Archive for the 'Olympics' Category

Lebron lost to a white guy in Venice… not Woody Harrelson

Published
by
Bob
on September 3, 2008
in Lebron and Olympics
. 0 Comments

Well ESPN is reporting that Lebron choked away two games of HORSE against David Kalb: 

LeBron James could be excused for his poor shooting from behind the arc, and for being blown out in a game of H-O-R-S-E with a warehouse worker in a beach exhibition. James was still floating in the clouds from his Olympic experience.

“I still haven’t [come down]. It’s an unbelievable experience to go out there and represent your country the way we were able to do it, showcasing our talent to the world, playing the game that we love to play,” James said Wednesday. “It was really fun that we were able to bring home our game, that’s the game of basketball.

“I guaranteed the gold medal would be back in the United States of America. You hate the fact that it’s over. You’re never going to have that team again, as powerful as we were, we’re never going to have that team again.”

He has special plans for his gold medal.

“It’s being framed as we speak. I sent it away to be framed and cased up so I could set it in my office and not so many people can touch it now. It got enough fingerprints on it from the time I brought it home,” he said with a chuckle.

James was on an outdoor court at Venice Beach to take on David Kalb in a shooting game, mostly of trick shots, although James’ outside shooting touch was way off. At one point, he grinned and said, “That wind.”

Kalb won the matchup with James in an online contest, “LeBron’s Trick Shot Challenge sponsored by Cub Cadet.”

Kalb’s bag of trick shots including one where he bounced the ball very high in the lane, raced around the goal post, caught the ball as it came down, and tossed it in the basket. James missed his try, and after losing the first game, declared best two-of-three. Each made, among other shots, left-handed free throws, but Kalb went on to win the second game as well.

After he missed his final shot, James tossed the ball away in mock anger.

Asked if the matchup against Kalb was tougher than winning a gold medal, James said it was, because he was by himself and didn’t have his Olympic teammates.

Exaggerate much Lebron?  Kalb better get some “I beat Lebron twice” ass out of this contest.  Part of me wonders if Kalb doesn’t have some sort of learning disability because there had to be just a little part of Lebron that wanted to unleash some of this Philip Banks-style ass kicking.  Pride is pride:

 

Lebron, when asked about how his Olympic experience would impact the Cavaliers, made sure everyone knew that he was no second fiddle this summer.

“Leadership, being able to go out and lead some of the best in the world makes it a lot easier to lead some of the guys on my team,” James said. “When you can tell Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh some things that they’re doing wrong, or right, it’s a lot easier to go home to your respective team and tell those guys what they’re doing wrong or right.”

As for his return to the Olympics in 2012, James was non-commital:

“I’m still living on what happened this past month, haven’t thought about 2012 in London. But I think it’s going to be unbelievable. I’m definitely open to being a part of the Olympic team in 2012,” he said. “Hopefully the next group of guys, and if it’s including myself, will be good.”

He’ll be back in the Olympics.  Nobody in the league may be as focused on becoming a global icon as James, and if he truly wants to maintain all the good will and his image abroad, a platform like the Olympics is something that is too good to pass up.  You gain goodwill at home while raising your awareness abroad. 

I’ll post the video if one surfaces (I’m sure it will at some point).

Lebron overjoyed…. Boozer an emotionless robot

Published
by
Bob
on August 29, 2008
in Lebron and Olympics
. 4 Comments

The best part of this video to me is not Lebron singing the star-spangled banner…..

It’s definitely how excited everyone is in stark contrast to Carlos Boozer.  

Obviously sitting on the bench pretty much all game every game gave him a lot of time to soak in the magnitude of what it would mean to win Olympic gold.  By the time this post-game locker room video was taken, he was to the point of been there, done that.

 

This Lebron/Kidd thing has gotten ridiculous

Published
by
Bob
on August 28, 2008
in Lebron, Olympics and Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

So it’s no secret Lebron James loves Jason Kidd.  Last year, James lobbied for him to be traded to the Cavs, and considering the ridiculous size of Kidd’s contract, you’d have to have a healthy appreciation for his abilities in order to advocate handcuffing a team’s payroll with an aging point guard making in excess of 20 million dollars.  Well the Olympics brought a whole new level of man love as Lebron and Kidd played their ways to a gold medal performance for Team USA.  After the Olympics, Kidd had the following to say:

“I’m undefeated,” Kidd, 35, said. “I told them I can retire now from international ball, but LeBron [James] threw out something I didn’t like. He said he won’t play in 2012 unless I’m there.”

I could pretend I’m writing this because I’m interested in talking about Kidd and Lebron playing together someday, or how ridiculous it is that Jason Kidd is giving his gold medal to the wife of Las Vegas Casino owner Steve Wynn, or even Lebron’s claims of not playing in 2012 without Kidd, but I’ll leave that to others who do it better (Waiting for Next Year spoke on this subject earlier today even).  I really just wanted to throw my hat in the photoshop arena and combine a few of the creepier images that have emerged since the Olympics concluded.  

First there was this image of Jason Kidd taken after Team USA won gold.

He looks like a pedophile.  There’s a part of me that believes that he’s giving the medal away as a way to rid himself of any incriminating evidence (”the man with the giant gold medal and huge head touched me!”). But then while reading Ball Don’t Lie, I came upon this image of Lebron James at Morton’s upon returning to Cleveland.  

And now….. I give you the uncanny similarity.

I’ve available for freelance work.  I know my photoshop skills are tremendous.

 

 

Zydrunas Ilgauskas: Headed for the rafters?

Published
by
Bob
on August 26, 2008
in Lebron, NBA News and Olympics
. 8 Comments

Prepare to be ballwashed Mr. Ilgauskas.  There couldn’t be less news going on if we lived in China so I’ve decided that you’ve earned a look back at your achievements in the NBA, and a look towards your post-career legacy.

Certain statistics get brought up all the time during FSN Ohio Cavalier broadcasts.  Things like Lebron James’s 4th quarter scoring average, the NBA’s “youngest to” stats, or where James’s season statistics rank against the greats like Magic, Oscar Robertson, and Larry Bird are plastered all over Cavs telecasts.  The graphics are ready to go and are used as frequently as the dump button for microphones within 20 feet of Kevin Garnett during an NBA game.

But last year, during one of the Cavaliers regular season match-ups with the Celtics, FSN pulled out a new statistic that I had to let sink in.  

At that time, Zydrunas Ilgauskas trailed only Paul Pierce as the NBA player with the longest tenure on one team yet to win a championship (642 games for Zydrunas Ilgauskas to Pierce’s 732).  He now sits atop that statistic, for better or worse, as the one stable component to Cavaliers’ basketball for the last decade.  

He has played in 642 games for the Cavaliers during his 11 year career, and the his most celebrated moment was quite possibly when he was the recipient of a hug from Lebron James after winning the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals.  

Look at the photo.  His face is shielded from view, and when time passes and future generations unfamiliar with his game reflect upon Z’s contributions, that photo gives the impression that he was riding the pine (thanks to the warmups).  Z has had plenty of on-court triumphs, but none on the NBA’s biggest stage, and it’d be a shame if the most viewed video of Big Z on YouTube turns out to be this one:

 

Don’t worry.  There’s competition (such as directly below), but generally speaking, if you’re YouTube highlight video contains footage of making regular season free throws and starts with you missing your first attempt, you’re game wasn’t one that translates well to the YouTube generation.

 

But as much as I kid about his awkward motion on the court, or his less than exciting midrange and free throw proficiency, Z is taken for granted by too many.

For the better part of 10 years, Cavs fans have had an upper echelon center when the rest of the team has been in constant flux. While he’s only made two All-Star appearances (2003 and 2005), a look at his numbers shows a tremendous level of consistency. While other centers have fallen off considerably after the age of 30, Z is still going strong and has developed the strengths in his game that will remain in tact irrespective of age (i.e. his shooting touch, his ability to hit free throws).

His 2007-2008 season brought his best year for rebounding (9.3 per game), his 4th most productive scoring year (at 14.1 points per game), and a third consecutive season of shooting north of 80% on his free throw attempts.  He also logged more than 70 games for the 6th straight season.

Six names grace the retired numbers list of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are as follows:

7 - Bingo Smith, F, 1970-79 (12.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 720 games as a Cavalier)
22 - Larry Nance, F, 1988-94 (16.8 ppg, 8.22 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 433 games as a Cavalier)
25 - Mark Price, G, 1986-95 (16.4 ppg, 7.2 apg, 90.4 FT%, 582 games as a Cavalier)
34 - Austin Carr, G, 1971-80 (16.1 ppg, 81 FT%, 635 games as a Cavalier)
42 - Nate Thurmond, C, 1975-77 (5.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 114 games as a Cavalier)
43 - Brad Daugherty, C, 1986-94 (19.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 548 games as a Cavalier)

Add Zydrunas to the mix and you wouldn’t raise many eyebrows from a numbers standpoint.  Sure he presided over some of the Cavaliers worst teams following the departure of Mark Price, but one man does not make a team.  Three of the Cavaliers greats (Price, Nance, and Daugherty) won so much because they happened to be on the team simultaneously, and one of the remaining three (Nate Thurmond) barely played with the Cavs.  Z’s numbers nestle in there seamlessly:

11 - Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C, 1997-? (14.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 642 games as a Cavalier)

Now we’ll likely see those career numbers dip, but if Ilgauskas logs just 79 more games over the remainder of the two years left on his contract, he’ll be atop the list amongst Cavalier greats for the longest time wearing the Wine & Gold (or putrid lightning bolt accented white, black, and light blue…those uniforms never happened).

Every Cavs fan knows about Z’s character.  They know about his resiliency, bouncing back from devastating early career foot injuries to become one of the Cavs lynchpins.  They know about his personal hardships, having to suffer through some tragic events during what was the Cavaliers best season in team history.  They know about how professionally he’s handled the Cavs decision not to allow him to compete in the Olympics due to injury concerns (a decision that despite my love for the Cavs I wish they would have reconsidered).  

And hopefully, when Z walks away, future generations will know him as the last player in Cavalier history to wear #11 and the second to hoist a championship trophy (right after Lebron gets to touch it).

Will Big Z have his number retired?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

A little more Olympic follow up

Published
by
Bob
on August 25, 2008
in Lebron and Olympics
. 0 Comments

Team USA is back on top, and now that the Olympics are over, it will be back to NBA related stories, but it’s worth taking a follow up look to tie up some loose ends.  After the game, it was mostly Wade and Kobe but here’s some of what Lebron had to say about the American’s return to the top of the basketball world.

From the Plain Dealer:

“Much respect to Spain, but the U.S. is back on top again,” Cavaliers superstar and Akron native LeBron James said.

“We were asked if we wanted to make a commitment to this,” said James, who had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. “To do something we have never done before — win a gold medal.”

“We had a game plan, and they countered everything we tried,” James said. “Every possession counted. It will probably go down in history as one of the greatest Olympics games ever.”

“If it wasn’t for the determination and the willpower we had, we would not have gotten this win,” James said. “The biggest thing is that U.S. is back on top again.”

Anyone who missed the game, missed an amazing showing from Rudy Fernandez, just another reason for Blazers fans to be excited about an incoming rookie.

Watch Rudy’s Dunk on Dwight Howard here.

I can help but feel great for Carmelo Anthony.  The guy has constantly been chastised as a player who would never reach his full potential because of his character, or because of the seemingly lethargic way he glides around the court.  He was in Larry Brown’s doghouse in 2004.

But he was absolutely huge in the final two games of this Olympics.  Wade and Kobe are getting the press, but Carmelo took a lot of physical post assignments seriously, and made his baskets at key points to curb the opponents momentum.  This video features Lebron, but Melo seems like the one who is the most spontaneously happy about winning gold.

The NBA has a lot to be excited about.  If anything this year’s Olympics games will just increase the intensity with which these guy’s compete against one another during the NBA season.  Dwayne Wade came away as the real hero, but Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Chris Bosh all had brilliant stretches that left me in awe of their talents. 

From the foreign perspective, it showcased a lot of current or NBA talent flourishing when playing in more traditional team settings instead of the individual showcases that many NBA games tend to become.  I’m excited for the Blazers and the Grizzlies with Fernandez and Marc Gasol coming over, and seeing Juan Carlos Navarro in action made me wonder what might have been.  He certainly looked like much more than just a shooter in the gold medal game.

As for Chris Kaman, I’m glad his Olympic experience ended with bowing out after a woeful showing.  The exuberance you see in the video above is hard to imagine coming from Kaman even if the Germans had won a gold.  How would that be fulfilling to Kaman considering he essentially played the role of a freakishly tall mercenary who signed on last minute?  Team triumphed here, and the Germans saw a little of what contributed to American let downs in previous years firsthand.