While the media and other NBA free agents impatiently waited for LeBron James’ other size 16 shoe to drop, the four-time MVP was too busy working on a master plan and bumping Drake on his Beats headphones to hear the commotion outside. Just hold on I’m coming home. The Akron, Ohio native mildly surprised the sports world when he announced he’d be returning back to his roots to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers and instantly shifted the Eastern Conference power to the Midwest.
In Cleveland, James will join All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving and number one draft pick Andrew Wiggins, the player billed as “the next LeBron James” for the past three or four years. James’ presence will instantly make the Cavs a player in the East. If a much rumored deal to acquire the Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love is completed without giving up Wiggins, the Cavs will instantly become one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. A potential lineup of Irving, Wiggins, James, Love and defensive, rebounding and hustling specialist Anderson Varejao is a scary sight for opponents.
The Cavaliers won’t have to travel too far to find its toughest competition. The Indiana Pacers team will return most of its stars from a team that posted the best record in the Eastern Conference this past season. Though they fell apart at the end of the season, this unit still has certified championship contender talent whether the ear-blowing, triple-double posting, pesky, do-it-all small forward by the name of Lance Stephenson returns or not. Stephenson is still testing the free agent waters and has been linked to the Phoenix Suns, the Dallas Mavericks or back to the Pacers by the good ol’ rumor mill.
Also in the Central Division are the Chicago Bulls, who signed a shiny new toy in Pau Gasol who finally left the Los Angeles Lakers. Gasol was seemingly on the trading block every season in the purple and gold and was certainly underappreciated in Hollywood. With no coach, a crippled superstar and now playing second fiddle to the Los Angeles Clippers, it was a no-brainer that Gasol would be on the first flight to a viable contender.
Speaking of the Lakers, it seems like the organization’s transformation into the Clippers is complete after Carmelo Anthony shunned them to return to Phil Jackson and the very average New York Knicks for a max deal. This is what happens when team executives think they are smarter than everybody else. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and co-owner/VP Jim Buss made the silliest decision in ages in 2012 when they chose Mike “No Rings” D’Antoni over Jackson and his 11 championships as coach. A hobbled Bryant is still the best player on the roster, but after Gasol’s departure and Steve Nash’s decline, either Jeremy Lin or former Mizzou Tiger Jordan Clarkson may end up the second best player on the team this season. No disrespect to Clarkson, but yikes! A show of hands of anybody who thinks Anthony would’ve left the Lakers hanging if Jackson was the coach? Nobody?
Going back to James and the Cavaliers, it’s good to see the NBA’s biggest star heading back to a small-market, Midwestern team. While league execs are probably disappointed to see the game’s biggest star leave one its biggest TV markets, it’s nice to see smaller towns win from time to time. Between Cleveland, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, some of the league’s most high-profile players are creating success in some of its smallest cities. I guess I can now return my LeBron James Fan Club card that I let expire when he took his talents to South Beach.
No controversy as Lara dances his way to loss vs Canelo
A casual boxing fan might have had strong suspicions that Erislandy Lara hailed from Chicago, Ill. instead of Guantanamo, Cuba by his performance Saturday night. In the biggest fight of his career, Lara (19-2-2, 12 KO) moved, sidestepped and shuffled his way to a split decision loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KO) in front of 14,239 people. Lara and his camp are screaming robbery, but if the case went to trial, a savvy defense attorney would simply ask the jury, how a man running that fast could be robbed?
It’s as if as soon as the opening bell rang, Lara’s internal iPod began to play R. Kelly‘s “Step in the Name of Love:”
Step step, side to side, round and round, dip it now.
Separate, bring it back, let me see you do the love slide
The sad thing is that now boxing has increasingly become like politics. Whenever there’s a relatively close fight, the loser’s fans scream robbery and outrage and simply refuse to accept the decision. As an objective observer (I don’t consider myself a fan or a hater of either fighter. I respect both.), people calling for an investigation should be slapped or forced to watch 24 hours of John Ruiz fights as a punishment for the fight fan’s form of flopping.
Had Lara won a close decision, I would not have been outraged. Though I scored the bout 116-112 in favor of Alvarez, there were enough close rounds where neither fighter was particularly impressive, that I would understand the difference in opinion. However, in close rounds, I’m far more likely to award it to the guy advancing forward than that guy doing the Electric Slide for twelve straight rounds.
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