Cavaliers guard Delonte West, right, shadowing the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas during the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, is thought of fondly by his former coach and Celtics teammates.

MCT / Phil Masturzo

WALTHAM, Mass. — It won’t take long for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ starting backcourt to introduce itself to the Celtics.

Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak labored for a miserable Celtics team last season, were traded to Seattle in the Ray Allen deal, but found themselves on the move again in February. Now, they team up with LeBron James and the playoff-bound Cavaliers. That’s the sometimes circuitous life of an NBA player.

“I never would’ve thought they’d be in Cleveland, but they made a big trade. It changed their team,” said Boston’s Rajon Rondo, who banged heads daily with West during his rookie season a year ago.

Both West and Szczerbiak were popular players with their Celtics teammates and coaches. West was respected for his toughness and shooting ability, while Szczerbiak was a leader on the team despite troublesome injuries to his ankles and legs.

“Wally was only here a year and a half and he was fantastic, and Del was as well,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “We’ve all stayed in contact and we’re very happy for them. I just don’t want them to be too happy in the near future.”

The Celtics and Cavs are very different teams thanks to big deals. The Celts rejuvenated their squad with the big deals that brought Allen and Kevin Garnett to Beantown. Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry dismantled a team that won the Eastern Conference last June with a monster late-February trade. A few minutes before the trading deadline, Cleveland sent guards Larry Hughes and Shannon Brown and forwards Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons to Chicago for veteran big men Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. The Cavs continued the purge with a second deal that brought the sharp-shooting Szczerbiak and West from Seattle for forwards Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall.

The big names in the 11-player jumble are the subtraction of the scoring of Hughes and inside play from Gooden in exchange for the backcourt help of West and Szczerbiak and veteran leadership inside from Wallace and Smith. Wallace is a rock of a defender who’ll make Kevin Garnett work hard inside and 13-year veteran Smith can still score inside.

“They built the team around (James) with guys that can step up and knock shots down and rebound so they can run,” said the Celtics’ Allen.

Szczerbiak has struggled with the Cavaliers but he’s coming off a great effort in the Game Six knockout of the Washington Wizards. He scored a playoff career-high of 26 points that included six 3-pointers. “I told Wally at shootaround (before the game) that I needed 17 to 20 points from him,” said James. “What Wally has to understand is that with all the double-teams I get, he doesn’t have to work hard for his shot. All he has to do is catch and shoot.”

Easy to say, hard to do

The Cavaliers’ Smith spent four years playing alongside Garnett in Minnesota. He’s now the Cavs’ top big man off the bench and will be one of several frontcourt players trying to slow down the Celtics’ emotional leader.

“It’s tough with the way he’s been playing all season long,” Smith told Cavs.com, “but at the same time, you have to try to cut his air space out a little bit. Don’t let him get comfortable when he gets the ball to face up, don’t let him get comfortable in the post and try to do whatever you can to contest his shots up top.”

Here and there

Shasha Pavlovic missed all of the Washington series with an ankle injury, but the 6-foot-7 Serbian is expected to try to play tonight. … Rivers said that he may need to get Tony Allen some additional playing time in this series. That clearly will be an option if James gets Boston’s wing defenders into foul trouble. … Wallace ($15.5 million) makes more money in salary than James ($13 million). Szczerbiak is right behind at $12 million.