Lebron James will truly be a "King" playing in New York posted by Colin Linneweber

Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown said this week that he hopes that Cavaliers basketball icon Lebron James remains in “The Forest City” after this season.

James, 25, the 2009 NBA Most Valuable Player who was born and raised near Cleveland in Akron, Ohio, will be a free agent this summer and many analysts have speculated that the “Chosen One” may opt to sign a long-term contract with an organization located in a larger market.

“Looking at the fact that this is a business, I put that first,” said Brown, 73, a three-time NFL MVP and eight-time First-Team All-Pro selection during his nine-year career with the Browns.

“But having said that, I would love to see him be here. I think it’s a terrific marriage. He does so much for this city and I think that he has an owner (Dan Gilbert) that tries to do everything he can. When you have an owner who is trying to do the best he can do and a player, it’s a terrific set of circumstances. But the business is the business.”

James, currently in his seventh pro season with the Cavs since that franchise selected him out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School with the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, is arguably one of the greatest players in NBA history already.

Brown, who Cleveland chose out of Syracuse University with the sixth selection in the 1957 NFL Draft, was named by The Sporting News as the greatest football player ever.

Brown dominated the gridiron and James is absolutely overpowering the competition on the hardwood.

The Cav Report: A New Era posted by Amari Harris

After the Cowboys beat up on the Washington Redskins a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to catch up with one of my old teammates, John Phillips, who currently plays tight end for the Cowboys.  We only spoke briefly but we did manage to discuss UVA’s recent hiring of Mike London as the new head coach.  I instantly realized that I had yet to publish my opinion on this hire and it is certainly a topic that deserves some discussion.

I’d like to say that I predicted that 2009 would be Al Groh’s last season as Virginia’s head football coach, but I think the writing was on the wall after the loss to William & Mary.  Groh is a good coach, so I think he’ll land on his feet real soon (hopefully in the NFL).  Now, UVA has to find a way back to its former glory.  The first step in the process was hiring a new head coach and I think the AD Craig Littlepage got it right with the hiring of London. 

As the Cavaliers defensive coordinator for 2006 & 2007, London had Virginia playing some of their best defense in over a quarter century.  Virginia finished in the top 20 in the nation in rushing yards, points allowed and sacks and managed to win 9 games that season despite their struggles on offense.  As a defensive line specialist, London turned Jeffrey Fitzgerald into a freshman All-American and Chris Long into the best defensive lineman in the country and second overall pick in the NFL draft.  He also led a shut-out performance against the Miami Hurricanes as the Cavaliers officially closed down the Orange Bowl with a 41-0 thumping of the ‘Canes in 2007.

Women Can't Compete in the NBA posted by Colin Linneweber

NBA Commissioner David Stern predicted last week that a woman will play in the league within the next decade.

“I don’t want to get into all kinds of arguments with players and coaches about the likelihood,” Stern told Sports Illustrated. “But I really think it’s a good possibility.”

Stern, 67, who became the Commissioner in 1984, said he realizes that many people are skeptical that women could compete physically with men.

However, Stern offered the reasoning behind his belief and he cited examples of other female athletes who have flourished performing athletically versus men.

“If you look at world records, let’s say track and field, you’ll see how the women have moved up to what would have been records several decades ago for men,” said Stern, a graduate of Columbia Law School in 1966. “Watch the WNBA and you see the shooting percentages, the passing and the like. Basketball is a five-person game and you have zones and you can do a variety of other things.”

There is no question that many, many women throughout the world are tremendous athletes.

However, it is utter lunacy to contend that a woman could excel as a player in the NBA.

WNBA players have superb abilities on the hardwood and many of those players could likely trump men’s hoops stars in a contest of shire skills.

Nevertheless, pressed into live action, the weakest man in the NBA would easily outmuscle and outperform the strongest woman in the WNBA.

Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki correctly believes that a woman would falter playing in the NBA.

Thoughts on the Wizards: Are They Good? posted by Chase Hughes

   On Wednesday night I attended the Wizards game vs. Cleveland and it was great to see Washington come away with a win, especially in front of a legion of Cavalier fans (where they came from I don’t know).  While the Wizards were able to seize a victory against one of the best teams in the East and an immanent rival, it is still hard to ascertain whether this team is any good.  After a dreadful first half by just about every player on the team I was absolutely fuming in my seat.  It didn’t help to be transplanted in between a Cleveland fan who would say “terrible shot” during all of Antawn Jamison’s trick hooks and a Ohio family of six that probably amassed a total of 3,000 pounds.  The father of that Lebron-rooting herd fittingly donned a t-shirt with the slogan “I’m not going to call you stupid, but I’m thinking about it.” 
    The reality of this win is that without Antawn Jamison’s incredible shooting display in the first half, the Wizards would have never been in the game by the third quarter.  It’s also fact that the Cavaliers fell flat in the second half in an away game which they traveled following a game the night before.  Gilbert looked like he has no business running the offense and Caron didn’t seem himself until late in the game.  To be trite, it was a rollercoaster of emotions, that game, to go from the verge of catching a case to celebrating a win over Cleveland was a sweet turn of events. 
    There are some sincere positive areas to be observed from the Wizards at this point in the season, however, they did get their third win.  It looks like Earl Boykins is the true point guard they had been missing all along.  At this juncture it doesn’t look like either Gilbert or Randy Foye can be trusted to run the offense.  Gilbert still takes the long three sometimes before passing the ball once on a possession and Foye is struggling offensively in general. 

Fun With Box Scores posted by Scott Shepherd

Every Monday, with the assistance of the good people over at www.basketball-reference.com, I like to take a look deep into the statistics of teams and players from around the league in a little post I like to call “Fun with Box Scores”.

Some of the gems I came across this week:

-Quinten Richardson has gone 9 games, 275 minutes played, without taking a single free throw this season.

-Even more remarkably, Jason Kidd has taken just 2 free throws in 347 minutes this season.

-73% of Daniel Gibson’s shots this season have been from beyond the three point line, by far the highest percentage of any player in the league with at least 50 shots taken.

-Since 1986, the record for most 40+ point games before December 1st is 14. Brandon Jennings’ 55 point outburst on Saturday was the 14th time that someone has scored at least 40 this season, tying the record, and we’ve still got 15 days left in the month.

-Speaking of Jennings, since 1986, no player has had a better three point field goal percentage during a 50-point game than he did on Saturday (minimum 3 attempts).

-In that same time span, Jennings is the youngest player ever to shoot at least 34 shots in a game.

-Nazr Mohammed led the Bobcats in scoring on Wednesday with a whopping 13 points. In nine games this season, the Cat’s have failed to have a player reach 20 points in five of them, by far the most in the league.

-Golden State has given up at least 100 points in every game this season. They are the only team in the league to do so this season.

Great TNT Double-Header Tonight posted by Scott Shepherd

The NBA league pass is awesome, but nothing beats a good TNT double-header.

Tonight, we get a great TNT double-header.

The night starts off with Cleveland at Miami. I’ve written this before, but LeBron vs. Wade is the best head-to-head matchup to watch in the NBA right now. These guys always bring out the best in each other.

In 19 career games against each other, LeBron is averaging 28.6 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.2 steals. Wade is averaging 27.2 points per game, 5.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 2.4 steals.

In seven of the last nine meetings, at least one of the two has dropped for at least 30. Twice in that span has each player scored 40 in the same game.

With Miami having only one loss so far this season, and Cleveland coming off a big win against the Magic, I would expect nothing less than a shootout tonight. I expect both superstars put their respective teams of their back and play out what, hopefully, is a very entertaining game to watch.

In the late game, the Suns make their way to the Staples Center to play the Lakers. It’s a battle for first place, and hopefully it reignites what was not too long ago a pretty intense little rivalry.

I couldn’t be happier that the Suns are 8-1 and have the best record in the league. Make no mistake, I hate the Suns. With a capitol “H”.

I hate Steve Nash; I hate the :07 seconds or less offense; I hate their owner; I hate their uniforms: I hate their mascot.

But I love the fact that after this hot start I keep reading things like, “The Suns are back!!”

LeBron Makes His Only Trip to "The Garden" Tonight posted by Scott Shepherd

LeBron James makes his only trip to Madison Square Garden tonight.

For the past two seasons there has been plenty of talk about LeBron bolting his hometown of Cleveland for the bright lights of New York City.

In his career, LeBron has been fantastic at the Garden. He’s averaged 30.1 points, 6.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals in ten trips to The Garden. In his last two trips to the Mecca of Basketball, he’s had a 52-10-9 game and a 50-10-8 game.

Needless to say, all eyes will be on LeBron tonight to see if he can put on another show on Broadway.

Also on tap for tonight, the undefeated Nuggets make their only trip to Miami to take on Dwyane Wade and the Heat; the Pistons look to continue their dominance over the Magic in Orlando; and the Suns try to outrun the Celtics in Boston.

I’m gonna wear out my Directv remote trying to keep up with all the games tonight. Should be a great night of basketball.

Stay tuned…

First Impressions posted by Scott Shepherd

The NBA season is officially underway (unless you live in Chicago or Milwaukee).

After several hours parked in front of the NBA League Pass for the past two days, it’s time for some first impressions.

The Good

Ty Lawson

How good was he last night? I predicted the Denver Nuggets to be the third best team in the West this season, and that was assuming that Ty Lawson would play like a rookie point guard.

But his 17 points, six assists, and four rebounds, plus very solid fourth quarter minutes in a close game against a decent Utah team, shows that he may be a real X factor for this team moving forward.

Brook Lopez

Lopez was a monster last night, finishing with 27 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists. Of course, the Nets lost, mainly because they couldn’t hold off the mighty T’Wolves down the stretch, but it certainly wasn’t because of Lopez.

Los Angeles Lakers

I know they were playing the Clippers, but the champs didn’t miss a beat. This could have been the most lopsided seven-point game I’ve ever seen.

If it hadn’t been for the extended period in the second quarter where D.J. Mbenga tried to show his limitless range the Clippers would have lost by 20.

The Lakers starters (minus their second best player, Pau Gasol), were nothing short of dominant all game. They just toyed with the Clippers for most of the game, and clamped down where it mattered most.

Boston Celtics

How Can the Washington Wizards Improve to Contender Status? posted by Chase Hughes

Last night I was listening to an interview with former NBA head coach P.J. Carlesimo on 106.7 The Fan.  He was commenting on the opening days of the NBA regular season, specifically about the Eastern Conference and his thoughts on who were the better teams.  Not surprisingly he named the top three teams as the “factors,” those being Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando.  He said that there are not any teams even close to those three but on the outside looking in is the Washington Wizards.  The Wizards were the only team he mentioned as the fourth best team and he said this about three times.  These comments got me thinking about what the Wizards need to do this regular season to take the next step and breach that label, in what areas can they improve to develop into the fourth Eastern Conference power? 
First of all, this piece is not in discussion of anything to do with the playoffs, I am not assuming that the Wizards are clearly the fourth best team or that they will even make the playoffs at all.  What I am saying is that the Wiz are in that second tier bunch that follows the top three, which in my opinion also includes the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, and the Philadelphia 76’ers (3rd tier: MIA, CHI, NJ, DET).  Carlesimo added that this is the way the East is presently, that come December we could be talking about another team that has emerged or perhaps a top team will regress and make way for one that is on the brink.  We know that this is Gilbert Arenas’ team but what pieces need to fall into place for Washington to make that jump?  I offer several possibilities, some more plausible than others for how the Wizards can materialize into a contender:

NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts posted by Scott Shepherd

Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Also, I’m curious to see what kind of pregame theatrics the Cavs come up with. You know Shaq can’t stand to be out of the spotlight, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to one-up LeBron’s chalk thing with something of his own.

As for Boston, I really want to see how Rondo responds to not getting a contract extension. Last year he was a triple-double waiting to happen in the playoffs, but at the same time, Boston was not a threat.

Are we going to see the more subdued Rondo that won the title in ’08, or will it be the ’09 version that was the centerpiece of that team?

And of course, I’m looking forward to seeing Rasheed Wallace’s giant new cornrows. Those would have been ugly 4 years ago. Nice throwback hairstyle, 'Sheed.

Washington @ Dallas, 8:30pm

Curious to see the return of the former Agent Zero. I wrote last season that he could be this decade’s Grant Hill, and not in a good way. Three knee surgeries in 17 months is a terrible route to take to NBA superstardom. It’s nearly impossible to bounce back from that.

James scores 47, Cavs win 11th straight (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports

LeBron, Cavs beat Heat, win 10th straight (AP)

LeBron James scored 36 points -- 17 on free throws -- as the Cleveland Cavaliers ran their NBA winning streak to 10 with a 102-84 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday. Daniel Gibson added 12 after joining the game in the second quarter. He arrived late after joining his pregnant fiancee who was hospitalized for precautionary reasons. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

James has 36 as Cavs win 10th straight (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports

James, Shaq help Cavs win ninth straight (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports

James sparks 46-point 1st, Cavs roll (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports