Cavs send West to Minnesota

By Brian Windhorst

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND

New Cavaliers coach Byron Scott intends to play with a style that demands multiple quick and creative guards next season.

With that as a mandate, the team has been on the lookout to add support in that role for Mo Williams. Monday they were able to land that type of player.

The Cavs reached a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade for guard Ramon Sessions. The Cavs will send Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair to Minnesota in exchange for Sessions, center Ryan Hollins and a 2013 second-round draft pick.

The team had been looking for a player like Sessions, even signing restricted free agent guard Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet two weeks ago, and had been actively shopping West. With his contract set to become fully guaranteed by Aug. 5, it was the team’s hope to trade West by this week.

Sessions, who is a close friend of Williams from when they played together with the Milwaukee Bucks, averaged 8.2 points and 3.1 assists in 82 games for the Wolves last season. It was a setback after he’d had a breakout year in 2008-09 with the Bucks, averaging 12.4 points and 5.7 assists in his second season. That landed him a four-year, $16 million deal with the Wolves last summer.

However, with rookie Jonny Flynn getting most of the playing time, Sessions’ minutes dropped to a career-low 21.1 last season. Earlier this month, the Wolves signed free-agent guard Luke Ridnour, which made Sessions available in the trade market.

At 6-3, Sessions can play both guard spots. He is not a good jump shooter, but is effective in running the floor and creating his own shot, much like Williams. Scott had been pushing the team to look for multi-talented guards who can play alongside Williams in an up-tempo offense. There is a chance Sessions and Williams will play a lot together in a two-guard front that Scott prefers.

Hollins is a 7-footer who has mostly been a reserve during his four-year career. He averaged a career-high 6.1 points and 2.8 rebounds for the Wolves last season. Hollins has two years and about $4.7 million left on a contract he signed last summer. The third year of the contract, for 2012-13, is a player option.

West had an up-and-down two seasons with the Cavs. He was perhaps the team’s toughest defender and highly valuable in the playoffs in 2007 and ‘08. He had a career year in the 2008-09 season, averaging 11.7 points and 3.5 assists. Last season was marred with personal problems that caused his playing time and effectiveness to fall off.

Last week, West pleaded guilty to two gun charges in Maryland and was sentenced to eight months of house arrest and community service stemming from an arrest last September. He began his home confinement sentence on Monday, his 27th birthday.

West was available because his contract for $4.6 million is only guaranteed for $500,000 if waived by Aug. 5.

Telfair was part of the three-team trade that landed Antawn Jamison last February. He missed the first month he was with the team with groin injury and then got some playing time over the last two weeks of the season. He averaged 9.8 points and 3.0 assists in four games last April.

The Cavs may make another roster move this week. They have been in advancing talks with free-agent small forward Joey Graham of the Nuggets. The team is also believed to be interested in re-signing forward Jawad Williams, who has a $1.03 million one-year qualifying offer on the table.