Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert fired off a congratulatory tweet last night to Miami and OKC, and it was relatively tame. But, as the majority of critics have pointed out, there was no mention of LeBron James. Before you jump on your moral high horse and condemn Dan Gilbert for not paying homage to his departed star, Gilbert must have known the immense scrutiny that would surround his postgame reaction. But there will always be a part of him that feels betrayed – Cleveland was LeBron’s home, the town to which he was supposed to bring a title. So he gave a run-of-the-mill reaction, one that didn’t acknowledge James, and one that contrasted his normally in-your-face style. Read More »

The clock is ticking. As if this compressed season hasn’t gone by fast enough, the NBA’s trade deadline is approaching as fast as Kobe deciding to pull-up for a jumper. March 15 marks the last possible day that teams can trade cats to either improve their shot to make a real title run or look to revamp their squads with an eye towards the future. As basketball fans, we all love to discuss trade scenarios probably more so than the actual play at hand. Now it’s time for GMs to get on the phone and make something happen. Read More »

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It’s DimeBag time. Let’s get to it. Read More »

Didn’t we kinda sorta predict this? Stephen Jackson hasn’t been practicing up in Milwaukee because of some back spasms, but some are saying he’s been sitting out for entirely different reasons. Reportedly, Jackson isn’t happy with his contract, one that will pay him over $9 million this season and $10 million next season. He wanted an extension in Charlotte – as a 33-year-old, you know the guaranteed years are weighing heavily on him – and the Bobcats decided to ship him out instead of offering one. Jackson hasn’t said a word about it during training camp. Read More »

Of all five teams that the New Orleans fiasco sort of screwed over this week (Los Angeles, New Orleans, Houston, the Knicks and Boston), it’s the Lakers who are probably hurting the most to get these talks kick-started and moving again. Lamar Odom isn’t feeling the love right now, and showed up for just a few moments during practice yesterday. So there’s no doubt in our minds that they’re working feverishly right now. The teams were given the green light to start talking again so all three are back to the negotiating table, attempting to tweak what they thought was a sure thing just a few days ago. Read More »

Apparently we weren’t the only ones to take notice of Dan Gilbert’s letter to David Stern. In response, the Washington Generals have offered Gilbert a chance to play or coach when they come to Cleveland on Dec. 27 to face the Harlem Globetrotters. According to the team, this is a serious offer. They’ve even made him a jersey. Read More »

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was so pissed when he found out about the Lakers/Chris Paul deal, he apparently immediately fired off a strongly-worded letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern protesting the deal.

As our dude Dan Wetzel tweeted, “Dan Gilbert email to Stern is so angry you can practically hear the comic sans.”

Here it is in its entirety: Read More »

Does everyone still want to completely blame the players for this mess? If the last two days haven’t convinced you that the owners are even more greedy, even more egotistical, even more obsessed with coming out ahead in these discussions – like little kids fighting over every Easter egg – then I don’t know what will. They deserve much of the blame as well for failing in the negotiations this week. Just when things appeared ready to turn around with numerous small breakthroughs on system topics, owners like Peter Holt (who told the players “You haven’t felt enough pain yet.”), Paul Allen and Dan Gilbert came through like John Marston and started shooting s— up. Derek Fisher spoke with NBA TV’s David Aldridge yesterday, explaining why everything involving the lockout talks have shut down. Read More »

While their new draft pick won’t be coming to the NBA this season (Jonas Valanciunas and Toronto’s front office reached an agreement on his buyout and the power forward will be coming over for the 2012-2013 season), the Raptors learned that Leandro Barbosa won’t be leaving them. He exercised his player option for $7.6 million for next season. Read More »

If you went into any New York City bar to catch the NBA Finals, or even just heard bits and pieces of conversations on the street, you may have thought it was the Knicks going toe-to-toe with the Heat, not the Dallas Mavericks. Places were packed, people were loud and emotions ran high. The Finals have a tendency to do that. For a few weeks in June, when there’s not much else to watch, these games capture the hearts of sports fans everywhere. Heck, New Yorkers even split sides during the Celtics–Lakers matchups, but this particular Finals felt different. Not once in my life as a sports fan have I seen such overwhelming support for one team. Never in my life have I seen casual basketball fans so heavily invested in the complete failure of the Heat and in the utter triumph of the Mavs. Read More »