The main reason that Joe Smith is a more serious concern for Cle is because of the Wallace injury. Joe Smith does not make them better, only would make them nearly whole again. They may not even use him on the active roster in the playoffs if big Ben was back and ready to play.
We signed Mikki but I guess could have waited for Joe and maybe got nothing. Mikki is not going to be a game changer, that is for sure but you know, PJ Brown wasn't either. PJ was a smart player who had lost a step and fouled too much. Mikki can give us what PJ gave us and Marbury will give us quite a bit more than Cassell gave us so we are actually in pretty good shape as compared to last year.
Any one of the top teams (Cle, LA, Orl, even NO) could win it all if they get healthy and hot at the right time. I think the C's are still in very good shape, much better in fact now that we have added Mikki and Marbury.