News . Tel: 216-659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Maurice “Mo” Williams is coming home to Cleveland. Those are the words in similarity that Williams used via Twitter after agreeing to return to play NBA basketball for the Cavaliers for the upcoming two seasons, at least. He joins, among other new or renewed teammates, megastar LeBron James, who re-signed with the Cavaliers earlier this month with a a two-year contract and $47 million deal, and after leading the team to the NBA Finals last season.
It has often been said that home is where the heart is, and Williams must have left his heart in Cleveland when the Cavaliers traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers on a cold day in February of 2011.
Williams, who became an unrestricted free agent in July first after playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014-15 season, agreed to sign a two year contract with a player option for the second year with the Cavaliers. His heart must still be in Cleveland because he felt that the Cavaliers could have won an NBA championship had James, who left five years ago and returned last year, not taken his talents to the Miami Heat after becoming a free agent in 2010.
Williams was the second leading scorer for that Cavaliers team in the 2009-10 season that won over 60 games in the regular season before losing to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs. With that being the case, Williams will fit right in with the rest of his current Cavaliers teammates because many, if not all of them, feel that they have unfinished business to tend to next season after falling short for the national championship against the Golden State Warriors this year.
Ironically, the 2011 trade sent Williams, along with Jamario Moon, to the Clippers for Baron Davis and the Clippers number one draft pick in the 2011 draft,which turned out to be Kyrie Irving. Now Williams is being brought back to be Irving's backup.
The Cavaliers have been looking to improve their back up point guard status since midway in the 2014-15 season. But they did not have enough assets to make a trade to land an offensive scoring point guard with Williams' ability. Last season's back up point guard, Matthew Dellavedova, is currently a restricted free agent who the Cavs want to retain, though he has not shown the ability to produce the scoring or facilitating that is needed as a backup point guard on this Cleveland team.
Williams became an all star while playing with the Cavaliers along side of James in 2009. Although he's not producing the 17.8 points per game, nor shooting at the .438 percentage from the three point arc as he did in that all star season, he is still very difficult to contain on the offensive end of the court.
Williams averaged 14.2 points, and six assists,and shot .337 percent from the three point arc in the 2014-15 season. He proved last season that he can still get the job done at a high level, though when he scored 52 points against Indiana and was voted the Western Conference player of the week for the week of January 12-18.
Had the Cavaliers not lured Williams back home to Cleveland this year, he had other suitors, such as the Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks, all of them soundly knocking on his door. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, their plans to bring Williams off of the bench will need to be put on hold.With Irving still recovering from the broken knee cap suffered in the NBA Finals, he will likely miss more than the first month of the 2015-16 season.
The Cavaliers do not want to rush Irving back, so Williams will be pressed into starting duty once again. He averaged 29 minutes per game last season so starting will not be a problem for a short period of time.
Williams will turn 33 years old on December 19 and he still has the skill set needed to fit into the Cleveland offense. He can run the pick and roll very well, and is a better than average facilitator, which is needed to share ball handling responsibilities with James. James and Williams shared the ball and complimented each others' games very well when they teamed up from 2008 to 2010. In fact their two seasons together were the only two seasons that Williams shot over 40 percent from the three point arc in his 13 year career.
Cavaliers fans are in for another treat with Williams. He is an asset to the Cleveland team as they work towards another winning season, and a possible NBA championship next year.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
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