What the Mo Williams acquisition means for the Cleveland Cavaliers

It's been a problem for the "James Gang" since the Chosen One first entered the league. There have been attempts at quick fixes with blown draft picks and free agent busts over the years, but the point guard problem had yet to be solved for the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers.

That all changed on Wednesday afternoon when GM Danny Ferry may have arguably made the biggest acquisition of his three-year tenure in the Cavs' front office.

Ferry pulled the trigger on a three-team, seven-player deal with Milwaukee and Oklahoma City that exported over-the-hill veterans Damon Jones and Joe Smith and imported 25-year old point guard Maurice "Mo" Williams. Dubbing it to be such an important acquisition may sound like a big of an exaggeration, but that's before you look at what the state of the Cavs roster was for the past few years.

Take a look at the best scoring seasons for any Cavalier not named LeBron James since no. 23 came on board back in 2003:

• Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 2004-05 season: 16.9 points per game
• Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 2005-06 season: 15.6 points per game
• Larry Hughes, 2005-06 season, and Carlos Boozer, 2003-04 season: 15.5 points per game

Only once has someone (Ilgauskas) eclipsed the 16 points-per-game barrier. Ilgauskas just turned 33 in June. He won't be around for very long, and the only guy on this roster capable of being able to score at least 15 a game is Daniel Gibson (and even that's debatable).

That's where Williams comes in.

Williams played and started in 68 games in each of the last two seasons. He put up 17.2 points per game this past season and 17.3 in 2006-07. The 6'1", 185-pound guard out of Alabama also averaged 6.3 and 6.1 assists in each of the past two seasons, respectively. That's two more numbers that have not been put up for a season by any Cavalier other than King James himself.

The five-year veteran has also been an efficient scorer. He shot 48 percent from the floor last season - solid number for a perimeter player - and 85.6 percent from the stripe. Williams also shot a career-best 38.5 percent (89-for-231) from 3-point range and was the most versatile guard on the Bucks' roster.

Williams put up a banner year in his contract year of 2006-07, which may have put up red flags. The Bucks rewarded him by doing what they do with everybody - overpay the heck out of him - with a six-year, $52 million deal, but instead of fizzling out, Williams put up an even more impressive season this past year with his career-highs in assists and shooting.

And the age - he's only 25, which means he'll still be capable of being a productive player when LeBron is in the prime of his career. It's paramount for a GM putting a team together that the primes (ages 25-29, subjectively) of the core players correlate as closely as possible. You see what the basketball engineers in Portland, New Orleans, and Orlando are doing with their young, studly, up-and-coming rosters. That's exactly what Ferry needs to do when building a team around LeBron to be ready to go by the time LB hits his prime in a few years.

Don't also forget that the Cavs gave up pretty much next to nothing in this deal - Joe Smith and Damon Jones, two players who are wayon the wrong side of 30. Delonte West, although still in a contract dispute, is still on the squad's roster. No first-round picks were given away. No young players like Gibson, Anderson Varejao, or J.J. Hickson were surrendered.

Speaking of Hickson, this trade may signal another message: The Cavs think that J.J. Hickson is ready for big minutes at the next level now.With a rotation that includes Ilgauskas, Varejao, and Ben Wallace, Hickson could be getting up to 20 minutes a night, especially considering that fact that Z and Wallace are deep into their careers and may not be able to handle over 30 minutes per game anymore. Aside from Williams' arrival, it will be interesting to keep an eye on him and seeing how his growth progresses now that the team has decided to accelerate it.

And about Delonte West: This by no means says that his days are numbered. West has been looked at as a combo guard since his days at St. Joseph's. He was even listed as a two-guard at the '04 draft, and some still refer to him as a SG on the Cavs roster. A backcourt of West and Williams would be pretty versatile, especially in their ability to get buckets. And anybody who watched last spring's one-man show in Game 7 against Boston knows that Cleveland could use more guys who can get buckets.

Owner Dan Gilbert? Along with standing up loud and proud for the city of Cleveland in a recent media tirade, Gilbert showed once again that money is no object when it comes to making the Cavs better. Sure, he'll save almost a million bucks towards this season's payroll, but he stayed in the luxury tax and took a much larger hit in the long-term by taking on a contract that goes through 2012 and could go through 2013. He has five years and $43 million left on that six-year, $52 million deal he signed with Milwaukee last summer.

Goes to show that the entire organization is committed to bringing a title to the shores of Lake Erie, from the very top to the very bottom.

And at this point, that's all you can ask for as a Cavaliers fan.

Amar Panchmatia covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Most Valuable Network (MVN.com) at Cavalier Attitude.