Yeah, the Cleveland Cavaliers are heavy favorites tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. That’s the way it is. But I hope if I see Lebron James into that stupid dancing stuff on the sidelines during this one, a Portland player will get in his grill and let him know he ought to save it for Broadway next season. Good for Noah for calling him on it.

Take a look about 2:05 into this video and see Lebron cutting a rug on the baseline DURING the game. Man, for the old days when somebody would pop a guy for goofing on them like this. Real pros don’t show people up. They don’t embarrass a vanquished foe.

Can you imagine Jordan, Bird or Magic doing something like this?

We’ve got Frank Brickowski, a former NBA enforcer on “Talkin’ Ball” the next two nights and I can’t wait to see what he says about this stuff.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dancing, Dwight Jaynes, Frank Brickowski, Lebron James, Portland Trail Blazers, Talkin' Ball

One of the great gambles in modern NBA history.

The guy could likely mean a championship. But it’s just as likely for $20 million he’s going to be hurt and miss a good part of the season, tear the team apart with his own unique brand of locker room poison or get into a pissing match of some sort with LeBron James.

But one thing is sure: He might leave with the entire franchise upset with him, but the fans will still love him. Nothing much sticks to this guy.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Lebron James, NBA, Shaquille O'Neal

This story shocked me:

LeBron James underwent successful surgery today at the Cleveland Clinic. He had a right benign parotid growth (near the right jaw) removed by Dr. Frank Papay in a five-hour procedure.
LeBron and his family have been aware of this medical issue for several months but, with the clearance of the treating doctors and medical staff, decided to wait until the conclusion of the Cavaliers season to undergo the removal procedure.
LeBron is recovering comfortably at the Cleveland Clinic and will soon be returning home to his family.
The doctors are pleased with the outcome of the procedure, and at this time, are confident that no further treatment will be needed as LeBron is expected to make a full and complete recovery.

Hmm. Benign or not, a five-hour surgery isn’t any picnic.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, jaw surgery, Lebron James

I’ve never been one of those guys who judges players by how many championships they’ve won. I’ve seen too many great players in all sports who have won one or none. Basketball is so much more of a team game than most people want to recognize — it’s way more than “How many rings has he won?”

But so many people want to break it down to that. Bill Russell, they say, was a better player than Wilt Chamberlain because he won many more championships. That’s ridiculous, though, because Russell, as great as he was, played in a stable lineup of all-stars coached by one of the greatest coaches who ever lived.

I don’t think Luc Longley was a better center than Kevin Duckworth, for example. But Luc won titles with the Bulls and the Duck never won one.

And even for the singular superstars — Jordan, Duncan, Bryant, O’Neal, Russell, Chamberlain, that breed — winning titles cannot be the only measure of greatness.

The point of this is to tell you that just because James hasn’t won an NBA title yet, I’m not going to allow that to affect my evaluation of him as a player. Jordan hadn’t won any yet, either, at LeBron’s age or experience level.

But I do think James has a ways to go.  Obviously, he’s capable of making great plays. Of doing great things. Of doing so many things that help you win games. Obviously, he’s a supreme talent.

But I’m not quite sure he’s totally harnessed his abilities yet. I don’t think he really understands all of what he can — and cannot — do. When your limitations are so much farther out there than everyone else’s, it’s difficult to know exactly where they are. And I do believe, no matter how good you are, you need to recognize what you can’t do.

LeBron, I think, is still struggling with that. Part of understanding his limitations will drive him to get better — as he’ll surely do. His outside shot still needs plenty of work and I would expect, as he gets older, it will continue to improve as it has over the last few seasons.

But his understanding of how to get teammates involved and how better to take care of the ball in critical situations will have to improve, too. That’s where he needs to be so careful of his limitations. I’m not sure that he’s quite the distributor he thinks he is. Not yet.

He’s going to have to better recognize opportunities, for himself and his teammates. For a great player, he seemed to turn the ball over in crucial situations too often. That can come from trying to do too much.

Lastly, I am not sure he’s quite the defender he’s billed to be. I’m not sure he ever will be, either, because so much is expected of him at the other end of the floor.

In summary, I think he’s going to get better. I know he’s going to get better.  But nothing is for sure. Nothing is guaranteed. Will he win championships? Probably. But as Orlando has taught us once again, it’s a team game. He could, quite frankly, use some better teammates.

Maybe that’s when he’ll improve the most.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Lebron James, NBA playoffs, Orlando Magic

Big surprise, the Lakers clinched a berth in the Finals. Yeah, I’m shocked — the team with far and away the best record, and best talent, in the West has locked up a Finals berth.

It’s up to Orlando to provide the upset. And people all over are worried that somehow the NBA is going to derail the Magic because “the league wants Kobe and LeBron in the Finals.”

My only concern for Orlando tonight is that its players don’t start buying into that crap. For one thing, if you knew the mindset of a Danny Crawford, a Steve Javie or a Joey Crawford, you’d know that they’re just cranky or tough-minded enough that if the league “wanted” them to help one team out, they’d bend over backward NOT to do that.

Second, if you’ve watched that series, you’d know by now that in Orlando’s three wins, officials have had all sorts of chances to stick it to the Magic but haven’t. If they wanted to fix that thing, it wouldn’t have gone this far. Sure, Orlando’s got a couple of bad calls — but so have the Cavs. That’s how difficult basketball — at just about any level — is to officiate.

If you think NBA officials are bad, run a few college games back on your DVR.

My lasting vision of the complaining about referees in this postseason comes from George Karl, who was whimpering after his team’s Game 5 loss to the Lakers — which came much more as a result of his team missing 11 consecutive shots than it did anything the referees did. But it’s a lot easier to blame officials than it is your own sloppy game plan.

If Karl’s team had only been able to run a few simple inbounds plays along the way,  that series would have turned out much different.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Danny Crawford, Denver Nuggets, Dwight Jaynes, George Karl, Joey Crawford, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Steve Javie

Oh, man. Gotta be a war, doesn’t it?

Normally, you’d say it’s like a Game 7 for the Magic, because they have to win this game — certainly they’re not going to win a Game 7 at Cleveland.

Or are they? I put nothing past Orlando. I mean, down 32-10 at Cleveland last night to come back and have an eight-point lead early in the third quarter — well, that’s some amazing stuff right there. But LeBron has come close to winning earlier in Orlando and he’s going to be in full-blown superstar mode this time (not sure sometimes if that’s a good thing or a bad thing — it’s certainly a bad thing if he’s having one of those games when he can’t buy an outside shot).

This game should be special.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Lebron James, NBA playoffs, Orlando Magic

Yes, LeBron was the hero. But appreciate Hedo Turkoglu, too. He hit two great shots to put the Magic in position to win.

Have a great holiday weekend.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Hedo Turkoglu, Lebron James, NBA playoffs, Orlando Magic, TNT

I have to say — and I realize I’m distinctly in the minority here – the Portland-Cleveland game Thursday night reinforced in my mind why I’m not a huge LeBron James fan. I wouldn’t give my MVP vote to him, either.

James had his triple double and for most people, that’s enough analysis of his game. But the guy was 10 for 22 from the field and 6 for 11 from the line. He ran from ANY shot outside of about 10 feet. He was a minus-1 for the game, too. In other words, the Cavs were outscored by a point while he was on the floor.

I’m a grumpy old guy — yeah, we know that by now. I can’t stand the way he goofs around on the court during introductions and handles all his other pregame schtick, from the posing teammates while holding the invisible camera to the dancing around while shooting layups. But that’s not really important. What really bothered me was I thought last night he didn’t take the game or the Blazers seriously until the fourth quarter, when admittedly, he really turned it on. His two jump hooks in the lane at the end of overtime were incredible.

He’s a great player and a stat monster – nobody would argue that. But I am partial to shooters, guys who can cut your heart out with a tough jumper from distance with the game on the line. With LeBron, you beg him to shoot threes. You leave him wide open. You encourage the 20-foot jumper, too. I just don’t think he’s spent the time in the gym that Kobe Bryant has, honing his game.

I think he’s a little too busy being LeBron James. The guy seems more like a corporation than a basketball player sometimes. I think he sees himself as an entertainer first and a player second, which in today’s world is probably just fine. But it doesn’t feel right to me. 

Sure, he doesn’t have to settle for long jumpers – he can get to the rim just about any time he wants. OK, that’s fine. But does he work as hard on his game as some of the other greats do? Or is he just relying on freakish skills he was born with?

 Oh, that probably doesn’t matter. I guess he’s just not my type of player.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Lebron James, MVP, NBA, Portland Trail Blazers

Now that’s the way games against the Indiana Pacers are supposed to be handled. Take them out early, keep them out, coast down the stretch and cut some starters’ minutes back. There were a couple of troublesome injuries, but it’s the NBA and stuff — other than amazing — happens.

I liked the ball movement and the defense. This team defends better when Oden is on the court, in case you haven’t noticed. All in all, it was the kind of game good teams are supposed to play against lesser teams playing out the string.

Tonight, without Batum and Aldridge, may prove to be a long night, quite obviously. Travis Outlaw is either going to give up a lot of points to LeBron or he’s going to be in deep foul trouble in a hurry. Unless King James is having a real off night, I just can’t see Outlaw being able to do a thing with him.

(By the way, the backup point guard fiasco continued Wednesday, as Bayless continued to play with great timidity. Look for Sergio to get a chance tonight — at least that’s my guess.)

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Indiana Pacers, LaMarcus Aldridge, Lebron James, Nic Batum, Portland Trail Blazers

This is from John Hollinger at ESPN.com (insider only):

Cleveland and Portland surprised us with their inactivity at the trade deadline, opting to hang on to the expiring deals of Wally Szczerbiak and Raef LaFrentz, respectively. But file this one away for future use — each team still has its full midlevel exception available. That means the Cavs and Blazers can outbid any other team for free-agent talent waived between now and March 1, a group I outlined in Thursday’s Per Diem.

While each team would have to pay luxury tax on the contract, effectively costing it double, it’s peanuts compared to what it would have cost to trade its large expiring contract for a big-money player whose deal didn’t expire until 2010 or later.

As a result, expect those two teams to be in the driver’s seat for whatever talent comes available in the next nine days.

Boston, San Antonio and Houston also have chunks of their midlevel exceptions available; the Celtics have $2.4 million to spare and, despite their tax-paying position, are another team that appears able to spend freely for talent. San Antonio and Houston have smaller amounts available and each is precipitously close to the tax line, so they’ll be a factor only for players with a decided interest in going to those cities … or if there is no interest from the Cavs, Blazers and Celtics.

And here are the players Hollinger says could be available:

Joe Smith: The most notable of the potential free agents is Oklahoma City’s veteran forward, back on the Thunder after Tuesday’s deal for the Hornets’ Tyson Chandler fell apart. Rumors of Smith’s going to Boston have been rife all season, and it’s highly likely he’ll reach a buyout agreement with the Thunder if he’s still on their roster this Friday.

Mikki Moore: Of course, the Celtics might not have room for Smith if their rumored interest in Moore is legitimate. Sacramento bought him out on Thursday — he had only $2 million guaranteed next season if he was waived by draft day — and rumor has it that there could be a bidding war among contenders that have remnants of their midlevel exceptions left. That sounds bizarre to me — Moore has been well south of average the past two years and at 33 doesn’t seem primed for a renaissance — but it shows you the desperation for veteran frontcourt talent.

Drew Gooden, Sacramento: The Kings would gladly take a discount to buy him out. Which makes you wonder if Cleveland would want him back to shore up its frontcourt — they’re familiar with him, after all, for better or worse. The only sticking point here is Gooden’s groin injury, which might keep him shelved too long for contenders to be interested.

Chris Mihm, Memphis: Here today after a trade from the Lakers, and possibly gone tomorrow. It sure seems to me somebody could use a 7-foot big man with a soft shooting touch for the playoffs, even if Mihm has hardly played the past three years.

Rasho Nesterovic, Indiana: Another 7-footer who can make shots and has a championship ring; he’s familiar with San Antonio’s system from his time down there and would make a nice addition to the size-starved Spurs for their playoff run.

Bobby Jackson, Sacramento: A veteran guard familiar with the playoff wars from his previous tour of duty with the Kings, Jackson could answer Boston’s need for scoring off the bench while Tony Allen is on the shelf.

Jason Collins, Minnesota: He doesn’t score, he doesn’t rebound; heck, he barely even moves. But you have to think some Western GMs have noticed how well he’s defended Shaquille O’Neal in the past, and how useful that might be in a playoff series against Phoenix.

Sam Cassell, free agent: Already released by Sacramento, he’s now free to pursue any deal that suits him. I’m guessing Boston is off the list, but perhaps the Hornets could find enough loose change in their wallets to take a look at him.

Jerry Stackhouse, Dallas: Unlike the others on this list, he’s already on a playoff contender. But he hasn’t played for the Mavs since the second week of the season and has only $2 million guaranteed for next year. Any buyout savings would effectively double for the Mavs since they’re well over the luxury-tax line, giving them extra incentive to make a deal. However, word has it that Stack is going nowhere.

Chucky Atkins, Oklahoma City: Another player with only a partial guarantee for next year, Atkins is a misfit in the Thunder’s youth movement. Given the demand for veteran point guards to fill out rosters at this time of year, Atkins could find himself beating away suitors should he be released.

Jason Williams, L.A. Clippers: Technically retired, word is that he filed for reinstatement with the league today. If so, the Clippers would likely reach a buyout agreement with him that could allow him to return to the Miami Heat, who are in search of a veteran backup point guard to help out Mario Chalmers.

Not sure there would be any interest on Portland’s behalf in ANY of that bunch.

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Jaynes, mid-level exception, Portland Trail Blazers