Foyle leaves the court after 13 seasons, but his legacy has only begun

It wasn’t all over ESPN and the casual NBA fan probably missed the news on the ole’ ticker last week, but Adonal Foyle retired from the game of basketball. It’s not much of a surprise, he’s only played in 10 games in the last two years (thanks to injuries), actually missing all of last season.

All in all, it was a solid 13-year career for the big man from the Carribean. He leaves the game as the Golden State Warriors’ all-time leading shot-blocker, along with finishing as one of their top rebounders. Foyle spent 10 of his 13 seasons with the Warriors, also making a very brief stop with the Memphis Grizzlies and a few seasons with the Orlando Magic.

Foyle was more than just a 6-foot-10 shot-blocking machine — he is a gentleman — straight up. There is no other way to put it. He has to be one of the most likable and interesting players in the game — that is if you know about him. Foyle is an intellect, far beyond the stereotype of NBA players. He reviews books for HOOP Magazine, writes poetry and is one of the league’s biggest humanitarians.

Foyle is responsible creating both the Democracy Matters and the Kerosene Lamp Foundation, both to empower, educate and help the youth.

In addition to all of that, Foyle was also a Vice President of the league’s players’ association and is finishing up his masters degree in sports psychology, he even wrote a poem about his NBA journey. This most definitely isn’t the last we’ll be hearing of Foyle — I have a feeling he’ll be involved with the league for years to come — it’s definitely safe to say that there’s only one Adonal Foyle.

Here’s a great interview that he recently did with the Golden State Warriors, it’s a must watch — you need to know more about Foyle, his story was slept on by mass media.

Chris Paul wants to stay in New Orleans?

Last week, the NBA rumor mill went nuts as Chris Paul reportedly expressed his desire to be traded from the New Orleans Hornets. His ties with LeBron James and James’ marketing team, along with a reported list of teams which Paul wanted to be dealt to only helped add fuel to the fire.

Today, after meeting with Hornets team president Hugh Weber, newly hired General Manager Dell Demps and head coach Monty Williams, Paul used his Twitter account to announce his desire to stay a Hornet.

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.

Great news for Hornets fans, who didn’t have to witness “The Decision 2.0,” but the question is, do you really believe CP3?

Lorenzen Wright reported missing

Lorenzen Wright, who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2008-09 season, has been reported missing by his family. Wright’s sister told Memphis’ WREG that the former 13-year pro hasn’t been seen or heard from since Sunday, when Wright was scheduled to fly out of Memphis back to his home in Atlanta.

Wright had been visiting his family in Memphis, where he also played in college and even spent five seasons with the Grizzlies, playing some of the best ball of his career in a Grizz uni. According to WREG, Wright has had some well known financial problems, but authorities aren’t expecting any foul play.

Hopefully it’s all just a mix up and Wright’s okay.

Props, SLAM

Oh that’s just great, Chris Paul demands a trade

Back in 2008 the New Orleans Hornets were an uplifting success story in the NBA. Chris Paul was making a strong case for the MVP and the Hornets won 56 games. They finished second in the West, and were only a game back of the first-place Los Angeles Lakers.

Even though they took a dip in the second round against the more experienced San Antonio Spurs — they were only one win away from the Western Conference Finals — the Hornets were finally making an impact in New Orleans, after leaving Charlotte in the early part of the decade.

The following season, the Hornets only won 49 games and lost in a downright embarrassing fashion to the Denver Nuggets in the first round and last season things took an even stronger turn for the worse.

Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower fired head coach Byron Scott just nine games into the season. The team finished last place in the Southwest Division, winning 37 games and missing the playoffs.

Now, Paul wants out.

Please Penny, don’t do it.

I’m trying to avoid the fact that Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway says he wants to come back to the league and join the Miami Heat. Penny is a staple to guys in my age group who grew up watching the game of basketball. He killed it on the court, his shoe game was right up there with Jordan, and he’s responsible for the greatest basketball commercials ever.

Unfortunately, injuries changed things for Penny and his career was hindered. His last attempt to play in the NBA fell short with the Miami Heat, when he reunited with Shaquille O’Neal for the early part of the 2007-08 season. Hardaway played in 16 games that season for the Heat, but was released by the team before midseason. He hasn’t played in an NBA game since 2007.

As much as I’d love to see Hardaway return to the game, odds are if he went to the Heat to chase a ring with their “big three,” he’d probably just embarrass himself. Well, maybe embarrass is a harsh word, but I just don’t want to see Penny coming off the bench averaging four points and three assists on a championship caliber team.

My memories of him dominating still outweigh the injuries, unlike many, and I want to keep it that way.

My message to Penny:

“Penny, you’re a legend in so many of our eyes. You have nothing to prove and I hate the fact that you are saying you want a minimal role with this team, don’t chase the ring. Injuries stole your career, but when you were at your best, there weren’t many players in that era that out-shined you, let’s just leave it at that.”

If he does come back, then I guess I will somewhat be rooting for the Heat, and most importantly maybe it means Lil’ Penny will meet LeBron and Big Z’s puppets, if that’s the case and it means Lil’ Penny is returning, then I’m game.

It’s probably a good thing LeBron traded in his number ’23′

Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all-time, and every great player that plays the game and at some point may have to face comparison to “His Airness.” Obviously, LeBron James entered the league with that “The Next Jordan” title. Wearing number’23′ probably didn’t help his cause in avoiding the comparison — along with his self-appointed and league-hyped greatness.

As James joins Dwyane Wade‘s Miami Heat along with Chris Bosh, he hands in his number ’23,’ and that’s probably a good thing. Jordan spoke about James’ decision at a celebrity golf tournament this weekend:

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry (Bird), called up Magic (Johnson) and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team,’ ” Jordan said on NBC after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada.

“But that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

FOXNews

Obviously James is one of the best players in the game today, and one of the greatest players of the last decade, don’t think for a minute that anything I write about him is taking away from that fact.

I don’t want to take the comments out of context or make them out to be bigger than they are, but at the same time, that’s Jordan’s way of saying, “You are not me kid…none of you are.”

Dan Gilbert is freaking awesome

Tonight LeBron James “shocked” the sports world. He has left Cleveland, his hometown, after seven seasons. James is heading to Miami to team up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in hopes of championship glory.

LeBron made the announcement on ESPN’s “The Decision” on live TV.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert, was not happy about James’ decision and the way the superstar went about making it. He made it well known tonight. As unprecendented as James’ decision was in NBA history, never have we seen an owner drop an open letter to fans in the way that Gilbert has tonight.

In the letter, Gilbert refers to James as a “coward” and mocks the James’ “King” and “Witness” monickers. Gilbert also wishes a curse upon the Heat in the letter.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

That’s not all, this letter was amazing, ridiculous, unlike anything we’ve ever seen from an owner before. Calling James a coward and cursing the Heat’s title hopes was only the half of it.

In other reports, Gilbert also accused James of quitting on the team during this season’s semi-finals series against the Celtics, along with Game 6 during last season’s Eastern Conference Finals series against the Magic.

The battle has just begun, this is awesome. Gilbert is the man. In one night, he may have went from the ‘just the Cavs’ owner’ to the next Mark Cuban, or the greatest owner in the league, or at least the coolest.

Miami it is, time for Cleveland to rebuild

We heard all day that LeBron James would be going to the Miami Heat, but we still weren’t 100% sure. When he made the announcement that he would be heading to Miami tonight on ESPN, it still kind of knocked the wind out of me. I say that as a guy who doesn’t like the Cavaliers, and doesn’t want to see them be successful.

Well, until now.

We all “witnessed” it tonight.

It still came as a shocker. LeBron James will be bringing his act to Miami, since he couldn’t live up to the hype of being a “king” in Cleveland. It’s time to tear down the billboard and time for the Cavs to rebuild their franchise.

More to come…

A star-studded Amar’e celebration

The Knicks announcement of coming to terms with Amar’e Stoudmire sure brought a star-studded cast out to dinner to celebrate in New York City on Monday night. Based on this photo that former Knicks’ guard Allan Houston (who is now the Assistant to the President of Basketball Operations with the Knicks) posted on his website, everyone who is anyone was at the dinner — or at least close to it.

Besides Houston, joining Stoudemire for dinner was Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni, actor/comedian Chris Rock, director Spike Lee, rapper Fat Joe and former Knicks legend John Starks, along with two other guys (but I don’t know who they are, but they’re cool because they’re at this dinner and I’m not).

I can’t even imagine the dinner that LeBron James gets if he chooses to play in New York. One can assume that in addition to the cast of the Stoudemire dinner, the James’ dinner would feature P. Diddy, 50 Cent, Jerry Seinfield, Kevin James, Abe Vigoda, the entire Yankees team, David Letterman, Patrick Chewing (Ewing can’t make it due to obligations with the Magic) and of course Naked Cowboy.

Even though he’s a prominent New Yorker, I’d have a feeling Jay-Z would be skipping out on that potential dinner.