Turns Out It Was Ray Allen for Jeff Green: Sonics Trade Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, Get Expiring Contracts

The Ray Allen trade didn't help the Sonics much this year, but it could end up putting two teams in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Sonics, who got Wally Z, Delonte West, and Jeff Green for Allen, have sent Wally and West to Cleveland as part of a three-team deal.

The Sonics get the Cavs' Ira Newble, whose contract expires at the end of this season, and the Cavs' Donyell Marshall and the Bulls' Adrian Griffin, whose contracts both expire at the end of 2008-09.

(ESPN says Griffin's contract is up at the end of this season--HoopsHype disagrees).

I can't stand Szczerbiak, and I'm happy that I won't have to type his name anymore. Then again, he was the team's second-leading scorer and the only perimeter shooter other than Durant. Of the guys the Sonics got, the highest scorer this year is Newble, who's averaging 4.1 ppg.

Your 2007-08 Seattle Sonics: Marching bravely toward the draft lottery, with white flags waving.

(Not that, if I were Sam Presti, I wouldn't do exactly the same thing.)

MARGINALLY INTERESTING CLARIFICATION: The player the Sonics are getting, Donyell Marshall, is easily confused with his ex-UConn teammate, Donny Marshall. Donny Marshall went to Federal Way High, then UConn, then played five seasons in the NBA, finishing up in '03 with the Nets. He's now a studio analyst for FSN New England. Donyell Marshall, who the Sonics have acquired, is from Reading, PA.