One of the loyal blog readers noticed that new Cavs guard Mo Williams has a special friend (thanks to the gentlemenly Mr. Close for the photo):

Some random thoughts on the Cavs’ deal to acquire Mo Williams:

—Hate losing Joe Smith. Guys like him don’t come along often. Consummate pro. But … as they say … whoever they are … you got to give something to get something. Besides, I'm an old fuddy-duddy who takes a liking to guys like Smith. It's why GMs are hired to make decisions and the decisions are not left to sentimental old fart sportswriters.
—Nice to hear that Mo Williams has worked with Daniel Gibson in the offseason and acted as a bit of a mentor. Friendship does make the heart grow fonder.
—Think this helps Wally Szczerbiak?
—Poor Joe Smith. Guy does everything anyone can ask. Works hard. Fills his role. Contributes. Did a tremendous job in the playoffs. Now he goes to Oklahoma City. Sheesh, Toto, this just does not seem right.
—Clearly the Cavs are not afraid to spend money. Williams brings $43 million in future contracts with him.
—I wish he’d be described as a pass-first point guard, but at the same time the Cavs may have solved two problems in one trade. They got a guy who can handle the ball, penetrate AND score. Not bad.
—Hope the Cavs do not lose Delonte West. He’s a good player. And he’s an American original.
—That’s three pretty good guards to play in different tandems – West, Gibson and Williams.
—The Szczerbiak-Sasha Pavlovic influence seems to be waning a bit, does it not?
—The Cavs are being quiet, but they must like first-round draft pick J.J. Hickson. A lot.
—They also must have high hopes for Anderson Varejao. He has to be better this season than he was at the end of last.
—Anyone besides me remember Ben Wallace playing so well in the fourth quarter of Game 7 in Boston? Guy stood up to Kevin Garnett. Actually got jaw to jaw with one of the great talkers in the NBA. How refreshing was it to see that from a player from Cleveland? As Toby Keith might say, Ben is not as good as he once was, but he’s as good once as he ever was.
—Final verdict on the trade: The Cavs gave up a guard who was not going to contribute and a good guy on the frontline but a guy who also is 33 with shaky knees. They got a 25-year-old point guard who can score. It’s a plus.
—Yes, strong stands like that one are what this blog is all about.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert graciously gave a call on Friday to address these LeBron-James-to-Europe rumors and talk. The story is in Sunday's Beacon Journal, and online here. (In the same story, we discussed the scam that the NFL calls preseason football.)

But here are some of the highlights from Gilbert:

On the rumors, which state a team from Greece will pay LeBron $50 million per year for two years:

"The reason this thing is where it's at 'is that we've got a bunch of bored, East Coast sports writers who have nothing to do because the offseason is a few months away and the Olympics [hadn't] started yet."

On James being the main focus:

"The undertone to the whole thing that I wonder is, why him? Why not Dwyane Wade? Why not Chris Bosh? Why not whoever else is coming due? 'The only thing you can come up with is there are certain writers, or people who live on the East or West Coast, who think that Cleveland, Ohio, is not a good enough place for a superstar of LeBron's caliber to spend his career. Despite the quality of the franchise, the quality of life in the Midwest, the fans — it's a complete slap in the face from people who do not live in Cleveland, Ohio, to Cleveland, Ohio. That's probably my biggest problem with the whole thing."

Finally:

"I think people need to just leave him alone and let him focus on basketball and helping lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a championship."

The rest is here at ohio.com.

Chris Duhon averaged 22.6 minutes, shot 38.7 percent and averaged 5.8 points per game last season in Chicago. This means he was to the Bulls what Devin Brown (22.6 minutes, 40.9 percent shooting, 7.5 points). Didn’t matter to New York, which gave Duhon a contract worth the full “mid-level exception” (who comes up with these ridiculous phrases?), which means he’ll make more than $5 million the next two years. Many in the NBA see this deal as “out of line” (my phrase) with the going rate. No matter, Duhon’s contract now is being used in the Delonte West negotiations. As in West’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, claimed it’s a comparable situation – in fact less than comparable because West starts and Duhon will not. So Goodwin says the Cavs are not being fair by offering West just more than Daniel Gibson received (Goodwin’s “they’re not being fair” rant appeared in the News-Herald). Which only proves that these contract things become an exercise in tedium and boredom. At what point do we all get sick of rich folks arguing over how much money they’re going to make? To the Cavs, Duhon’s contract is inflated. To West’s camp, it’s the new barometer. Please. Just work it out and let us know when things are over. Last year it was Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. This offseason it’s West. If West wants to play in Cleveland, he’ll sign. If he doesn’t, he can sign a one-year qualifying offer for $2.76 million and take his chances after this season in free agency. If he’s good enough, it will work out, right? Just spare us the histrionics that mean something only to those who are in the middle of the mess.

Speaking of contracts, SI.com reports that “(Manny) Ramirez has been unhappy with the $20-million team options in his contract for 2009 and '10.” Now THAT will sure ruin a day.

CC Sabathia is 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in Milwaukee, but in a key game against the Cubs this week he gave up nine hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings in a Brewers loss. Sabathia is a great pitcher, and he’s shown it by improving his record to 10-8 and brining his ERA near 3 after a horrible first month. He didn’t exactly pitch badly against the Cubs – the loss was aided by an error and a ninth-inning Chicago comeback when he was out of the game – but until he actually wins a game like that questions about his ability in those games will come up. Fair? The playoffs last year come to mind. He quite simply got himself too worked up for those playoff games, and it might have cost the Indians a World Series spot. One interesting thing about CC in Milwaukee – he’s thrown three complete games, and he threw 124 pitches in the other. Have to wonder if Sabathia can pitch that much the rest of the season – complete game after complete game. The old rented mule line comes to mind. Obviously the Brewers are thinking only short-term with him. Any pitchers who throws that much – even a guy with the fluid motion of Sabathia – takes risk, and it’s a risk that might not show itself in the short-term but over time if his arm wears down. Don’t worry about his contract, though. Somebody is going to give him $140 million this offseason.

Our own Marla Ridenour wrote an interesting story in today’s paper where some PGA Tour players balk at the fact they now have to undergo random drug testing. Who can blame them? Professional sports is one aspect of our society where one must prove their innocence. Kind of goes against the entire grain of our legal system, if you ask me, where one is innocent until proven guilty. Drug testing without cause presumes a problem, and makes an individual prove he or she is not doing something.

Personal aside to RedHawkRick: Don't blame me; I do not smoke.

A few folks wrote to say I shouldn’t have been so negative about Moscow when I wrote about playing pro basketball there. One of my regular readers pointed out how beautiful the Moscow subway is, and this proves he’s right. It’s not the RTA of course … but who knew?

The negative? Apparently it can get crowded there ..

Then there’s my friend Bob, a fellow St. Ignatius alum who is grandfather to my daughters’ best friend and father and father-in-law to my girls’ Godparents. Bob regularly visits the upper reaches of Canada in the summer. He writes that his cabin is in Atlin, British Columbia, on the Yukon border just south of Whitehorse. He’s got a lot of good stories about being there, and this week he sent some pics, which I’ll share. Click on the picture to get the full effect. Memo to self: See if an Alaska vacation is feasible next summer.

So now word breaks that Cavs guard Delonte West is mulling a two-year offer to play in Moscow. West is a restricted free agent, and according to Yahoo.com he is pondering a $10 million deal. Gee, I wonder who (the agent) leaked that information (negotiating ploy), and for what reason (to get the Cavs to blink). Here’s a thought: If this report is true and if West wants to go to Moscow, well he should just go. Just leave. Now. West was not starting or playing a lot in Seattle when Cleveland traded for him. He became a starting point guard. He played on the same team as LeBron James. He’s on a very good team, and James now trusts him (which showed when James gave him the ball in that game-winning situation in Washington). He played for fans that embraced him. He’s playing in the NBA, with the best players in the world. He’s not going to find a situation that’s a whole lot better. Cleveland isn’t Paris, no, but it sure as hell isn’t Moscow either. Wouldn’t you love to see how beautiful Moscow is in mid-January? There’s a reason they wear those ridiculous hats and drink all that vodka, right? If West thinks Moscow with a bunch of new guys is a better place to play basketball than on a team that likes him and respects him and helps him and has LeBron, if money is all that matters to him, well then he should just go. Otherwise, just work out a deal and leave this other laughable stuff out of things.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com says the Indians are about to trade Casey Blake to the Dodgers for a hard-hitting catcher and hard-throwing pitcher. It would be a shame to see a good guy like Blake go, especially because he’s hitting and having a decent year. This is a trade I scratch my head about a little bit. Winning teams have guys like Blake on the roster, and if the Indians plan to win next year it might be a good idea to have him on the roster.

The optimism at Browns camp really is bubbling over. Part of me says that’s great, that the fans deserve optimism and the Browns are coming off a 10-win season. But another part of me says that I’ve seen a lot of “optimistic” openings to training camp since 1999, and that optimism went south in a hurry. So let’s be optimistic, but let’s also give it some time – like until a game is played – before putting the bubbly on ice.

Hear that the Packers made it clear to Brett Favre soon after the season that they did not welcome him back. So Favre has been operating under the impression since February that Green Bay wanted to “move on” (as if he has rabies or something). This notion baffles a lot of inside-football folks, who think it’s poppycock to think that the Packers will be as good with Aaron Rodgers as they were with Favre. As was mentioned, Mike McCarthy brought in a brand new offense and new terminology when he was hired three years ago. Favre struggled the first year, got better the second and showed he understood things last year. He should be able to pick right up this year, yet the Packers tell Favre they do not want him back? Makes no sense. Zero. Zip. Nada. There’s one concept in professional sports: Win. Teams try to win, fans cheer to win. I don’t know anyone who buys a ticket to see a team try. They buy to see the team win. Period. Somehow in five months Aaron Rodgers became a better quarterback than Brett Favre. I repeat: Makes no sense.

Anyone see what Washington’s Gilbert Arenas had to say about losing to the Cavs two of the past three years in the playoffs? Here is is, according to the Washington Post sports blog: "It's kind of when you think about it. Everybody says we can't get past Cleveland. Cleveland beat us one year, that was three years ago. The other years they've just been beating up on some hurt dogs. We just want to get our fair shot when we're healthy at the right time, because two years we showed what kind of team we are….We were rolling, we were top five in the league, and that's what kind of team we are when we're healthy. When we're healthy that's the kind of team we are, we're a top five team in the league." Arenas was asked what he told his teammates after the playoffs: “You guys played the whole season without me and you guys made it to the playoffs. Tell Cleveland to play without LeBron. I don't think they won a game last year."

The NBA summer league concluded this week and Cavs first-round draft pick J.J. Hickson averaged 19.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the floor (he shot much lower from the stands). What does it mean? Well, the Cavs didn’t want to overdo things with Hickson in his first “professional” experience, so they just let him play. Which means let him do what he does well, which is score with his back to the basket, work hard and rebound. He did that. And the Cavs were pleased.

But they also know that it’s five games of summer league, and while Hickson did well the team is not ready to pencil him into the rotation just yet. They know he needs to work on some things, and he will sit down with the Cavs coaches soon and have that detailed to him. The one thing that jumps out to me is that Hickson had 18 turnovers. Summer league entails a bunch of guys being thrown together, but 3.6 turnovers per game for a big guy is too many. Put it this way: Only two players in the league averaged more than 3.6 turnovers per game last season. Too, Hickson had zero assists. Could be the Cavs told him to shoot every time he got the ball on the block, but zero assists in five games? Safe to guess turnovers and handling the ball will be subjects of discussion.

As for Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce, the two Akron guys who joined the Cavs summer league team, both had minimal playing time. Joyce averaged eight minutes per game, Travis 10.5. The Cavs feel the exposure will help their professional chances in Europe.

The turnover thing is interesting. LeBron James had 3.4 turnovers per game last season, the fifth highest total in the league. That’s a lot, until one considers what else James did. He had one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the league (2.11) and one of the best steals-to-turnover ratios as well (.54). Clearly, a guy who handles the ball as much as James will have some turnovers.

Speaking of James (like the transition?), one thing one never wants to hear are the words LeBron James and sprained ankle in the same sentence. But that’s what happened Tuesday when James tweaked his ankle practicing with the Olympic team. It’s supposed to be minor, but it illustrates the risk inherent in playing in China. It’s the reason Mark Cuban railed about his players being on the team. Cuban said he takes all the risk while USA Basketball gets the rewards. Trying to argue James should miss the Olympics would be like trying to stop the snow from falling in the Antarctic. It’s just not going to happen. For one, there’s too much money in China for a marketer and player like James to pass up. For two, he’s a basketball player. If he weren’t practicing for the Olympics, he’d be playing somewhere, perhaps at a two-on-two game at the team’s facility. As Danny Ferry said, it’d be nice to put James in a bubble, but the competitiveness that drives him in the NBA is the same thing that drives him in the offseason to improve. A tweaked ankle is the risk of the reward we all get to see him play for the Cavs.

Why did James Posey go to New Orleans instead of back to Boston or to Cleveland? New Orleans gave a 31-year-old role player a four-year contract. The Celtics and Cavs were not willing to go that far. Was it right? Well, Danny Ferry constantly stresses the need to be flexible in his contracts, and adding that much money for a guy who would be 35 in the final year would reduce flexibility. Many folks believe that NBA guys are on borrowed time when they get to 33. Posey is a very good player for what he does, which is be a part-time backup who can shoot and defend. He's also an excellent pregame hugger, he wrote, rolling his eyes. He would be valuable on the Cavs, no doubt. But it does not seem like losing him now means the Cavs championship hopes are dashed. It would have been a nice get, but it’s not a gigantic loss.

I heard some folks on the radio chattering that the Indians could get back in the race after the All-Star break. Well, never say never, but let’s do the math. Cleveland was 41-53 at the break. That’s 94 games, meaning there were 68 left (impressive math, eh?). If the Indians won 40 of 68, they’d finish at 81-81. That would not get them back in the race. Ninety-one wins would, which only means the Indians would have to go 50-18 after the All-Star break. And since they lost the first game in Seattle, they now have to go 50-17. It can happen, yes, but the math indicates just how slim the chances really are.

Paul Pierce seems to be enjoying his celebrity.

Fox’s Charlie Rosen assesses the Lebron James-will-sign-with-New-Jersey saga here.

And … let’s go back to Yellowstone … hope this does not offend anyone, but here are some animals and their … umm … young. First elk, then antelope. Can anyone explain why it’s so interesting to see animals in their natural environment?

Finally, here is a sunset view (hope it comes out) in Lamar Valley, which has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the United States of America. The first one looks into the sun. The folks in the foreground are looking up the hill at a pack of wolves.

This one points in the direction the sun is shining. The colors continue to amaze me, but then again I've got a pretty simple mind. When I die, though, I want to come back as a buffalo in the Lamar Valley. There simply are very few places where it would be better to wander aimlessly and eat grass for the rest of eternity.

Various reports out state that James Posey has left the Boston Celtics and will sign a four-year, $25 million deal with the New Orleans Hornets. The Cavs had been interested in Posey, and he would have been a solid addition because of his three-point and defensive skills. Alas, he'll go to New Orleans.

The biggest question revolves around Boston: Now who will do those annoying pregame hugs of Celtics starters?

It’s kind of confusing what’s happening in Green Bay with Brett Favre. Not his teenage I won’t-I will stances toward football, mind you. But the Packers attitude toward Favre. A few months ago Favre had led the Packers to the NFC Championship Game and he was the greatest thing to happen to upper Wisconsin since the invention of the heater. Now he decides to unretire and the Packers tell him he’ll be a backup if he plays. Huh? How does that work? A guy is a Hall of Famer and has his best year in a long, long time and because he didn’t take part in offseason workouts he’s a backup? Apparently Favre made the Packers mad by changing his mind, so they’re going to show him and make him take second-string snaps in training camp behind Aaron Rodgers. Because he missed offseason workouts. You just can’t make this stuff up. I swear, the more you hear about the NFL way of thinking, the more it seems that sometimes their minds are affected by the fact they are so insulated from thinking about nothing but their sport 74 hours a day. Think about this: Brett Favre decides to unretire and he’s a backup to a guy who’s never played. Rocky and Bullwinkle made more sense.

The other day a story broke about the dwindling population in cities of Northern Ohio. Cleveland has taken a real hit; more people have left the city than any other city in the country except New Orleans – and that exodus was caused by a rather large natural disaster called Katrina. What did our governor, Ted Strickland, have to say? This: “Perhaps in the not too distant future, people are going to be leaving arid areas of this country, the New Mexicos and the Arizonas. They'll come running back to Ohio, because we have water, and they're going to be thirsty." Thirsty. There’s a slogan: “Want a drink? Come to Ohio.” And we wonder why our economy is in trouble?

Complaining about the Indians financial situation is kind of like complaining about gas prices. What good is it going to do? The Indians will never be a team that spends $150 million on salaries. It’s just not going to happen. Best to accept that reality and enjoy our lovely water. It’s not going to change. I took a look at the team’s finances in our Sunday paper; you can read that here if you like. But one thing that struck me was that during the halcyon glory days of the 1990s, the Indians were in fact among the highest in payroll. But they were at or about $60 million while the highest spending teams were at or about $70-$75 million. Now the highest spending team, the Yankees, is at $209 million, while they Indians are projected to be at $85 million. If that disparity does not illustrate what a big-market team can do and a mid-to-small market team cannot, then nothing will. Everybody wishes the Indians could just write blank checks to players. They can’t. Someday the folks in the dry, arid southwest will realize this.

Sheldon Ocker, our outstanding baseball writer, got in touch with his feminine side in this story about the CC Sabathia trade. And don’t tell him I said feminine side and Ocker in the same sentence, either.

I’m not so sure I’d trade Casey Blake. Yes, he’s in his 30s, but he’s hitting .282 with nine home runs and 52 RBI and has played third and first base. The guy has a lot of value for a non-superstar player with oodles of drinking water flowing from his spigot.

ESPN.com says the Cavs are out of the James Posey hunt. No word on the accuracy of that statement, or when or where Posey will sign. Or where he will find water if he’s not with the Cavs.

This is what new Browns receiver Donte Stallworth said in the Boston Globe: “I've been kind of joking with Randy [Moss] and some of the guys that the road to the Super Bowl goes through Cleveland."

Finally … back to Yellowstone …

Anyone out there know what kind of birds these are. They nested in the crook of a .. well … a bathroom in the Lamar Valley, one of the vast valleys where animals love to roam in this great national park. These birds flitted in and out like crazy, and seemed to enjoy peeking out to pose for the camera. Any wise birders out there know what kind they are?

It’s time to give the Celtics their due. Big limb there, eh? Next week: The Arctic is cold! To be honest, I did not think the Celtics were that good. I thought whoever won the West would win the title. Clearly that is not going to happen. The Game 4 comeback by Boston was probably worth two wins. No team can recover emotionally from giving (choking?) away a 24-point lead in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers have proven that a team that does not play defense cannot win, and the Celtics have proven that a team that does play defense does win. Don’t you love these guys who play defense by dancing around, waving their arms, letting their hair fly, acting like just because they’re moving like jitterbugs they’re effective. I refer, of course, to Sasha Vujacic, who did all that to Ray Allen late in the game. Allen’s response was to roll his eyes, back out to the top of the circle, tell his teammates not to even bother setting a pick and then beat Vujacic clean to the basket.

Vujacic is the same guy who made a meaningless three in the series-clinching win over the Spurs. Game was over, all he had to do was dribble out the clock and he put up and made a three that did not nothing but pad his stats. Enough said.

In this Finals game, Allen was by Vujacic before he got to the foul line. It was one of the greatest displays of absurd defense seen in decades. Then, to top it off, Allen drove down the middle of the lane and no Laker even went to stop him. Isn’t Pau Gasol 7-feet tall? Could he not have tried something? Yes, the Lakers were told to stay with their man, but at that point things were a bit desperate. The only thing on the line was, well, the NBA title. So try something.

Nope, instead Gasol and Vujacic combined to give Allen a wide-open left-handed layup that sealed the win. While some Celtics have really shown their mettle – Paul Pierce may be carving a Hall of Fame spot for himself – some Lakers have shown their flaws. Specifically Gasol, who has carried the “soft” label for some time and is earning it in this series. Gasol is a nice player who made the Lakers as good as they are, but in a series like this with the physical players the Celtics have, he’s outmatched. Ben Wallace would shut him down.

The Finals are an amazing experience. In Los Angeles, much is written about the fact Kobe Bryant really has not become a better teammate. And that the role players so vaunted as the playoffs went on now are not good enough. Heck, even zen-master Phil Jackson is being questioned. That’s what happens when a team struggles in a series, especially the last series.

As for Pierce, I remain skeptical about the antics that went on with his Game 1 knee injury, though it seems clear now that Pierce thought he was hurt, which is what led to the wheelchair and forklift and chair ride up and down the steps. But since, Pierce has played fabulously. He’s directed his team, led his team and in Game 4 he defended Kobe Bryant. I hereby remove any doubt about the guy and simply say that he has been great during this playoff run.

Finally, let’s state this one more time: There’s only one team that took the Celtics to the limit in the playoffs. That’s the Cavs, who took them to the final minute of Game 7. And that says something about how close this team was to winning. They didn’t do it, but they sure deserve more credit than they’re getting.

Lakers fans got pretty mad at Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for this look at Kobe Bryant from the expensive seats.

Have to love T.J. Simers, a writer with the Los Angeles Times who cuts nobody any quarter. Well, like a lot … not love. California is one of those states that legalizes same-you-know-what-marriage. So … have to really, really, really like the writing of T.J. Simers. Don’t have to love him. At any rate, Jim McMahon once blew his nose on Simers’ shoulder, which is a claim to some kind of fame. He had some funny stuff to say here about David Stern’s response to Tim Donaghy. And a funny e-mail about Gasol. And some not so funny stuff about Phil Jackson. He also had took on Schilling’s blogging here.

Is there anything more boring on television than golf? “Looks like he’s got a three-iron Jim.” “I thought he’d use the four.” Imagine that, the three instead of the four. I love when they describe rounds as good “ball striking rounds.” All this time I thought they were hitting pandas? And God knows that the first cut sure can be difficult.

Dadgum it, Adriana Lima chose Marko Jaric. What’s Jaric got that a dumpy Irish sportswriter doesn’t have, other than a million or two dollars, I ask indignantly.

Replay coming to baseball? BIG mistake. Seen the NFL’s oh-so-efficient system lately?

Think folks in New York aren’t convinced that eventually C.C. Sabathia will pitch there? Guess again.

The endless debate in this frail mind right now is about Sirius Radio. Received it for a gift and just can’t decide if using something three times a week in the car is worth the $13 per month. I welcome your thoughts, he wrote in a clever attempt to see if there are more than seven people actually reading this driv … err … blog. And, NO jokes about being cheap.

I keep going back to the Cavs as I watch the Celtics, and I ask a simple question: Will someone please recognize that Mike Brown is not crazy when he says a team can win a title focusing on defense?