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Friday, July 23, 2004

Cavs also get Varejao, Hunter

Associated Press

CLEVELAND -- Needing to replace Carlos Boozer, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Drew Gooden in a four-player trade with Orlando on Friday, sending the Magic forward Tony Battie and two second-round draft picks.

In their second major deal this week, the Cavaliers also got rookie forward Anderson Varejao and 7-foot center Steven Hunter -- a former first-round pick -- from Orlando.

Gooden should help Cleveland offset the surprising loss of Boozer, who bolted as a free agent when he signed a six-year, $68 million offer sheet with Utah last week.

The 6-foot-10, 242-pound Gooden isn't quite as good as Boozer, but he's young, talented and inexpensive.

Gooden averaged 11.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 79 games -- 17 starts -- for the Magic last season. Drafted with the No. 4 overall pick in 2002 by Memphis, Gooden was traded by the Grizzlies to Orlando during his rookie year.

Gooden's raw talents had the Magic believing he could be a big man to build around.

The former Kansas star capped the 2002-03 season by averaging 14 points and 12.7 rebounds in a seven-game playoff series against Detroit in which he outplayed Pistons star center Ben Wallace.

The Magic signed free agent Juwan Howard before last season, hoping he and Gooden could play together. However, the experiment was quickly shelved, and Gooden was sent to the bench.

Last season, Gooden recorded a team-high 18 double-doubles (points-rebounds), 23 fewer than Boozer got for the Cavaliers.

Orlando, which lost a league-high 61 games last season, has been overhauled since John Weisbrod was hired as general manager in March. Of the 15 players, active and injured, on the roster when the Magic ended the season, only five remain: Keith Bogans, Andrew DeClercq, Pat Garrity, Grant Hill and Britton Johnsen.

Meanwhile, this was the second trade in four days for Cleveland, which is attempting to regroup following Boozer's unexpected departure.

On Tuesday, the club acquired point guard Eric Snow from Philadelphia for Kevin Ollie and Kedrick Brown. The Cavaliers may not be done making trades, either. They have reportedly shopped guard Dajuan Wagner and center DeSagana Diop.

Battie, 27, was a solid defender and role player in Cleveland, averaging 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 50 games after coming over in a December trade from Boston.

Varejao and Hunter, too, can help the Cavaliers recover from losing Boozer, the club's leading rebounder last season.

The 6-foot-10 Varejao was drafted by the Magic with the first pick in the second round (No. 30 overall) in last month's draft. The 21-year-old averaged 7.7 points and 5.0 rebounds for F.C. Barcelona last season, but the Brazilian national team player has some work to do before he can be a contributor in the NBA.

Hunter, 22, averaged 3.2 points and 2.9 rebounds and blocked 73 shots in 69 games last season. He was selected with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2001 draft by Orlando after playing just two years at DePaul.