Cleveland Sports Chatter

[POJO_Risin]

Here's Cleveland's best writer...interviewing himself about the Heat on Saturday Night...some good stuff here...

Talking to myself about some ex-Cavaliers...

He would never admit it, says Terry Pluto, but you-know-who has to be having a few second thoughts after the Heat's slow start.

Q: How do you feel about the Heat struggling?

A: Even more revealing, they were 1-6 against teams with winning records. According to ESPN stats, a certain former Cavalier has played at least 40 minutes in seven games, and the Heat are 0-7.

Q: Are you talking about Zydrunas Ilgauskas?

A: No, he's having a solid season, averaging 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 58 percent in 19 minutes a game. South Beach has been good to him.

Q: What about the former Cavalier who used to wear No. 23?

A: He can explain and spin all he wants, he looks grumpy on the court and unsure of how to fit with Dwyane Wade. That former Cavalier is averaging 23.5 points, shooting 45 percent with 5.3 rebounds a game. All of those numbers are either the worst of his career, or the lowest since his rookie season. Only his assists (8.3) are up.

Q: What is the problem?

A: There is a duplication of skills. Wade and the former Cavalier both like to dominate the ball. Neither are used to watching someone else do it. Nor can they like it when the other guy is The Man. It's one thing to drastically change your game for a few months on the Olympic team, it's another to do it for more than six months in the NBA.

Q: So this is a real problem?

A: You better believe it.

Q: Can they fix it?

A: I hope it takes them forever. This is not like Boston, where Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Paul Pierce. All are approaching the end of their careers. All three have different styles. All three were so sick of losing, they were willing to not only be unselfish on offense, but adopt a fierce approach to defense.

Q: And the Heat?

A: It has to kill Pat Riley to watch it, but Miami is a very soft team.

Q: What should the former Cavalier and his teammates do?

A: Don't know. Don't care. But you can be sure that not only Cavs fans, but most of the NBA, hopes that team stays in storm for a long, long time.

Q: Do you think the former Cavalier wishes he were still a Cavalier?

A: Of course, but he'll never admit it.

[POJO_Risin]

Here's my favorite from that interview...and so dead on...

Q: Can they fix it?

A: I hope it takes them forever. This is not like Boston, where Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Paul Pierce. All are approaching the end of their careers. All three have different styles. All three were so sick of losing, they were willing to not only be unselfish on offense, but adopt a fierce approach to defense.

Q: And the Heat?

A: It has to kill Pat Riley to watch it, but Miami is a very soft team.

[damngoodtimes]

love Terry Pluto. he is the reasoned voice of Cleveland fans everywhere.

fuck LeBron; I hope he dislocates his cunt.

[damngoodtimes]

from a basketball standpoint, Terry's got it dead-on: they've duplicated skill sets.

if you've got either Wade or LeBron on your team, you let them dominate the ball. usually one-on-five. occasionally, they find an open shooter for a big 3. having both doesn't help you because there's only one ball. and neither of these guys are consistent 3-pt shooters (they can both be good in streaks, but not consistently).

they don't have a real big man (Bosh doesn't count; he's a much softer version of KG). Bosh can help you on mid-range jumpers off penetration, but you could get that out of Antawn Jamison. they also lack that kind of annoying, defense-minded big man like Noah or Varejao.

these guys will get better and ought to be able to win 50 games just by dominating in transition. but when the playoffs arrive and things slow down and get more physical, they've got problems.

[POJO_Risin]

you know...the funny thing is...is if LeBron really played the point forward role that Magic played with the Lakers...they could have all three on the floor at once, and effective. He has to drop his damn ego, and take the shit seriously though. He can distribute and defend, would cause match up problems, score about 20 a game, dish out 8-10 a game...and be able to crash the boards with a PG on him...

This team isn't set up well...yet...but there's plenty of times...and I'm sure David Stern will figure out a way to put more pieces in Miami, like he did with Boston...

[Bob_R]

Local scuttlebutt has December 15 as the day Riley steps in, which will solve nothing. They are over matched in so many areas, and James refuses to man up as a point guard. Three (OK, 2 1/2) marquee players are not enough to win. Look at Boston, who were smart enough to have Rajon Rondo to compliment things. Who have the Heat got? With no big presence, they are getting clobbered deep. Even Shaq would look good at this point.

On the other hand, I'm enjoying watching these egotistical blowhards squirm. Serves them right. Oh Yes we did my ass.

A local sports guy around these parts predicts December 26th the day after they lose the X-mas day game to the Lakers.

[twonabomber]

Pluto writing "former Cavalier" reminds me of when Hal Lebovitz would refer to the Ravens as the Ughs.

[POJO_Risin]

There really is a wonderful sense of chaos...LeBron saying, he's what we got...

DWade not wanting Riley...

Bosh...well...Bosh...well...where's Bosh?

Oh...he's in the locker room acting as the scarecrow of South Beach...

[chefcraig]

There really is a wonderful sense of chaos...LeBron saying, he's what we got...

DWade not wanting Riley...

Bosh...well...Bosh...well...where's Bosh?

Oh...he's in the locker room acting as the scarecrow of South Beach...

As I mentioned earlier, it's hard for me to put into words the enjoyment I am finding in all of this, particularly after the way the trio served themselves up in such a disgusting display of entitlement. Lebron yucking it up about multiple championships having never won anything, the rock star display at the arena, and worse the manner in which our local media allowed themselves to be spoon-fed this horseshit.

[POJO_Risin]

hey...they were all singing kumbaya last night!!!!

...after beating the fucking wizards...

5-11...

[chefcraig]

hey...they were all singing kumbaya last night!!!!

...after beating the fucking wizards...

5-11...

It just doesn't make a lick of sense. The one time Chris Bosh has been quoted as saying anything lately, he wants the team to be able to "chill". You have James complaining that the team isn't having any fun. Now just where and when did the phrases chill out and have fun get inserted into the idea of a complimentary work ethic? These boneheads literally assumed that by their mere presence, all they'd have to do in order to win games is show up to them. This arrogance has now completely backfired, as every team in the league not only wants to beat them for this attitude, they want to pulverize and thoroughly humiliate the Heat.

And the coaching just isn't working. James needs to be taken to a corner and told that like it or not, he has to play point guard. The team need a couple of bigger players added to the mix as well. But most importantly, these nitwits need to stop being pampered and have their specific roles laid out for them. In other words, some discipline needs to come along, and soon. If that means Riley, then that will have to do. If Bosh is upset at the notion of practice or James fears he is playing too many minutes, just wait until Riley starts up with his legendary 4 hour practices. These prima dona dorks will be begging for the return of Spoelstra.

[twonabomber]

a bunch of articles in the PeeDee today, including this one i just saw when i got home:

Cleveland Cavaliers hire law firm to investigate LeBron James' signing with Miami Heat: Report

Cleveland, Ohio -- As the Cleveland Cavaliers prepare to host the Miami Heat and LeBron James in his first visit to the city since leaving it as a free agent, another element is added to an already emotional situation.

As Thursday night's Miami-Cleveland game approaches, Adrian Wojnarowksi reports for Yahoo! Sports that the Cavaliers and owner Dan Gilbert have enlisted a law firm to investigate the circumstances leading to James' signing with Miami.

Wojnarowski writes:

The Cleveland Cavaliers have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a high-powered Midwestern law firm to investigate their suspicions that the Miami Heat broke NBA tampering rules while pursuing LeBron James, and owner Dan Gilbert has privately vowed he won’t relent until he has a thick binder of findings to drop on the desk of the NBA commissioner, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The NBA won’t launch an investigation into a tampering case without a formal request from a team, but sources say Gilbert’s plan is to give commissioner David Stern a detailed case that includes meetings, phone calls and contingency plans that date as far back as 2008. Gilbert will implore Stern to use his powers as commissioner to get access to phone records and testimony of key people surrounding Heat president Pat Riley, James and others potentially involved.

James became a free agent last July 1. NBA rules do not allow a team besides the one a player had been on -- in James' case, the Cavaliers -- to talk with the player about a potential signing until July 1.

Wojnarowki writes:

One focus of the law firm’s probe includes an alleged Riley-James meeting in Miami in November 2009, and a meeting of James’ inner circle with Wade in Chicago in June 2010, sources said.

Riley, James, Wade and Bosh have denied there was a predetermined collusion in the historic free-agent binge, although the players have admitted to discussing the possibility of playing together as far back as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Gilbert and the Cavaliers are apparently resolute in their desire to get to the bottom of the issue.

Wojnarowski writes:

As one league source told Yahoo! Sports: The Cavs are “determined to get everything out there. They’re not letting go of this. They’re not going to just let this die.”

Potential penalties for tampering could include front-office suspensions, fines and losses of draft picks.

and

Reggie Miller thinks LeBron should embrace being the villian: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index....bron_jame.html

Barkley weighs in again: http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports...cleveland.html

and some from Shaq: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index....ious_as_a.html

[twonabomber]

i forgot about this one, from our old pal Albert Belle: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index....ng_lebron.html

there's a couple guys going around downtown selling Queen James merch. i bet those shirts won't be allowed inside the Q.

[chefcraig]

So it would appear that the above flies in the face of the statements made by Dan Gilbert on opening day (and thankfully posted by twonabomber HERE: Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert: 'No regrets ... we're looking forward to the future') that he has moved on from all of this.

[twonabomber]

that broke in time for the 11 pm news, and after the story one of the anchors said "so much for moving on."