What re-signing Delonte West means for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Much thanks goes to Danny Ferry, Delonte West, and West's agent, Aaron Goodwin, for providing something to talk about regarding the Cleveland Cavaliers that does not involve some random national media member talking about what he thinks will happen two offseasons from now.

(Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.)

When the Cavs landed point guard Mo Williams from the Milwaukee Bucks last month, many thought that this spelled the end of the road for West's tenure in Cleveland.

West and Daniel Gibson were the two restricted free agents for this summer for GM Ferry, and after a messy offseason last summer that involved unprecedented, illogical, and downright stupid holdouts from restricted free agents Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, the way Ferry handled this summer was being watched very, very closely.

It took Ferry some time, but he didn't hit just one homerun. He hit two. And this summer was quite a welcome change from last year's fiascoes.

First, Ferry locked up Gibson—one of the best young shooters in the league—to a five-year deal worth $21 million. Considering the deals that other young guards with similar skill sets around the league received, it was a flat out steal.

Mickael Pietrus got four years and $25 million. James Jones got five years and $23 million. Beno Udrih: five years, $26 million.

That was in July. Two months later, Ferry got West re-signed for a three-year deal worth $12.5 million. Only the first two years are guaranteed, with the Cavs—not West—holding the club option for the third year, which would be the 2010-11 season.

Despite the fact that it took so long into the offseason for the two sides to get a deal done, don't think that West is disgruntled in the least bit, a la Varejao. According to reports, West spent a good part of the summer working out at the Cleveland Clinic Courts—the team's new training facility in suburban Independence.

The four-year veteran seemed to make it clear that he was looking for a place and a team to call home after being traded first from Boston to Seattle and then from Seattle to Cleveland in a matter of months last season.

He definitely made the case that both he and the Cavs fit each other like a glove.

West just turned 25 this summer and was the only part of the three-team, 11-player trade last February that could make a long-term impact. Joe Smith is already gone because of the Williams trade, and even if he was still around, he's 33-years old.

Ben Wallace is 34. Wally Szczerbiak is 31, and his best days appear to be behind him.

But West played in the Cavs' final 26 games last season, starting every one. He put up 10.3 points and 4.5 assists in 31 minutes a game while shooting 44 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The former St. Joseph's Hawk played a tremendous role in the Cavs' postseason, as well, hitting a game-winning shot in Game Four of the first round against the Wizards to give the Cavs a 100-97 victory and a 3-1 series edge.

But one big reason why West will still play a huge role for this team moving forward, despite the acquisition of Williams is that, at 6'4", West is a combo guard.

Coming out of St. Joe's in '04, he was listed as a shooting guard in the draft. West is still able to be an above-average point guard, but the fact that he was the best point guard the Cavs have had in the "LeBron era" may be a testament to how poor that particular position has been over the last several years instead of how great of a point man West is.

Williams is clearly better, and the point guard position will certainly be his. But West may be the frontrunner to start alongside Williams in the backcourt as the shooting guard.

While Daniel Gibson is a better shooter, he certainly isn't a playmaker or as versatile of a scorer. Wally Szczerbiak is not as consistent. And Sasha Pavlovic has a lot to prove in getting back to what he showed in 2006-07.

Pairing Williams and West as the starters would give Cleveland a lightning-quick backcourt along with a versatile rotation coming off the bench. It just might be the best backcourt the Cavaliers have had since James made the switch from two-guard to small forward following his rookie season. And it could be the first time since LeBron's arrival that both starting guards average double-figure scoring.

Having that kind of guard play says quite a bit, and it's going to go a long way in helping the Cavaliers get back to the NBA Finals. With the re-signings of Gibson and West along with the acquisition of Williams, you can forget about the guard positions being any kind of concern for head coach Mike Brown's group.

Despite not seeing any one of their teams win a title in 44 years, fans in Cleveland like to think along the lines of a dynasty when it comes to the Cavaliers, even if it has nothing more to do than with the tremendous talent that James brings to the floor every night for the Wine and Gold.

However, the one final weakness that the Cavs need to address before they can start thinking championships is the lack of an interior scoring threat. It would have been nice to have Carlos Boozer around, but what's done is done.

Ferry needs to find a good low-post presence who can control the low block on the offensive side of the ball to round out a team that could be destined to compete for titles throughout the remainder of James' career.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been great, but he's 33, and he's definitely not the long-term answer. Rookie big man J.J. Hickson out of N.C. State is unproven. In the backcourt, the Cavs are dripping with youth, with Gibson being 22, Williams and West being 25, and Pavlovic being 24.

In the frontcourt, the Cavs are either jurassic (Ilgauskas, Wallace), have specialists (Varejao, Wallace), or don't know exactly what they have (Hickson).

But you can't expect Ferry to fix everything in one summer. All in all, give him a solid "A" for this offseason. He made big moves for this team in every month of this summer - drafting Hickson in June, re-signing Gibson in July, trading for Williams in August, and re-signing West in September. He didn't lose anyone of significance, and he addressed needs both in the backcourt and frontcourt.

And remember: Ferry still has a ton of expiring contracts and draft picks to flaunt at the trade deadline to possibly add that final piece to this championship puzzle.

Which is why this upcoming 2008-09 Cavaliers team may be the best one yet in the LeBron James era.

Considering the organization's pre-James history of coming up short and underachieving, it might be the best Cavaliers team, yet.

Amar Panchmatia covers the Cleveland Cavaliers at Most Valuable Network. You can read more of his work at "Cavalier Attitude."