J.J. Hickson was the "Human Highlight Clip," but didn't crank out a whole reel full of highlights.
View full sizeJ.J. Hickson (21), pictured during a March 27 game against Atlanta, was traded to Sacramento on Thursday for Omri Casspi.CLEVELAND, Ohio — J.J. Hickson was the "Human Highlight Clip."
He couldn't be the "Human Highlight Reel," for that was Dominique Wilkins, back when celluloid was the scouting tool and Wilkins and Larry Bird were staging a memorable fourth-quarter playoff shootout. Also, J.J. didn't crank out a whole reel full of highlights.
I liked Hickson anyway because he was a galvanizing agent for the fans.
In one memorable game in LeBron James' last season here, Hickson both posterized James' B.F.F., Dwyane Wade, on a fast break dunk and later returned to sender a Wade retaliatory effort.
It was explosive stuff, and it had all the highlight show commentators wondering if it was Hickson's statement game. "Here I am! This is what I do!" seemed to be the message.
But he didn't do it that often. He spent the first half of last season in new coach Byron Scott’s doghouse. In the coming season, he was unlikely to play his way here into the big new contract he sought.
He took to wearing gold shoes (actually, they struck me as more mustard-colored). It invited the observation that all that glitters is not gold. When the Cavs drafted Texas' Tristan Thompson, a one-and-done college player, as was Hickson three seasons ago at North Carolina State, Hickson's fate was sealed. The team was not going to have two play-alikes at the same position.
In Hickson's defense, however, as a 6-8 power forward, he was playing out of position at center for much of last season after Anderson Varejao was hurt. Hickson was still close to a double-double on the block. He was not the black hole at the foul line Thompson was in college. Behind only Varejao, he was the team's best inside player. James liked Hickson and lobbied for him to get more playing time, although LeBron had liked almost all the players the team picked up to bolster him . . . until he didn't and ripped them.
Perhaps what I speculated last week was the front office's true view of Hickson: That he was a player who put up good numbers on bad teams. He never consistently developed a jump shot to complement his work around the rim. Plenty of his baskets in the James era had come on assists from LeBron because J.J.'s game was so limited that opponents felt they could double-team James with Hickson's defender.
He was a ball-stopper too. Hickson averaged barely more than one assist for every two games played during his Cavs' career.
But Omri Casspi, the player the Cavs will receive in the trade with Sacramento, might get more attention for his ethnicity as the only Israeli playing in the NBA than for his game. Also, with the also-ran Kings' first-round draft pick in the trade being lottery-protected, Hickson will probably get closer to his still intriguing potential before the Cavs ever see that pick.
Otherwise, to cite a phrase that's in vogue, what's not to like?
To reach Bill Livingston: blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-4672
On Twitter: @LivyPD
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2011/06/cleveland_cavaliers_jj_hickson.html
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