LeBron eats some french fries, then eats the heart of Thunder fans…

those must of been some good french fries….
Cleveland 102, Thunder 89.

Getting shots up….This is not what your coaches were thinking about….Delonte West arrested for possession of loaded weapons

One might ask him, “Where the hell are you going strapped like Mel Gibson in Mad Max?

What are you fighting for?…Where is Tina Turner when I need her?

NBA Star Delonte West Arrested on Weapons Charges
Cavaliers Guard Was Carrying Three Guns While Driving on I-95, Authorities Say
By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 18, 2009 3:46 PM

An NBA star and former area high school player was pulled over and arrested in Prince George’s County on Thursday night after a police officer found he was carrying three loaded guns, authorities said.

So, you were rolling something like this, huh?

Delonte West, a guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was driving a three-wheeled motorcycle north on Interstate 95 near Route 214 in the Largo area when he cut off a Prince George’s County police officer, authorities said. The officer pulled him over, and West told the officer that he was carrying a handgun in his waistband.

remember, this is how Plax shot himself….this is the 9mm

That prompted the officer to call for backup, and investigators found that West was actually carrying three guns: a Beretta 9mm in his waistband, a Ruger .357 strapped to his leg and a shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County Police Department.

Yo Delonte, Dirty Harry Callahan is looking for his gun back.. at least you had this one in a holster…

Let’s not forget he was carrying another gun like he was Antonio Banderas ready to shoot up the place…

Remember in El Mariachi/Desperado?  That was a sweet case…

West, who is 26 and lives in Brandywine, was arrested and charged with speeding and two counts of carrying a handgun, Ellis said. He was released today on personal recognizance, according to Ellis and online court records.

Ellis said it was unclear where West was going and why he was armed.

Damn dog, that is a helluva burn…

I won’t go in on Delonte and his crack pipe burn on his lip, but really?  You needed to have all those guns?  This is the same reason Plax is going to be doing a stretch in the big house.

I think that this is where I make the joke like in White Men Can’t Jump, where the guy loses the game (Raymond)  and says that he is going to get his gun…

If I was Boobie Gibson or Anthony Parker, (or his crack dealer) I would watch out….

crossposted at Too Old

Anderson Vareajo resigns with the Cavs…Danny Ferry, don’t quit to become a GRINDER…

since your poker skills are being called into question…

Hands like this don’t come around often…but players like Verajao are a dime a dozen…

The poker movie “Rounders” is a great metaphor for life in the NBA.

You have to study your opponents moves, find a weakness and then exploit it.  Matt Damon plays a young, hotshot player, who hits bottom, only to climb back to the surface.  Preventing his rise is school, a best friend who is trouble and a girlfriend who doesn’t understand his passion with poker.

Being a NBA GM requires you have similar skills of a poker player, being able to read hands of your opponents, and feigning weakness, when you are really strong.  I thought that Danny Ferry would be a good poker player, based on some of the moves that he made, but ultimately his latest play has been a headscratcher.

While I am not going to grade the Ferry regime, this particular move is the one that left me truly wondering if I could read Ferry’s hand in a game of poker.  ESPN.com is reporting that Anderson Verajao is being retained for about fives times the winners stake at the Main Event of Poker.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have come to an agreement with free agent Anderson Varejao on a six-year deal, his agent Dan Fegan told ESPN.com.

Varejao’s contract is worth $42.5 million over the six years, and the final year is only partially guaranteed. Incentives could push the total amount to $50 million.

As a 30 something sports fan, I have clear memories of Danny Ferry as a college player and as a pro.  His career at Duke was a great one, as Wikipedia points out

He is among Duke’s greatest players of all time, ranking 5th in career points, fifth in career rebounds, and seventh in career assists—the only player in the top 10 in all three categories.

Ferry’s number 35 was retired in 1989 at the end of his senior season.^[2] In 2002, Ferry was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men’s basketball team honoring the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

But, as an NBA player, he was a bust, even though he has played in the most games in Cleveland Cavaliers history.

Danny Ferry as a player gives us hints about Danny Ferry the GM. The game that is being played by Ricky Rubio now was Danny Ferry’s Player card at NBA.com provides this little nugget

Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round (second pick overall) of the 1989 NBA Draft…Played in Italy in 1989-90…Draft rights traded by the Clippers with Reggie Williams to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ron Harper, 1990 and 1992 first-round draft choices, and a 1991 second-round draft choice on 11/16/89

Now, the first lesson here is that Danny Ferry is not afraid to get his chips in the pot and gamble. At the time, I clearly remember thinking that Ferry was crazy for risking his dream of the NBA. One injury overseas and no one would want him.  But, his resolute stand got him traded to the Cavs and a very rich contract.

Fast forward twenty years.  You would hope that your Texas Hold-Em game would improve in that time.  But, the only conclusion that I can come up with is that he has regressed in two short years. Plain and simple, Ferry got schooled here.

WHO else was going to pay AV that kind of money in this market?   This just tells me that Dan Fegan is a grandmaster of poker.  He is the Phil Ivey of the agent game.  HoopsHype.com, lists the agents and their players.

.Dan Fegan… Agents Aaron Goodwin Aaron Mintz Andre Buck Andre Colona Andrew Woolf Andy Miller Arn Tellem Bill Duffy Bill McCandless Bill Neff Bill Strickland Billy Ceisler Bob McClaren Bob Myers Bouna Ndiaye Brad Ames Brian Dyke Brian Elfus Buddy Baker Byron Irvin Calvin Andrews Charles Bonsignore Charles Grantham Charles Tucker Chris Emens Chris Luchey Craig McKenzie Dan Fegan Dan Tobin Darren White David Bauman David Falk David Lee Derek Powell Doug Neustadt Donald Dell Eric Fleisher Erin Cowan Frank Catapano Frankie Ross Gary Wichard George Bass Gerald Duncan Glenn Schwartzman Guy Zucker Happy Walters Henry Thomas Herb Rudoy Holger Geschwindner James Wells Jamie Knox Jason Levien Jeff Austin Jeff Fried Jeff Schwartz Jeff Wechsler Jerome Lewis Jerry Hicks Jim McDowell Jim Tanner Jimmy Sexton Joel Bell John Greig John Huizinga Josh Nochimson Justin Zanik Keith Glass Keith Kreiter Kenny Grant Kevin Bradbury Kevin Poston Kurt Schoeppler Lance Young Lapoe Smith Leigh Steinberg Leon Rose Lon Babby Louis Lookofsky Luciano Capicchioni Marc Cornstein Marc Fleisher Mark Bartelstein Mark McNeil Mark Stevens Mark Termini Matteo Comellini Merle Scott Michael Coyne Michael Harrison Michael Whitaker Mike Conley Mike Higgins Noah Croom Paco Belassen Perry Rogers Raymond Brothers Reggie Brown Richard Howell Richard Kaplan Richard Katz Rob Pelinka Robert Barr Robert Fayne Roger Montgomery Sam Goldfeder Steve Heumann Steve Kauffman Steve Mountain Thaddeus Foucher Todd Eley Todd Ramasar Tony Dutt Wallace Prather William Pollak
	Current NBA Players: 13 All-Star Players: 1 Maxed-out Players: 1 Agent Ranking: 6th		Nationality: American
			Agency: BEST
			Website: http://www.experiencebest.com
.CLIENTS/SALARIES:
Player 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 Jason Richardson $13,333,333 $14,444,444 $0 $0 Troy Murphy $11,047,619 $11,968,253 $0 $0 Nenê $10,520,000 $11,360,000 $11,600,000 $0 Erick Dampier $10,112,500 $13,075,000 $0 $0 Al Harrington $10,026,875 $0 $0 $0 Jason Terry $9,862,500 $10,650,000 $11,437,500 $11,437,500 Rafer Alston $5,250,000 $0 $0 $0 Reggie Evans $4,960,000 $5,080,000 $0 $0 Matt Carroll $4,700,000 $4,300,000 $3,900,000 $3,500,000 Kris Humphries $3,200,000 $3,200,000 $0 $0 Yi Jianlian $3,194,400 $4,050,500 $5,403,366 $0 Jarvis Hayes $2,062,800 $0 $0 $0 Kyrylo Fesenko $870,000 $0 $0 $0 Anderson Varejao $0 $0 $0 $0 Joe Smith $0 $0 $0 $0 Shawn Marion $0 $0 $0 $0 Melvin Ely $0 $0 $0 $0 Austin Croshere $0 $0 $0 $0 TOTALS: $89,140,027 $74,077,697 $26,937,500 $14,937,500

Fegan won this game of no-limit poker.  In a market where the salary cap is going to be LOWER than last year, and you have the class of 2010 on the horizon, why would you spend excessive amounts of money now?

Danny, I know you are worried about LeBron.  If he is as fickle as to snatch up cameras because he got hammered on, you know he will leave CLE on a whim for his chase for the golden ticket.  For that, I can see why you might have panicked, but just continue to have the poker face, and never let then see you sweat.

See, this was a good move for Ferry in 2007.

After months of being unable to get a deal done with the Cavaliers, Varejao accepted a three-year, $17.4 million offer sheet from the Charlotte Bobcats late Monday, Varejao’s agent, Dan Fegan, said. The deal has an opt-out clause after two seasons, which is the key part of the deal. (Ohio.com)

You played hardball, and you resigned him at an affordable rate.  Now, Fegan deserves props too.  he used his old connections with Rod Higgins to get the Bobcats to offer the sheet in the first place.  Without the offer, Ferry holds all the cards.

This year is different, because AV used the parachute in his contract to void the final year, but Portland and Memphis are the only teams with cap space that will go above the MLE, without involving a sign and trade.

You might not hold the nuts, but you have a pretty good drawing hand.  Just like Matt Damon’s character Matt McDermott got his law professor to win a big hand with a busted straight draw, Danny Ferry could have gotten Dan Fegan to fold and accept a smaller, more reasonable deal.

I thought that GM’s and owners learned that the only players worth extending more than three or four years are bona fide superstars, or players with reasonable deals.  This is not one of them.

Danny Ferry is Teddy KGB.  Just because you won the first time, doesn’t mean that you have a read on that player.  Re-evaluate your options, then act…

(parts of this are posted at Bleacher Report and at WCLBasketball)

CheapASSness by Dumars prevents Avery Johnson from being coach… Pistons hiring John Kuester from the Cavs…

Hello Chauncey! He isn't here anymore...that's okay... I have the Answer! He is leaving too? Well if I can control Rasheed's temper I am good to go! He left? F@#K! Who is left?!?!?!

Avery Johnson will not be the next coach of the Detroit Pistons, who are instead closing in on hiring Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach John Kuester, according to ESPN.com

Johnson, an ESPN NBA analyst, confirmed in a SportsCenter interview Tuesday afternoon that he and the Pistons have broken off contract talks after more than two days of negotiations.

“At our present stage, we just feel it’s important that we continue to make decisions that are best for our team,” Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said.

Sources close to the process told ESPN.com that the job would instead go to Kuester in a deal likely to be completed later Tuesday or Wednesday.

They had met several times and it seemed like they were on the path for an agreement.  Doug Collins stepped down and Flip had already signed with the Wizards (although it is tough to come home again…)  ESPN.com explains the reason for the empasse

The Pistons’ pursuit of Johnson ended, sources said, because Detroit — having paid both Flip Saunders and recently fired Michael Curry last season and still owing an estimated $5 million to Curry over the next two seasons — was only prepared to extend a two-year offer to Johnson with a team option for a third season.

So Joe Dumars did it because he is cheap…that is a sad commentary on the state of the economy…

It’s believed that Johnson wanted no less than the security of a four-year contract, given where the retooling Pistons stand in the Eastern Conference hierarchy after a 39-43 season and the fact that Detroit is looking for its sixth coach in Dumars’ 10 seasons running the front office. When that gap couldn’t be bridged, sources said, no formal offer was made to Johnson.

“I looked at it, I was interested in it, but I was only interested in it if we could agree on a vision for the team going forward,” Johnson said in the SportsCenter interview.

Dumars told the Detroit News: “Where we are right now as a team is kind of like where we were at the start of the Rick Carlisle era. And a $4 [million] to $5 million [per year] coach is not what we need right now. We didn’t have one of those until we were close to contending for a championship when we got Larry [Brown].”

Memo to Joe D… You are right in that you are no where near a championship team right now.  When are the owners going to hold your feet to the fire for this?

You drafted the guy NOT on the cover...

Doug Collins pulling out is not a surprise.  I think that he enjoys being courted and gets some weird vibe from rejecting others.  This might be the fourth job he has turned down, after kicking the tires and looking around and taking it out for a test drive…

TNT analyst Doug Collins withdrew from consideration last week after sources told ESPN.com that he was formally offered the Detroit job. Boston Celtics associate head coach Tom Thibodeau is the only other known candidate, but sources say Dumars was always planning to move quickly to Kuester if no deal with Johnson could be reached.

It’s believed that Kuester’s offensive expertise and his history with the Pistons after working in Detroit as an assistant under Brown appeal greatly to Dumars. That’s despite that fact that Kuester — who was expected to travel to Detroit to meet face-to-face with Dumars later Tuesday — has never been a head coach in the NBA.

I cant believe that the finances and mistakes by Joe Dumars are going to cost the Pistons plenty by not getting a good coach like the Little General.  But, lets meet John Kuester

John Dewitt Kuester Jr.^[1] (pronounced: QUE-ster^[2]) (born February 6, 1955, in Richmond, Virginia) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6’2″ (188 cm) 180 lb (82 kg) guard and played collegiately with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels from 1973–77.^[3][4] He played in the NBA from 1977 to 1980. He is reportedly the new head coach of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.

Here is his coaching bio

After his playing days, Kuester began a basketball coaching career, volunteering as an assistant at the University of Richmond in 1980 to 1981.^[4] From 1981 to 1983 he was an assistant to Rick Pitino at Boston University, before succeeding him in 1983 as the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I .^[2][3][4]

From 1985 to 1990 he was the head coach at George Washington University. His 1988-1989 Colonials team compiled a 1-27 record, one of the worst ever in NCAA history.^[4][6]

He continued his career on the sidelines in the NBA, joining the Boston Celtics in 1990 and serving as an assistant from 1995 to 1997,^[4] and from 1997 to 2003 an assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers under head coach Larry Brown. In 2003-04, Kuester followed Brown to the Detroit Pistons where he also served as an assistant. In 2004-05 Kuester was an assistant with the New Jersey Nets,^[3] and returned to the 76ers once more in 2005-06. In July 2006, Kuester was named as an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic.^[7]

On August 12, 2007, it was reported from league sources that Kuester would be named to Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown‘s staff, replacing the departing Kenny Natt.^[8]

His record as a head coach doesn’t inspire feelings of championships.  Admittedly, he was the youngest coach in Division One, but all the shows is that he was over matched.

School	Season	Record
		Overall	Conference
Boston University	1983-1984	20-9	0-0
Boston University	1984-1985	15-13	0-0
George Washington	1985-1986	12-16	7-11
George Washington	1986-1987	10-19	6-12
George Washington	1987-1988	10-17	0-0
George Washington	1988-1989	1-27	1-17
George Washington	1989-1990	14-17	10-6

You started to turn them around, but the 1-27 was probably too much to overcome.  He has NBA bench experience, but…all we can do is wait and see if Dumars dumpster diving is going to work out…

LBJ staying in Cleveland??? More Proof that Ariza made a bad decision

The scream is when he found out that his agent took the same money to send him to Houston

Trevor Ariza was clearly only thinking about playing time, not winning rings.  Now, playing time is important if you are one of the fringe players, looking to remain in the league.  Ariza is not that.  He was an important cog to the Lakers championship run.

But, what the Lakers did was replace a piece in the engine and upgraded with a turbocharger (Ron Artest).  There is always a risk when you are trying to put a hundred shot nitrous system in the car.  You are not really supposed to drop additional gas into the combustion engine (crazy eyes Ron).  If you want to squeeze every last drop of power, that is what you need to do to beat your opponent (kiss the rings).

Besides just wanting the security of a longer deal (The Rockets got a great deal in that they were able to lock him up for five years on the MLE, which I predict he will exceed in two to three years based on performance, AND he is only 24.  He should have taken less years to hit the peak curve in his athletic cycle which is the ages of 27-29, then hit free agency) he wanted to start (earn it on the hard court like everyone else) and he wanted to be close to his toddler son (commendable, but ultimately could not have been THAT important, since you TURNED DOWN AN OFFER TO STAY IN LA where his son and girlfriend are.)

Now comes to light (though sources of course…) that LBJ PROMISED Ariza that he would stay in Cleveland beyond his deal in 2010.  Of course, he could be lying like Boozer did to Cleveland, so Cavs fans won’t really get excited until this FA season next year. ESPN reports what could be terrific news for Cavs/LBJ fans.

The Cleveland Cavaliers got some bad news followed by some potentially terrific news on Sunday. In a last-ditch effort to recruit Trevor Ariza away from the Houston Rockets, LeBron James told Ariza he would remain with the Cavaliers past 2010, according to a person close to Ariza.

Even that wasn’t enough to get Ariza, who verbally committed to join the Rockets last Thursday, to change his mind and go to Cleveland.

But the Cavaliers will gladly settle for the consolation prize; if indeed James’ statement to Ariza was more than an empty sales pitch.

“Trevor asked LeBron if he would be in Cleveland after next season,” the source said. “And LeBron said, ‘I’ll be there. Of course, I’ll be there.'”

James could not be reached for comment on Monday.

I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU THINK ITS A RECRUITING TOOL. Then you have leverage as well.  Don’t sign a long term deal if you are that worried.  Sign a one year deal.  You always have the risk of injury, but either you think LBJ can take you to the promised land, or you want the cake…

Ariza, who had accepted a five-year, $33.5 million offer from the Rockets last Thursday, also received telephone calls from James and Shaquille O’Neal. When James told Ariza he’d be a Cavalier past next season, Ariza was less than convinced.

“He thought it was just a recruiting tool,” the source said. “LeBron definitely said it, but until he signs the contract it doesn’t mean much.”

The Cavaliers did not ask James or O’Neal to call Ariza, but as he did with Ron Artest, James took it upon himself to reach out. James’ future in Cleveland has been an issue with potential signees.