You can have him, LeBron

The Cavs waived Jawad Williams:

In a surprise move, the Cleveland Cavaliers today released forward Jawad Williams, who had nine points in 23 minutes in Sunday night's 98-97 loss to the Timberwolves at The Q.

This is both kind of shocking and not at all.  Williams has been quite underwhelming this season, averaging just 4.0 points and 1.8 boards in 26 games (15 mpg).  And it's not like he's putting up those gaudy numbers efficiently.  Jawad's shooting just 32% from the field and 29% from beyond the arc.  Yuck.


My biggest complaint with Williams this year wasn't that he was shooting horribly, but that he kept taking bad shots.  At times this season, Jawad has seemed like a cross between Eric Snow and Larry Hughes. He has Hughes's willingness to hoist the ball whenever it touched his hands combined with Eric Snow's shooting prowess. Jawad never met a shot he didn't like and when you're shooting 30%, that's is not a good attribute to have.

I find it a bit interesting that the Cavs really didn't give a reason for Williams's release:

“We would like to wish Jawad and his family the best in the future and thank him for his contributions, not only on the court but in the community,” said Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant in a release emailed to the media.

Maybe they have other moves in the works, like a trade where they take back multiple players or simply a free agent signing. Could be they got sick of Jawad's attitude (his body language looked horrible from what I've seen) or maybe they just don't think they need a small forward who doesn't let his crappy shooting hinder his willingness to chuck up shots at every opportunity.  Who can tell, with Chris Grant's email.  

I wouldn't be shocked if we see Jawad end up in Miami, since James was recruiting him this offseason (chances the Cavs resigned Jawad just to spite LeBron: 100%). I'm not sure how useful he'd be for the Heat (or anyone, given his play thus far) but I could see him playing with LeBron at some point.