Let It Go

Ok Coco, take some Alieve, a glass of water and a down-pillow and go lay on the couch; it’s going to be OK. Truth is, I’m tired of hearing about these guys too; however, I won’t get my wish and neither will you if you don’t stop hating on them.
Think about it, if everyone loves you, you probably won’t make headlines, let alone the cover of SI (i.e. Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols, Tim Duncan, and Chase Utley). Now most of these guys have been on the cover of SI, but they like to stay out of the media’s watchful eye for the most part.

Now let’s examine why people hate the threesome in the first place: they held a summit in the off-season, and eventually all signed together in one of the biggest stories in sports history, they’ve made the 2010 Heat look like Steinbrenner’s Yankees (R.I.P.), and two of the three – Bosh and James – seemingly alienated their old teams as well as fans to go down to South Beach.

Can you really blame them though? Miami is a beautiful city with even more beautiful women and Pat Riley has got to be about the most swagged out President of any NBA franchise in history. Everyone is jumping down LeBron’s throat for going to Miami; but, if you take out his pompous, 1-hour primetime TV special, you can see that he made the best move for himself. When a team releases a player or gets rid of a beloved player like the Lakers dumped Shaq in ’04 – you don’t see nearly as much fallout or hatred for an owner. Where were the fans burning season tickets or pictures of Jerry Buss? Why didn’t Shaq release a spiteful, barbed letter in crayon like Dan Gilbert? Because the NBA is a business, and that business is all about winning.

LeBron’s best option to win immediately was to join Bosh and Wade on the Heat and hope that ‘A Pimp Named Slick-Pat’ (Boondocks reference) could put together the right pieces to make the team a champion. I mean if the Fonz walked up to you in an Armani suit, puffing a Cuban cigar, leaning back in a chair made from imported Italian leather proposed that you join the top two free agents in one of the most perfect cities for a 25-year-old celebrity, would be able to say no? Me neither, and that’s what Bron-Bron and Bosh did. Now, I’m not saying that what he did to Cleveland or what Bosh did to Toronto is right – it was a low move on each of their parts – but I cannot say that I blame them for wanting to win an NBA ring.

So, I implore everyone who hates on Miami, LeBron, Pat Riley or anyone else involved to just stop talking about it like they wouldn’t have done the same thing in any of their shoes. When it comes down to it, they really had no choice anyways.

What was the last team to take the top-3 free agents during the offseason? The New York Yankees, right before the '09 season; nobody liked them either. Their results: the best record in baseball (103 - 59) and a World Series Ring. The ace of that team, not so ironically, was C.C. Sabathia - formerly of the Cleveland Indians and Milwalkee Brewers. That is to say, LeBron isn't the first player to leave Cleveland for greener pastures and he likely won't be the last.


If he wins a championship this year, it justifies him leaving and makes his "decision" much more understandable; however, we'll have to reserve all judgment until next April. For now, everyone should give it a rest and go back to talking about Brett Favre's 'annual' un-retirement.

By Aaron Hilton
Follow me on twitter @Way_2_Tall401

Best Moves of an Exciting Summer

Here are my grades for some of the most recent NBA Free Agency/Trade moves.

1. Al Jefferson to the Jazz for two future first-round picks – for Utah, this is a steal. First off, Jeff is an offensive stalemate to Boozer; both men are quite gifted in his own way offensively. And second he’s just as poor of a defender. Essentially the Jazz traded two non-lottery picks for a younger, taller, equally as strong version of the guy who’s now playing in Chi-Town. Not too bad, I’m sure Deron Williams is sad to see Boozer go, but Jefferson will allow them to have a more traditionally sized PF.

2. Big Z to the Heat via free agency – It’s good to see that Z is remaining loyal to his friend LeBron and gives the Heat a viable option at center. With Z now on the roster they have a versatile big man who can nail the 18-foot jump shot as well as make his free throws, rebound and block shots. Another solid move for Pat Riley and his staff who have done well in putting the pieces together for this juggernaut of a Heat team.

3. Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca to the Mavericks for Erick Dampier, Eduardo Najera and Matt Carroll – the only two names that really matter in this are Dampier and Chandler, at least for this season. Chandler is definitely a defensive and offensive upgrade to Dampier and will provide a lot of energy off the Maverick bench. Cuban has gotten a bit younger and more athletic on the bench and the Bobcats have more of a gritty, veteran presence now with their additions, as well as a sharp shooter in Carroll. A win-win for each team here, but Dallas probably fared better in this trade in the long run.

4. Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller to Heat via free agency – with this move, Miami now has a solid bench of Miller G/F, Haslem PF, Da’Sean Butler SF, and Dexter Pittman C. It should be no surprise by now that the Heat have made the list twice already – it would’ve been 3 times had the new ‘big 3’ signed more recently – they have been, easily the most efficiently active teams in the NBA. Their only key loss would be Jermaine O’Neal who’s a significant upgrade to Ilgauskas – Beasley for Bosh is an upgrade for them on both ends.

5. Bucks trade for Maggette – this was a huge deal for the Bucks, simply because it will take some pressure off of Salmons and Jennings in terms of scoring. One downside to this deal is that Maggette hasn’t been known to play great defense, nor is he a proven winner; but, to his credit he did spend most of his time on the wrong side of LA – with the Clippers – and with the Warriors.

Probably the most underrated move of the whole offseason is the Thunder’s addition of Daequan Cook and Mo Peterson. What people should notice about these acquisitions is that they still got their man in the draft – Center Cole Aldrich – and were able to add two proven shooters including the ’09 3-Point Shootout Champ (Cook). Shooting the three was a big weakness for the Thunder last season and was a big reason why they weren’t able to hold off the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. With these two guys coming off the bench, and Aldrich patrolling the middle of the court, this young team looks to make it much deeper in the playoffs this year. Did I mention that they didn’t lose a single player to free agency or trade either?

The most overrated move: Golden State selling the farm for David Lee. They lost a solid defender and shooter in Kelenna Azubuike, a defensive leader in Ronny Turiaf and a highly talented defensive forward in Anthony Randolph for an overrated defensive liability in Lee. When you think about it, is David Lee really what they needed? He’s not much of a leader, has never played for a winning franchise and couldn’t cover Darko Milicic in the post. I like him offensively but the last thing the Warriors needed was more offense, especially at the cost of nearly every defensive asset they had. I mean, what would you think if I told you that the leagues worst defense got even worse? My thoughts exactly.

Honestly, I was skeptical about the Heat’s pursuit of its own ‘big 3’ at first; however, that was only the beginning for the mastermind that is Pat Riley. Honestly, I could coach that team and win 50 games; maybe even take them to the Eastern Conference Finals. They have their leader in Wade, a freakishly talented MVP in James and a low post threat in Bosh; but they also have they key cogs underneath them that they needed to compete with the Celtics and Lakers for a championship. Their potential starting lineup would be Chalmers, D. Wade, LeBron, Bosh and Ilgauskas; that’s a solid, pass first guard who plays good defense, three young stars – two of the top three NBA players right now – and a 7’3 center who can shoot, rebound and block shots. That’s just silly, I can’t even believe that they can legally put that team on the floor and not be fined for unsportsmanlike domination.

Two years ago, Chalmers proved to be a valuable pickup in the 2nd round; if even one of Miami’s picks this year can duplicate his rookie contributions, the Heat are a lock for the NBA Finals.

By Aaron Hilton
Follow me on twitter @Way_2_Tall401

Don't Fall For the Hype

Ok, so King James is still trying to hold everyone hostage on this whole ‘where will he go?’ subject in free agency; however, I’ll give you two reasons why you shouldn’t have allowed yourself to get suckered into the LeBron-mania that’s been going on for nearly a week now.

For starters, he’s not leaving Cleveland. No, I don’t have a reliable source close to LeBron; I haven’t spoken to his mother or his best friend’s barber’s cousin; I just have common sense. I could be totally wrong in all of this, but just look at the facts: he’s never played for a team outside of Ohio his whole life, his family and friends all live there, the Cavs can pay him more than anyone else in the market, and out of the four or five teams that are pursuing him (Cavs, Nets, Knicks, Bulls, Heat) two of those teams didn’t even get close to the playoffs and only one team got past the first round (the Cavaliers).

So the guy is a little frustrated, and the Antawn Jamison trade was a complete bust (duhhhh), that doesn’t mean the guy just up and leaves the Cavaliers. Think about the three major reasons a guy would leave his current team in free agency: money, championships/wins, close to home. The Cavs can offer the most money, they have led the NBA in wins the past two seasons, and they are the closest team to his home in Akron. So tell me why he should leave again?

Oh yeah, I forgot, to go to Wade-County and play second fiddle to his 6’4 clone. No wait, it’s to go play even deeper in the shadow of MJ out in the CHI; or could it be to go and kick it with Jay-Z after every home game (which would likely end in a loss). I’m taking none of the above; the only team that makes a little sense would be Chicago, but I don’t know if he wants to risk going to a young team like the baby-Bulls and trying to be their savior. Besides, the Bulls are more than a LeBron James away from winning a championship.

Reason number two is that he has a quality head coach who won’t take any nonsense back in Cleveland. You look at what Byron Scott did for a team like the Hornets who were reeling from the Katrina tragedy and only had one star in Chris Paul, yet he took that team to new heights and was rewarded with the Coach of the Year award. Pat Riley is the only coach on any of the teams courting the King that has a more impressive résumé, and he coached Byron Scott for 6 years with the LA Lakers. That is to say, great minds think alike and there's no doubt in my mind that Scott uses some of the same techniques as Riley did back in the day, and still uses now. But, like I said, Miami doesn’t look like a realistic possibility for LeBron. That’s D-Wade’s territory.

Now, if I’m wrong, it’ll make me look like a fool; but at least I won’t be wasting every five minutes checking up on the latest LeBron news. It’ll be a surprise, which to me is much better than a relief. I don’t want to be relieved that it’s all over; I want to have my jaw hit the floor so hard it’d make Kanye West cringe. I don’t want to be disappointed if he stays a Cavalier, because that move makes the most sense for him right now. So what do you really lose by joining me and the rest of the Ohio community in assuming LeBron takes back his throne in Cleveland? Nothing, it’s really a win-win situation.

by Aaron Hilton