Links To The Present: July 13, 2010
2010-07-13
“He said his “real fans” would support him, but he didn’t seem to understand that his real fans, the ones who watched him since high school, live near Akron and Lake Erie. While he continues, in his words, “to be great,” Cleveland suffers. And shows more anger than any place should show over a professional sports figure. But for the fans and people in Cleveland, it feels like unrequited love. Every game James has ever played in Cleveland, going back to his high school days, was a sellout. Fans adored him, and gave him everything they could. Just like his team. The Cavs never gutted their roster to try to save money to keep him, never told him it would hold back on acquiring players until he committed. They tried to win, surrounding him with players they thought he wanted and could win with — to the point that they did all they could to try to acquire Chris Paul the past few days.” [Pat McManamon of FanHouse]
“In that one little hedging moment he starts, ever so slightly, to smile. And everybody knew what that smile meant: it meant, […] Of course, we’ve been planning this for years.” So he smiles, giving the deal away completely, then instantly switches gears and just turbo-lies right into the camera. I thought: this is just like politics! A terrible, totally unskilled liar, telling a completely transparent lie, who then improbably gets let off the hook by the sycophantic moron interviewing him.” [Matt Taibbi on the 5 Funniest Things about “The Decision” (warning: language NSFW or Children)]
“Nobody asked LeBron why he quit on the court against the Celtics during the playoffs. Nobody asked about his phantom elbow injury.” [Scott Raab of Esquire]
“Everyone who objectively watched the Boston-Cleveland playoffs series knows James quit on the Cavs, selling out his teammates and costing head coach Mike Brown his job.” [Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports]
“When James was distracted and distant in this season’s playoffs, I wrote it off to his aching elbow — despite even more marketing types around him, more talk of his coming free agency. Now, it seems he was plotting his exit. It was hard to believe James had the gall to go on national television and dump on his hometown, as he did in his self-absorbed ESPN special. Or how he didn’t call the Cavs with his decision at all. Nor did his agent, or business partner Maverick Carter. It was Richie Paul, a member of his posse, who delivered the bad news to the Cavs once the ESPN special went on the air.” [Terry Pluto on being a fan]
“The implication that James knew his decision and waited, causing the Cavs harm as they waited and missed out on other free agents, was targeted by Stern. The Cavs were not informed of James’ choice until minutes before it was revealed on national television.” [Brian Windhorst on a lot of bad things for the NBA] So Gilbert lashes out, is labeled nothing but a hypocritical “enabler”, is fined 100k,and LBJ is given a pass. Somehow I doubt we’ll read an article about David Stern ‘The Enabler”.
In a real way, it totally was. When had there ever been a chance for one athlete to affirm an American city, a region, so powerfully? It was all teed up so perfectly. So many years of Cleveland being the butt of so many bad jokes, all to be made right thanks to LeBron, who’d restore balance by lifting Cleveland just as the new flatter twenty-first century took off. Cleveland: As good as anywhere else, and now, for a time, at least in this very real very measurable way, in the team sport where individuals mean the most, thanks to an individual who was born and raised here, Cleveland would be the best. [Cleveland Frowns]
“Bill Simmons wants to see playoff games…that’s important to him.” [Bill Simmon’s Decision on Clips Season Tickets]
“We are already fools for caring about athletes considerably more than they care about us. We know this and we do it anyway. We just like sports. We keep watching for moments like Donovan’s goal against Algeria, and we keep caring through thick and thin for moments like Dave Roberts’ steal and Tracy Porter’s interception. We put up with all the sobering stuff because that’s the price you pay — for every Gordon Hayward half-court shot, or USA-Canada gold-medal game, there are 20 Michael Vicks and Ben Roethlisbergers. Last night didn’t make me like sports any less — my guard has been up since 1996 — it just reinforced all the things I already didn’t like.” [Simmons Reader Reactions]
I honestly can’t see LeBron remaining second fiddle for very long, and here’s why. When I think of the new Big Three in Miami, Bosh is the clear Alfred, nobody will argue that ofcourse, whereas for now LeBron is Robin and Wade is Batman. However, I can easily picture a scenario where James gets to play the role of mismatch nightmare, oversized distributor for 100% of the game, perhaps scoring 10-15 ppg while racking up stupid assist numbers off of Bosh midrange jumpers and Wade suicide drives into the paint. If the Heat manage to get a three point marksmen,… Read more »
Can’t someone on the floor who works for Gilbert hide the chalk so when LeLoser goes looking for it right before tip, its nowhere to be found and he can’t do it?
So anyone see Antawn’s comment on TMZ that he hopes LeBron wins a championship? Apparently Antawn doesn’t feel as if he’s playing for one this year. I’m starting to hate the NBA.
JQ – The questions you pose are quite interesting in a very real way. The Heat didn’t do any of those types of things previously, and if they start doing them now, then that will be a clear sign of LeBrons influence on the team. Which in turn could threaten D Wades role as the Heat leader. Right now these guys are playing nice and have been friends for a long time and believe they can keep egos in check. However, neither one of them wants to be seen as Robin which many people are saying is LeBrons role going… Read more »
I can’t wait to hear the deafening boo’s when LeBron tries to do his pregame chalk throw in Quicken Loans arena this coming season. Also, is it safe to assume I’ll be watching Cavs – Heat on every holiday for the next six years or so? And is it a lock for the first game of the season? Will James create all new pre game dances for his Heat teammates? Why aren’t these important questions being asked…
One constant I hear about Hickson is that his hands are too small for his size and that make things more difficult for him to improve on compared to other bigs. Not sure if there is any truth to it but I’ve heard that on multiple occasions. Kind of like hearing Rondo’s hands are oversized for him. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait and see how JJ/Eyenga turn out. Kwame Brown was drafted #1 because he had so much ‘potential’. Who, how and when potential is actually realized in the million dollar question that scouts are still trying to figure… Read more »
Hickson has potential to improve. The form on his jumper is ok, he just needs work. If he can get that shot down, he can be a starter for years to come. I on’t know much o anything on Eyenga other than he’s still like 18 years old or something. The guy has plenty of years left to get better.
Eyenga and JJ are both balls-in-your-grill dunkers with nothing much else to add. So that will make for exciting finishes and terrible team basketball. I hope Byron Scott can make Mo more effective, and I also have a feeling that Jamison will be successful.
.500 ball? I hope so…
The Heat coming to Cleveland will be a big media game and if Z actually starts for the heat and gets cheered then Bron get’s boos, I wonder how the media would spin that. Hickson will improve, I like the fact that he has continued to try to improve his game. I don’t know how high his cieling is, but I’m hoping he lives up to the potential that the Cavs have seen. Chrisian Eyenga is still one of the kinds of picks that make me scratch my head. Clearly he was drafted based on potential ad he is one… Read more »
Ah it will be fun to cheer Z when he comes back. Maybe we can retire his jersey. He should be allowed to do what he wants and chase his ring. After all…the Cavs did trade him.
My early prediction for the Cavs is somewhere in the range of 37 wins. If Hickson improves a TON and we manage to get a solid PG who can defend (lowry…but he’s saying he doesn’t want to come here now because of Gilbert…sigh) then I’d raise that to like 43. Possible 8th seed, but I’d rather not. We need a few lotterys.
windy says z is going to miami … great, why don’t we send them antwan too … better yet, maybe gilbert can just merge the cavs into the heat …
2 words: Christian Eyenga
The Cavs will be a decent team next year – .500 seems reasonable. Without LeBron they clearly have take a massive drop in talent but I would argue a tremendous upgrade in coaching will make up for some of that. What the Cavs have right now is a lot of youth. With the exception of Jamison and Parker, the entire team is 30 or under. Byron Scott has already said that he plans on implementing a system where the team really pushes the ball down court (something that M. Brown never did with LeBron) and this should work well with… Read more »
The worst part about the NBA right now … The three best teams in the league were put together through some extremely shady deals:
1) The Lakers got Paul Gasol for pennies from Memphis and Chris Wallace after Jerry West stepped aside and handed Chris Wallace his GM job.
2) The Celtics got Kevin Garnett for a roll of scotch tape from Minnesota and thier GM Kevin (Celtic Legend) Mchale.
3) Miami gets thrown together through a three-way player collusion and a team president who somehow knew he needed to clear cap space for three max contracts.
cavs are 1-13 in the past 3 years sans lebron.
have fun with the delusions. Mo williams is gonna rock as a #1 option.
i’m a Laker fan, but…. even if the Lakers don’t threepeat this year, I will consider next season a success if you guys upset Miami in the playoffs. (And of course if Boston doesn’t win.) Go Cavs,
Aaron-LeBron was the focal point for everything, not the engine. The only reason it worked was because he was that good. The Cavs did not have a great look offensively or defensively late in the season. There was no creativity on the offensive end, and they began to lose their defensive identity. I think both will be different next year, and I think that is a result of James leaving. Leo is right, it’s still too early to tell anything, and Congressman James didn’t help by stringing the Cavs along so that they couldn’t make roster moves early enough, but… Read more »
I don’t think a team with LeBron as the most important option can win. He lacks creativity and it’s why his team always folded down the stretch. Look for him to be a successful–possibly devastating–sidekick.
I have a little more optimism Aaron….I understand Lebron ran that team but thats what the organization wanted, everything revolved around Lebron…thats why Lebron on 5 existed so many times on offense. Yah Mike Brown was great at defense but as far as strategy goes, he wasnt all that terrific…failure to make adjustments in big games, Scott wont make that mistake…he’s had success in the past leading teams to Finals even the Nets who are now the worst team…I think the Cavs while not good, will play harder and more like a team and may surprise here and there. I… Read more »
People are deluding themselves about this team. Lebron was the engine for everything the Cavs did. Without the engine, the car doesn’t run. What does the offense look like next year? Byron Scott’s a good coach, but he’s benefitted from having great PGs, something this squad lacks and has no real way to acquire one. The lack of a playmaker if you had a low post scorer to build off of, but the Cavs don’t and it looks like they’re going to miss out on Al Jefferson. The defense is going to be just as bad. Who on this team… Read more »
Simmons is great. Have you read his mailbag? City: Richfield, Minn. Name: Aaron If I’m Cavs owner Dan Gilbert I immediately look at the schedule for when the Heat come to town the first time. I then arrange a ceremony where they retire jersey #23. Even have LeBron help raise it into the rafters. Do it up right and honor the accomplishments. I’d have an emotional speech put together honoring all the ups and downs that they’ve seen; bring up all the heartbreaks and near misses in the playoffs and regular season. The name on the back of the jersey?… Read more »
All those articles were great…especially liked the Taibbi article from Rolling Stone….that dude is a great writer and ripped Lebron more than anything as well as the dumb mainstream media…if you think about it…Lebron says right after the season he’s leaving…it would be talked about for maybe a few weeks then die off…at this time it wouldnt be mentioned….espn is getting worse and worse its hard to watch anymore let alone read…only time i go there is to check out Simmons and maybe read Rick Reilly but thats it… Sam….I deff agree about the Cavs being in eff you mode… Read more »
I think it makes sense that people are getting excited about Cavs basketball: there’s an element of F U in it for us this year. Everyone is predicting that the Cavs will suck; the same people who, a few months ago, said that the Cavs were the deepest team in the league are now basically saying they are a bunch of scrubs without LeBron. F U, national media. Congressman James bolts for South Beach, F U Congressman. And so on. Also, I think it’s becoming clear that LeBron is a big (if not the) reason the Cavs didn’t advance further… Read more »
Rich, WIndy had a nice piece on why Hickson is playing in summer league. I agree, though, I’m ready to move past this decision crap and start focusing on next year’s team. I still love so many players on the Cavs, I’m kind of glad Gilbert didn’t go into a full gut rehab so at least next year we can cheer on some familiar faces, see what they’re capable of doing in this new team setting. Is it weird I’m already getting excited for Cavs basketball this October?
I wonder hom much longer the prince is going to be able to handle sitting to the side of the Wade. It’s going to be like that the whole time now. Wade in the center, James on the side.
I like the Rolling Stone piece a lot. He touches on my favorite line of the spectacle, “It isn’t about sharing the spotlight, it’s about everyone having their own little spotlight.” The line that basically tells us this thing isn’t going to work.
Krolik, will we be getting Cavs summer league updates here?
Wow, that video still of the Miami CHeat press conference is hilarious. Look at Bosh’s face. He looks like he’s plotting a rape.
Wade and Congressman James are sitting back just relaxing, and there’s Bosh looking out of the corner of his eye at a makeup girl, biting his lip.