Basketball For Tempers
Longform lives, with a lengthy discursion on how fucked the Cavs are going forward. Not in this series, dumb-ass--in the all the years between now and LeBron's possible exit.
I also thought you might find it interesting that I'd initially typed "Tits Gibson," but was told to tone it down to "Boobs Gibson." Slowly but surely working my way up to TITS.
Ummm, yeah. Nothing more to say on J.R. at the moment. If you live in Houston, come to my garage sale this weekend.
posted by Bethlehem Shoals @ 6/12/2007 03:46:00 PM
34 comments
34 Comments:
Where would I find this garage sale and what sort of wares will be sold?
hit me up on the gmail and i'll explain more. . . freedarkoATgmail
fuck it, that was terrible self-advertising.
it will at my apartment, which is near sound exchange.
things sold will include records, m/f clothing, furniture, kitchen stuff, ceramic monkeys. if i
1) didn't already own all of it
2) wasn't about to move
i would be stoked to happen upon it.
okay, now anyone can hit me up for specifics.
Who shot J.R.'s pumpkin?
Great, I was going out to Sound Exchange anyway, I'm out in Katy so I have to plan dealing with I-10 so I'll probably swing by. It'llbe a nice conversation piece to buy a ceramic monkey from bethlehem shoals.
I can envision it now.
Me: And here's the monkey I bought from Bethlehem Shoals from freedarko
Friend: fucking nerd.
Awesome.
there should be a sign on that corner. .
you failed to mention what hurts so damn much about this horrific state of affairs: in the late 80s and early 90s the cavs were a very good team that was completely stymied from getting any better due to a certain horrible player with a huge and seemingly never-ending contract.
that player's name: danny ferry.
it's cold comfort for me to know that mr. ferry (who i cursed year in and year out for not being a man and reitiring before the team grew too old) will soon learn that instant karma gets us all. but, then again, it's cleveland sports. so it's that or no comfort at all.
Not fully thought through theory on why the Cavs won't work long-term: LeBron trying to "make his [veteran] teammates better" is making them worse. It's almost like veterans like Ilgauskas or Hughes (who was amazing the season before he joined the Cavs) or Marshall are wilting exactly because they recognize the roles they should fulfill playing next to such a talent and therefore struggle with it. On the other hand, rookie Boobie < Boobs < Tits Gibson and clueless but energetic Varejao function just fine. I say get LeBron nine rookies of various shapes and sizes and let him get to work.
Idea slighty related to this nonsense - the difference between MJ's and Kobe's presence on a team:
MJ = scaring teammates into makes
Kobe = scaring teammates into misses
WV: esobuyxl = supermarket full of scented candels, strange bath additives and Phil Jackson books
If the NBA gods want to make LeBron our new savior, wouldn't he have to be down 3-0 first? We couldn't really be headed for a Red Sox situation, could we?
To even suggest it is kind of stupid, isn't it? And yet, I find myself drawn to the idea, "LeBron would HAVE to be down 3-0 for his first trip to the finals." It's just how that story SHOULD be written, right?
I'm not a real Cavs fan, to be quite honest I'm a Southwest Division fan, but if LeBron is, "the ONE" doesn't it NEED to be this way?
I mean, this is some real Neo/Matrix shit right here...
I just commented on FanHouse. I feel like I need a shower now.
It's strange to read the various takes on the Cavs and their future. Bill Simmons wrote after LeBron's transcendent Game 5 (the "48 Special") that the East belongs to the Cavs for the next decade. I think your prediction is more accurate; Simmons didn't seem to take the contracts and cap into consideration, which is somewhat unusual for him.
CB4 best big man in the east... 1000% cosign
Waht about Eddy 'mittens" curry??
When I saw the title of your Longform I thought you were just trying to bait the FanHouse commenters, but very accurate on all parts. If the Heat can retool and Wade gets healthy, don't forget how good Flash is. Hopefully the final four of the East next year is some combination of LeBron, Wade, Arenas, Bosh, the Baby Bulls and Dwight/Vinsanity. Win-win-win.
ben harper, melting faces
Dwight Howard and Gerald Wallace > Dwight Howard and Vince Carter.
WOW. Bowen fouled INTENTIONALLY, and Delaney(?) didn't even make the call...
What the HELL?
Poor officiating actually overshadowed the poor overall shooting tonight. Wow.
I think that Dwight Howard would mess with Wallace's game a bit, since he relies so much on space near the hoop for his game to work. Carter could draw teams away from Howard, and is a better passer than Wallace too (although not by as much as most people would think). But Wallace is a more believable free agent pickup for the Magic, so go figure.
And that last play was stupid. Lebron should have gotten the call.
Yeah, they should have made the call, but they wanted to let Lebron get that 3 off.
If they call it then Bron basically has to make the first, miss the second, get the rebound and score. I guess he could make em both and foul but that leaves maybe a second or two.
I can't believe Wilbon is suggesting that could have been called a shooting foul. Has he ever watched the end of a close game before?
Wilbon jus reppin the bruthas side of tha issue.
I agree with ya, Kaifa... LeBron doesn't seem to improve the vets. I mentioned that last week - he's not a leader to those guys. I just think those guys have a tough time following a 22 year old finger biter who doesn't show up every night (coasts too much). Vets can definitely follow someone younger than them (a MJ or Kobe), but they have to come hard and earn respect. Like a young KG or AI.
LeBron just might not earn that kind of respect from his vets... but the rookies certainly do, because they don't know any better. That's my tack-on to your theory, anyway....
JonnyKilbane - the irony is delicious. Thanks for pointing that out.
Lebron's faults are my friend's problems in intramural play. This kid isn't even that good, but he tries to run point guard when he obviously isn't one. He manipulates the ball and dribbles too much on offense and the only time he really passes the ball is when he thinks it may be an assist. The offense doesn't really get into a flow when he runs point, especially against zones, and loose man coverage when you have to pass the ball around and move without the ball to get good shots. Lebron doesn't make people better, and until someone can find a player who became somehow better(and not just guys slowly progressing like sasha, varejao and gibson) i won't believe otherwise.
The foul blaming is stupid. Lebron wasn't shooting and he knows it. He felt the slap on the arm for the intentional and quickly threw up a bad shot hoping the refs would bail him out instead of taking a couple steps forward and having an easy 3 pointer at the line with no one near him. He didn't even try to win the game.
The cavs are in trouble won't win a title with lebron in his contract, and are really iffy to get back to the title. I mean, the east was worse than ever(injured wade and wizards with best 2 players injured, plus the raptors were in their first learning year and bulls didn't pull the gasol trade). The east will slowly get better with the and the cavs have zero cap room to get better and a shitty coach who just lets lebron do whatever he wants. Lebron needs a coach who quits telling him how great he is and actually makes him play TEAM basketball and use him as a scorer instead of some fantasy league assist guy(assists are more about offensive system than the player anyway). I wish the cavs would've lost in the first round hard to a healthy wizards team, giving them reason to fire mike brown. Then in 2 years when hughes', newbles and some other contracts are done, they can retool with some better fitting people around lebron(not just a superstar), and play real basketball instead where lebron will actually play a role instead of an overwhelmed coach just telling him to do whatever and him not knowing what to do yet. I want lebron to win the title, but it's looking like it might have to wait till he moves on from the cavs or until the cavs lose in the first round next year and get rid of mike brown, get different pieces, and make lebron learn how to play in an offensive system.
Oh, and shoals, how can you sell the ceramic monkey? I still have mine, and while it needed some paint touch up and a new lamp shade, it's shining as bright as ever.
aug- that's the longest reply/solution I've ever seen to something Shoals said, albeit on longform; save some breath for the folks who've known these things since 01/2006. also, abbott's take on this debacle is worse than usual.
Haha. Shoals knows i'm long winded. Usually late at night or between classes when college is in session as i've been bugging him for awhile. My friend predicted this was going to happen halfway through the season and that it was going to screw with lebron's progression but i didn't want to believe him. Damn him and his luck. I've been cringing at the cavs for awhile now. They might be the most boring team in the nba to watch considering lebron only gives you 2-4 plays a night during the regular season and 0-2 against the spurs. Besides that, i'd rather watch my intramural team struggle from the bench. God we need a big man, and a point guard and a shooter really bad. We need to build around this skinny kid and i, maybe hire mike brown and big Z or something.
Free the ceramic monkey! Just turn him into a lamp like i did!
The decline in TrueHoop's quality since ESPN acquired it is alarming, but it's still good reading... most of the time. I just wish he'd put a Spurs jersey on and get it over with, though.
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Uhh, Abbott's a lifelong Blazer fan.
He also refuses to say anything remotely negative about San Antonio. There's got to be something about them he doesn't like.
My thoughts:
1) You can't beat a smart coach playing isolation basketball. Popovich, d'Antoni, Jackson... all of these guys can shut down Cleveland's offense (give the ball to LeBron!) without so much as a second thought. Factor in how well Tim Duncan denies the paint to drivers, and you have a recipe for our current meltdown.
2) If you were upset by that foul, I feel for you. Still, as someone pointed out, two foul shots wouldn't have done much for LeBron's cause, particularly the way he shoots freebies. FURTHERMORE, I have never, ever seen a ref call a foul for the trailing team with fewer than ten seconds remaining. It just does not happen; officials always let the game play out.
3) At the end of the day, LeBron is just raw potential. And, as aug pointed out, the Cavs' relative success makes it that much more unlikely that he ever comes close to actualizing it.
How can you say LeBron is raw potential? He posts ridiculous numbers.
That dude Steve over on Fanhouse is a riot.
-e
Every time Lebron takes a long jumpshot with 10 on the shot clock, somewhere, somehow, a tiny animal is murdered by a police officer dressed in a bear suit.
Also anyone here how Mark Jackson kept insisting that Lebron just had to keep on shooting? Did you also think that having him keep on taking bad 3 point shots was the opposite of good strategy? The game was close enough throughout the 4th that if he bullied his way into the paint and got some buckets that way they could have still come back.
I think I might have waived Varejao with 10 seconds left in the game, after he failed to pass the ball back to LBJ.
Seriously, just call a time out and tell him to pack up his locker and go home.
That was among the worst decisionmaking I've seen at the end of a high stakes game. And that's a major part of the Cavs problem: they're largely a squad lacking judgment.
And yes, Mark Jackson is terrible. He makes excruciating games nearly unbearable. Van Gundy and Breen are only slightly less awful.
I think a worse decision than anderson, was the cavs players not calling a timeout there. I thought the nba changed it so only the players could call timeouts, and someone needed to realize what was going on and do that. Lebron is supposed to be the point guard and leader, eric snow is supposed to be the veteran(i thought he was on the floor but couldn't remember). Someone needed to do it.
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