Category — Cavs

Billy Hunter is making the NBA players executive committee look like buffoons, particularly Mo Evans. Evans, once a teammate with Derek Fisher with the Lakers, has been the most vocal committee member about forcing Fisher out as president despite the union paying almost $5 million to Hunter’s family for union-related “work.” Please.
The committee went as far as dropping the name of Chris Paul, who also is a member of the committee and voted for Fisher’s ouster, as a possible successor to Fisher. Wonder where that came from?
Seriously, the stench is becoming unbearable.
Rick Fox was a guest on the “Petros & Money” show this afternoon on Fox Radio in L.A. Fox said the wackiness is just beginning. And though he didn’t elaborate, it’s a good guess more skeletons will be falling out of Hunter’s closet.
Bloomberg

How big is this? For starters, the Thunder can sweep the season series, but more importantly, they can keep pace with the Spurs for the top seed in the West.
For the Lakers, it’s a bigger deal. A loss and they could be looking up at the Clip Joint, which hosts the Hornets Sunday night. The Grizzlies, who have won 4 straight, also are lurking only a game back. They’re off Sunday, but host the Cavs on Monday night.
If the Lakers fall to the No. 5 spot and get the Grizzlies in the 1st round, we’re betting the farm Memphis prevails. The Clippers in the No. 4 spot is the ideal situation for Laker fans because Lob City isn’t as tough a customer as the Grizzlies.

The Warriors, who have a history of botched deals, will be infamous for cutting Jeremy Lin, but so will the Rockets. Still, Golden State, with a huge Asian fan base in the Bay Area, looks like the biggest idiots after clearing more than $700,000 in cap room by cutting Lin to sign Clipper center DeAndre Jordan to an offer sheet. Of course the Clippers matched the offer sheet, the Rockets picked up Lin before cutting him and the rest is NBA history. According to Forbes, the “Lin brand” is now worth $14 million.
Forgive Warriors coach Mark Jackson, the former NBA TV analyst, for being a bit sensitive to it all. “I had nothing to do with Jeremy Lin,” said Jackson, who was angered by a tweet Spike Lee sent thanking him for cutting Lin. “I never saw him do a layup. Stop asking me. He never practiced for us, so leave me out of it.”
Right, right.
Yahoo Sports

Since we’re doing Vegas, we always try to do what Vegas does. Make sense? Didn’t think so.
As far as the NBA goes…
The Heat remain the favorite to win it all (6-5), while the Bulls continue to be a flavor (3-1) of many. Among the others: Lakers (7-1); Mavericks (11-1); Thunder (7-2); Celtics (25-1); Spurs (15-1); Magic (25-1); and Rockets (250-1).

Do the Clippers vote David Stern a share of playoff coin if they win it all?
In a poll of 30 ESPN writers and personalities, 25 of them picked the Heat to win this season’s NBA title. Three of them picked the Bulls and 2 predicted the Thunder would win it all.
Us? As much as Miami is the safe pick, we’re rolling with our homies (Thunder). Now beam us up Scottie.
ESPN.com

It’s a Heat-Thunder NBA final waiting to happen. Can’t argue with that.
Fox Sports

After being a long-time subscriber to Direct TV’s NBA package, which broadcasts the majority of league contests almost every night, I refuse to pay the $159 fee (down from the $189 from last season) this season. Just couldn’t contribute to this farce David Stern and owners such as Michael Jordan and Dan Gilbert are selling.
If it were smart, the league could have performed a PR stroke of genius by giving the package away free, but that isn’t in the DNA of people like Jordan or Gilbert.

For the record, the writer is a white guy.
So much for labor peace.
With 1 mighty veto, David Stern turned the 1st day of training camp into a public relations nightmare for the NBA.
The league commissioner and thus the final voice in the workings of the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets, Stern proved he was really not in charge. We knew that though from the lockout.
The true men behind the curtain are those small-market owners who want what’s best for them and not the league.
Some only signed the new labor deal with their eyes shut and while holding their noses.
They wanted more, though missing the entire season would have been OK for them.
They were back at it again Thursday.
When the Hornets made what looked like a good trade to send free-agent-to-be guard Chris Paul to the Lakers, it seemed New Orleans was on its way back.
The Hornets, who will get nothing for Paul when he leaves at the end of this season — and he will leave — were going to get 3 likely starters and some help for the future. Even the Rockets were getting better.
Now the Hornets get nothing. The deal may not be dead but it is clearly on life support.
All this to keep a group of owners unable or unwilling to pay top dollar happy.
This was exactly what the NBA lockout was all about.
Forget losing money and fans. This still is about power. Power to the unfortunate people such as Dan Gilbert and Michael Jordan. Mark Cuban even singing the NBA’s praises for shooting down this deal. And why not? All the clubs are in the Western Conference and in Mark’s vicinity. And damn the Lakers and the horses they’re riding now.
NBA owners saw players gaining power through free-agent moves and forced trades and they didn’t like it.

How dare they decide where they want to live and raise their families. What, they think this is a free county?
They argue about competitive balance, about the little guys having a fighting chance. The NBA has never been about small guys. Nope, it’s all about power. Owners make sure they keep it that way.
Even more so, this might be a little title envy.
If the Lakers get Paul and then Dwight Howard, they would again be a title contender.
The Lakers have fleeced sad franchises for their talents in the past and won, which hardly makes them evil or unique, just the Yankees and Red Sox of the NBA. Or the Celtics.
The league backed itself into a corner. Will the Association now try to run all 30 teams when it comes to trades so Orlando can’t deal Howard to the New Jersey-Brooklyn Nets?
But those owners are missing the bigger picture.
By keeping Paul away from the Lakers and telling players to watch their steps, they are doing their own product an injustice.
History has shown that the NBA is good when the big markets are winning. Ratings and sales are up and so is the value of franchises.
By keeping Paul away from L.A., at least for the moment, the owners are hurting their own product.
It is a selfish move which seems to mirror that of the players who are creating these mega teams.
Let it go. It is the only way to really begin a healing process that will need a long time to sort out.
However, for now, this is just another indication of how divided and messed up the NBA really is.
Just ask Chris Paul.

Maybe Bryant Gumbel had a point.
Put your Laker hate aside. Look at what the Hornets got in the Chris Paul deal and you wonder who’s running the store at the NBA’s office in New York. Seriously, the Lakers gave up a perennial All-Star (Pau Gasol) and last season’s 6th Man of the Year (Lamar Odom) for Chris Paul. It wasn’t like Gasol for Kwame Brown and Pau’s brother Marc, who turned out to be a steal, as a throw in.
And what happens now? Lamar is pitching a bitch. The Kardashians cash in again.
SI.com

The NBA lockout has come to an end, with the players and the owners agreeing to a tentative deal early this morning. The season will tip off Christmas Day with a tripleheader, including Derrick Rose and the Bulls visiting the Lakers.
N.Y. Times