Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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We may not know when the NBA lockout is going to be resolved, but we do know one thing: J.J. Hickson will not be wearing a Cavaliers uniform when it is. Cleveland traded the enigmatic power forward and former first-round draft pick to Sacramento on Thursday for small forward Omri Casspi and a possible (lottery-protected through 2017) first-round pick.

Hickson, the former North Carolina State star who went to the Cavaliers with the nineteenth overall pick in the 2008 Draft, teased and tantalized in his three years in Cleveland, alternating between flashes of brilliance and bewilderment. He started 139 games in Wine & Gold, averaging 9.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, including 13.8 and 8.7 during 2010-11. Those numbers improved markedly late in the season: in the last fifteen games, J.J. averaged 19.6 points and 11.8 rebounds. He rebounded very well, with 32 games of double-digit caroms (including a twenty-rebound performance against the Bulls in January) and showed the ability to finish off the pick-and-roll throughout his tenure, although his outside shot was sketchy at best.

Yet for all his promise, there always seemed to be something missing. There was too much inconsistency: stretches like the one in January when he followed up a 16-point, 15-rebound stat sheet-stuffer against Phoenix with a two-point, five-rebound foul-fest against the Bucks. There were too many perfect entry passes that clanged off his hands; too many lapses on defense; too many times in which he exasperated both Mike Brown and Byron Scott with his lack of focus on both ends. The most common comparison to J.J. among former Cavaliers was Roy Hinson, who played here in the mid 80’s. Like Hinson, J.J. is a gifted athlete that was anything but a given to show up on a given night. And now, like Hinson, the Cavaliers have lost patience with J.J. and sent him elsewhere.

The man for whom they sent J.J. to Sacramento has had his own issues. The twenty-third overall pick in the 2009 Draft and the first Israeli-born player in the NBA, Omri Casspi was an immediate hit in his first season with the Kings, averaging 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while exciting fans with his hustle and a tenacity that sometimes crossed the line into outright chippiness.

But the 6’9” Casspi couldn’t sustain the momentum of his first NBA season. His statistics dropped across the board in season two- points and rebounds per game, shooting percentage and most importantly, minutes. He went from starting nineteen consecutive games in January and February to barely playing at all by the end of the year, becoming a victim of Paul Westphal’s haphazard rotations as well as his doghouse. Casspi angered his coach by carping about his playing time to the press- a no-no for any NBA player, let alone a struggling second-year man on a bad team. He wanted out of Sacramento- and now he has his wish.

So what we have here is simple. Two teams that combined for 42 wins in 2010-11 have essentially swapped problems. Cleveland wanted rid of J.J. Hickson because of his inconsistency, his impending free agency and a logjam at power forward: Sacramento wanted rid of Omri Casspi because Omri Casspi wanted out of Sacramento. Both teams got what they wanted. Whether they got what they needed is an entirely different story.

And what are the Cavaliers getting in their new small forward? They’re getting an effort player who won’t take plays off, who will at least temporarily fill a position of need (until Harrison Barnes comes along in next season’s Lottery, God willing) and will alternately please fans with his all-out hustle and exasperate them with questionable shot selection (more than a third of Casspi’s career shot attempts are from three-point range, and at 37.1 percent lifetime from downtown he won’t be confused with Dale Ellis any time soon.) Think a Jewish Andres Nocioni. At the very least he won’t kiss LeBron’s ass the next time he comes to town, which should count for something.

Still, there’s no particular reason to get excited out of this deal. It was addition merely by subtraction for both sides- and it won’t make the Cavaliers a better team. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cavaliers lose more games in 2011-12 than they did in 2010-11 (provided the full schedule is played, which does not seem all that likely at this point.) Getting Omri Casspi into Wine & Gold might excite some folks in the Beachwood area, but make no mistake- other than Kyrie Irving and (hopefully) Tristan Thompson, the men who will turn this team around haven’t arrived yet, and won’t be gotten for the likes of J.J. Hickson.