-Windhorst has the latest on Amare, saying that LeBron is firmly in favor of getting Amare, the Cavs can’t offer the best talent but can offer the most financial help, and that Windhorst is wary of how many shots Stoudemire will need.
-On ESPN, Chad Ford says that the Suns would prefer to deal with a team who could give them more talent in return for Stoudemire, and would only do a deal with the Cavs as a “last resort.”
-Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo!, whose name I can now spell from memory, says that the Cavs are currently the “frontrunner” to acquire Stoudemire’s services.
-Dwight Howard would like Shaq to back off the Superman stuff. Has nobody mentioned that Howard named himself after the Soulja Boy song (language and content of linked article R-rated), not the superhero? That should factor into this somehow, I feel.
On the rest of the All-Star Game:
-LeBron+great players+open-court game+lazy passing=dunk-fest. He was taking over the transition game without really trying that hard.
-I think LeBron and Wade looked just fine playing off of each other.
-LeBron did go 2-12 from outside the paint, and did revert to some LeISO play on an All-Star team. Wade deserved the MVP.
-On some level, I feel like you don’t want three All-Star MVPs before winning a ring. Could end up being detractor feed.
-Biggest TV in the history of the known universe, and Deron Williams still couldn’t see the score.
-Between the performance of the girl singing the Canadian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremonies (she killed it), and Usher attempting to sing “Yeah” live tonight, this weekend has been a sustained argument for the value of lip-synching. Don’t fight it. Don’t question whether they’re really singing or not. I leave you with Michael Jackson at Motown 25. Don’t tell me that he’s not lip-synching, or that having him lip-synch wasn’t the exact right decision.
It’s just to hard to sing in a huge stadium, where sound gets distorted, and dance under hot lights at the same time..and do it all well. I’m cool with lip synching at concerts as long as the artist who is lip synching is using his real voice in the background.
How crazy interesting is that 3 team trade Ford said was possible between PHX, Philly, and the Cavs? There are clear reasons why the Sixers would be against such a deal, since Iggy is the closest thing they have to an All-Star and they have him locked up long term if they want him, but for the other parties involved it would seem to be a victory on the trade front
John, Why does ESPN continue to talk about “Wade and LeBron in Miami”? I know it makes some sense and i believe they are possibly financially able to… however, i have a question, how almost impossible would Wade and Lebron in CLE be? what exactly would need to be done for this? How much cap space would be needed, especially with the possible new CBA arriving, and would LeBron take a pay cut to do it?
its not possible to get bosh or wade to cleveland. We are already well over the cap and if we make the suns trade its totally impossible. the only way to even have a chance is to totally compromise this years title hopes and danny ferry would find himself burned in effigy if he did that for no reason.
Our best hope lies in basically blocking a 3 team deal like what ford is pointing to and pushing to trade for each player (iguodala and stoudemire) seperately with our trade assets. We have the assets to offer decent but lopsided deals for both players without losing anything beyond Z (for 30 days) Anthony parker, Sczclkdalkjabiak, Leon powe, some draft picks and Christian Eyenga. If you want a reach / dream senario to drool over, dream about the cavs looking like this in a few days:
Starting:
Mo, Iguodala, LeBron, Stoudemire, Shaq
Bench:
Varejao, Delembert, Ilgauskas, Delonte, Jamario, Jawad
Let the bulls or heat unite Wade and Bosh, it would give us a worthy nemesis for the next 3 or 4 years.
Mike,
Figuring this out would take significant time and effort on my part. I’m generally against spending that time and effort on something that probably won’t happen when there’s so much I need to know about that actually is happening.
I felt really bad for Dwight when Sager was interviewing him before the game. I’m sure he’s answered the question 100 times and it’s a few days old, but I think you could tell it tore Dwight up. Shaq remains fascinating for his immense personality and charity, as well for being a total dick.
Shaq is so strange because earlier this year he more than stuck up for Howard when the media was killing him for his numbers on his twitter account.
Cleveland does not win championship and LeBron leaves if we can’t get Amar’e. There’s a reason nobody has picked the Cavs to win it all this season.
ESPN trade rumors has the LA Times reporting that Indiana has essentially accepted an offer of Hickson+Z for Troy Murphy, and Cavs are only waiting to see what happens with Phoenix.
For the love of God, please let Phoenix accept the offer for Stoudemire for no reason other than to keep Danny Ferry from trading Hickson for f’ing Troy Murphy.
I’m not as high on JJ or low on Murphy as some, but I’d rather see the Cavs stand pat than make a Z+JJ for Murphy trade. Z+draft pick for Murphy on the other hand would not be a bad consolation prize if other deals fall through.
Making a trade is as much about this offseason as it is this postseason: the Cavs have a nice young nucleus featuring Mo and AV (and JJ, if you like), but that’s probably not enough to entice LBJ back on its own merits. Would the thought of pairing up with Amare keep LBJ in Cleveland? Probably. With Jamison? A little more iffy, but probably. With Murphy? Didn’t think so.
The singers were flatter than the crowd at the dunk contest. What I don’t understand is, why don’t they just use their autotuners live? An autotuner can be made to sound nearly natural (i.e. not like T-Pain) and they can still “do it live” without subjecting us to painfully out of key halftime shows.
The National media likes to lust over LeBron anywhere but Cleveland. They are stuck in 2006 and feel like LeBron’s talents are being wasted – which is totally untrue. Cleveland gives him the best chance to win a title, the sooner the Natl media realizes that, the sooner we will stop reading these articles.
Think about it: the Natl media gives literally ZERO credit to the Cavs supporting cast, no credit to Danny Ferry or Dan Gilbert, and is constantly wrong in their analysis of the Cavs.
to Tsunami:
I also disagree with the media on this. They will say things like “without LeBron, this isn’t even a playoff team.” While that might be true out West, the Cavs are an Eastern Conference team and would still be a 7 or 8 seed without LeBron. However, this is the last time that i want to think about a Bron-less Cavs team!
As for the music at big events, often it is too difficult to wire a stage, make sure all the mics are on the drums and everything is smooth when they just drag this equipment out in 2 minutes. I like what the E-Street band did last year at the Super Bowl. They prerecorded the band playing the setlist earlier in the week as to create the live band sound, then left Bruce & Stevie’s mics for the live performance.
As for Usher, or anyone who uses dancers in their performance, i want to hear their live mics just to make sure that they can pull it off. They make asstons of money. Let me see that you deserve that money by doing something that i can’t do…ie. dance and sing like a maniac!
Dr. Bockman
PS. The Canadian girl who sung “Oh Canada” freaking blew me away. Easily one of the top National Anthem performances i’ve ever seen. (Though nothing will ever top Marvin Gaye)
Dr. Bockman – the whole “the Cavs without LeBron” argument might be true. But that is only because the Cavs are BUILT AROUND LeBron. The Magic without Dwight and the Suns without Nash would be horrible too, not because they have horrible supporting casts, but because their system requires role players”
The Cavs supporting cast is one of the best in the league in my opinion, but without LeBron I don’t think they would be a playoff contender. Now, if you replaced Lebron with Andre Igudala, (who is far inferior) I think the Cavs are a 4 seed, just because he is sort of like LeBron light (very light) but at least the supporting cast would compliment that type of player.
LeBron’s not going anywhere. Regardless of whether we get Amare or not, he’s staying. There are literally MILLIONS of reasons he will stay, and he’s never given any indication he’s going to leave.
Wow, every time I hear/see a Michael Jackson performance now, I get the chills. We did not appreciate that man enough while he was alive. Thanks for the video, John.
“Cleveland does not win championship and LeBron leaves if we can’t get Amar’e. There’s a reason nobody has picked the Cavs to win it all this season.”
I’m all for the Amare trade (moreso for an Iguodala trade, but that’s beside the point), but really? Is Cleveland not the #1 or 2 choice to win it all according to everyone who isn’t completely biased?
Trade rumors are fun and all, but I’ve sat through too many bad Cavs teams not to savor the present. The Cavs schedule through Feb is a beast and should be real fun to watch: Denver, @ Charlotte, @ Orlando, New Orleans, @ Boston, @ Toronto. Go Cavs!
Not only didn’t Deron Williams realize the score but it’s just so like him to turn the ball over in a crucial possession. LMAO!
Let’s not make the same mistake we made last year and pass on another great player midseason for the sake of chemistry. I say we pick up Amare and give lebron one more offensive option. He played great in the all star game, I’m 100 percent sure JJ could never play like that.
As a side note, what did Krolic mean by:
On some level, I feel like you don’t want three All-Star MVPs before winning a ring. Could end up being detractor feed
@Siefer. Again, we can’t blame Ferry for standing pat. He is trying to get Amare and just because it might not happen doesn’t mean it’s Ferry’s fault.
On the other hand, it would be a disaster to trade hickson for Murphy. What a terrible waste that would be.
Siefer, I think Krolik is talking about something like “oooohhhh Lebron can win all the hardware unless it actually counts”.
If Hickson is involved in a deal, it must be for Amare or for Iggy. No less at this point, and I think Ferry has the leverage now to pull that off.
So the LA times says we agreed to take on Troy Murphy for Hickson and Z? That must be a joke. I’d rather have Hickson NOW than Murphy now, much less in 2 years.
I was looking at it and why would people want Murphy over Jamison? Murphy picked up this bad rap somewhere and I don’t think he’s Amare at all but he’s better than Jamison. 5 years younger, 7% higher TS% (near 60.0%), is a much better rebounder than Jamison and uses less possessions, which would be good because Murphy’s shots would stay the same while Jamison’s would take a hit. Jamison scores more a game but he takes more shots. Murphy’s contract better. The only subjective opinion that I can’t dish on is Murphy’ D vs. Jamison’s. I think it’s understood that niether are great on defense, but is Murphy so much worse that it totally discounts his offensive upgrade over Jamison? I mean, if you look at the numbers, Murphy’s offense looks pretty damn good. My wish list is:
1.Amare
2.Nothing
3.Murphy
4.Jamison
Well, Brad that is why you have to make an effort to watch the two teams and two players (not saying you don’t). Murphy can’t create his own offense, he gets it off of rebounds and open threes. He takes less shots because he can’t create a shot. Jamison gives the team a much needed shot creator. That is the big difference I see between the two. One guy needs someone else to get him open, and another guy doesn’t.
At this point though, I don’t want to give up Hickson for either Jamison or Murphy and Ferry would be making a huge mistake by givingup Hickson for Murphy. Starting next year Hickson will be a better player than Murphy at the age of 22.
Rich – exactly. I haven’t heard anything insinuating that the cavs would give up Hickson for Murphy. I’m surprised the LA Times reported that. Who is the source???
Rich, that’s a perfectly reasonable answer. I have watched both teams play a few times, but you know how it is, sometimes you get stuck watching the ball and a guys’ defense will go unnoticed. There can be arguments for Murphy (LeBron would be setting him up) and Jamison (more 1 on 1 and less LeBron-centric), but we’re both saying Amar’e or nobody, please. I’d rather keep Hickson.
Yea, I’m ok with getting Jamison or Murphy by giving up Z and a pick..but not Hickson. If both teams are demanding Hickson, then it’s simply no deal.
@Tsunami: The source is probably the same guy who said the Lakers would trade for LeBron James this summer.
Either that or the Kobe puppet….
my last gasp before accepting whatever outcome comes their way. Cavs are 2nd in TS% and Off Eff, 5th in Def Eff (and biggest gap between them: 8.7) They have the best scoring margin in the league. How much better can a trade really make them from a numbers perspective?
I will clearly root for Amare, Murphy, Jamison, Bosh, JJ or whoever they get or keep, but the upside doesn’t seem to outweigh the potential down.
Go Cavs.
On the note of the Michael Jackson video, hes not lip syncing. He is singing with another vocal track. You can pick up a lot of different things that he does that differ from the track.
What I’m wondering is how Ferry would ever get LBJ to sign off on a Hickson-Murphy trade.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/13263/wizards-looking-to-move-2-6-million-avoid-luxury-tax
I think this is a much better deal than Amare. If we can move Z, Hickson, Maybe Parker (a poor man’s Miller), and sign/trade Wally to get Mike Miller (a LeBron buddy) and Jamison, we have to do it, right? In what other deal do we get a starter 2 that’d be perfect with LeBron and a stud stretch PF? The other way this works is if we get Amare, and then do Shaq for these two and Mike James.
I wrote a huge post about how this deadline was going to go down, but it was lost to the sands of the internet and didn’t post a couple days ago. But the jist was this. The Cavs won’t have flexibility next year with an expiring contract, and the only deal that does that is Murphy. No way Hickson gets in that deal. It’ll be Z and a 2nd rounder (maybe 1st). Can’t imagine Phoenix does Amare for Hickson, Z and a 1st much less Hickson and Z. The only other deal, I’d put as possible is Jamison. Haven’t been paying attention, but after that Mavs deal, I’d bet Washington can get under the tax line for this year with a Jamison trade. (Not to mention out of the next couple years of that deal). I think with all the Amare talk (more likely a smokescreen) Washington’ll realize Hickson is the best they can get. But will Ferry trust them to buy out Z. Probably. I mean, after all, they can save a couple million dollars on a buyout, and that’s a lot of money to waste on spite. Especially when the old owner’s fam is selling!
Murphy deal – 70% probability.
Jamison deal – 30% probability.
Having the flexibility of an expiring is pretty darned important in this market, so that’s what I’m guessing happens. (FYI, great article on the Houston Truehoop guy’s site about fiscal flexibility with regards to NBA rosters and how Morey might move McGrady and what for.)
And if you haven’t read Tsunami’s article on why LeBron doesn’t get fouls, check it out. Though, Tsunami, you gotta get off that Fox Sports site. It’s crap.
Eli, at this point I think it comes down most to the matchups that we’re going to be facing come playoff time and less to the numbers that we have so far.
That being said, Cleveland only has one COMBINED loss to the other three East teams and the Lakers. (It almost appears we might match up better against the Lakers than any of the other top West teams…that Sundiata Gaines is a horrible matchup…) That loss came on opening night, without Delonte’s Inferno, to the now-human Celtics. (Besides, Leon Powe will singlehandedly destroy them should we happen upon them in the playoffs. Or something.) Any trades that happen now should probably be made with the future (2010-2013 if not longer) in mind. Because of this, I think Jamison is probably the least attractive option on first glance, even with his skill set.
Because of this, the key is going to be who we can keep locked up if Lebron stays. We have Mo, Andy, JJ, and Gibson signed longterm, and if West doesn’t get an extension or a resign (assuming his other issues are generally a nonfactor) Danny Ferry needs to be banished to the top of the Peter B Lewis building, and then fired. Because of Lebron’s leadership, we don’t need a veteran just to have a veteran, and Z could help fill that role for another year, if not a bit longer. Out of the available younger pieces available, this makes Iguodala the supposed no-brainer (although a deal for him would probably require at least two of the above pieces to swing).
Besides, we could have a team that goes from AI to Z, with LBJ, AP, and JJ in between. Kids of Cavs fans would be relatively illiterate for years to come. (Wait…)
If we do get a major piece, I don’t know if Mike Brown will be able to adjust quickly enough to hold onto homecourt against the Lakers, either. There will probably be an adjustment period toward the beginning of the season (although likely not as pronounced as the lull we had at the beginning of this season with Shaq) – and the Lakers are starting to click in a way not dissimilar to the Cavs, it seems.
However, Cleveland, since starting 0-2, are 43-9, and eight points (Memphis, Chicago, Denver, Charlotte, Utah) from 48-4. Come what may, I guess. Waiting for April and May is excruciating.
For whatever reason, whenever I think of the Utah Jazz, I think of Drew Gooden falling down in a Jazz uniform. I’m pretty sure Gooden’s never been with the Jazz, and I don’t know why this is. Does this count as insanity?
Amar’e or stand pat.
Thanks for the shout-out, Wolffman. Yeah, I love to write about the Cavs but I’ve never had the stones to try to actually do it regularly. Takes some commitment, that I’m not sure would pay off in the long run.
I used to regularly argue with Lakers and Pistons fans on the old FoxSports daily dime. We had a nice community there that was sort of ruined by a few people and then FS redid their entire website deleting all our posts. I was able to salvage a few of them using Google’s cached searches and stored them on a blogger.com account: http://tomtsunami.blogspot.com/
But I sort of lost my momentum after the whole fox sports incident. I wrote a piece for my buddy Brandon Hoffman (ballerblogger.com) that was sourced by ESPN (http://ballerblogger.com/2008/06/22/top-10-reasons-lebron-james-wont-leave-cleveland/) that was the highlight of my blogging career.
Anyway, I don’t know if any of you read Terry Pluto’s article: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2010/02/are_the_cleveland_cavaliers_be.html
Basically, everything he wrote is what I fear about Amare, but everyone (even my best friend) has talked me out of that fear. I just don’t know. There are so many unknowns with Amare. I texted my friend last night after Amare blew that dunk with “JJ would have thrown that down”. I just don’t know what to think. All of a sudden, Murphy doesn’t seem so bad to me. I’m so easily swayed here because honestly, I don’t believe what the stats say about ANY of these guys. Murphy is a fantasy player in my opinion, and I have a hard time believing he could be a “tough” player in the frontcourt. Jamison’s TS% isn’t that great and his 3 point range is overrated, he’s not a great 3 point shooter. Amare is the 2nd most overrated player in the NBA in my opinion (next to Kobe). I’m not saying he’s not awesome, I just don’t think he’s 1st team all-NBA like many people seem to think. I certainly don’t think he’s a max-deal kind of player (Which he seems to believe). I’ve said this before, I wouldn’t trade him for Andy straight up.
I need a beer…
Check out Amare’s take on his play with Shaq on the court:
“I play very well with Shaq. I adverage more pts last year WITH him an played better D.You guys can stop saying we don’t play well together.”
http://twitter.com/Amareisreal
Man, have you read his Twitter? Constantly telling people to be safe and have good days and be well and beautiful days. Doesn’t seem like the media Amar’e. Bring this man to Cleveland!
Windhorst said the Suns will make a decision before the game tomorrow…. Could be the big one.
JA Adande looks at the statistics to see whether Amare and Shaq clashed in Phoenix. Summary: blame Terry Porter, because Stoudemire was downright dominant when he played with Shaq not under Porter’s system.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/13287/can-amare-shaq-work-the-stats-back-up-stat
I still say the best deal is Mike Miller and Jamison if you can swing it.
Yes Stoudemire was dominant when he wasn’t playing under Porter’s system. The problem is the Cavs play exactly like the Porter system slow the ball down. Stoudemire thrived with Shaq only when he was in a run and gun system.
Steve, I think that’s a good point. It certainly makes sense to me.
Because I don’t watch the Warriors and I don’t know much of anything about their players, can someone explain why exactly we would be going after Corey Maggette? He’s 30, injury-prone, and has a ridiculous contract. (I got that from an ESPN article.) He’s apparently not much of a shooter, but he can play the 2 or the 3 spot. Yes, he can score, but I honestly look at our 5th best offensive efficiency and wonder why we need more of that.
I’m starting to get the feeling that we’re looking to make a trade for somebody, anybody, just so Ferry can say we’re doing something productive. Ugh. I don’t like it. Not one little bit. We’re on pace to finish as well as we did last year, but with wins over all of the top teams in the league! The Shaq experiment is working, AP, Moonwad, Green, and all the rest are working! Why fix what ain’t broken?
I agree with Joey. As a professional musician who has sung live on the mic hundreds of times, I’m 99% sure that Michael isn’t lip-synching. There are clearly prerecorded backing vocal tracks, but his microphone is definitely live. Check out the line “Don’t think twice”. The first time we hear it, the line is soft and smooth. Then we see Michael sing the “echo” version of the line, and it comes through much more loudly and clearly. No lip-synching here.
As far as the merits of lip-synching live, in a stadium it absolutely makes sense because the acoustic space makes it nearly impossible for the performers to hear an accurate mix of what’s happening on-stage (see The Beatles at Shea Stadium). However, in any theater/auditorium with a decent sound-guy, the performers should be able to hear themselves fine, whether through on-stage monitors or the increasingly popular in-ear-monitors.
From Jackon’s Wikipedia, with a legit source cited: “In stark contrast to the other, live, performances of Motown 25, Jackson performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack, lip-syncing to his multi-layered pre-recorded voice, thus indicating that the visual reenactment of music video imagery had become an integral, and perhaps dominant, part of live performance.”