Ball or Nuthin' » LeBron James

Dwyane Wade Takes One Last Shot at Cleveland

T Lamont — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:12:28 +0000

Here’s part two of Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

Listen closely to Wade as Kimmel digs into the possible destinations for the new super trio…

After being shunned by LeBron, and ridiculed by Wade, what humiliation can be left for Cleveland?

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Funniest Take on LeBron’s Betrayal

T Lamont — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:38:28 +0000

The video rendition of LeBron’s departure to Miami – WWF style…

My favorite line…

“If it wasn’t for LeBron James, Dan Gilbert would still be selling meat in the back of a truck in Minneapolis…”

Classic…

Chris Paul Following in LeBron’s Footsteps

T Lamont — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:12:12 +0000

Like the good floor general that he is, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul surveyed the entire free-agency situation before making his move.

And now, he’s taking it right into the teeth of the Hornets organization.

Paul has clearly indicated that he wants out of the gulf. But even more newsworthy is the reason that he wants out – - he wants to team up with some other superstar players in hopes of developing a team that will rival the recently created mega-trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

There’s been talk of Paul trying to orchestrate a trade to the Big Apple to play alongside the new $100 million man Amar’e Stoudemire. Paul may also be holding on to the added hope of bringing Carmelo Anthony (who mysteriously has not signed that 3-year, $65 million extension that Denver is offering him) into the mix, too.

On a side note, there was a Twitter conversation between Kevin Durant (who recently re-signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Anthony regarding the mega-team trend:

KDthunderup- Now everybody wanna play for the heat and the Lakers? Let’s go back to being competitive and going at these peoples!

carmeloanthony - All that mean is Im gonna have to put my teflon on and go to war. BULLY SEASON “2010-11″ coming soon.

What can we extrapolate from that conversation? Nothing, apparently (although we’ll see if Durant does an about face later in his career).

Other rumored destinations that have been mentioned by Paul include the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers – both being hot spots with stars firmly entrenched within their organizations.

But the former Wake Forest All-American did a tremendous job with the timing of his request. He waited until his “brother from another mother,” LeBron James, took the media bashing for taking what many perceive to be the easy way out. Now Paul slides in his intention of doing the same thing, but perhaps on a smaller scale. But, of course, nothing about Paul, Anthony and Stoudemire playing on the same team will be small in New York.

Granted, CP3 – if he had been the first to announce his desire to join a superteam – would not have incurred the same amount of criticism that LeBron did. The fact is that a point guard is traditionally not equipped to carry the weight of a franchise on his shoulders, and especially not one who is barely six feet tall. Nevertheless, in his last two full seasons, Paul has averaged over 22 points, 11 assists and two-and-a-half thefts per contest. That’s some big time production from the little man. But there are a couple of things that I find interesting about this:

If 'Melo brought his game to the Eastern Conference, the new Miami Heat would be in for a battle.

- The Hornets’ most promising players are vertically challenged (i.e. short) guards. While he needs to cut down on his turnovers, Darren Collison did a great job after being thrust into the role of starter due to CP3′s injury. And LSU standout Marcus Thornton has shown a knack for scoring, and plenty of explosiveness, to boot. So, Paul’s desire to be traded won’t leave New Orleans totally void at the point position, but the organization will have to ensure that it gets as much talent in return as possible.

- CP3′s decision says something about his faith, or lack thereof, in David West. West, a two-time NBA All-Star, is a finesse power forward. He’s mobile, but not overly explosive. Paul’s preference to play with the Knicks (Amar’e Stoudemire), the Magic (Dwight Howard) or the Lakers (Pau Gasol) all point to the fact that he enjoys playing with physical, traditional bigs. Recall that CP3 (and the Hornets) was at his best when he was paired with the offensively limited Tyson Chandler, a defensive specialist who played extremely strong around the basket.

Regardless of how the saga ends, this story reinforces the fact that the league has changed. With mulitple quotes from old, retired goats controlling the headlines, we can be easily persuaded that there’s something wrong with the ’new NBA.’

But let’s not let old fogeys describe the character of players who have been under pressure since they were in grade school. That was a pressure that none of them – Jordan, Magic and Barkley included – had to endure.

So yes, the game has indeed changed.

And let your own judgement – as well as the resulting product – be the guide as to whether it has changed for the better.

Reasons LeBron James Left Cleveland for Miami

T Lamont — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:14:16 +0000

Much has been made regarding LeBron James “Decision” to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Miami Heat.

But why did James choose to do so?

Other than the widely accepted fact that the King wanted to play alongside perennial All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh – providing him with a much-improved chance of getting past the second round of the playoffs – I’d like to offer the following perspectives on his choice:

The Weather in Cleveland

Is it daytime or nighttime? Is the sun out?

The Weather in Miami

Did anyone bring some sunblock?

Extracurricular Activities in Cleveland

I was in a rush and forgot to lock my tires in the trunk.

Extracurricular Activities in Miami

LeBron: "Is there a celebrity league down here?"

LeBron: "Beach volleyball will keep me in peak physical condition during the offseason."

Nightlife in Cleveland

I dig into my pocket, all my money spent, so I dig deeper still coming up with lent...

Nightlife in Miami

There go Crockett and Tubbs...

Women in Cleveland

Is that a man or a woman?

Women in Miami

Do they all look like this?

LeBron, uh, better maintain his, um, his focus on South Beach...

Yeah, LeBron must have lost his mind going down to Miami. Shame on him.

Cavs’ Owner Fined; Stern Voices His Opinions

T Lamont — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:41:35 +0000

So, thankfully, the headlining acts of the 2010 NBA free-agent circus have exited the stage.

As the media has run wild with LeBron’s “Decision” and the infamous follow-up letter from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, there’s even more news to report on that front.

Today, NBA Commissioner David Stern fined the Cavs $100,000 for the incendiary message to King James. Stern said that while he defended Gilbert’s expression of disappointment for losing LeBron in the manner that he did – calling LeBron’s hour-long ESPN special “ill-conceived” - he felt that Gilbert’s comments were “a bit extreme.”

That was an understatement.

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson chimed in yesterday with the following statement regarding the developments:

“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Jackson said in a release from his Chicago-based civil-rights group. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”

What does Stern think about this?

“However well-meaning Jesse may be in the premise on this one, he is, as he rarely is, mistaken,” Stern said. “And I would have told him so had he called me before he issued his statement, rather than this morning. But he is a good friend of the NBA and our players. Has worked arduously on many good causes and we work together in many matters.”

Check out the video from the Dan Patrick Show with guest Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock:

Whitlock states that everything in Gilbert’s letter was accurate. Whitlock obviously wasn’t reading the same letter that was posted on the Cavs site. The Cavs will not win a title before the Heat – that much is obvious. And LeBron “King James” mantra wasn’t self-declared – it was the media that gave him that label among others (“The Chosen One”).

Both Stern and Whitlock seem to conclude that there’s no element of a personal ownership mentality here, but one thing is for certain: Gilbert’s intent was malicious and his frustration with the whole scenario was building. And “The Decision” brought his anger to a crescendo.

First of all, his letter (and all of his statements issued on the Cavs’ team website) is comically written in Comic Sans font, giving the impression of it being written by a little kid. But seriously, it all reminds me of what your parents tell you as a kid. It’s OK to be angry, however, don’t let your emotions be harmful to other people. And what he did to James was an attempt to publicly smear his image – which, by the way, he didn’t have to do. James’ choice would inherently have its share of haters, but Gilbert’s letter was saturated with the highest level of unprofessionalism.

And besides that, the letter was posted to the Cavs website only minutes after “The Decision.” This reveals that:

- Gilbert knew that James was more than likely a goner

- Gilbert was ready to type his letter the minute that LeBron confirmed his suspicions

Admitting that his feelings have been pent up for some time now basically let’s us know that he was eager to pull the trigger and trash James.

In some very real ways, Jackson’s analogy is on point. Indeed, James slaved for the Cavaliers franchise for seven years…619 games…and his back is probably tired. And yes, it was clearly visible during the series against the Boston Celtics in this year’s playoffs.

But if Gilbert thinks that James didn’t do his job, or fulfill what he said he would, all he needs to do is take a long, hard look in the mirror to find out what went wrong.

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