Links To The Present: January 22nd, 2010
2010-01-22
-Delonte West will miss the Cavs’ next game with a fractured left ring finger. I think Delonte will be back on the court soon, but wonder if the injury will have a lingering impact on his shooting touch. He’s only started to get confident from beyond the arc in the last week or two.
-The current plan is that Boobie Gibson will start the next game at the point for the Cavs. Things can change just that fast in this league.
–Cedric Jackson of the Erie Bayhawks has been called up to give the Cavs some point guard help. He’s putting up some nice numbers for Erie, but hasn’t been a tremendously efficient scorer.
-Shoals writes about Kobe/LeBron on FanHouse.
-Also on Fanhouse, Tom Ziller wonders how much the Cavs are really going to miss Mo Williams.
-Who told LeBron to go to the hole just before he made his fast-break layup? Shaq.
-Finally, LeBron rapping along to the last verse of “Forever” just before he had to take crucial free throws in last night’s game has turned into one of LeBron’s patented mini-controversies. If Varejao hadn’t rebounded LeBron’s missed free throw, it would probably be a bigger deal.
I mention this only so that I can talk about my bigger issue with LeBron and “Forever,” one of my favorite songs of the summer. (Warning: R-Rated language in music video) In the music video of the song, why is LeBron playing video poker in a limo? Of the 15 seconds LeBron appears on camera in the video, they honestly couldn’t think of anything else for him to do? What is the possible message he hopes to send by showing him playing pocket fours against strangers online?
At some point during the making of this video, people talked about this, right? A director, LeBron, and other people sat down and came to the decision that LeBron should lead off the music video by playing online poker. That’s what you do when you’re on top of the world? What were the other choices they considered? LeBron playing Farmville? This has been bothering me for months. Not since “Dunk Contests are Bourgeois” has LeBron left me this completely confused.
…lovers gonna love, i don’t even want, none of the above…
Ben Tej:
Re: people who are complaining about LBJ’s antics…
It’s a cliche, but it fits: Haters gonna hate.
“I get a little tired of people trying to make controversies where they don’t exist. LBJ isn’t the same kind of personality that Kobe or MJ are. He dances, raps, etc. to stay loose … people seem to mistake playing loose for being unfocused. LBJ’s results speak for themselves.” I agree. I’ve always wondered when people complain about LBJ’s antics … doesn’t that make him less weird or deficient than Kobe or MJ, as opposed to more weird or deficient? I mean, they’re playing more or less a “kids'” game, right? So it isn’t it a little weirder to treat… Read more »
Interesting collection of articles … I agree that the Shoals’ article was a bit strange, alternating between saying LBJ and Kobe can’t be compared, then doing just that. I don’t think Ziller really gets the importance of Mo to this offense either … or the fact that Delonte (even healthy) isn’t the same force this year that he was last year. I get a little tired of people trying to make controversies where they don’t exist. LBJ isn’t the same kind of personality that Kobe or MJ are. He dances, raps, etc. to stay loose … people seem to mistake… Read more »
The pains of losing our PG’s for at least a month aside… I’m excited about the Cedric Jackson fellow hailing from Cleveland State. He was a hero here last year during the tournament (first berth), so the guy’s gotta have some goosebumps going on heading into his first shot, on a championship team nonetheless.
Kobe/LeBron debate rages on, but I think he nailed it when he stated that it ends up as a matter of preference when we’re comparing these two guys.
Krolik, I need you to talk down the cavs fans that are now clamoring the cavs use their trade pieces for a PG just because of these two injuries..neither of which will have any impact in the playoffs.
Ride it out, don’t panic. We will lose more games, but trading pieces for guys we won’t ultimately need is a really bad idea.
I thought that part was just referring to Lebron taking more jumpers. Although the whole column kinda confused me. There was a gem or two in there, but also quite a bit of head scratching for me. The best part was ” the methodoology of Duncan grafted to the fire-and-brimstone longevity of Jordan.”. Great analogy, I just wish the rest of the column had good stuff consistently.
Also, I just realized I’m not the only Jason here. Perhaps I need to think of a new name…
Can someone explain what exactly Shoals is trying to say? In particular the line about LeBron being mortal and getting more comparable to Bryant. I’m not offended he said Bron was mortal (cause, well, he is), I just want to understand what all of that means. Is the whole thing just a comparison of LeBron’s exuberance and Kobe’s harsh determination?