NDEPENDENCE — Delonte West finally feels loved again.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound guard signed a multiyear contract with the Cavaliers on Friday, and he couldn’t be happier about it.
“This is the first time since I was offered a scholarship at St. Joe’s that I feel like I am valued as a person and a player,” West said. “(Owner) Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers have shown me that they value me as a person and a player and that was the most important thing to me.
“In that sense, this was not about a specific dollar amount. You can’t really put a dollar value on a person. Their skills you can, but not their heart and what kind of person they are. My family is blessed and I feel a great relief to be able to concentrate on basketball now.”
Terms of West’s deal weren’t announced, but he will likely earn in the neighborhood of $4 million a season, maybe a bit more.
The Cavaliers gave West a $2.76 million qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, and for a time it looked like he might play the 2008-09 season under that deal, then opt to become an unrestricted free agent.
Cleveland, which had already re-signed restricted free agent Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and traded for starting point guard Mo Williams, had the upper hand throughout contract negotiations with West, who was seeking $5 million a season, but always made it clear it wanted to keep the
25-year-old.
“We consistently communicated we wanted Delonte to be a part of this team,” Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry said. “He also made it clear he wanted to be a part of what we’re trying to do here.”
West started 26 regular-season games at point guard and 13 more in the postseason after being acquired from Seattle in the deal that also brought Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace and the since-traded Joe Smith, but his role will be much different this season.
Williams has already been named the starting point guard by coach Mike Brown, and the sharp-shooting Gibson will get a lot of minutes off the bench. That may leave West battling for minutes with Szczerbiak and Sasha Pavlovic, who are both coming off disappointing seasons.
At the absolute worst, the left-hander will be a valuable insurance policy at both guard positions.
“Playing time and roles all get figured out,” Ferry said. “When you talk about Mo, Daniel and Delonte, I think there’s going to be opportunities for them to play together.
“It gives us an opportunity to attack off the dribble, as a group, more than we have before. Having multiple guys who can do that is really important these days.”
West is considered a willing and above-average defender, which makes him valuable in Brown’s scheme.
“His tenacity helps us on both ends of the floor and his defensive play certainly reflects how we want to play the game,” Ferry said.
West averaged 10.3 points on .440 shooting, 3.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 31 minutes a game for the Cavaliers during the regular season, then put up almost identical numbers (10.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.2 apg, 34.8 minutes) in the playoffs.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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