for people wondering why the cavs got shaq, take a look at dwight howard's numbers against shaq.

he was like 16&8 last year against the diesel. that is the main reason why they did what they did, and to give up nothing, awesome.

i also like that it's a year. next summer shaq is free to go anywhere he wants. and the cavs will have an assload of money in free agency.

how do you feel about LJ leaving Cleveland in 10

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Cent:
how do you feel about LJ leaving Cleveland in 10

more likely he stays than goes.

it's his decision though.

dude makes more money than kobe or wade who play in mega markets.

his popularity, just like kobe's, is based on winning championships.

i don't think he wants to go to new york and wait around on a rebuilding project, with a coach who openly preaches that his players don't need to play defense in his system.

lebron has said many times that mike brown has opened his eyes, that you need to play defense to win a championship.

he's insanely loyal to the state of ohio, he supports a shit load of causes, he has bought and rebuilt several really bad housing projects, he has his bikeathon every year in akron, he supports ohio state athletics, going as far as to design jerseys for the basketball team.

the yankee hat thing is hilarious, the kid is a yankee fan, he was a yankee fan before he was even drafted. people in ohio know this because they followed him from the 8th grade on.

everyone thinks, oh he has a yankee hat on, that is obviously a sign he's going. nobody points out that he is a regular on the sidelines of ohio state football, that he still attends almost every basketball and football game of saint vincent st mary.

not to mention, the cavs management has proven that they will do whatever it takes to be a contender. they have the 3rd highest payroll in the league. they have brought in solid players.

the cavs can pay lebron more than any other team. the nba has rules for teams to keep their own players. the cavs can offer lebron a deal of 6 years 133 million, and the next team can go 30 million less.

there is no clause in his nike contract like some want to believe, he signed that deal before the lottery, and there is no kicker.

it's up to him though. he's got a 66 win team that now has shaq, a top ranked defensive team, and the cavs have incredible cap space after next year. they will be huge players in the 2010 madness.

i don't think playing in a big market is what it once was. maybe 30 years ago a player like him had to go to new york to get exposure, but lebron is top 3 or 4 in endorsments in sports. and this isn't baseball where big city teams can just bully small and mid markets by offering fat bloated contracts that they regret 2 years later.

he does commercials that are shown nationwide, his team is shown on national tv more than anyone else, and he's constantly in the mix for contending. why the hell would he leave?

do people not realize how bad that knicks are? they immediately had him going to the bricks once the nets plans for brooklyn fell through. almost as if the media wants him out of cleveland more than anything else.

espn wants him out of cleveland, they have made it obvious. sunday time slots on tv are gold. once the nfl ends, abc starts broadcasting games on tv, and they know they could get better ratings for regular season sunday day games if he was in a knicks uniform.

that's why espn does what they do. for themselves. it's kinda funny.

If they don't add somebody else other than Shaq it still isn't going to be enough to win it all. I have no idea whether he stays or not. No one does. If he wanted to leave it would be because leading the Knicks to a championship would be much bigger than leading the Cavs to one. As big as he is now, he would only get more coverage and be even bigger in NY there is no denying that. Maybe that appeals to him.

Oh and if they don't win it all this year Mike Brown is fired anyway. He's a shitty offensive coach.

danny ferry should have surrounded lebron with young players to grow around him when he was drafted. instead, they went for veterans and tried to win right away. now they've got one last hurrah and if it doesn't work brown and ferry are gone for sure, and what real incentive does lebron have to stay? will he stay for his miniature backcourt? or his non-existent frontcourt? the fans? not that new york has anybody to brag about right now, but it just feels that what seemed like a great situation 3 years ago, suddenly looks like it was mishandled.

sigh...now i can't root for the cavs anymore. hate that guy. he's not going to make the cavs that much better, but they certainly didn't get any worse, especially considering what they gave up (which is basically nothing). i can see shaq getting lots of easy baskets though, since lebron can draw a crowd and make a pass in traffic, like kobe did for him. but i see this as a bad omen for cleveland. every team shaq has left goes into full rebuilding mode after his stay. magic, lakers, heat and now the suns.

and lebron would be an idiot to go to new york, if he's really all about winning. if he's after the money, then yea new york is the place for him.
he damn sure isn't winning any championships over there though.

i like the move the magic made for VC, but they're completely ignoring their hole at the 4 spot..who do they have to play the 4 now? rashard? no way. even if they resign hedo, that guy is NOT a power forward, he's just an oversized small forward. if they get a decent 4 that can hit the J, they'll be deadly.

quote:

Originally posted by Stone Cold Steve Auschwitz:
maybe hedo sign-and-trade for shawn marion?

nelson
VC
matrix
lewis
dwight

now THAT is a sweet starting 5. best in the east and would give the lakers much more of a challenge

HAHAHAH
lewis as a starting power forward vs. the lakers? lakers' front line would eat them alive, even worse than they did in the finals.
lewis at the 4 will NOT cut it.

quote:

Originally posted by YouAintNoGenius:
danny ferry should have surrounded lebron with young players to grow around him when he was drafted. instead, they went for veterans and tried to win right away. now they've got one last hurrah and if it doesn't work brown and ferry are gone for sure, and what real incentive does lebron have to stay? will he stay for his miniature backcourt? or his non-existent frontcourt? the fans? not that new york has anybody to brag about right now, but it just feels that what seemed like a great situation 3 years ago, suddenly looks like it was mishandled.

they have cap space in 2010, which is what they have been targeting for years.

mo williams and delonte west are still young guys, good players, i think one of them needs to be the 6th man, because they are undersized.

they still have their MLE to use too, which i think they can attract someone, because of the shaq move. charlie villanueva has expressed interest, ron artest has said in the past he wants to play with lebron

it's really tough to surround your team with young guys when you're a playoff team every year, because the back end of the draft flat out sucks.

like i said, the shaq deal is a no brainer, he's only there for a year, and they gave up nothing.

shaq can handle dwight howard which is the biggest reason they went after him, and he can command a double team on offense, which is something that they haven't ever had.

i just worry a little about durability, but i think they will monitor his minutes and give him the occasional night off when they play garbage teams like the bricks and bucks.

no way ferry and brown go though, those 2 have solidified this team. danny ferry turned bad contracts into solid players. but they have geared this team to be ready to sign lebron and a big time player in 2010.

they have the supporting cast, they just need that second guy. mo williams is an awesome third option but to ask him to be the second scoring option is tough. so shaq fills that void this year and next year they should be able to bring in another big time name.

they also have z's expiring contract to deal this year if they need to although i think they want him to stay and retire a cav because he has been there since dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Shaq is not a second option anymore. And he could win in New York. Hell he could win in Cleveland. The guy is so good, That won't be an issue.

cavs have contacted ron artest.

oh yeah?

yeah, although they may "talk" with every guy who's out there.

this just may be a bigger piece of news because very little has happened since midnight

im a little anxious to know what the celtics are doing

i've heard they are pushing for sheed

i think players can only agree or sign an offer sheet until next week, when they can actually sign their deals.

you think wallace is a good pick?

ferry's gone after next year and so is lebron. the cavs remind me of the washington Redskins a few years back. ferry's a tool

i doubt anything changes in the celtics roster. i doubt they sign sheed.

ben gordon and charlie vilanueva going to the pistons

turk looks to be going to the blazers. i read andre miller might be going there as well with outlaw going to philly

quote:

Originally posted by NOT MONGO:
you think wallace is a good pick?

yeah, him and kg paired up are pretty damn good defensively

and i don't think his attitude will be a huge problem with the big 3 around him. i don't think you can just come in and douche it up with 2 or 3 hall of famers around.

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Cent:
ferry's gone after next year and so is lebron. the cavs remind me of the washington Redskins a few years back. ferry's a tool

nobody cares what you think, when we want to know about the denny's menu, we'll ask you.

LOLZ

Mark my words FACTORY BOY Lebron will be gone after next season.

Hey Shaq time to get the dust off those fur coats you aint never played in the cold weather . Ps take the rims off your car before u ship them holla ya b 12:08 PM Jun 25th from txt paulpierce34

ron artest seems risky, but the lakers look like they're only getting better. artest is really good when he isn't handling the ball.

looks like turkoglu is backing out of the portland deal to sign with toronto. his wife is said to love the city of toronto.. portland not so much

the east is gonna be serious

sheed is coming to boston

Skip Bayless just said Celtics are going to win it all.

It has gotta be true!

quote:

Originally posted by never:
Skip Bayless just said Celtics are going to win it all.

sounds like the cavs just clinched the east.

big baby to the spurs and grant hill going to the celtics?

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Cent:
Mark my words FACTORY BOY Lebron will be gone after next season.

apparently lbj told trevor ariza he's planning to stay in c-town past 2010. lolz.

go bucks! yeah! wisconsin rules!

quote:

Originally posted by LeBron_James:

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Cent:
Mark my words FACTORY BOY Lebron will be gone after next season.

apparently lbj told trevor ariza he's planning to stay in c-town past 2010. lolz.

uh, no he didn't

Yeah they are saying that story isn't true.

or it's espn downplaying it. just like they do with everything else that is pro-staying in terms of lebron.

lbj tells thousands of clevelanders at an obama rally that he's never leaving town and not one mention on sportscenter, but any time he puts on the yankee cap it's nonstop. awesome.

eastern seaboard programming network

he probably is staying, but whether he told that to ariza or not wouldn't really sway me to believe either way. we all saw what elton brand did to baron davis last offseason.

the salary cap could be dropping to 50 million in 2010. might play a part in lebron/wade/bosh/amare re-signing with their teams

yeah, the cavs beat reporter, who's really good at what he does, said lebron could actually opt in next summer, to see if he can wait and see if the cap goes back up for 11-12. so it'd be another year of the espn douche bags doing what they do.

quote:

Originally posted by LeBron_James:

quote:

Originally posted by 50 Cent:
Mark my words FACTORY BOY Lebron will be gone after next season.

apparently lbj told trevor ariza he's planning to stay in c-town past 2010. lolz.

go bucks! yeah! wisconsin rules!

no, he told trevor ariza he's planning on staying into the summer but wouldn't comment on wether or not he'd be back for the 11 season. lolz! ohio is the same as wisconsin!

lebron is gone.

i thought the celtics would announce the signing of grant hill soon

why would he consider the knicks? he already has enough money so why not go with a team that has a chance

quote:

Originally posted by NOT MONGO:
why would he consider the knicks? he already has enough money so why not go with a team that has a chance

oh come on, who doesn't wanna go play with nate robinson, chris duhon, fat eddy curry, larry fucking hughes (been down that road before), and darko?

man, those guys rock.

im reading that his wife has him by the balls. she is trying to start a singing "career." so new york is appealing plus he would "help the knicks convince lbj to come to ny next year"

i see the cavs picked up anthony parker.

i guess that was boston's second choice behind grant hill

fuck

yeah, it's not a bad signing, he adds a little bit of height to the backcourt, he'll come off the bench

i think they are looking at matt barnes too, as a swingman type

parker was awesome his first year in toronto, but he's lost a step or two since then. however, in toronto he was asked to do way too much as the starting 2 gaurd. in cleveland he will come off the bench. he should be a great 6th man. he was one of my favorite raptors players

it's too bad he didn't come back to the nba at a younger age

yeah i didn't realize he was 34, i thought he was late 20's, but you always forget to factor in his time out of the nba.

mo and delonte still start, but parker will probably be the first guy off the bench.

we still need another big, and i dunno if they wanna bring back smith, or if they could do that if they sign matt barnes.

shaq, andy, and z are bona fide bigs, after that it's jackson, hickson, and that's pretty much it, the cavs have always had a 4-man rotation in the frontcourt.