I spent all of last season specifically focused on detailing the progress of the NBA's worst team ever. At times it became mundane, but we eventually invented enough things to keep the comments we posted here specifically centered on the Cleveland Cavaliers. We invented a nickname for a rookie shooting guard, and a series highlighting a long list of Cavaliers legends like Harold Miner that he passed on his way up the scoring ranks. What we didn't want to do, and I didn't want to do, was talk about the guy who just left all the time. It just didn't feel healthy to me.

In some ways, doing so maybe would've maybe gotten this site about a thousand or so more hits everyday. I don't really know on that number specifically, but I never really cared. For me, the only way to move past what happened, and re-establish a healthy fandom in regards to this Cavaliers team I rooted for long before he ever arrived, was to focus on what was here in front of us. The now, the future, the whatever. Everything but what had all just ended so miserably for everybody.

I was prepared when I woke up yesterday morning to write a blog about how that process had helped me become so completely over what had happened a couple summers ago too. Just about every word was already written in my head when I stepped off the treadmill on Thursday. I believed I was over it. I was going to talk about the splendor and joy this new Kyrie Irving Era was already, in it's infancy, beginning to deliver a fanbase lucky enough to have a kid like him come around. That second part I still completely believe. 

As far as the whole being over it thing goes though, as a Cleveland sports fan, I realized yesterday that I guess I never really will be. I'm not going to be so bold as to speak for anybody else, but for me specifically, I don't think I ever really will.  I fully understood that yesterday too, for maybe the first time I guess, as I became increasingly bothered by the fact that what he said still actually bothered me. I thought I was over it, but I'm not.

There's really nothing anybody can do at this point either. To be completely honest, if he somehow came back next season after failing to win again this year in Miami to team up with Kyrie Irving in some fantasy universe still yet to be discovered by Russian spacecraft, I'd get over myself pretty quick. I can't lie. It could be something like him saying I really messed up, you guys, I'm sorry. I can't actually win without you, Northeast, Ohio. I made all that stuff up about hating Cleveland growing up too, and I forced my way out of that deal I signed in Miami because I needed to come back here.  Now let's finish what we started, and I momentarily quit because I was young and afraid of failure, together all over again.

None of that was at all what he was talking about yesterday though, when he suggested he'd like to come back here one day. He was talking about four or five years from now, when his headband had finally receded miles away from his forehead. After D-Wade and the Bostrich had helped win at least one title, and maybe a few. He said it, I think, because he sensed the fact that everybody around here was finally thinking the same way I thought I was yesterday morning. He realized we were all getting over it. He realized we were all getting over him. He understood that this is a Point Guard League, and his old team now employs the third best player at that position. As a nineteen year-old. Something for as great as he was, is, and always will be as a player, he couldn't say he was quite yet at nineteen with respect to his small forward counterparts.

It doesn't make me hate him though. It just makes me more disgusted with the situation. Sad in some ways, annoyed in others. There's really no reason you bring up the idea of playing for another team specifically again in four years if you really don't think that maybe you shouldn't have left that team in the first place. Maybe that's what he thinks, maybe it isn't. Maybe it was just a PR ploy that he took one big step too far by actually saying he wanted to come back and play for a team while under contract by another. Or maybe I should just go back to not caring anymore.

If Kyrie Irving and his Cavaliers can get this one tonight though, I think it'll go a long way to helping me get back to that same place I thought I was yesterday morning. Focused solely on the Era of Cavaliers basketball that is upon us now, as opposed to the one that died forever when he left.  

Beat the Heat tonight fellas, take no prisoners. This one, now more than ever, is really just about you guys. no comments

Former San Antonio Spurs foil Steve Nash is a free agent at the end of this season and the Suns, for lack of a better word, stink.  Fans, media members and bloggers alike have called for Phoenix to trade him, but they have refused because Nash hasn't asked and owner Robert Sarver knows that trading Nash would be trading away his meal ticket.

Since Nash is going to be a free agent this summer and the Suns think they might lose him and get nothing in return, reports have surfaced that they are at least open to the idea of trading him.  Sam Amick with SI.com reports that one executive whose team is interested in Nash says the Suns are closer than ever to trading the former two-time MVP.  Nash acknowledges that a trade could happen, but says he's not really thinking about.

"I have no idea what the club will eventually do if a bunch of offers are thrown in their face," Nash said, "but I feel like I'm not nervous about [the trade deadline] and I'm not thinking about -- what's the word? -- I'm not anticipating anything to happen. I feel like I made a commitment and I feel like I owe it to my teammates -- the city, the fans, the club -- to play it out and to play as hard as I can."

Kudos to Steve Nash for being in a worse situation than Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and even my beloved Chris Paul and sticking to the contract he signed.  He very easily could have said "trade me" by now, but hasn't even if it means he's losing a shot at playing for a contender.

The problem for the Suns is who is going to trade for Nash unless they know they sign him to an extension for a year or two.  I think teams also might be hesitant to trade for him because they think he's going to New York next season to reunite with Mike D'Antoni.  The Knicks have no cap space so they can only use the Mid-Level Exception to sign him, which they may have to use to keep Jeremy Lin (picking Lin over Nash would be the height of lunacy, by the way).

I was going to troll Spurs fans by saying the team should offer Tony Parker for Steve Nash, but I'll save it.  I think Portland would be a good landing spot for him.  Same with a team like Indiana, but that would almost certainly be a three month rental.  And obviously getting Nash would be big for Orlando if they really think they can keep Dwight Howard.

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As a passionate die-hard Knicks fan starving for a few crumbs ever since Patrick left the Garden, I am way too close to Linsanity to go deep into the multitude of powerful socio-cultural narratives sweeping sports nation. For that, please see Jay Caspian Kang’s The Lives of Others (from 2010), Jamilah King’s “The Subtle Bigotry…”, Andrew Leonard’s Social Media Fast Break, Dave Zirin’s Feel the Linsanity, Timothy Dalrymple’s The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations, and David Leonard’s Tebow, Lin, and The Religiosity of Sportsand The Persistence of Racial Stereotypes (hat tip on links).

The impact of Lin’s inspiration and stereotype-breaking also cannot be overstated: For Bryan Chu “Jeremy is One of Us”; for Michael Luo, Lin embodies “a surreal Jackie Robinson-like moment”; and Danny Chau was “overwhelmed with pride and unfiltered elation”.

Somewhere amidst this international discussion lies a 23 year-old basketball player, and when an ESPN poll seriously asks :“Is Jeremy Lin the Best Point Guard in the NBA?”, then it’s time to call time-out.

For hardcore Knick fans, it’s time to extract the sane from Linsanity. What’s hoops, what’s hype, and why some of us are going crazy. Let’s start with six questions: no comments

More than likely, the Portland Trail Blazers have come to terms with the fact that Greg Oden will not be a Blazer following the 2012 season.

That his ultimate success or failure will be in another city and another uniform.

If that is in fact the case, and it should be, why should the Blazers or their fans be left empty handed?

For the bulk of Oden’s short career (just 82 games played spread across five seasons), the Blazers have seen mere glimpse of what he can do, and being in a clear state of rebuilding, the team needs to make something out of what thus far has been nothing.

While most fans grimace at hearing Oden being compared to Sam Bowie, why not embrace that history, and let it return full circle?

Oden IS Bowie 2.0, and that may actually work for the Blazers, especially if the parallels between the two players do not end at their respective injury histories. no comments

It might sound like a weird thing to say about a two-time NBA MVP and sure-fire Hall-of-Famer, but Steve Nash is probably a little underrated.  Critics are still grumbling to this day that Nash didn't deserve to win either of his MVP awards.  They complain about his weak defense.  But all of this overshadows what a unique player he is and what an incredible season he is having.  In fact, Nash is having the greatest season a 38-year-old point guard has ever had.  


Nash is shooting 57%, third best in the NBA (Stephen Curry is the only other guard among the top 20).  He's among the league leaders in three-point and free throw accuracy also.  He's leading the NBA in assists, despite having Marcin Gortat as the best offensive weapon at his disposal.  And he's playing 31.5 minutes a game - right in line with his career average.  And he's doing all this at the age of 38.  That is the truly remarkable thing - he's still competing at such a high level at such an advanced basketball age.  In fact, it is unheard of.

Here is what the rest of the players on our top 10 point guards of all-time list (which Nash was a part of) were doing at age 38: no comments

It is hard to know what to beleive when it comes to the latest updates in the Dwight Howard saga. The Magic are content to wait out trade offers right now. That has been the team's stated position for the entire season. Until Dwight completely closes the door on returning or the Magic get the offer they are looking for, it seems the trade talk is off the table. At least until the All-Star Game.

There have been developments though and tea leaves to divinate.

The first, Orlando has ridden a roller coaster of a beginning of the season and seem to have settled into the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. That is certainly not the "championship caliber" team Howard is looking for. A finish in the sixth position -- even if it would mean a fairly close matchup with Indiana in the postseason and a chance to get to the second round -- is probably not enough on its own.

Yes, the Magic are playing a dangerous game with Dwight Howard right now. It might be the only game to play with the offers available and the list Howard has given the team.

The plain fact is that the Nets, the Mavericks and the Lakers do not have the pieces the Magic want in return for Dwight Howard with the still-lingering chance Howard could stay. Orlando is not very interested in Andrew Bynum and his shaky knees by himself. Nobody is sold on Brook Lopez it seems. And Dallas knows its best shot to get Dwight is in free agency -- and the team still needs to make moves to make that happen. no comments

NBA All-Star reserves will be announced Thursday and whether it was his way of declining an invitation to play before even being invited, actually being self aware or some combination of both, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki says he doesn't deserve to be an All-Star.

"Averaging whatever, 15, 16 points, I don't think you should be an All-Star," Nowitzki said. "But we'll just have to wait and see. I think there is a lot of great young talent in this league that deserves to go. I think LaMarcus Aldridge has been stiff the last couple of years. He's a great young player, fun to watch. You know Blake and Love are playing great. There is a lot of talent at my position."

So Dirk doesn't think he should be an All-Star and I probably agree with that.  He's right that Kevin Love and LaMarcus Aldridge both deserve the nods over him.  Coaches are supposed to pick two guards, two forwards, a center and two wild cards.  Paul Milsap is playing better than Dirk and Utah is playing about as well as Dallas and there's still a guy like Pau Gasol.  So Dirk being left off the All-Star team wouldn't be the biggest crime.

Here's another all-time great who is likely to be left off the All-Star team: San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan.  Duncan is doing about what he did last season, averaging 13.8 ppg and 8.2 rpg.  He is playing a minute less this season.  Duncan's PER sits at 21.51 right now, which is better than Gasol, but not nearly as good as Paul Milsap.  So just going by numbers, it's tough to see Duncan getting an All-Star forward nod.

Here's where it gets interesting.  Picking two forwards and a center are more guidelines than set rules.  So instead of selecting a back up center, they can take an extra power forward.  Enter Tim Duncan who a ton of people consider a center anyways.  Duncan's real competition at center is Memphis center Marc Gasol.  Gasol is averaging 15.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg and 2.2 bpg.  However, Gasol is playing 38 minutes per game compared to Duncan's 27.5 mpg.  Duncan's PER is actually two points higher than Gasol's.  Duncan's per 36 minute numbers blow Gasol's out of the water.

So is Duncan an All-Star?  It's tough to say.  If he makes it I'm sure people will say it's legacy pick.  I don't know if that's a bad thing.  Duncan's also been on a tear lately.  In his last four games he's averaging 19 points and 12 boards, in his last ten it's 16 points and 10 boards a game.  That's not terrible.  Don't be completely surprised Spurs fans if Duncan's name is announced on the NBA on TNT Thursday night. [projectsupurs2]

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New York Knicks fans don't know where he came from, but Jeremy Lin has exploded into an amazing force at the point guard position over the past two games.

On Saturday, with 3:35 to go in the first quarter, Lin came off the bench to lead the Knicks to a 99-92 win over the New Jersey Nets and Deron Williams. He ultimately played 36 minutes, scored 25 points (10/19 FG, 5/7 FT), dished off seven assists, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals, to go with only one turnover.  

Coach Mike D'Antoni was happy with Lin finally providing a point guard presence on the Knicks roster (despite being the third-stringer previously): 

"The biggest thing is, he's got a point guard mentality," said D'Antoni.

The Harvard graduate, after jumping from the Golden State Warriors, to the Houston Rockets, to the Knicks, has been impressing more than just his coach.

"He has been breaking down guys in practice for a while now," Tyson Chandler said. "We were saying at halftime he just needs to play more minutes."

"He won the game for us," Carmelo Anthony said.

And then D'Antoni decided to start Lin at the point against the Utah Jazz last night. Lin repaid the faith as he led the Knicks to a 99-88 victory.

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Rumors of his departure had apparently calmed down since Chris Paul was traded to the Clippers but, recently, some Amar'e Stoudemire trade rumors have resurfaced.

Although I would disagree with such a move by the Knicks - especially considering the fact that he was the man who turned the ship around last year - it's important to address a trade as a real possibility. These are the New York Knicks, after-all.

Making use of ESPN's Trade Machine and a handful of rumours, I've tried to outline exactly how these deals may or may not go down, showing who would come back to New York and who (if anybody) would leave with Amar'e.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the possibilities... no comments

  

Incase you hadn’t heard, Dwight Howard is apparently ready to take his talents to Chicago. Or something. On Sunday, when asked about Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose, Howard told the Chicago Tribune:

"If I could play with Derrick right now and God wanted that to happen, it will happen," Howard said. "It has nothing to do with me not wanting to play with Derrick Rose. I love him. That's my brother."

Now, taken in a vacuum, those comments aren’t all that bad. Howard didn’t intimate that he was desperate to play in Chicago, or even necessarily wanted to, per se. All he said was that if the opportunity presented itself, he’d love to play with Derrick Rose. Honestly, who wouldn’t?

Of course with Dwight Howard, the problem is that you can’t his comments in a vacuum, but instead have to line them up into context with everything else he’s said over the previous few months. And for those you who haven’t been paying attention, what’s he’s basically said are the following: That he’d love to play with the Celtics. Or the Lakers. Maybe even the Mavericks or Nets. Possibly even the Clippers or Knicks.

This would all be well and good of course, except, well, Howard plays for the Orlando Magic, and there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll continue to do so for another five months. And as long as he does, he seems set on continuing to make obnoxious comments like he did Sunday, and continue to fuel the most annoying story, that-isn’t-really-a-story in sports. That topic? Where will Dwight Howard end up at the end of this season? no comments