Cavaliers, former SuperSonic Ollie sign deal

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers signed free agent point guard Kevin Ollie on Thursday, giving them a veteran to take pressure off rookie LeBron James.

Ollie said he expects his role to be, in part, counselor for the 18-year-old James, the top selection in the NBA draft out of high school. The 6-foot-8 James is being groomed as a point guard.

Ollie played with Milwaukee and Seattle last season, averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. Ollie, 30, had the league's best assists-to-turnovers ratio at 4.0.

Ollie said he looks forward to providing James the benefit of his experience of playing with nine NBA teams since 1997.

"Hopefully, he can bounce some stuff off me and with my experience in the league I'll be able to help him. And I'll just be there for him," Ollie said. "A great tool for LeBron is to listen, sit back and just listen, and take in all the information he can get."

Cavaliers general manager Jim Paxson would not disclose terms of Ollie's deal, except to say it is multiyear. The Plain Dealer and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Cavaliers offered Ollie a five-year, $15 million deal.

"We made a very strong commitment to Kevin, based on what we felt we needed, and we felt it was something we wanted to do to get him here," Paxson said. "In the scheme of things, I don't think this is going to go down as one of the worst contracts in the history of the NBA."

Paxson said that he and coach Paul Silas considered the 6-2 Ollie the best experienced guard available with the size to play either point or off-guard.

Point guard was the weakest position for the Cavaliers during their recent 65-loss season.

"We want to try to get better now, let our young guys develop and have guys like Kevin around them that can help you win games and play a solid role on this team," Paxson said.

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