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NBA

Can the Celtics go undefeated?!?

November 4, 2009

The Celtics' fast start has one person who follows them thinking history.

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Shaq arrives as Cavs beat Wizards

November 4, 2009

The best thing about the Cavs win over Washington Tuesday night was that Shaquille O'Neal played so well. The second-best thing was that LeBron James did not have to be spectacular in the win.
This game might have shown the strength of the combination of two superstars better than any since the season started a brief [...]

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Charles Barkley: Cavs are third in the East

October 28, 2009

Charles Barkley was on Letterman recently and offered this on the Cavs: "Rasheed Wallace going to Boston is really going to help them. And I just think Dwight Howard is the best big man in the game right now. … I just don’t think Cleveland is as good as those other two teams.” The guy is [...]

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Cavs lose the opener to Boston

October 27, 2009

Not a great opening night for the Cavs, who looked like a team still trying to find itself.
LeBron James called it a "transition period."
Coach Mike Brown said: "We will get better."
The cynic in me started to ask why Boson's transition seemed so much easier, but there is an easy reason. Boston's new guys — Rasheed [...]

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A fascinating feud goes public

October 22, 2009

I don't know why, but I find feuds like this one pretty interesting.
Soap opera-ish, but interesting.

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Someone suggests the Cavs might not be all that this season

October 8, 2009

It's been out a while, but it's still worth reading … One SI.com analyst is not all ga-ga over the Cavs acquisition of Shaq. He writes: “Aside from his abysmal free-throw shooting, the biggest flaws in Shaq's game are defending the high pick-and-roll and executing quick rotations in the paint. Put simply, he doesn't remove [...]

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West's contract bans driving motorcycles

September 24, 2009

Interesting point on Delonte West: Waitingfornextyear.com dug up the NBA’s standard player contract, and found it has a ban on driving motorcycles. Which means West was in violation of his contract the night he was arrested outside Washington, D.C. I don’t expect this to be an issue; I expect the Cavs to focus on helping [...]

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Maybe this is why LeBron James wanted to keep his options open in 2010

September 24, 2009

The NBA has another billionaire.
Russia’s Mikhail Prokhorov has bought the Nets, and most expect him to be a force in the league – especially with next summer’s free agent class. You might recall that class includes a certain guy named James.
Wrote Yahoo: “Once LeBron James meets Mikhail Prokhorov, the superstar’s sightline will reflect an unprecedented [...]

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The psychology of Shaq and LeBron — from the Wall Street Journal

August 24, 2009

The Wall Street Journal (of all publications) takes a look at how Shaq and LeBron James will get along. The story is headlined “Is this basketball marriage doomed?” And it includes this: “Dr. Virginia Rutter, a sociologist, psychologist and co-author of ‘The Love Test,’ likens the Shaq-LeBron union to an arranged marriage, where ‘the well-being [...]

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The new NBA East reality

August 18, 2009

From Yahoo on Dwight Howard: " … there’s no escaping Shaq now."

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On Shaq being Shaq

July 31, 2009

AOL's David Whitley has an interesting take on Shaquille O'Neal: "Cavs fans are going to discover what people in Orlando, LA , Miami and Phoenix already knew. Shaq is far more interested in being Shaq than being a basketball player.Being Shaq means pursuing every whim, indulging every desire and getting motivated when he darned well [...]

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The economy and the NBA's 2010 reality

July 22, 2009

I always enjoyed Randy Newman's song "It's Money That Matters." Now you know that it's true.
In the NBA, money really matters as it relates to the summer of 2010. The nation's economy could have a chilling effect on all those guys who planned to be free agents that summer, including our own LeBron James.
Steve Ashburner [...]

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Anyone noticed the Magic's tricks?

July 21, 2009

The Magic is not blinded by their trip to the NBA Finals. They are using the offseason to improve. Yes, they lost Hedo Turkoglu, but GM Otis Smith has done a very nice job re-tooling the roster. The most recent signing: forward Matt Barnes, a guy many thought the Cavs might target.
Despite losing Turkoglu, Smith [...]

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It's called 'Shaq Vs.'

July 21, 2009

I think the boss wants me to write about Shaq’s reality show for the paper. Offer some kind of opinion. But I'm not sure what opinion to have. Shaq does a reality show. It's gonna be funny. It's gonna be interesting. What's the fourth graf. I may still do it, but right now I wonder: [...]

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Well now we know why he didn't take the Browns job

July 21, 2009

Mike Shanahan will be paid $7 million not to coach this season. Another clause: He can't criticize the Broncos.
For $7 mil, I'd keep my mouth shut too.
Well … maybe for $9.352 mil.
Notice the difference in the cultures of the NFL and other sports? In the NFL, they pay people to keep quiet. In the NBA, [...]

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OK … but they have 'length'

July 20, 2009

ESPN's wrapup of the NBA Summer League includes an interesting lamentation: Big guys no longer play with their back to the basket. "Name one guy here who can can hit a jump hook over their left shoulder," an NBA assistant general manager asked. "I can't think of one."

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One Orlando player's thoughts on Shaq

July 17, 2009

Orlando's Anthony Johnson re-arranged Mo Williams face in the playoffs. Now Johnson is opining on the Cavs acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal. His thoughts as told to the The Post and Courier in Charleston: "Shaq is always a force to be reckoned with. But he's slowing down quite a bit, and it doesn't really change things [...]

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The 2010 free agent watch, episode 8,210

July 16, 2009

Will Pat Riley be able to keep Dwayne Wade happy with Carlos Boozer and Lamar Odom?

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Our regular Shaq feature

July 15, 2009

We haven’t had a Shaq update in a while. He wears Li-Nings, the Chinese shoes, and I found this latest ad featuring Shaq in the shoes here.

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NBA money matters and luxury taxes

July 15, 2009

There’s a lot of money talk coming from the NBA these days. Perhaps it’s just coincidence that the league will start talks for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement soon. Perhaps it’s the economy. Perhaps it’s both. But the league predicted a 29.3 percent drop in ticket sales by for the Clippers this season (this is [...]

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A slow time in sports leads to summer basketball

July 13, 2009

With the All-Star break upon us, this is clearly the slowest time of the year in professional sports. But … there’s the NBA Summer League.
This is a nice place to follow its happenings. It’s here I learned that Orlando quietly picked up another 6-11 guy who can shoot threes in the Vince Carter trade, that [...]

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Dwayne Wade says no to Cleveland

July 10, 2009

Kind of busy writing Sunday stuff for the newspaper, but I did notice this …
Dwayne Wade told Dan Patrick's radio show that he and LeBron James have talked about playing on the same team, and it could happen if they both become free agents in 2010. But it won't be in Cleveland.
"I don't like the weather [...]

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Not something you see written about often

July 8, 2009

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star addresses a delicate topic: Are the Indiana Pacers too white?

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Another NBA free agent goes to a Cavs competitor

July 6, 2009

Well the Boston Celtics just got better. Rasheed Wallace for two years at the mid-level exception. I kind of wish the Cavs had done that, though clearly there is risk involved. Cavs GM Danny Ferry is very good at laying low until he finds the right guy, and there are guys available (Shawn Marion, Josh [...]

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Shaq posted this photo of himself on Twitter (it is all Shaq, all the time)

July 1, 2009
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