Cleveland fans, I understand the agony you are going through right now. For a city longing for a title, LeBron James was your last hope for quite some time. And now, after deciding about a week ago to go to the Miami Heat, that title seems far away. Not only that, but the city feels betrayed by James, who grew up in Ohio. But sorry Cleveland: LeBron James owes you nothing.

Before James came into the league, the Cavaliers could not even win 20 games. A few years later, they found themselves in the NBA Finals. And just this past season, Cleveland had the best regular-season record in the NBA. Basketball became relevant in Cleveland for once, and James provided Cavaliers fans with many great memories. But now, Cleveland fans will remember James as an all-time great who turned his back on the state where he grew up in.

In his heart, LeBron James wanted to stay in Cleveland. During the season, he wanted Amare Stoudemire to come. After the season, he tried to recruit Chris Bosh to come to Cleveland with him. Clearly James wanted to stay in Cleveland, and more importantly, win in Cleveland. Owner Dan Gilbert had seven years to properly put a good supporting cast around LeBron. It is telling that Cleveland had the best regular-season record this past season, but did not have a single all-star outside of James.

All LeBron wanted to do was win, and this was his best opportunity. If he stayed in Cleveland, there is no guarantee he would have won a title under his current contract. Someone so good would have probably won eventually, but at what price? Nobody knows if Cleveland would have ever given him a proper sidekick. As Dwayne Wade said on ESPN, nobody wins a title alone. Michael Jordan hit Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had each other, etc. If LeBron James wanted to leave Cleveland to go completely corporate and go for the fame, he would have chosen New York.

Due to no tax in Miami on his contract, James is not really leaving any money on the table. But you cannot blame a player for wanting to win. Yes, he should have gone about making his announcement differently. But for someone that gave so much to a city for seven years, and not be appreciated is ridiculous. He filled up that arena every night, and that should not be forgotten. Fans always rag on players for not wanting to win. But now when someone tries to win, there is a backlash. James will get the rightful titles that he deserves, whether everyone likes it or not. And Cleveland, suck it up, because James gave everything to your city for seven years that a human being possibly could have. He owes you nothing.

After five successful years in Cleveland, the Cavaliers have officially fired head coach Mike Brown. While those years were successful, most importantly, they did not bring a championship to a city that has been seeking a major sports title for quite some time. Perhaps the biggest reasoning for letting go of Brown has to do with what Cleveland feels LeBron James would want. The hope of the franchise will lie on James’s decision in the 2010 off-season. If he leaves, then Cleveland will become an extremely unappealing coaching option. For a team that will have limited cap movement after acquiring Antawn Jamison in the middle of the season, it will become a turn-off, rather than a turn-on. But for Cleveland’s sake, no coach is worth keeping if it will shy LeBron James away. Mike Brown will get work elsewhere, and hopefully for his sake, he can lead his team to the promise land.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

Lebron James and The Cleveland Cavaliers were suprisingly eliminated from the NBA playoffs in the Conference Semi-Finals against the Boston Celtics in six games Thursday May 13.  Many NBA experts believed the Cavaliers were going to make it to the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.  They were right about the Lakers so far, they made it to the Conference Finals, but the Cavaliers could not rise to the challenge and were eliminated one round earlier than last season.

Now that the Cavaliers season is over, everyone is wondering where “The King”, Lebron James is going to go.  This is the first time James has been a free agent in his career.  The question is, will James stay with his current team where he would probably make the most money or will he go somewhere else where he has a better chance to win a championship? 

Many NBA experts believe that if James decides to move to another team that it will either be The New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat, or the Chicago Bulls. 

Reasons to leave for any of the four teams mentioned, Knicks:  James would be more in the spotlight than he already is.  Once someone goes to play for New York their popularity goes through the roof.  James has the chance to be larger than life in New York, but they do not have a championship caliber team even with James.  If the Knicks sign James they will not have that much salaray cap space left to sign any other big name players.  The Knicks can wheel and deal though to build a team around James if they land him.

Nets:  If the Nets land John Wall in the draft lottery along with the Nets new owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s large wealth, the Nets can build a championship team in no time.  The Nets have plenty of room for James along with other big name players.  On top of those factors the Nets are very close to New York and will garner a lot of popularity for James.  There has also been rumors for years that the Nets will be moving to Brooklyn by 2012.  The Nets may be a better choice than the Knicks because of all these reasons.

Heat:  The notion of DeWayne Wade and James on the same team would be spectacular.  There are also rumors that the Heat will land Chris Bosh. With Bosh, James, and Wade the Heat would be unstoppable.  Pat Riley will do all that is possible for this dream to happen.  Another plus on James going to Miami is the location.  James would not get the stardom of being in the New York area but he would get year long warm weather and the beach.  Living in Miami is like being on vacation all the time.

Bulls:  The Bulls are believed to have the best chance at landing James if he decides to leave.  James has a chance to follow in Miachel Jordon’s footsteps by going to Chicago.  There have been rumors that Phil Jackson might go back to Chicago if James lands there.  The Bulls gives James the best oppurtunity to win a championship because they already have two great players on their team with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, unlike the three other teams that would have to rebuild around James.  James could bring the Bulls back to their dynasty status of the 1990’s.

Whether James will stay or go, he will be the biggest story throughout the next three to four months in all of sports. (ESPN.com)

by Eric Heyer at the Sports Fan Blog Network

The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments and ponder their future.

It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll play the Orlando Magic, who are undefeated in the playoffs.

“Winning is gratifying,” Garnett said. “You’re playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don’t have to dress it up. One thing we don’t lack is confidence. We’re a veteran team and we understand when it’s time to lock in as a group. I think we did just that. I think the experience is taking over.”

Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another early offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

LeBron James seemed to reinjure his right elbow in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ series-clinching victory over the Chicago Bulls.

James scored 19 points — 16 in the second half — and added 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Cavs finally saddled the stubborn Bulls to win the series 4-1.

James doesn’t know when he injured the elbow, which he said bothered him the entire second half. TNT showed replays of James landing on the elbow and grimacing after trying to block a shot early in the second half.

James revealed after the game that he underwent an MRI and X-rays on Monday. Results came back clean, according to the Cavaliers.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

Shaquille O’Neal now has another nickname.

“Grandpa” went through a full contact practice with the Cavaliers on Tuesday at Cleveland Clinic Courts and will be ready to go when the playoffs start this weekend, though it now looks like the 7-foot-1, 325-pound center won’t play in the regular-season finale tonight in Atlanta.

“He looked great,” reserve swingman Jamario Moon said. “He was out there the entire practice being the grandfather, telling everybody what it is. I can’t wait to see him out there.”

O’Neal, who injured his right thumb on Feb. 25, has been cleared to play by team doctors, but coach Mike Brown is leaning toward not playing the 38-year-old tonight.

There are several reasons for that, foremost among them being the fact superstar LeBron James will likely sit for the fourth straight game.

Click here to read the full article – By Rick Noland of http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com

LeBron James is expected to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ lineup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, while Antawn Jamison will be a game-time decision.

They were just two of six players to miss practice Wednesday for the Cavaliers, who took advantage of a break in the schedule to rest all five of their regular starters.

James missed two games after twisting his right ankle last Friday against Detroit, but is likely to play at Philadelphia, Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. James has played the sixth-most minutes in the league this season, averaging 39 per game.

Jamison won’t practice the rest of the week after revealing Wednesday he has a cyst behind his left knee that is filled with fluid. Shaquille O’Neal continues to rehab following surgery on his right thumb, while Anthony Parker and Mo Williams also took Wednesday off to rest nagging injuries. Key sub Anderson Varejao also missed practice, but it wasn’t clear if he had an injury or just took the day off.

All are expected to play Friday except for O’Neal and perhaps Jamison. An MRI earlier this week showed no damage to the knee and Jamison said it’s the same injury that hampered him early in the season when he was with Washington.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

When he arrived in Cleveland, Shaquille O’Neal made it clear there would be no more double-teaming Orlando’s Dwight Howard.

He’d handle things himself, as he did Thursday night. Oh, and he wants his cape back.

“I don’t really consider it manning up until you play me straight up,” O’Neal said. “I’ve never doubled anybody. So you tell me who the real Superman is.”
LeBron James had 32 points and 13 assists as the Cavaliers — with a big fourth-quarter defensive effort from O’Neal — matched their franchise record by winning their 13th straight game with a 115-106 victory over the Magic.
It was a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals, and both teams are again on top of the East this year, but O’Neal, who had 10 points and six rebounds on Thursday, has made a huge difference for Cleveland.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Shaquille O’Neal had one regret about moving into elite NBA scoring air. It should have happened long ago.


O’Neal became the fifth player to score 28,000 career points, and the Big Diesel made his enormous presence known at both ends of the floor as the Cleveland Cavaliers began a long stretch of home games with a 108-100 win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

O’Neal reached the major milestone with a layup in the first minute. He was proud of the achievement, but felt it was overdue.

“I’ve missed like 5,000 free throws,” O’Neal said. “If I had at least hit half of those, then I would be at 30,000 right now.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was named today as the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, December 21st through Sunday, December 27th.

In four games during the week, James averaged an Eastern Conference-best 29.5 points on .511 shooting, 7.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.8 steals in 38.0 minutes per game. James wins the award for the second time this season and the 22nd time in his career. He led the team to four consecutive wins during the week (all over Western Conference opponents) and the Cavs have now won nine of their last 10 games, bringing their record to 24-8 on the season, 11-3 overall against the Western Conference and 14-3 (.824) against teams that had at least a .500-record the day of the game.

James finished with 29 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in a 109-91 victory over the Suns on December 21st, helping the Cavs become the first team to defeat Phoenix at home this season and handing Phoenix its first home loss since March 12, 2009, a span of 285 days. The Cavaliers are the only opponent to win in Phoenix in the Suns’ last 21 home games. In that span, the Suns are 19-0 against the rest of the NBA and 0-2 against the Cavs.


Click here to read the full article – By of woio.com