Shaq third-best bargain in NBA, says league analyst

Jay King | September 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm | 1 Comment

(Is that Shaq-cHale O’Neal?)

Rich Steinlauf, an analyst who has been studying the NBA for three decades, devised a player-ranking model that puts a monetary value on each player in the NBA. Based on his system, a combination of statistics and Steinlauf’s careful observation of players’ games, Shaq was the third-best bargain this offseason. (Sports Illustrated)

3. Shaquille O’Neal. The Celtics will pay a veteran’s minimum of $1.4 million for a future Hall of Famer who can be expected to play like a $5.5 million player. “I had him as the second-best player for Cleveland in the Boston series last year,” Steinlauf said. “When you’re the second-leading scorer for your team in one of the marquee playoff series, you’re probably a pretty good player.”

It’d be great if Shaq turns out to be such a bargain, but the two biggest bargains belonged to the Heat (Lebron and D-Wade, duh) and the fourth-best belonged to the Lakers (Matt Barnes).

And is Shaq really worth $5.5 million? Umm, not if you ask Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer: “O’Neal, at this point, is probably better off working as an entertainer of sorts than someone who should be hedging on Jr. on some random Wednesday in January.

“You saw those games last year. Shaq didn’t really look that bad. He looked like … Shaq. Big guy, one move, two pivots, two hands. To the naked eye, O’Neal looked like a late-30s version of himself. He looked like what you would expect.

“It’s just that all these raw stats tell you that the Cavs were so, so much better with O’Neal on the pine.”

And so the great Shaq debate continues. He’ll either single-handedly destroy the Celtics or he’ll be the third-best bargain in the NBA.

Obama assembles dream basketball game at Fort McNair

Tommy King | August 9, 2010 at 9:45 am | 2 Comments

Forget the Venice Beach Courts, forget Rucker Park, forget The Cage. The best pick up basketball on Sunday was at Fort McNair in Washington, where President Obama hosted the dream pick up basketball game for a group of wounded soldiers and members of the White House’s mentoring program. NBA stars such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony took the court along with Celtics and NBA legend Bill Russell. (Washington Post) Read more >>

Lebron James’s thank you makes him look more heartless

Jay King | August 3, 2010 at 2:33 pm | 7 Comments

"Read the name, Cleveland. And, um, oh yeah, screw you!"

Another day, another Lebron James Eff You to the entire city of Cleveland. This time, Lebron took out an ad in the Akron Beacon Journal to thank Akron. Which is nice and all, except, you know, he never mentioned Cleveland once during the thank you. For those that haven’t read the ad, here’s the text: (via Fear the Sword)

To My Family, Friends and Fans in Akron:

“For all my life, I have lived in Akron — and for that, I am truly a lucky man.

“It was here where I first learned how to play basketball, and where I met the people who would become my lifelong friends and mentors. Their guidance, encouragement and support will always be with me.

“Akron is my home, and the central focus of my life. It’s where I started, and it’s where I will always come back to. You can be sure that I will continue to do everything I can for this city, which is so important to my family and me.

Thank you for your love and support. You mean everything to me.”

The weird thing is, Lebron’s thank you could have been a really nice touch. Not that it would have made Cleveland like him at all, but it would have helped ease a little pain (just a tiny bit) from the Decision’s fallout. Plus, it could have started a reversal of Lebron’s public perception, which is currently dwindling a little more every day. It could have, you know, until Lebron decided to mention Cleveland a whopping zero times in his thank you, completely neglecting the city that cheered him on for the past seven years. The nice touch immediately became an enormous middle finger to an entire city.

Maybe he was planning to thank Cleveland too. It’s not out of the question that Lebron had an ad he planned to run in the Cleveland Plain Dealer as well. But if he did, it only accentuates how misguided he is. How could he not have known the public disapproval that would befall him when he came out with a thank you that didn’t mention Cleveland once? Even if he does run an ad in the Plain Dealer now, people will think he only did it as a result of the backlash to his original, Cleveland-less thank you. Even if he meant to do it all along.

Matt Moore of CBS Sports explained the botched thank you as a business decision gone wrong, but this goes well past the realm of business. Those Clevelanders worshipped Lebron for seven years. He was the Chosen One, Cleveland’s next great hope, and he was a local boy destined to turn the entire city’s bleak prospects upside down. Instead he left, tore Cleveland’s heart out in a nationally televised execution, and now completely declined to thank the city and its people. Leaving Cleveland out, if Lebron meant to do it, is beyond classless.

Look Lebron: Yeah, Clevelanders have burned some of (all of?) your jerseys. Yeah, they despise you about as much as they hate cancer. Yeah, they disowned you the second you decided to take your talents to South Beach. But can you blame them for that? Are you really going to hold a grudge? What are you, a hormonal teenager on your period? Those fans loved you, they trusted you, and they had some crazy illusion that you wouldn’t want to rip their hearts out on national television. You should have thanked them, and apologized to them, the day after you left.

Lebron, you could have taken the high road, thanked Cleveland for seven great years and come out looking like you actually had a heart. Instead you took the road less traveled, the road that offers thanks to one city but completely fails to mention the one where you played for seven years. And somehow, even after saying thank you, the legend of Lebron James, First-Class Asshole continues to grow.

P.S. – I shouldn’t be commenting on thank you notes at all. I still haven’t sent out thank yous for my graduation gifts. That’s a long-ass time not to send out thank you notes. But when I do finally get to them, I am definitely thanking my aunts but not my uncles.

P.P.S. – Don’t let Lebron take all the heat. Here’s Dwyane Wade: “I understand people are going to say stuff. And we accept it with open arms,” Wade said. “And even on the road, because every place is going to sell out when we come to town. So [opposing teams] can thank us now.” 

“So opposing teams can thank us now,” huh? Here’s hoping the Celtics thank Lebron just like Lebron thanked Cleveland.

Gerald Green is going going, back back, to Russia Russia

Jay King | at 1:37 pm | 0 Comments

(Gotta love Tommy’s cackle.)

Damn it, guys. The best free agent left on the market has decided to take his talents to Russia. (Pro Basketball Talk)

Insanely athletic players like Gerald Green tend to get more NBA chances than most, but for the second straight year Green will ply his trade in Russia. According to the team page for BC Krasnye Krylia (via Inside Hoops), Green has been signed by the club after playing for Lokomotiv Kuban last year.

I’m so pissed. I always thought Gerald Green was the perfect answer to Lebron and Dwyane Wade. He’s just as athletic as all those guys, he can shoot from outside and he has all the tools to be one hell of a defender. I’ve thought all along that the Celtics should have scooped him up as their answer to the SuperFriends. He would have been cheap and he has enormous upside.

P.S. – I’m just kidding, guys. When it comes to basketball, Gerald Green is illiterate.

Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis fraternize with the enemy

Jay King | July 26, 2010 at 12:15 pm | 7 Comments

Good to see Lebron's still humble.

Rajon Rondo and Glen Davis were seen partying with Lebron James and Dwyane Wade in Las Vegas on Friday. Maybe that would explain Rondo’s performance in Saturday’s scrimmage. (The Examiner via Ball Don’t Lie)

King James arrived to cheers at Tao Beach and was joined in the grand cabana by a group of friends including new Miami Heat teammate Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. At one point the fans in the pool chanted his name and James pulled out his camera to capture the moment. Nearby, former NBA player Alan Henderson and Glen Davis from the Boston Celtics also took in the sun and the scene. [...]

Basketball’s most wanted man, LeBron James, spent the night at Lavo inside The Palazzo celebrating his recent contract signing with the Miami Heat. James was joined by Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, San Diego Charger Shaun Phillips, Atlanta Hawk Josh Smith, Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies, Boston Celtic Rajon Rondo and Larry Hughes of the Charlotte Bobcats. Fans of all ages waited outside the celebrity dining hotspot for the arrival of King James, who enjoyed dinner at the Italian eatery after walking the red carpet.

After dinner, James and his friends took over some VIP tables on the dance floor in Lavo’s nightclub where they danced and partied the night away, fueled by Perrier Jouët Rose Champagne, Patron Tequila and vodka.

Get mad at this if you want but, really, it doesn’t matter one bit. I have a lot of friends I used to play basketball against. And you know what? Every time I played against them I wanted to tear their hearts out and watch them bleed.

Highlight Reel: Dwyane Wade rapping

Jay King | July 21, 2010 at 5:00 pm | 4 Comments

Make no mistake about it, Dwyane Wade will never crack the list of the top five rapper’s alive. For those of you keeping score at home, the top five still goes like this: Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan and Dylan.