Links To The Present: May 21, 2010
2010-05-21
“And what does it say to a city, to a region whose glory has passed, if its brightest and only star were to decamp? Is it finally time to turn off the lights? If LeBron were to leave for New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, it would be entirely understandable. The legacy of Jordan has led us to this; the elite athlete as a global brand, the image of a multinational corporation. But if James stays, he will have essentially decided that hearth and home is more important than the calculus of hard currency. It will have been a genuine and personal choice. And maybe, in some small way, it will imply that the rust belt is not quite finished yet, as long as people with talent and ambition are willing to stay and rebuild it anew.” [Krai Charuwatsuntorn – ClipperBlog]
“All these rumors out there are absolutely untrue,” said Carter, the most powerful voice in James’ inner circle. “LeBron just wants to win. He doesn’t want to handpick his next coach.” [Maverick Carter from Chris Broussard’s Post]
There are about 2^4096 people I’d like to have the NBA investigate for Tampering regarding LeBron James. Marc Cuban is NOT one of them..
“Truth is, politics and casinos aside, I think Dan Gilbert is the best owner this town has ever seen. He is passionate about the team, but willing to let his coaches, players and front office personnel do their jobs. He supplies financially for every need they might have. He isn’t afraid to spend money. When was the last time you thought that way about a Cleveland owner? If there is hope for the future of basketball in Cleveland (particularly in a post-LeBron setting) Dan Gilbert is a big reason for that hope.” [RICK@WFNY]
My guess is George is a Quicken Loans employee or a sock puppet. I almost made a Freudian slip when I typed sock puppet as starting with a C.
George, Why do you think Gilbert “treats the rest of his workers (non-basketball) like garbage.”? Quicken Loans is consistently on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to work for list (this year #29). I have no first hand knowledge one way or the other, I’m just genuinely curious why you’re attacking the guy.
Man, I want the Suns to win. Screw that “beat the west” crap; Nash deserves a ring. All they need to do is learn how to play defense in the time span of a few games. Yeah, it can happen.
Hah! Everyone laughed at me when I said this would be less of a disappointment if the Celtics won the championship and no other team took them to 6 games. But I KNEW!
I can’t wait to see the cognitive dissonance coming out of the ESPN analysts on Monday morning. They’ve had to revise their post season narrative like 10 times now.
celtics are playing some championship basketball right now. that’s all there is to it.
I said it after game 2 in this series and it is proving to be true. The Magic are in worse shape come the off-season than the Cavs. Rashad Lewis, at 20 million a yeear, is a lesser player than Jamison. Rashard has three years left, compared to Jamisons 2. I say this second part with full confidence. Jameer Nelson is no better than Mo Williams, and they are both getting paid about the same money. Throw in Vince Carter who is also on the books for the next year..and uh-oh. So..the Magic are at 79 million next year, which… Read more »
George, no clue what kind of vendetta you have against Gilbert. Maybe you work for the guy and he sucks as a boss, I dunno. But the fact that he supplys finances in bunches is about all you ask for from a team owner. He does it, so he isn’t worthless at least in the owning of a team.
So how bad is our loss if Orlando gets swept? The Celtics look better than the Lakers in my opinion. Who would’ve thought Big Baby could score like that? I think the Cavs shouldn’t feel so horribly that they lost. If they take the championship I think it would save Lebron some agony. Maybe even make him reconsider leaving.
Orlando lays an even bigger egg than Cleveland….
Whatever Gilbert’s merits as a supplier of finances, he’s a worthless and unprofessional owner. The guy treats the rest of his workers (non-basketball) like garbage. I can’t believe the guy got his name written into the Ohio Constitution. If it takes losing LeBron for him to suffer financially (aside from the repercussions of his sub-prime loaning practices), I’ll take it.
The Mo Williams contract isn’t bad. When you look at his contract, and then look at his production, it isn’t a terrible deal. However, the Jamison contract is different thing. But we’d have to get expiring deals in return. This team, w/o LeBron, isn’t going to be a winner sometime so unless you can unload Jamison’s deal for an expiring (cause Jamison’s is up the season after) then there is no point in doing a sign-and-trade for LeBron to bring in a bunch of mid-level guys who are overpaid and going to help us get to 43 wins and a… Read more »
There’s a debate on WFNY on whether the Cavs should do a sign and trade if LeBron decides to leave or just let him walk and keep the cap space. I don’t think the Cavs would be able to get equal value for LeBron, but I wonder if it could be used as a way to unload Antawn and/or Mo. The Cavs would want to get rid of those contracts anyway, so it might be an opportunity. I don’t knoq if anyone would take them, or if a third team would have to be involved or what. I may be… Read more »
Loved the link headline about the Maverick Carter statements on ESPN.com. “LeBron advisor: Rumors absolutely untrue”
Clearly toeing the line on the Delonte West/LeBron’s mom thing, 99% of the people who clicked that link were thinking it was about rumors other than LeBron preferring a particular coach.