LeBron James couldn’t live up to his own hype in Cleveland

LeBron James pissed off a lot of people last week, there’s no other way to put it. If you’re one of the 100,000 people that live in Miami, well, you’re obviously pretty damn happy. Same goes for front-runners of our universe — the bandwagon is filling up.

The people of Cleveland went into outrage, and rightfully so. They’re allowed to feel betrayed, that’s part of the business in sports. If LeBron is insulted that people raged the streets burning his jersey, he probably shouldn’t have made his announcement on a reality show-esque prime-time ESPN special.

If his announcement came in the middle of the day, via an update on ESPN or one of the other online sports outlets (as all other free-agent updates do), I’m sure the people wouldn’t have hit the streets in the fashion they did. The thing is, LeBron and his team of handlers, they wanted the build-up and they wanted this hype.

It was ridiculous, and that’s why so many people are angry. That’s why people are laughing at him and “witnessing” first hand just another example of how uncomfortable LeBron James is as a person. He’s a puppet and a follower, who craves the attention to validate himself.

We’ve never seen this type of display in all of sports, and hopefully we never have to see it again.

Stoudemire heading to New York, Knicks go from bad to average

The first few days of NBA free agency have been stories of speculation upon stories of little news at all. Of course there have been the few stories of players who have chosen to re-sign with their teams: Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki have all made the choice to return to the cities that love them most.

As we continue to wait and find out what happens with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, one of the other premiere free agents, Amar’e Stoudemire has made his decision to play for the New York Knicks. Stoudemire has become the first big name player to switch teams, and for New York, they’re obviously excited for two reasons:

1. Their team didn’t get shutout during free agency, and they’ve landed a superb All-Star big man.
2. This could potentially increase the chances of a player like LeBron James coming to New York to team up with Stoudemire.

Though he can’t sign officially until July 8, Stoudemire and the Knicks have made no reservations about making his agreement to join the team official. Stoudemire merchandise is already available on Knicks.com. The deal between Stoudemire and the Knicks is reportedly set to be a five-year deal worth nearly $100 million.

Manute Bol was bigger than basketball

Over the past two years, we’ve seen LeBron James go out of his way to make his upcoming free agency a spectacle. While the Lakers and Celtics were prepping to battle during this month’s NBA Finals, James went out and did an interview with Larry King to promote his free agency and talk about how he’s the “ring leader” of the 2010 free agent class — without any rings, of course.

In less than 24 hours, all of James’ dreams of individual praise and being wooed by cities and their teams will come true.

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Meanwhile, in Washington yesterday, the most selfless athlete of all-time was buried and laid to his final rest — Manute Bol.

Bol was the opposite of James, the opposite of the stereotype people give to athletes. Bol used his fame for change, not glory — and for many NBA players, he served as a prime example of how one should handle themselves when they are given a chance to play a game for money — lots of money. Don’t be fooled, there are plenty of athletes that aren’t trying to hold “free agent summits.” There are plenty of athletes that have never tried to put the focus on themselves — rather straying away from the spotlight, there are quite a few actually — but none were like Bol.

Praise Jesus, but don’t forget Rondo

You read this blog. You know that I love “He Got Game.” Last night, Ray Allen did just that, have game. He was incredible and he had a record setting performance during Sunday night’s Game 2 103-94 victory.

I’m going to be honest with you, I didn’t see the first half. I’m not going to lie and say I did and talk about each shot he was hitting — I’m not Mitch Albom. In fact, I only saw five of his 32 points. That’s not saying much, but I did see the record setting 8th three-pointer that he hit in the game.

I was visiting a friend who lives a ways away and we went to see a movie. I knew it would interfere with me watching Game 2, but I figured catching the second half would be enough. Well, “Get Him to the Greek” was great and I laughed quite a bit, but I missed out on one of the best first halves a player has ever had in the NBA Finals.

When I walked out of the movie theater I grabbed my phone to see that the Celtics were up 52-39. I was pretty surprised, but when I opened the box score, my draw dropped to the floor. Allen had 27 points in the first half! I couldn’t believe it, and obviously I knew that his three-ball had to have been dropping. I called my friend’s brother to get a quick recap, “Jesus is 7-for-7 from three!”

Damn, I missed out.

2010 NBA Finals: The Fresh Breakdown

When the NBA Finals start Thursday night, it will be the 12th time that the Lakers and Celtics have met in the Finals. In the 11 previous meetings between the two teams, the Celtics have won nine — the first eight, starting back in 1959, and the last meeting between the two, back in 2008.

Last season, the Celtics may have been in the Finals, but the injury to Kevin Garnett saw them packing early and unable to defend their title. Of course, the Lakers made it back and took the title home running through the Magic.

Now the two teams meet again, each winning one of the last two titles and both thinking that they can beat one another.

The Celtics have the mindset on the Lakers of “You still haven’t beat us,” even if the Lakers have been the better team the past 23 months.

The last time the two met in the Finals was that 131-92 Boston victory, a 39-point loss for the Lakers in a closeout game (what separates Kobe Bryant from Michael Jordan — Jordan was 6-0 in the Finals). A loss that is definitely on the minds of the Lakers, and if we know Bryant, he’s probably watching those highlights right now. That’s his drive.

So what’s changed since 2008, and who’s going to come out on top?

2k10 Fresh Awards: Rookie of the Year

Guess what?

I finally beat the NBA before their official announcement, well, I’m still writing this, so by the time I post it, who knows? This is the first time that I can remember there being three legitimate candidates for  the Rookie of the Year Award. There were some really good rookies during the year 2009-10, but obviously it comes down to three players: Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans.

After two weeks of action, it looked as if Jennings would win this thing hands down. He had me completely under the belief that my Evans pick would be incorrect. Then shortly after, it look like Evans was going toe for toe with Jennings. Keep in mind at the very start of the season, the Kings were playing good basketball and Jennings was tearing it up.

As the season went on, Jennings started to lose steam. Jennings went from averaging 22 points in November, to 16 points in December, 14 in January and all the way down to 10 points per game in February. It was a dramatic drop — granted his assist numbers and the Bucks’ winning stayed steady. His shooting percentage in the month of February was a miserable 30 percent.

Then came Curry. He was solid the first few months, but after the All-Star break, the kid took over. In the first 51 games of the season, Curry averaged 15 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. In those final 29 games after the break, Curry put in 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds each night — including a ton of threes, two steals a games and a 47 percent shooting clip. Curry was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Evans was steady throughout the course of the season and after the Kevin Martin trade, his numbers jumped — but they never took the dip like Jennings’ or started slow like Curry’s. Evans averaged 20 points, five rebounds and six assists per game, but his Kings only won 25 games.

This is where it gets tricky.

2k10 Fresh Awards: Coach of the Year

The pictures says it all. That is exactly how Nate McMillian should feel. Confused.

I don’t want to take anything away from Scott Skiles, who did a wonderful job with the Bucks this year. Jerry Sloan, who has never won the award. Also, let’s not forget Larry Brown, who worked his magic with the Bobcats this year (only to look into leaving the team during the most important part of the season — typical LB). Hell, Alvin Gentry also deserved a big time look at this award. The field was deep.

Of course there is Scott Brooks, he won the award and his team won 50 games, shocking the league with an insane turnaround. They are even tied 2-2 with the World Champion Lakers in their first-round series. Granted Brooks deserves credit, I think most of that lies within Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Not all, not by any means, but a good portion of it. Let’s not discredit what Brooks has done with the Thunder at all, but it doesn’t compare to McMillan’s impact in Portland.

2k10 Fresh Awards: Whoops

Dudes, I worked like three 12-hour days in a row last week, so I jacked it up — plus — I went to Chicago over the weekend and my fingers were shaking too much every morning while there — which meant I couldn’t type.

I missed  a couple during that time, the NBA was like fire handing these awards out. If you ask me, they were much faster than usual. I blame the internet and the mass amount of media in this day and age.

So as of now, they’ve beat me to Most Improved, Coach of the Year and also Sixth-Man.

I’m still giving you my take.

2k10 Fresh Awards: Defensive Player of the Year

Well, the NBA beat me to it. Big surprise. I figured I had another day before I started my NBA Award Winners series, “The Fresh Awards,” but I was wrong.

Make no doubt about it, the voters got it right. Dwight Howard is the best defensive player in the league. It would be stupid to pick anyone else, based on their performances this year. Howard dominates the paint defensively. You saw it on live TV Sunday night. Howard had nine blocks, eight of which were in the first half. The record for blocks in a playoff game is 10, you figured by halftime, Howard was going to crush that record.

He didn’t, but nine was enough.

Howard controls the game with his defense, cause obviously his offensive game is not worthy of his superstar status. Fortunately for the Magic, his defensive game is so damn good that they can win a playoff game with Howard only taking four shots (as he did Sunday against Charlotte).