ESPN has the details. It’s an AP report, so I don’t want to quote any text here. Suffice it to say, at a charity event, LeBron went out of his way to thank Cleveland after drawing criticism for taking out a full page ad to thank his hometown of Akron.
Tag: LeBron James (Page 25 of 85)
Um, ok.
Per Marc Berman:
Knicks are about to announce Isiah Thomas will be named a part-time consultant to club but keeps his job at FIU. Weird.
This isn’t all that surprising after the Knicks enlisted Thomas in a last-ditch pitch to LeBron a few weeks ago. I don’t know why you would trot out (arguably, thanks to Kevin McHale) the worst GM of the aughts to try to convince one of the league’s best players that your team is headed in the right direction. If anything, wouldn’t you want to convince him that he has nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the franchise?
For all of his faults, Thomas did draft pretty well while GM of the Knicks.
Here’s a look:
2004: Trevor Ariza (#43 overall)
2005: Channing Frye (#8), David Lee (#30)
2006: Renaldo Balkman (#20), Mardy Collins (#29)
2007: Wilson Chandler (#23)
That’s not a bad run considering he only had one pick in the #8. It’s not easy to find rotation players in the late first round (or second round) and he was 3-for-5 in that area, picking an All-Star (Lee) and two starter-quality swingmen (Ariza and Chandler).
I could see a team putting him in charge of scouting or the draft, but I’d keep him out of all trade discussions.
As for the fact that he’s going to keep his coaching job at FIU — WTF? Coaching a Division I basketball team is a full time job, and he’s going to be working part time for the Knicks?
John Reid of the The Times Picayune speculates that it was Paul’s new management (LRMR, LeBron’s buddies) who were behind the news/rumors that Paul wanted out of New Orleans.
“I have a friend in the NBA who stays close with him (Paul),” said veteran sportswriter Sam Smith, who used to cover the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan for the Chicago Tribune. “He said Paul has been telling him that he didn’t come up with any list or push to be traded. But part of my sense is that these people have been speaking for Paul, and they are doing a lot of leaking. And Chris has kind of been influenced by these guys, allowing them to kind of walk all over him and kind of confused about what’s going on.
“He’s really hurting himself. I’ve talked to a couple of GMs who said he’s really suffered a blow personally. He’s made himself look like one of these arrogant guys that’s not communicating anything and sort of wasting the tremendous amount of goodwill that he has built up.”
Paul’s own statements about the meeting with the Hornets’ brass indicate that he wants to stay in New Orleans.
“The meeting went well. It was great to get an opportunity to sit down with Coach Williams, President Weber and our new General Manager Dell Demps. I expressed my desire to win and I like what they said about the direction that they want to take the team. I have been a Hornet my entire career and I hope to represent the city of New Orleans and state of Louisiana for many years to come.”
Some say that both this statement and the team’s statement was just a smokescreen in order to portray a unified front, to get the Hornets approximately equal value in any forthcoming trade.
Since the meeting last Monday, things have been awfully quiet. It’s been a full week and no new news.
I just don’t know what Hornets’ management could have told Paul in the meeting that would have convinced him that the team would contend in the near future. Thus far this summer, they’ve elected not to use their mid-level exception and they traded away the #11 pick (Cole Aldrich), presumably to save money.
As it stands, the Hornets are projected to have about $10 million in cap space next summer, but that could rise to about $18 million if David West opts out of his deal. If the team can find a taker for Emeka Okafor (possibly packaging him with Darren Collison), they would have enough money to sign two max free agents (under the current CBA). Perhaps Carmelo Anthony and RFA Al Horford would be willing to join CP3 in New Orleans.
When asked about the Hawks possibly signing Shaq to match up with the Magic, Dwight Howard had this to say to the Atlanta Journal Constitution…
“That’s only four games out of the season. You have to look long term and what’s best for your team. Cleveland got Shaq to match up with the Magic. They also got Antawn Jamison to match up with the Magic. But they didn’t even play the Magic. They played Boston [and lost]. You match up for the league, not just one team.”
The Cavs were eliminated by the Magic in the playoffs the year before, so it’s understandable why they would want to improve their roster with a possible rematch in mind. The Celtics looked like they were getting old very quickly, so they weren’t deemed the threat that the Magic were. That was obviously a big mistake.
I’m interested to find out why the Cavs weren’t able to acquire Amare Stoudemire. He was available for almost two years during the span when the Cavs were retooling their roster and would have seemingly been a very nice fit in the pick-and-roll with LeBron. Hopefully someday Danny Ferry will speak out on the subject because his word is about the only one I trust in this whole mess.
James took out a full-page advertisement in Tuesday’s Akron Beacon Journal, thanking fans in Akron and saying that the city will always be his home. The letter made no mention of Cleveland, or Cavaliers fans.
“For all my life, I have lived in Akron, and for that, I am truly a lucky man,” the letter read. “It was here where I first learned how to play basketball, and where I met the people who would become my lifelong friends and mentors. Their guidance, encouragement and support will always be with me.”
The ad appears on the back of the paper’s front section, and it comes a few days before James’ annual bike-a-thon in Akron, which gives hundreds of bikes to needy children in the city. Some had speculated that the event might be cancelled after LeBron’s decision to leave for Miami, but LeBron chose to continue with the bike-a-thon, although it has been scaled back because of the city’s budget woes.
Damage control…
I do believe it is important to LeBron that he repair his relationship with his hometown and that he doesn’t hold any such allegiance with the city of Cleveland. Akron has a population of 217,074 and is 39 miles south of Cleveland, so it’s a separate city in its own right. LeBron’s hope is that Akron won’t completely disown its prodigal son, and I doubt it will.
Like I said, damage control.
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