Archive for the ‘NBA’ Category

Chad Ford of ESPN recently posted via Twitter a question that provoked thought from me.  If LeBron didn’t have his 1-hour special, he asks, would Clevelanders have been fine with LeBron bolting for Miami? I don’t think so. Better, yes, but not fine.

Actually, allot better. “The Decision” was a contrived, ugly thing. An hour long LeBron ‘infomercial’  was not necessary in any way, shape or form. I know that  if he had held a short press conference to announce that he was leaving Cleveland for Miami I wouldn’t have been near as hurt. I would have seen it for what it was – a free-agent going where he wants to play – and let it go. To make this one-hour blabathon was overkill. He – or his support staff – wanted all eyes on him. Hopefully this is the last time we see this kind of act. I don’t believe any other athlete is going to want to go through what LeBron went through, PR-wise, from this. Hopefully this was a learning experience for everybody.

To go back to the original Twitter post I referenced, it’s in response to Ilgauskas leaving us for Miami. Now, this does give us another reason to hate the Heat (Taking our beloved center too? Have you no limits on your greed, Riley?), but I think the breakup with Z happened last year when he was traded. He expressed displeasure with being traded and contemplated not coming back. I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he would probably walk after the season. We’ll miss him, but I don’t think he’ll be vilified as much, unless it’s just because he went to Miami. Unlike with LeBron, we’re at the point with Z where we just want what’s best for him. You know that point, where you just want to win for a particular player, and if you can’t do it for them you’d kind of be ok with letting them go where they could win. That’s where we are with Z. All those foot injuries, all the set backs, all his hard work and we couldn’t win for him. He stuck it out in Cleveland as long as he possibly could but he may only have a year or so left in him.

It’s ok, Z. Go get that title. You’ve earned it.

Just don’t make a spectacle out of it.

I’ve got a series of thoughts on LeBron leaving town for Miami, and unlike allot of locals, I’m not a raving lunatic. I’m not going to bash the dude mercilessly, but I think some things need said.

• The one-hour special was bulls***. I’m sorry, that was worth 60 minutes of air time? That was worth a TV special? That could have very easily been distilled down to a five minute press conference. He purposefully made this a spectacle. He wanted all eyes on him, and what did he do? He hurt allot peoples feelings.
• I’m not one of those people who think he betrayed Cleveland or Ohio and he’s Hell spawn or whatever the heck people are coming up with today. I did, however, notice something i didn’t expect when he made his announcement. I figured I’d hear what he had to say and that’d be that. Instead, I felt something, something that caught me off guard. I was hurt. I felt very depressed and hurt. I thought it over, and it wasn’t because of losing him so much as losing all hope for this upcoming season. I don’t see us winning more then 35 games this year, meaning we won’t make the playoffs but we won’t be bad enough for a high lottery pick.  That means allot of losing basketball and a season without a goal, which hasn’t happened here in seven years.
• I did pick up something in LeBron’s voice during his interview: he was nervous. He sounded scared to me, almost hyperventilating. He knew what this decision meant and he seemed like he almost didn’t want to say it. You’ve got to admit, he understands what he  meant here.
• Dad Gilbert has gone completely effing overboard.  Read this stupid letter. Mr. Gilbert, you’re making a fool of yourself and us. You’re embarrassing us as fans. I hope for a swift apology, because you don’t need to be worse then Mark Cuban. Please, rectify this for us.

That’s my reaction.  Read it and relax. We’ll move on, folks.

It’s coming tonight. We’re all waiting for it, even though we may not really be ready. Truly, we  are not prepared.

What I speak of, obviously, is LeBron James’ decision, coming tonight on ESPN at 9:00. Really, how could we be prepared? How to you prepare to possibly lose what may be the best player in his sport? How could we recover? Here’s my take on the possible scenarios. I’m assuming here that Jawad Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaq are all still free agents.

• LeBron Stays – This is the optimal situation. LeBron stays in town, the team tries to pick up some more talent to help him, and the Cavs keep rolling. Obviously, they’d have to contend with improved Heat and Knicks teams as well as Boston and Orlando so they’d need another player. That would be hard to come by, but the Cavs have looked at Mike Miller for a while now for shooting help. There’s also word that the Cavs might try to trade for Chris Paul of the Hornets. What they’d have to give up, though, is unknown. In a dream scenario, we could have CP3,  Mike Miller, LeBron, Andy Varejao/J.J. Hickson/Antawn Jamison (whoever they wouldn’t lose in the Paul trade) and a journeyman big man, maybe even a resigned Ilgauskas. More likely it would be Mo Williams, Delonte West, LeBron, J.J or Jamison and Andy. Not as flashy, but it would still work. Whenever there’s LeBron, there’s hope.
• LeBron Leaves, part 1 – The first scenario with LeBron bolting is the positive one. The Cavs make moves to pick up some talent to stay above average. Again, picking up Mike Miller would be an option. They could try to pick up Udonis Haslem and Luke Ridnour as well. The starting lineup could have  Ridnour, Anthony Parker, Miller, Jamison and Andy. Again, competitive, but probably not a playoff team. They could also stand pat, leaving them with Mo, Delonte, Parker, Jamison and Andy. This is probably a lottery team.
• LeBron Leaves, part 2 – This is the not-so-positive outlook. The Cavs could go the rebuilding route, shipping off veterans for younger players. That could mean losing Delonte, Mo, Leon Powe, and Antawn Jamison in favor of younger talent. The team would be built around Daniel Gibson, Daniel Green, J.J. and maybe Jawad Williams  (if they resign him) and Jamario Moon. They’d probably have to trade Varejao and/or J.J. if they want any talent in return.  Who wants to watch Gibson, Green, Jamario, Jawad and a journeyman big man as our starting five next year? Not me. Not after the last seven years, and not with what we could  otherwise have.

Well, that’s my two cents. I’ll check back in after the show to give me reaction to the result.

Ok LeBron… what the hell? WTF is this? A one-hour TV special on Thursday at 9 PM to ann0unce your free agency decision? I know this is a media saturated world now, but come on. A one hour show is just too damn much. I’d have no problem with showing up, giving a short press conference to the national media and calling it a day. But making a one-hour special out of it? I can’t get over it. There’s only one way this can be a good thing to me:

Stay in Cleveland. Take this hour to shut up all the people from New York, Chicago, New Jersey, Miami and where ever  else who said there was no way you’d stay here. Show them that yes, you do want to win a title here. You do want to uphold your promise of bringing a championship here. Prove to them that you won’t let it end the way it did last year, meekly falling to the Celtics.

If that’s too much, if you just have to leave, do me a favor. It’s a small one. One that I think 90% of us in Northeast Ohio share: just snub the Knicks. We’re tired of their crowing the last two years about being the only real destination for you. We won’t be nearly as mad if you don’t come back here next season to pound on the then-lowly Cavaliers wearing a Knicks uniform. We don’t like Chicago after their abuse of us in the late 80’s/early 90’s, but they’re fanbase hasn’t been as smug and annoying as the NYK fans. Miami either. Heck, if you played for the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets we wouldn’t feel as burnt. New York though would create possibly irreparable damage.

Whatever you do, don’t make a fool of yourself Thursday night. I’ll still be a fan wherever you go (yes, even NY) and I don’t want you to hurt your image. You’ve got years of good basketball ahead of you. Don’t ruin your brand in one bad decision.

I’ll be watching tomorrow night.

- A Loyal Fan

The Cavaliers are making noise towards a move that has me terrified. They have made hints that they would like to acquire Corey Maggette of the Golden State Warriors. This would be a terrible fit, but worse is that I saw the same thing as Chad Ford of ESPN: This has all the hallmarks of the Cavs knowing that LeBron isn’t staying and they are trying to prepare for his departure. Of course, there’s no indication that the Cavs are going to go through with the Maggette trade, but word is that if Antawn Jamison, Troy Murphy or Amar’e Stoudemire fall through, Maggette is their next target. Why would that be? Because without the targets LeBron wants and the pieces he feels they need to win, he might not want to stick around and the Cavs want to have some talent on the team next year.

Another rumor in the wind is that the Cavs could trade for Stoudemire (Ilgauskas and Hickson going that way) and then turning around and sending Shaq to Washington for Jamison. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. For one, the Cavs would have no true center at that point – imagine Dwight Howard’s glee at that come spring. Another problem is that the Wizards seem to want Ilgauskas. The Cavs couldn’t just swap the big men involved in the trades (Shaq to Phoenix, Z to Washington) because Phoenix just got rid of Shaq, and they wouldn’t want him back. Also of importance is that Shaq has melded well here in Cleveland. He’s fit in well, and doesn’t need traded.

A last note is that some say that Maggette could be just one part of a multi-team deal. What that might be is anyone’s guess.

I hope that Cleveland doesn’t do anything drastic. They are still the best team in the NBA right now and are still on a 13 game win streak. Be patient, Cavs!

With the trade deadline looming this Thursday, the Cavaliers are still shopping around for a power forward. They insist that they need a ‘stretch-4,’ a power forward who can hit a long jump shot. The reason for this, at it’s root, is to counter Orlando’s length and range. My biggest complaint is that Orlando is but one of a number of obstacles the Cavs have to overcome to win a championship, and building a team specifically to beat Orlando is a faulty plan. In any case, here are the Cav’s top targets.

• Antawn Jamison
  • The Cavs seemed to be headed down this route for certain earlier in the year. I wasn’t against the trade when it involved just Zydrunas llgauskas, a re-signed Wally Szczerbiak and a draft pick, since it seemed to be a decent pick up – especially if Z was released by Washington and could come back to Cleveland. When J.J. Hickson started getting mixed into the trade rumors, I got worried. I still think this is the Cav’s best option if they need to make a trade. One note here is that he could also wind up in Boston or Miami’s hands, which could be a potential problem.

• Troy Murphy
  • Murphy is another stretch-4, and now seems to be more likely then Jamison, due to the Wizards reluctance to help improve their ‘rivals’ here in Cleveland. I’m not sold on Troy, basically because he reminds me of a younger, shorter Ilgauskas. His three-point marksmanship is better then Jamison’s, and he’s a better rebounder, but Jamison is a better all-around scorer. My best guess is that he would fit best next to Shaq up front since he wouldn’t crowd the paint. My biggest concern? His health. He has a history of injury or illness which could pop up again at any time.
• Amar’e Stoudemire
  • This possibility scares me the most. Phoenix spent 82 games last year proving that Shaq and Stoudemire don’t work together well. Why on earth would Cleveland want to replicate that problem? Amar’e is a good rebounder and can be good for 20 points a game, but if coach Mike Brown had hair, Stoudemire’s defensive effort would make him pull it out. It just doesn’t exist. Plus, he would want to get in the lane, which – what with LeBron and Shaq already tying that area up – would cause a massive log jam. This, plus the loss of J.J., who Phoenix definitely wants back in the trade, could kill the chemistry of this team.

I don’t have a cure-all solution (if I did, I’d sell it to the Cavs for a fortune). Here’s what I suggest, though. The Cavs need to finally decide where to place LeBron. Is he a shooting guard, small forward, or power forward? I think sliding LeBron to the four and getting a solid off-guard or small forward would serve them best. Here’s my ‘dream list,’ which in no way is based on real trade rumors.

• Tayshaun Prince and/or Rip Hamilton
  • This sounds the best to me. The Pistons may be reluctant to move Tayshaun, especially to the Cavs, but they’re desperate to get rid of Rip Hamilton. His oversized contract is a big anchor on any trade, but the Pistons want size. Give ‘em J.J., Darnell Jackson, Z’s expiring contract and maybe a draft pick and we could have a solid two and/or three for the next couple seasons. We would just have to hope that J.J doesn’t become a star forward down the line.
• Kevin Martin
  • If the Kings are willing to move Kevin Martin, this could be a decent pickup. I just don’t know that the Cavs could offer enough to get him out of Sacramento. Martin can score like nobody’s business, but he could be even worse the Stoudemire on defense. The thing that makes him more valuable, to me, then Stoudemire is that he wouldn’t be fighting with Shaq for space down low.

So that’s what I’ve got so far. Hopefully Danny Ferry can pull the right strings and not capsize the team’s success.

The second half did indeed go according to trend, but only with a twist ending. LeBron continued to play well, but threw up too many dumb jumpers and tried to do too much on his own to win the MVP. That award went to Dwyane Wade, ruining a good night of basketball in the process (I’ll explain why some other time).

The game was cruising to thrilling finish. The score was tied at 137 and the East had the ball with 12.7 seconds left. It looked to many of us that the East called a time out as Wade crossed half court, but the refs signaled instead that Deron Williams had taken an intentional foul. Why? Why would anyone do that? Apparently he forgot the situation. In any case, Wade hit two free throws to put the East up 139-137. George Karl of the West (that sounds like an old military title of some kind) drew up a play for Dirk Nowitzki to take a game winning three, but he was fouled after a pump-fake on Dwight Howard. Two more freebies and the game was tied again. The East draws up a play that breaks down and ends with Chris Bosh driving the baseline with the ball. Unfortunately, he’s not a ball handler and would have fumbled the ball – and maybe the game – away if the refs hadn’t called a foul on Chauncey Billups. Bosh hits two free throws and it’s 141-139. George of the West goes away from what allot of folks wanted to see: either Dirk taking the three to win in his team’s city or having Billups, who had been shooting well in the second half, taking the shot. No, instead Carmelo Anthony goofs around for the last five seconds near mid-court (looking allot like LeBron does on a big play – not a compliment, Melo) before tossing up a drifting three with a hand in his face.

In all, those last 12.7 seconds took a good couple real-life minutes to run through, and I blame the glacial ending on Deron Williams.

Well, that’s the All Star game folks. Cleveland plays George of the West and his Nuggets on Thursday, with their eyes set on a 14th straight win. Let’s go Cavs!

The first half of the 2010 All Star Game was what one would expect after all these years. The stars came out, goofed around and put up almost 80 points per team, and it was all punctuated by an overly-garish half-time show. I immediately discovered I wasn’t the show’s target demographic when my first thought was to hop online and do a  search for the show’s performers. Unfortunately, Googling “who the hell is on my TV” turned up a blank (well, not a blank, but nothing useful) I found the performers in an article from tomorrow. No, I’m not kidding. There’s a blog post, listed as being from February 15th, 2010 explaining who’s in the show. This has been a surreal experience.

I hope that the second half of the All Star Game also follows it’s usual trend, that being that play tightens up as the stars’ competitive spirits take over. I’ll be back once the game is over.