In his first nine months as majority owner of an NBA franchise, Michael Jordan has been through a few years’ worth of experiences:

He watched his Charlotte Bobcats make their first-ever playoff appearance, then watched them suffer their first-ever postseason series sweep. In free agency he re-signed a promising future building block (Tyrus Thomas), then let a potential All-Star point guard walk (Ray Felton). Now he has helped facilitate the departure of his team’s head coach, Larry Brown, meaning Jordan’s next big task will be hiring a replacement. Read More »

Byron Scott didn’t sign up for this. And if the Cleveland Cavaliers’ collapse gets much worse, future franchise building block J.J. Hickson won’t re-sign up for it, either.

The Cavs’ losing streak stretched to eight games last night when they were routed in Oklahoma City. Seven of the losses have been by double-digits, and four have been by at least 20 points. Read More »

One week ago, the NBA’s most endearing underdogs ran into a 6-8, 260-pound brick wall wearing a headband.

Before last Thursday’s meeting with LeBron James and his Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers were 7-10. Today, the Cavs are 7-15. They haven’t cracked triple-digits on the scoreboard since Nov. 26. They’ve lost six games in a row, and only one of those by a single-digit margin. The Cavs who showed up on national TV last week were a team that didn’t have enough scorers, didn’t have enough shooters, didn’t know how to play defense, and more importantly, didn’t seem to care one way or the other. Read More »

Words. Max Sheridan

The score was 118-90 on Thursday night as LeBron James returned to Cleveland, but don’t be fooled: There were no winners. The night was filled with angry fans, awkward interactions between LeBron and his former teammates, and, for the most part, uninteresting basketball. The game confirmed what we’ve learned over the first month of the NBA season, but taught us nothing else about Miami or Cleveland. Read More »

If Doc Rivers and the Celtics were truly evil, they would tank tonight’s game against the Cavaliers as part of a grand-scheme plot to mess with LeBron James‘ head. Imagine the reaction: LeBron and his shiny new team couldn’t beat the mighty Celtics, and yet the very next night, the guys he dumped in Cleveland host the reigning East champs and get the job done.

But assuming the Celtics are too competitive and aren’t that conniving, there is still a significant risk against Cleveland. Read More »

As the NBA regular season approaches, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Ramon Sessions, Joey Graham, Ryan Hollins, Christian Eyenga, Manny Harris, Samardo Samuels

Lost: LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West, Sebastian Telfair, Danny Green Read More »

On Christoper Columbus’ holiday, we discovered that the Cleveland Cavaliers might not be as bad as we thought. Again, we know, It’s Just The Preseason, but the Cavs are still 3-1 (without their new go-to player) after last night, their second road in a back-to-back against projected Western Conference playoff teams (Houston and Dallas). Boobie Gibson scored 15 to lead a Cleveland squad that, at the very least, it’s going to just roll over voluntarily and die without LeBron. Read More »

No need to be alarmed yet, but the L.A. Lakers are not looking good early into the preseason. After dropping their opener to the Timberwolves in London, yesterday the two-time defending NBA champs took an L against defending Euroleague champion Regal Barcelona in Spain … Kobe Bryant shot 2-for-15 from the field, finishing with 15 points only because he was making his free throws. (As a team, L.A. went 0-for-14 beyond the arc.) Over his last three games — two exhibitions and Game 7 of the Finals — he’s shot 8-for-42 from the field, or 19 percent. Read More »

Everybody had the day off at the World Championship, as pool play is wrapped and we move to the knockout round. Today it’ll be Serbia vs. Croatia, and Spain vs. Greece in a matchup that is happening way earlier than anyone expected. After losing two games in pool play (to France and Lithuania), Spain can’t pretend like they haven’t gotten their wake-up call. Marc Gasol put up 25 points and 8 boards in what was basically a must-win against Lebanon, and is averaging 15.4 points and 7.2 boards in the tournament. Rudy Fernandez (shooting), J.C. Navarro (scoring) and Ricky Rubio (dishing) are doing their thing, and even Fran Vazquez showed up the other day (more than can be said about his Orlando Magic career). Read More »

As the saying goes, one door closing means another door is opening somewhere. Or something like that.

While the immediate future looks bleak for the Cleveland Cavaliers without LeBron James, one of the few people set to benefit in the new era is All-Star point guard Mo Williams, who becomes the go-to guy on a team that’s used to being in the playoff mix. Like Homer Simpson, Mo (who got his first chance to shine in the pros when T.J. Ford got hurt in Milwaukee) is again realizing the greatness of the word “default.” Read More »