Cavilers

Niblets for July 2010

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nib

NOTE:  We will finish our question mark review for the NFC South and West Thursday.

Best comment of the month:

teeth whitening gets the comment of the month again. Comment on LeBron is LeGone to Miami I wonder if the incentives in the contracts for the beach boys are going to impose problems during their season? What if one of the players decides to pad their stats instead of playing team ball and set off the egos.

TW, I think we have a new name for the guys in South Beach–the Beach Boys. Well done and thanks for reading our site.

Updates on previous columns:

LeBron, Gilbert, Miami and Cleveland The Heat added F Juwan Howard, Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire and rookies Dexter Pittman and Patrick Beverley. Z is nearly useless and was at the end of the bench during the Cavs run in the playoffs last season. Howard is not what he used to be but will help. Magloire gives the heat some physical play inside at C.

The Cavs have done very little to add talent despite owner Gilbert’s statement. The fact is that if the team could not attract a top UFA with LeBron on … Read more at FryingPanSports

LeBron, Gilbert, Miami and Cleveland

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LeBron is gone. Gilbert is 100K poorer after being fined by the NBA for his open letter to fans. The Cavs have nothing to show for LeBron leaving except a couple of late 1st and late 2nd round picks. But as always, there is more to the story than has been reported elsewhere.

First we will look at LeBron.

LeBron said that his top priority was winning. The fact is that he realized that he could not do that alone. But he wasn’t alone in the 2009-10 season. He had the best cast he ever enjoyed since turning pro. In addition to the 08-09 team, owner Dan Gilbert brought Shaq and Jamison into town to not only help LeBron but to show him the team would do whatever it could to keep him happy. That was not enough to get past the Celtics in the playoffs.

However, many including owner Gilbert believed that the failure to win against the Celtics was not so much the fault of the supporting cast as it was a failure of LeBron himself. In the three consecutive losses to the Celts, LeBron went 7-22 for 22 points, 3-14 for 15, and 8-21 for 28. That … Read more at FryingPanSports

Niblets for June 2010

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nib

Best comment of the month:

From Teeth whitening on Analysis: the NFL proposal for the “enhanced season” “If the NFL wants more marquee matchups then change the scheduling. Who wants to see a division winner play against a 4th place team in the other conference. Let division winners play the other conference’s 4 winners.”

That is an excellent point. The schedule is based on a formula and that has not changed since the league went to 6 divisions. The NFL should revise the formula to allow more key games particularly if it does go to an 18 game season.

Updates on previous columns:

Previewing the NBA Draft

I got 7 of the 20 I projected. In addition a couple of teams traded up to get guys in front of other teams that were targeting them.

B I G News in football!

The musical chairs in college football conference switches has not stopped yet. There will be another couple of changes announced before the end of the 2010 college season. However, don’t for a minute believe that the increased power of the Big 10+2 or the PAC 10+2 will bring us closer to a playoff. Those two conferences were the … Read more at FryingPanSports

Sports Buffet for 5/25/10

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SptsBuf

Note: I will have a B I G announcement about getting back on the Internet radio very soon. We will also have Niblets this Saturday.

NFL

The NFL took a huge loss in the Supreme Court Monday. The Court in effect said that the league is not a single entity in regards to licensing producers of apparel but 32 separate businesses. For the details about what this means, check out my NFL News, Notes and Rumors on NFLDraftDog.com.

Vikings QB Bret Favre had the surgery on his ankle that he had said would be required to play in 2010. Expect him to be back this season the day AFTER the team breaks camp. At 40 timing is everything.

NBA

Most analysts are saying that the Magic just have not shown much effort in their series with the Celtics. They said the same thing about the Cavs. Could it be that the Celtics are just so good that they make their opposition look inept? Yes. The combination of very good coaching, experienced veterans that know how to play the game and the fact that for the first time all year the team is healthy have all contributed to the Celtics success … Read more at FryingPanSports

Sports Buffet for 05/20/10

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SptsBuf

NFL

Former pro bowl CB Shawn Springs was released by the Pats. He has lost some speed and will end up as a decent FS but is no longer to play CB at this level.

DL Glenn Dorsey was the 5th pick in 2008. He was less than effective in the 4-3 and is a liability in the Chiefs 3-4 at DE. A trade would do him a world of good. However, don’t expect the Chiefs to get anything even close to full value for a player that has not developed as expected.

NBA

We would like to thank the Orlando Magic(less) for participating and don’t forget your parting gift–the home version of our game. Losing 2 games at your house to start a 7 game playoff is like Florida Republican Gov. Crist lose the primary for the Senate and enter the race as an independent. He could still win but the odds are very much against it.

The problem for the Magic is that the two losses were from different causes. They lost game 1 because Howard was shut down and the team looked out of sync from the long layoff. They were just out hustled in game 2 … Read more at FryingPanSports

Analysis: The Cavs take 2 steps up and 1 step back.

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nbaDraft

The Cavs took 2 steps up with the trade for C Shaquille O’Neal. Most of the experts are saying that Shaq won’t impact the Cavs that much. That is both true and false. But then they threw away their 1st round pick by drafting Christian Eyenga of the Congo via Spain. One step WAY back.

False: The thing that Shaq gives the Cavs is an inside scorer. Shaq is also a better passer than almost any other C in the league. When the Cavs get the ball inside and the D begins to collapse on him, he can pass to the perimeter for a 3 point shot. That will work if anyone other than LeBron James is capable of hitting a 3 in the playoffs. Mo Williams was brought in to be the other outside scorer and take some pressure off LeBron. That worked well in the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. However, in the series against Orlando, Mo became one of the statues standing watching LeBron take on the entire Magic team. Add to that the fact that Mo couldn’t have hit the Mississippi River from the middle of a bridge and the … Read more at FryingPanSports