The Cavs got jokesIn case you missed LeBron on “Saturday Night Live,” here’s another Cav who will make you laugh: Apparently Anderson Varejao’s agent is asking for Cleveland to break his man off with $10 million per year. Yeah, good luck taking that number into the negotiating room. Pretty sure Danny Ferry and crew already have Game 3 of the Finals cued up as their counter-argument … For more comedy, here’s Steph to the New York Post: “Our team, on paper, is a championship team.” No, on paper the Knicks are a playoff team. No one on the team besides Malik Rose and the coaching staff (Isiah, Mark Aguirre, Herb Williams) has anything close to championship experience … Finally, if you need another laugh, check out MC Cedric Ceballos. We don’t know exactly how old this clip is; the Duke jersey on Ced’s nemesis (Cherokee Parks‘ old number, BTW) might be a good indicator if anyone feels like doing the research … Lakers fans, don’t get your hopes up about getting Shawn Marion. If the New York Daily News is right, L.A. doesn’t want to give up Lamar Odom and would try to land Matrix with a Kwame Brown/Vlad Radmanovic package. And as far as Jermaine O’Neal, Larry Bird still wants Odom and Andrew Bynum in exchange, and the Lakers are holding onto Bynum … Last week we brought up the idea of L.A. going after Baron Davis around the February trade deadline when the Warriors will likely be shopping him. Now that word out of the Bay confirms Baron and the Warriors have stopped negotiating on an extension for him until after the season, we have to think they’ll look to move him if the organization doesn’t want to break the bank … Good for Gilbert Arenas in trying to stop Marc Ecko’s ridiculous “asterisk” idea with the Barry Bonds 756 ball: “I don’t think [Ecko] should mess up history like that,” Arenas said on his blog. “I’ll buy the ball from you Ecko for $800,000. If Barry Bonds is found guilty, I’ll give it back to you. I’m not going to let you go around like some little superhero. I’ll put it in my Hall of Fame. The Gilbert Hall of Fame for Athletes No Matter What You Did.” For what it’s worth, why would the Baseball Hall of Fame even accept the ball with an asterisk on it? … Turns out the reason the Hornets picked up David Wesley from the Cavs in a swap for Cedric Simmons was to waive Wesley and get some cap space. The team has eyes on P.J. Brown … The Mavs got Trenton Hassell from the Wolves for Greg Buckner. Hassell is an Avery Johnson-type guy. He plays D … The Knicks also picked up Jared Jordan from the Clippers for cash. Does Isiah know you can only have 15 guys on the roster? … George Karl to the Denver Post on J.R. Smith: “I talked to J.R. a couple times since the [car accident], mostly around the time that it happened. A combination of my frustrations with what happened at the end of the season, with the frustration and difficulty of a very human tragedy, my position has been to kind of let J.R. have his space. And I told his people I don’t really want to talk to him before training camp. I think once we get a week of practice in, I’ll have a better feel for what I want to say, and maybe I can say it through basketball terms as much as through man-to-man terms. And I would think that in training camp that he and I would have at least one or two heart-to-heart, man-to-man, coach-to-player talks.” Smith is a lock to have one of those Ricky Davis careers where he never stays anywhere for more than a few years … Where’s Tractor Traylor been? Playing pro ball in Puerto Rico, but now he just got sentenced to three years probation for preparing a false tax return while trying to help out a drug-dealing cousin … We were gonna make fun of Evander Holyfield’s new “Real Deal Grill” (an admitted bite off of the Foreman grill), but you know what? Whatever gets Evander closer to walking away from the fight game, we’re in favor of. We hope the grills sell like hotcakes … We’re out like a Knicks championship …
October 1st, 2007 at 7:20 am
33 says:
The Ceballos song is from ‘94, off a cd called “Bball’s best kept secret”
http://www.amazon.com/Basketballs-Secret-Barros-Malik-Sealy/dp/B000008NOI
October 1st, 2007 at 8:27 am
Kobeef says:
I guess the lakers don’t think much of Matrix…Kwame and Vlad?….
There is no better way to make the statement “we’re not interested” than to make an offer so ridiculous that it’s an insult..
October 1st, 2007 at 8:36 am
Tux says:
When I heard that track and all the Warren G/Snoop references I figured it couldn’t be much past 1995. Then I realised I had heard the song and found the Bballs best kept secret disc I picked up at a junk sale for 2 dollars. I can’t believe ‘Chise Ceballos is rapping with Warren G. Ced is fighting well above his weight class there. Don’t believe me, check out Regulate some time.
For the history buffs, GP’s track isn’t too bad. He was slightly robotic (in a non Kanye - Stronger) kind of way, but not bad.
1. Hip Hop Basketball Genie (Interlude) - Bamboo
2. Check It - Dana Barros
3. Lost in the Sauce - Malik Sealy
4. Mic Check 1-2 - Ill Al Skratch, Shaquille O’Neal
5. Earl the Goat (Interlude) - Bobbito
6. Flow On - Cedric Ceballos, Warren G
7. Anything Can Happen - Brian Shaw
8. Sumptin’ to Groove To - Chris Mills
9. From the Bay to L.A. (Interlude)
10. What the Kidd Didd - Jason Kidd,
11. Funk in the Trunk
12. Phat Swoosh (Interlude) - Bobbito
13. All Night Party - Dennis Scott
14. Livin’ Legal and Large - Gary Payton
15. D.J. S and S Represents
16. Ya Don’t Stop - A.G., Dana Barros, Cedric Ceballos, Diamond D, Grand Puba, Sadat X
October 1st, 2007 at 8:47 am
sans says:
props to Mo for explaining the Hornets trade yesterday for us. Is Wes going to immediately come back to the Cavs to be an assistant coach (like he was last season)? Can the Cavs trade Zydrunas for anything, let alone Donyell Marshall? Larry Hughes? Damon Jones? Boobie? They need draft picks.
Also, Odom would be a monster in the Suns system, and with like six years of draft picks from the Lakers, they might make it after Stevie retires.
The two teams that I am waiting to make deals are the Rockets and Sactown. One has five points and the other has at least five bigs (I stopped counting to Hawes) and not much else.
Here’s a trade: Donyell Marshall to the Rockets, Mike james to the kings, Skip to the Cavs; Haslem from the Heat to the rockets, Bonzi to cleveland, the rights to Varajeo to the heat (sign and trade, Cavs keep Pavlovic), Bibby to the Heat, Luther Head-jason Williams expiring contract-and a combination of draft picks from Miami and Houston to the Kings.
It eliminates the drama in Sactown from Theus and Ron not liking Bibby and helps the traffic on the front court with Miki, The Two that they Keep, and leaves 8-12 minutes a game for Hawes. Plus it leaves them with a starting point, albeit one who played poorly last season. Plus picks to help them continue rebuilding. They also drop Shareef’s contract.
The Heat get Bibby, whom they love, and Varejao to fill 40 minutes between Zo and Diesel.
The Cavs sign Pavlovic, and Bonzi might enjoy being back in Ohio. They sign Pavlovic, and Shareef steps in as a more than capable backup center/PF. Same said for Kenny and Miller. Plus, it shows Lebron that the Cavs might have actully been trying to help him this summer.
It’ll never happen, but hey Go Cavs!
October 1st, 2007 at 8:50 am
sans says:
Oh I forgot, the Rockets liquidate the frontcourt to make room for Franchise and Brooks, and get some much needed inside help to free up Yao.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:51 am
sans says:
Oh I forgot the Shareef/ Or Kenny/ or Miller to the Cavs.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:26 am
jay says:
no offense but if suns only want odom…count me in ..book the trade ….i would do that in a sec and throw in kwame for good measure..the JO deal looks kinda rough though! jo, matrix and kobe would be one heck of a team..roll players like luke and ronny would be great….not that is a laker team that is worth 25 times on tv…o would pay just to see kobe but a 1st round and out three years in a row is not my idea of fun!
October 1st, 2007 at 9:33 am
Saku 39 says:
I’m surprised Dime didn’t know about the Ced track and album….oh well, nothing is as bad as the K.O.B.E. song.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am
foolio_iglesias says:
Obviously,you’ve never heard J.U.A.N. P.I.E.R.R.E. rap….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl0dqWhzU6k
October 1st, 2007 at 10:30 am
João says:
Hey, Odom for Matrix and Bynun and Package for Jermaine, the Lakers team would be very, very good. Could you imagine Boston x Lakers ? Ray x Kobe , Pierce x Matrix and JO x KG … nasty … If the Lakers organization stay the way they are, Kobe will pack his things next summer ,,,
October 1st, 2007 at 11:59 am
Amar says:
I know it’s not topical, but Andrei’s understanding of the english language and his ability to communicate in it are two different things. His grammar is horrible, and Jerry Sloan doesn’t know how to speak english either. This is clearly a communication difficulty x a million.
Basically he says in this sit down / clear the air video that: he’s going to go to camp and be ready for the season, and play as hard as he can with all of his heart. additionally all roster moves are up to the jazz brass, he doesn’t want to get collect a check every two weeks and lie about how he really feels. playing under jerry this last season was really hard for him, and that he feels like he is stagnating, and on the selfish level, he always wants to improve as a player. while he knows jerry isn’t going to change, he knows that he only has a finite # of years to be a player himself, and that he is open to all suggestions to solve the problem. he doesn’t think going to another team is going to automatically be a better situation for him, and he understands that he’s the 4th or 5th option on the jazz. he’s okay with that, and doesn’t want more shots. he does, on the other hand, want to be more involved on offense, with passing and playmaking. (remember in the GS series he was the only guy who could feed boozer when they double fronted him, because he’s a 6′9 pass first type of guy who has handles)
ultimately, he doesn’t want to waste another year of his life being stuck and unhappy. he feels Jerry puts too much pressure on him. i guess part of that is inherent when you’re getting paid max money and you’re a 4th option on your team. AK says it’s his problem, the blame is all on him, and he has to fix it.
watch the three part interview here:
http://pandora.bonnint.net/video/video/slc/video_archive/2007_09_30_sports_beat1.m4v
http://pandora.bonnint.net/video/video/slc/video_archive/2007_09_30_sports_beat2.m4v
http://pandora.bonnint.net/video/video/slc/video_archive/2007_09_30_sports_beat3.m4v
October 1st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Amar says:
also the interviewer is a dick who is trying to go all Jim Gray on Kirilenko . . .
October 1st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
DOC says:
The lakers are tripping, they better get Odom and Bynum out of here for mane and matrix unless they see bynum killing this year
October 1st, 2007 at 3:18 pm
nick says:
bynum could be good but he just needs more touches. thats hard to do when kobe takes as many shots as he does and the rest go to odom and the role players.
October 1st, 2007 at 3:26 pm
IGP says:
I bet the Lakers wait one more year on Bynum. If he is still “developing” this year, they will probably trade him. He could still be nasty, but how has he done so little? I don’t get why it takes so long for guys who have played basketball their entire lives to adjust to the NBA game. I know it’s a different game, but a year should really cover that.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Coldchain says:
The Lakers need to forget about Bynum and use him to get J.O. or Matrix or — if he’s still available — Jason Kidd. Bynum is never gonne be the next Shaq. At best he’s the next Eddie Curry or something, and that’s not gonna happen until Kobe’s past his prime.
October 1st, 2007 at 7:44 pm
db says:
Bynum was the youngest guy to ever come into the league I believe, so it’s no surprise he’s raw. He’s never even had proper coaching. He’d get more touches if he knew where he was supposed to go in the offense and didn’t make one or two head-smacking defensive errors per game. Lakers would do well to give him some time, he’s got more going on already than many centers in the game
October 1st, 2007 at 9:31 pm
sans says:
Bynums raw, but he was tearing up boards against the Suns, in real limited time too. He needs some time on the court to grab 15 and 12. He’ll be better than Mihm by the end of the season, but that’s not saying too much.