It's Official: I'm Breaking Up With Mo Williams

I really, really tried to like Mo Williams this year.

Everybody said he could be that piece, that Scottie Pippen that LeBron James needs so badly. He'd be the key to the vicious inside-outside game, with LeBron at the hub. And, of course, he'd be the support needed for James to bring home a championship.

Well, maybe next year.

To be perfectly fair, he's represented a tremendous upgrade to the Cavs' roster at the point guard position. He started 81 games this season, put in 35 minutes per, and was second on the team in scoring—behind you know who—with 17.8 points per game.

During the regular season, he appeared to be everything that a Cavs fan could want. He hit an excellent 43.6 percent from downtown, capitalizing on LeBron's drive-and-dish. He drained clutch shots down the stretch in close games, showing an icy steadiness we've seen before in his No. 23 teammate.

Everything looked good.

Williams was even named an All-Star for the first time this season, though by technicality—he was included in the East's squad after Jameer Nelson and Chris Bosh opted out because of injury.

Closer inspection shows some cracks in the foundation, however. Take a look at the Roland Ratings.

The Roland Rating considers the team's +/- while the player is on the floor, and then also the +/- for when that player is off the floor—then takes the difference between the two. A high Roland Rating communicates that a player is valuable to the team, since their advantage is so much greater when he is on the floor.

Mo's Roland Rating isn't the second-highest on the team, as one would hope. Nor is it third, or fourth—Mo comes in fifth in that category, scoring a mere 3.0. He's behind (in reverse order) Ben Wallace, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and LeBron—whose Roland Rating is 23.5.

Deeper digging also reveals that, of all five positions, the point guard position has the lowest PER on the team (15.1) over the course of the season, and it's at that position that opponents' PER is highest (16.9)—creating the worst net production on the team, at a -1.7 PER.

For everything before the Eastern Conference Finals, though, it worked. The Cavs went 66-16 on the season—21 games better than last year's 45-37 record—including only two home losses. The playoffs started well, with two series sweeps.

It was in that Conference Finals, though, that Williams was completely undressed by the competition.

He shot only 37.1 percent from the field, including abysmal 6-19 and 7-21 performances in the first two games. He ended up averaging 18.3, which was above his season average—but it took him so long to get there that he couldn't be counted on in the clutch, and LeBron ended up carrying the team.

Granted, it wasn't all Mo's fault—the team as a whole (minus their King) struggled, and Delonte West can be held just as accountable.

But Mo was supposed to be the guy that kept this from happening.

We're forced to conclude that experience is factor. While Williams is a savvy veteran by now, having played six seasons in the league, but his playoff experience comes up short. Before this year, he'd played in one playoff series—a five-game losing effort with the Bucks. He didn't start, and played only 15 minutes a game as a backup.

West isn't much better, having played in a losing seven-game series while with Boston.

In the Cavs' two series sweeps, it can be argued that the intense competitive vibe of the playoffs was just not there (sorry, Pistons and Hawks), and that the Cavaliers' playoffs really started in the Conference Finals against Orlando. And that's when Williams and West disappeared—either caving under the pressure, or just plain having poor games.

This summer will hopefully bring good news to Cleveland fans, as GM Danny Ferry has not been shy about making moves to improve the roster.

But even if there isn't any new talent added to the lineup, hopefully this year's playoff fiasco will help Mo become the player we all hoped he would be in Cleveland.

And if he does, maybe I'll start returning his calls again.