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

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

LeBron James “attempts” to defend his friend…why is this news?

and another question is “Lebron, why are you a snitch?” That is all you did here…Either hire someone to beat him down, or for a better suggestion, just do it yourself. If one of my boys get decked in a fight,we would be riding for the dude that did it.

Maybe this is the way to bring a championship to CLE....

When you have nothing to say, sometimes you grab for anything. In being interviewed, LeBron called Braylon Edwards childish for allegedly hitting a friend of his.

BEREA, Ohio (AP)—LeBron James called Browns receiver Braylon Edwards(notes) “childish” for allegedly punching James’ friend early Monday morning outside of a Cleveland night club.

James said Edwards punched Edward Givens, a friend of James’ and a promoter with a Cleveland marketing firm who was working outside the club around 2:30 a.m. EDT.

The world does not revolve around you Lebron. In fact a lot of people just don't care and are not jealous of you.

“I’ve never crossed paths with Braylon before, but it seems like there’s a little jealousy going on with Braylon and me and my friends. I have no idea why,” James said. “I’ve never said anything to Braylon at all. But for him to do that is very childish. My friend is 130 pounds. Seriously. It’s like hitting one of my kids. It doesn’t make sense.”

James says he was home when the fight occurred, but got a call from Givens telling him about it at 7 a.m. Monday.

LeBron, it sounds like this dude is one of your kids. Why is he calling you that early in the morning to talk about what happened at the club? Did he stay out past his curfew? It makes sense if dude was talking slick. He is old enough to be responsible for what he says.

This reminds me of what happened to Erik when he went to the CAL game this weekend. (To make a long story short, this old dude thought that he could check Erik with repercussions. He was wrong … E almost had to beat an old dude down in front of his father.) Bottom line, if someone puts his hands on you, or says something slick, then all bets are off.

maybe less time on the sidekick and more time watching where you are going would have prevented you from getting smacked up....this is a promotional picture of the firm that LBJ's friend works at. Not sure which he is, but he got bruised up!

Browns coach Eric Mangini said he has spoken with Braylon Edwards about the alleged fight.

I wonder what Coach said….I would have said something like, “Where was that fight during the game, since we lost and you didn’t catch a single pass, even though Anderson threw for 269 yards?”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a 28-year-old man accused Edwards of punching him in the face following an argument. The man said Edwards hit him with a closed fist. He said he suffered a black eye and cut and was treated at a hospital.

Why is this part news? Did he expect to be hit with an open fist in a slapping motion?

he does look pretty satisfied.....

Mangini said he was aware of the incident. He added his players’ personal conduct is important and that he was still gathering information on the incident.

Edwards did not catch a pass in Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to Cincinnati. It was the first time in 62 career games Edwards did not have at least one reception.

So, it might have changed Braylon’s game, hopefully LBJ will not let it change his game.

Hissy fits are not just for children anymore… LBJ or NIKE bans Jordan Crawford dunk…

You can’t be KING if you are this soft…

Here is LBJ getting dunked on by Courtney Lee in the Playoffs.

It happens to everyone.  All the greats have been dunked on.  When you actually play defense, you will get dunked on from time to time.  Either you are coming over to help someone, or as I preach, you didn’t keep your head on a swivel and someone was able to come backdoor on you.

You get over it and move on.  But, LeBron and Nike couldn’t make that so.

Why did they take away the tapes? Jordan Crawford: “I don’t really know anything about that, that’s Nike and him overriding it. I don’t wanna get caught up in that.” How did the dunk happen? “He was waiting under the rim while I was coming towards him, and I jumped, and he kinda jumped away. I don’t think he thought I was gonna dunk it, and then, you know. (Host: You dunked it.) Yeah.” What were you guys playing at the time? “We was playing 5-on-5; it was 20 college campers and we were split up in to four teams and LeBron brought his own team.” Was he annoyed after you dunked on him? “He definitely took over – he was LeBron, he was still LeBron. It happened, like, the first 30 minutes when we we hooping, and we was hooping for like two hours. After I did it, we just kept playing ’cause the basketball just got started really.” Sports Radio Interviews

Depending on who you believe, either Nike (that is what LeBron is saying) or the King (that is what is insinuated in some articles) snatched up the film of the dunk.  Now cyberspace is blowing up wanting to see the dunk.

Hopefully, they will not turn over the tapes to Roger “The Eraser” Goodell, because then we will never see the footage.  The only thing that I hope for is that the footage makes it way into some commercial.  That is the only real way to come back from the PR hit.  ESPN continues…

But this week, James outdid himself when he turned an innocent dunk at his basketball camp in Akron into a covert Navy SEALs operation.On Monday night, a pair of videographers recorded Xavier’s Jordan Crawford dunking on James during a pickup game. After James allegedly huddled with Nike executive Lynn Merritt, the tapes were confiscated.

Did he or didn’t he?  Who was the person who made the decision to confiscate the tapes?  Here is a PDF of the rules, and they don’t limit the ability to film…
Getting dunking on is a ritual of life.  One of the greatest shotblockers did get a facial by KJ, as the ESPN article points out.

Kobe got Dwight Howard.  It’s just a part of basketball

Also, Jordan made a habit of dunking on fools.  If you go to our basketball blog at wclbasketball you can see Ariza giving someone the business.  It is a fact of life as a baller.

If you want to talk embarrassing, look at this video of Devin Harris and Stuart Tanner.  Even though Tanner has some chops as a baller in the UK, look how he is dressed…while they say it wasn’t a set-up, Stu KNEW that the NBA player would be there.  The clothes is the final nail in the coffin.

Now, that is embarrassing, but life goes on.  You already have a rep for being a bad sport.  LeBron, if you have any control, you would get the tape back…There is no reason to hate on Jordan Crawford and his moment in the sun.  Let a brotha get some shine….

crossposted at 2oldformaxim

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)

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.