CLEVELAND (AP) – For nearly a year, the Cleveland Cavaliers discussed adding guard Jiri Welsch to their roster. On Thursday, they did it.

Hoping to improve their atrocious outside shooting to make life easier for All-Stars LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavaliers acquired Welsch from the Boston Celtics for a 2007 first-round draft pick.

The deal doesn’t stack up with some of the blockbusters made before the NBA’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, and it certainly won’t tilt the balance of power in the Eastern Conference. But it was an essential move for the Cavaliers.

Paxson spent the past few days working the phones in hopes of adding someone to ease the burden on James and Ilgauskas. The pair combined to score 60 of Cleveland’s 100 points in a win over Chicago on Wednesday.

“We were aggressive trying to pursue some opportunities,” Paxson said. “But we didn’t want to do anything that would possibly severely hamper our flexibility this summer, and Jiri Welsch doesn’t.”

Welsch, who started 32 games this season for Boston before losing his job to rookie Tony Allen, will be in uniform for Friday night’s game at Indiana. He’s making $1.4 million this season and $2.1 million in 2006.

A first-round draft pick in 2002, Welsch should help the Cavaliers improve their spotty 3-point shooting. After going 1-for-7 on 3-pointers on Wednesday, the club is ranked 27th out of 30 teams from beyond the arc.

The 25-year-old Welsch has made 32 of 99 3-pointers this season, and is averaging 7.5 points, 2.5 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game.

“Coming down the stretch, you need as much firepower as you can get,” Cavs coach Paul Silas said. “And another shooter should do that for us.”

The Cavaliers considered trading the No. 10 overall pick in last year’s draft for Welsch, a native of the Czech Republic. Instead, they used the selection on rookie Luke Jackson, out for the season after back surgery.

The Cavaliers were among the league’s worst 3-point shooting teams last season, too. The club thought it had fixed the problem by signing free agent guard Lucious Harris in October.

However, Harris, who played for New Jersey last season, has been in a season-long shooting funk. He’s just 15-for-53 (28 percent) from long range and has been slowed recently by a bruised chest.

“We hoped he’d be a little more consistent,” Paxson said of Harris. “But Lucious has been a good pro and team player and I still think he’s going to help us win some games this season and in the playoffs.”

Welsch will come off the bench for the Cavaliers, whose reserves have scored just 19 points in Cleveland’s last two games.

“We’ve been outscored handily as of late,” Silas said. “It’s not a major concern but you’d like to have more production so I can rest people. But I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to win at this point. If that means I’m going to play certain guys a lot of minutes, that’s what is going to happen.”

With defenses having to worry about Welsch on the perimeter, the floor should open up for James to drive to the basket.

“He’s a great player,” James said. “He’ll definitely help us. Another shooter to stretch the defense.”

AP-ES-02-24-05 1927EST