BASKETBALL

In the NBA, with the grouping of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, everybody thinks the Miami Heat are the team to beat.  Well, apparently everybody except one guy — Dwayne Wade himself.  In an interview, Wade said that the LA Lakers are still the team to beat.  They are the defending champions and still have Kobe, Gasol, and Phil Jackson.  Sure, the Heat are stacked now, but there’s no evidence yet that they will be able to play well together.  LeBron said you might even see them argue at times.  So, straight from Wade’s mouth, it’s the Lakers, not the Heat, sitting on the top of the mountain right now.

Elsewhere in some NBA news, a local Ohio woman recently bought a LeBron James pendant at a yard sale for $5.  Well, after having it appraised, she learned that these pendants were actually worth $10,000.  This shows you how much LeBron has fallen from grace in Cleveland.  His fans care more about discarding their memories of him than they do the value of his merchandise.  Now those are some intense fans.

In some free agent news, Kobe Bryant has been courting free agent Raja Bell to join the team.  This is interesting because in 2006, he and Bell had a feud which actually resulted in some major physical contact on the court (Bell clotheslined Bryant).  In a post-game interview Bryant called Bell “a kid” — completely condescending to him.  Well, 4 years later, Bryant wants Bell on the team.  They’ve even had a few meetings.  But, in the end, Bell is saying “No Thanks” to the Lakers and is headed to the Utah Jazz — a team that is seriously tooling up for next season.  Sorry, Kobe.

Meanwhile, back in Cleveland, the current Cavaliers look completely stripped.  They’re without their superstar and have landed none of the Top 15 free agents.  Essentially, they are empty handed.  They made a move for Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry, but the Rockets matched the offer and took that off the table.  They hoped to get Al Jefferson, but he went to the Jazz.  Truth is… they look really bad right now, and are almost certainly headed to the lottery.  Trouble for Cleveland is nobody wants to play there, and this means, most likely, that they will be rebuilding for, at least,  the next 4 seasons.  Before feeling sorry for them, keep in mind that they won LeBron in the lottery.  James easily could have gone to Detroit or Memphis in that draft.  Things just went Cleveland’s way, and they got a great 7 year run out of LeBron.