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Final thought on Lebron James.

Jim Nasium — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:14:20 +0000

Well before July 1st, I stated that I wanted the Cleveland Cavaliers to go after a winner, and not Lebron James. I was willing to lose out initially, for the larger gain in the future. I was misinformed about his final destination, yet I knew he was leaving: just did not know that “The Back Door Trio,” was really in play. The lack of professionalism shown by all three only highlights the lack of quality educated men in the NBA, not just book smarts, but in life as well. It showed the need for the NBA to create an education or age restrictions for incoming players. Two years after graduating high school, then those players can enter the draft. Graduation is a must, no exceptions! This would start to change the league back to hard working men and not just boys with some skills. Two years in college, Europe, or the D-League would help these young men develop skills necessary to being solid professionals. Finally, I think a basketball commercial wrapped it up best, when you and Dwight didn’t recognize Larry Bird, you showed your true problem. You have no clue what greatness is!

Today might be the last chance to show Lebron your love, Cleveland!

Jim Nasium — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:46:28 +0000

Just hours away from the 2010 NBA draft and little has happened in Cleveland with attaining new players via trades, or even buying into the draft itself. Dan Gilbert tried his luck at sweeping Tom Izzo from Michigan State, only for Izzo to use the opportunity as a recruitment tool. Today becomes Chris Grant’s to show what kind of magic he can create as the Cleveland Cavaliers new General Manager. Can he make a Paul Gasol type deal to revamp and better the roster? Can he move Mo Williams or Delonte West? Whatever he can or can not do today will be a direct reflection on the Cavaliers drive to win now not later, plus we all know James will be watching.
In the past couple of days we have seen Corey Maggette and a 2nd round pick move to the Bucks for center, Dan Gadzuric and guard, Charlie Bell. Heard the rumors of Chris Paul, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, and even Vince Carter being shopped. In Miami, they already moved Daequan Cook and the 18th pick to create about 3.4 million, and are waiting on Joel Anthony to sign his player option saving them $885,000 more. If they can find a suitor for Michael Beasley, it would be conceivable that they will have about 47 million to use for the Summer of Free Agency. Dwayne Wade has already stated his intentions of staying in Miami as long as they were willing to do the necessary things to take them back to the leaders of the East. Miami seems to have heard his request and their actions definitely show that they are all on the same page. With that kind of money they might be looking to start their own Big Three in Miami, although they would have no depth and would be relying maybe too much on three men. Still they are trying their hardest to rebuild into a Dynasty team.
Cleveland has shown that they are trying to win now or at least be better than before. They started with the addition of Mo Williams to fix their lack of a true point guard, and as we all have seen that was a costly mistake. Picked up role players in JaMario Moon, Anthony Parker, Delonte West, and Leon Powe. Two were great additions, one was injured, and the last thinks he’s a smaller version of Rambo. The blockbuster addition of Shaquille O’Neal had little positive effect, mostly due to injury and lack of true point guard play. They even went and got Antwan Jamison before the trade deadline to bolster their run for the ring and that did not quite work out either. Dan Gilbert and Danny Ferry definitely were trying to give Lebron James every needed piece of the puzzle after we were so over matched in the Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. The reigns now are in the hands of Chris Grant, and he might lose James before the start of his first year. So please start packaging together players and rebuild from the ground up. Anderson Varejao, Delonte West, Anthony Parker, and even J.J. Hickson have value all for different reasons. Mo Williams would be the first to deal but his 26+ million over the next three years makes him hard to swallow for any team. Add some other players and other teams and maybe Cleveland could go get Chris Paul or Devin Harris and at least show they still want Lebron to stay home.

As a Cleveland Fan I hope that our organization continues to rebuild our team until we get our Championship. We are not broken, but few new links in the chain might help.

The Cleveland Cavaliers One Step Away From Losing It All!

Jim Nasium — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:13:09 +0000

On Tuesday night the Cleveland Cavaliers lead by Lebron James was truly humiliated on their own court 120-88 by the Boston Celtics. The Summer of Lebron looming just a couple few weeks away, and Cleveland’s Dream team is one game away from the door. An early exit might just help Lebron enough find a new destination. The Cavs, with the best record in the NBA this year, the deepest bench, and the Chosen One how could this be happening? Danny Ferry gave him Shaq, Jamison, Moon, Parker, and even was able to bring Zydrunas Ilgauskas back after being traded for. The pieces were given to James like he asked the last time Boston bounced the Lebron led Cavs from the playoffs. It’s just Cleveland, right? I think it’s deeper than that.

Lebron James is definitely a phenom that’s no question, but King James or the Chosen One not quite. He was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers to be there leader when he was drafted. The organization felt he was the perfect foundation to building a team to a championship. They worked hard every year to give him more pieces and even have stuck with some of the older core to keep a consistent base for him. He won nothing. Well, Olympic Gold with a cast of truly great players and coaches, but that’s not part of the job he chose. He seems more interested in becoming the biggest star than be the one for the Cleveland Cavaliers. There was no fire during this past game, Lebron seemed to fire up bad shots just because he felt he should shoot. His post game comments showed little passion at what had just happened and the situation that he now faces. It seems as if James and the rest of the team just think that it’s their title and everyone will just get out of the way.

Mike Brown is next on my list of what the hell are you doing? You have the deepest bench, the best record, and one of the most gifted athletes in the NBA, yet you’d rather play Boston’s game. Ilgauskas is back and you’ve played him five minutes in the playoffs before tonight. The Boston Celtics weakest points are running games and lack of depth. Your starting point guard is just not there and you stick with him. Use your time outs to help change momentum or to at least regather and redirect your troupes. Lebron is not able to run the whole game, you need to do the job that your payed for, Coaching.

Now onto the supporting cast and starting with Mo Williams. He said before the start of the playoffs that he realized he need to play better than he did during last years playoff performance. Up to date, Mo has given the Cavs about 18 minutes of solid play throughout the playoffs. It doesn’t seem his earlier realization has any bearing on what’s happening now. His bad play has even started the questioning that the torch might be being passed to Rondo from the Big Three. He plays no defense, can’t hit open looks, and has no ability to break down Rajon to enhance an inside-out game.

In this last game Shaquille O’Neil had 21 points to lead the Cavaliers. That’s not what Shaq was brought here for. He was brought here for Orlando. His heavy minutes throughout the series only help the Cavs play a slower version of basketball, the one the Boston Celtics hope to play. Even though Shaq came back from his injury in better shape than expected, Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby have seemingly eliminated him as the biggest force down low. This seems to be more of a Mike Brown problem than that of O’Neil, still way too much Shaq.

If the Cleveland Cavalier’s run is ended this Thursday or upcoming Sunday watch out for a fire sale. It might be no more Lebron, no Shaq, even no Z. Look on the bright side Cleveland, you get to keep Mo Williams, cause who’s going to trade for that bum!