A lot of mail came in following my prediction that LeBron James will ultimately re-sign with Cleveland in 2010. Like LeBron, I believe in giving the people what they want ... so here we go again ...
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is a nice, honest guy. He answers questions thoughtfully and genuinely, he looks reporters in the eye and he doesn't run his team by fiat.
Four SI.com writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the NBA each week. (All stats and records are through Nov. 9.)
As LeBron makes his lone appearance of the season Friday night at Madison Square Garden, I am convinced he has basically decided to remain with Cleveland as a free agent in 2010. Here's why I believe he has made that decision (and why he won't admit it) ...
LeBron James is going to the Knicks. He's staying in Cleveland. He's going to the Nets, to play for that Russian billionaire, or maybe he'll find a way to play with his buddy Dwyane Wade somewhere, or he'll go to Europe or China and make $9 million per game for some team named after a cell-phone manufacturer. Then he'll buy the cell-phone manufacturer.
On a recent morning high above the Manhattan skyline, TNT's Charles Barkley was opining about one of his favorite subjects:
The NBA's best rivalry needed this. The home team had won the last 16 meetings before the visiting Celtics broke that spell Tuesday with an opening night 95-89 win over the Cavaliers (RECAP | BOX SCORE). After two years spent bear-hugging each other like wrestlers, a new dynamic has momentarily separated them.
SI.com's Ian Thomsen, Chris Ballard, Chris Mannix, Jack McCallum and Arash Markazi forecast the 2009-10 season.
Sports Illustrated's annual NBA predictions can be found in this week's magazine, and once again you can blame me for them. Here are my explanations for why I think ...
The NBA's 64th season tips off Tuesday night. Who are the players and what are the stories that will shape the next eight months? SI.com's Ian Thomsen offers a sneak peek ...
A lot of mail came in following my prediction that LeBron James will ultimately re-sign with Cleveland in 2010. Like LeBron, I believe in giving the people what they want ... so here we go again ...
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is a nice, honest guy. He answers questions thoughtfully and genuinely, he looks reporters in the eye and he doesn't run his team by fiat.
Four SI.com writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the NBA each week. (All stats and records are through Nov. 9.)
As LeBron makes his lone appearance of the season Friday night at Madison Square Garden, I am convinced he has basically decided to remain with Cleveland as a free agent in 2010. Here's why I believe he has made that decision (and why he won't admit it) ...
LeBron James is going to the Knicks. He's staying in Cleveland. He's going to the Nets, to play for that Russian billionaire, or maybe he'll find a way to play with his buddy Dwyane Wade somewhere, or he'll go to Europe or China and make $9 million per game for some team named after a cell-phone manufacturer. Then he'll buy the cell-phone manufacturer.
On a recent morning high above the Manhattan skyline, TNT's Charles Barkley was opining about one of his favorite subjects:
The NBA's best rivalry needed this. The home team had won the last 16 meetings before the visiting Celtics broke that spell Tuesday with an opening night 95-89 win over the Cavaliers (RECAP | BOX SCORE). After two years spent bear-hugging each other like wrestlers, a new dynamic has momentarily separated them.
SI.com's Ian Thomsen, Chris Ballard, Chris Mannix, Jack McCallum and Arash Markazi forecast the 2009-10 season.
Sports Illustrated's annual NBA predictions can be found in this week's magazine, and once again you can blame me for them. Here are my explanations for why I think ...
The NBA's 64th season tips off Tuesday night. Who are the players and what are the stories that will shape the next eight months? SI.com's Ian Thomsen offers a sneak peek ...
This article appears in the October 26, 2009, issue of Sports Illustrated
Every NBA season is a novel, with multiple subplots and an endless parade of characters converging on June. It's a story guaranteed to bring unexpected drama and comedy, but some of the plot lines are just sitting there, waiting to play out.
You hear it so often you just assume it must be true: Point guard is the toughest position to learn in the NBA. Well, it certainly is the most cerebral position, with the most information to absorb and the most responsibility for setting the pace and tone of an offense.
Here are the most sophisticated predictions you're likely to find for the coming season, as once again I've polled a half-dozen NBA advance and personnel scouts for their thoughts on the upcoming conference races and the playoffs.
Now that Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers have officially begun preparing for the season, the question must be asked: By what logic do we expect the Big Diesel to provide a 2009-10 performance that is healthy and productive enough to take Cleveland to the next level in its quest for an NBA championship?
The Twitter questions came fast and furious this week. Here are the top five, with a reminder that you can read about everything that I'm hearing and send questions my way on Twitter by clicking here. Now let's get to it.
For anyone who marks time by the NBA calendar, this time of year is a little like opening the Christmas stocking, only filled with the complete NBA schedule, before tearing into the big-ticket gifts under the tree come late October. Here's a look at some highlights of the just-released 2009-2010 schedule:
Here's the thing about Twitter: It's kind of addictive. It's also a good forum for questions. So I bring to you the first of what I hope to be many Twitter mailbags:
As free agency slows down and the summer league wraps up, we look forward to 2009-2010.
SI.com's NBA writers size up the first two weeks of free agency.
Chinese investors want to cash in on the country's NBA fever with a bid to buy a 15 percent stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) -- Laughing and loose, Shaq looked right at home.
If you were circling the political wagons in South Carolina, an aide to humiliated governor Mark Sanford hoping to achieve some small measure of damage control, would you bring in Eliot Spitzer and Rod Blagojevich for counsel?
The Cavaliers have agreed in principle to acquire Shaquille O'Neal from the Suns for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, an NBA source confirmed late Wednesday night.
LeBron James should have shaken hands and congratulated the Orlando Magic the other night. We're all in agreement on that, are we not? He didn't have to be particularly warm, he didn't even have to be sincere. He just needed to bump a couple of fists, or maybe give out a quick man hug or two, before he headed off to the locker room after the Magic eliminated his Cavs from the playoffs on Saturday. Not only would it have saved him the smattering of grief he's been getting from the media and fans the last few days, it just would have also been the right thing to do.
On the night of his league's draft lottery, NBA commissioner David Stern engaged in a little ping-pong of his own with reporters. During a lively Q&A session with the press, Stern was asked about the importance of LeBron James making the NBA Finals. "You mean as opposed to Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant?" Stern said. "None. We have nothing but stars. We should be called NBS instead of NBA."
In the wake of Cleveland's loss in the Eastern Conference finals, SI.com's NBA experts assess LeBron James' future with the team -- or elsewhere.
ORLANDO -- Up 3-2 in the Eastern finals, are these Orlando Magic on the verge of becoming the 2006 Dallas Mavericks? That is LeBron James's hope.
CLEVELAND -- If you want something done ... what you do is either score or assist in 32 consecutive points in a virtuoso performance.
CLEVELAND -- He is averaging an outrageous 42.3 points in the Eastern Conference finals while shooting 50.9 percent with 7.3 assists -- numbers that exceed his MVP season. So what more is LeBron James supposed to do?
Yes, the jinx e-mails come in steadily now. That was inevitable. The Cleveland Cavaliers are down 3-1 to the Orlando Magic. They are one loss away from elimination ... and from extending the interminable Cleveland championship drought by one more season. They are one loss away from crushing my hometown city's unbreakable heart for the 45th consecutive year.
ORLANDO -- To understand who the Orlando Magic are and how they happen to be ruining the money-making hopes of everyone vested in a LeBron-Kobe Finals, please refer to their possession with 6.4 seconds remaining in Game 4 on Tuesday.
CLEVELAND -- He sprinted away from the basket out past the three-point line to catch the inbounds pass at the height of his leap. LeBron James landed with the ball as if upon a diving board that shot him back up high. He was looking at the basket with his chin near his right shoulder and the goal like a needle's orange eye slim and small and 25 feet away.
Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy needled his players at halftime Wednesday in Cleveland, zinging them in the locker room as they trailed by 15 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, by snidely referring to them as "witnesses." Playing off the well-worn LeBron James marketing campaign ("We Are All Witnesses"), Van Gundy criticized his team's passive defense, as opposed to, you know, being active participants.
Five playoff thoughts -- or should we say, fi' playoff thoughts, while setting aside any notion of fo', fo', fo' and fo' for the Cleveland Cavaliers ...
OVERVIEW: The well-rested Cavs have been on cruise control the entire postseason, pounding Detroit and Atlanta by an average of 16.8 points per game. But, after an eight-day layoff, they will have to shift gears for the Eastern Conference finals. Outside of the Lakers, no team has played Cleveland as tough this season as Orlando, which owns two home victories against the Cavs and a narrow road loss during which two questionable calls went against the Magic in the final minute. Dig deeper and you will find that Orlando has won eight of 11 games against the Cavs, including three of its last four at raucous Quicken Loans Arena.
For a story about buzzer-beating "last shots" that ran in Sports Illustrated before the 2008 playoffs, I was fortunate enough to have been at a late-season game in Cleveland between the Cavaliers and Hornets. (Remember the Hornets? My pick to win the NBA title this year? Hope you didn't go to Vegas on that tip.)
ATLANTA -- It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that tough either. When the final buzzer sounded in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, though, it was the Cavs again raising their arms in victory for the eight straight game, thanks to a stingy defense that held Atlanta to 31.5 percent shooting (15.4 percent from three-point range) and some clutch shooting by Mo Williams and Delonte West down the stretch.
ATLANTA -- The Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals by pulling out another gutty road win and extending their playoff win streak to eight games. Right?
ATLANTA -- Wrapped in towels from head to toe, LeBron James looked more mummy than king. He sat in the corner of the visitor's locker room at Philips Arena, put his head back against the wall and shut his eyes.
ATLANTA -- All-Star guard Joe Johnson's sprained right ankle has recovered enough to allow him to start in Game 3 of the Hawks-Cavs series Saturday night in Atlanta. Johnson sprained the ankle in the third quarter of Game 2 and did not practice Friday.
Five observations while wondering why the rust that seemed to be caked all over the Lakers on Monday wasn't seen anywhere on the Cavaliers.
The thank-you notes can be addressed to 150 Causeway Street in Boston, the home of the Celtics. As the Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals by disposing of the Heat 91-78 in Game 7 on Sunday (RECAP | BOX), the theme was lessons learned from a year ago. Before tipoff, in the calm and comfort of his office, Hawks coach Mike Woodson again referred to the Celtics series 12 months prior where the upstart Hawks lost in seven games.
While the Bulls and Celtics choreograph a series that mauls on and on like a Rocky Balboa fight, the rest of the playoffs have played out in the shadows by rote.
Five observations from three NBA playoffs games Friday evening, each scrutinized closely with the understanding that teams that win Game 3 historically go on to win 76 percent of these first-round series:
This story appears in the April 27, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated.
OVERVIEW: We've seen this show before, haven't we? About 20 years ago, another rising superstar vanquished a fading Pistons empire en route to dominating the league for the next decade. LeBron James, of course, has six titles to win -- and free agency to navigate -- before he can match the man whose number he adopted. But he can emulate Michael Jordan in the immediate future by swinging the last wrecking ball at a Pistons team president Joe Dumars already started dismantling in November, when he sent point guard and team leader Chauncey Billups to Denver for Allen Iverson and his expiring contract. Given the passing fortunes of both teams, and the warm division rivalry they already share, this could be a testy series.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the biggest playoff storylines and make their picks for the Finals.
Much is at stake in the final three days of the regular season. Let's examine the possible scenarios for the 16 playoff teams, starting with the Eastern Conference (listed in order of current seeding).
It's funny how the common perception of the NBA is that the regular season drags on too long, with too many interchangeable and meaningless games, while the playoffs are the place where, y'know, amazing happens.
BOSTON -- Neither team has won in the other's gym over the last two heated years, and no one feels worse about it than the Cavaliers.
With All-Star Kevin Garnett and his power-forward counterpart, Ben Wallace, both nursing injuries, Friday's game between the Celtics and Cavaliers in Boston won't have quite the luster of the previous two meetings this season. But that doesn't make it any less critical.
In a game of oversized musical chairs, playing out with arena rock anthems and contemporary hip-hop cuts as start-and-stop cues, some NBA big men changed teams in the last week.
With the All-Star break and the trading deadline now history, the NBA hits a reset button of sorts. Front offices now retreat to the obscurity of scouting college players while those on the floor steam toward the playoffs or the lottery. Let's take a look at a handful of figures who have been placed on the hot seat after last week's action -- or inaction as the case may be.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week.
It turns out that the athletic trainers and doctors have been more important than the general managers and capologists during this week of the largely uneventful trade deadline.
Like so many businesses that can't find the money to expand or break even, NBA teams were unable to make trades at the deadline Thursday that will make sense to their fans. "We're no different than the rest of the world," says Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry. "The economy is having an effect on how teams are looking at trades and free agency."
The NBA trading deadline passed at 3 p.m. ET Thursday. Rafer Alston, Kyle Lowry, Larry Hughes, Tim Thomas and Rashad McCants were the biggest names involved in trades. Refresh this page for late-breaking news from SI.com's Ian Thomsen and Chris Mannix.
With Amar'e Stoudemire unlikely to be dealt before Thursday's trading deadline, the next-biggest thing is being attempted by the Cleveland Cavaliers -- a surprise move at acquiring two-time All-Star forward Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards.
He isn't looking happy today, after his Cavaliers followed their beating by the Lakers with a loss Tuesday at Indiana in which the Pacers outscored them 3-2 in the final 0.8 seconds. In the bigger scheme, however, Cleveland coach Mike Brown has been almost exultant throughout his team's breakout season.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats are through Monday.)
"Excuse me," called out the young attendant pushing the tall IV cart through the crowded hallway into the Lakers locker room. "Clear a path."
The uniforms said New York Knicks, but LeBron James' real opponent Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden was playing almost 350 miles away in Toronto.
There was a moment during last Friday's Cavaliers-Warriors game when it looked as if Golden State center Andris Biedrins, who is no small man at 6' 11" and 245 pounds, had been sucked out of an airplane hold, so forcefully was he sent flying backward. Biedrins was attempting to protect the rim when Cleveland forward LeBron James came charging down the lane in that straight-line, parting-the-waters manner of his. Gamely, Biedrins took to the air to try to block the shot, and then -- whoomp! -- next thing you knew he was hurtling onto his backside.
There never being a bad time to pass out trophies, here's a look at the best performances over the first half of the season. (The NBA's official awards ballot includes five spots for MVP and three for the other major awards. The media vote on all the awards below except Executive of the Year.)
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Wednesday's games.)
You could make a rather convincing argument that the Cavaliers are the deepest team in the NBA despite the fact that they may end up with only one All-Star selection. But that's not all that makes rival coaches and general managers nervous. No, what's really scary to them is how good Cleveland (30-6 through Wednesday) could be.
The season isn't halfway through, but we've seen enough to anticipate what may yet come. Here is a New Year's preview to the better half of 2008-09.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Monday's games.)
CLEVELAND -- With a little over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the game no longer in doubt, a demonstrative Kevin Garnett huddled with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Sam Cassell on the Celtics bench.
CLEVELAND -- Ben Wallace knows a little something about rivalries.
The beautiful thing about a new sports year is that it gives us another chance to appreciate all of the same old things. So here is 2009 coming right at you, and it's a whole new chance to:
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Monday's games.)
MINNEAPOLIS -- As experiments go, this one was straightforward and seemingly simple: Pay attention to LeBron James, for an entire game, only when he and the rest of the Cavaliers did not have the ball.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Monday's games.)
More and more I find myself feeling compelled to write about teenage draft picks who may never pan out, as well as moves that may never happen at the trade deadline this February or in the summer of 2010, while in the meantime, events that are actually happening right now seem to carry less and less importance.
The Cavaliers are on such a roll that, if they all got lumps of coal in their stockings on Christmas morning, we'd learn on Dec. 26 that Al Gore and Lamborghini had jointly developed the Bituminous, the world's first carbon-powered exoticar for young NBA millionaires.
The NBA's latest version of a long-running presidential election involves LeBron James and more than a dozen other high-profile candidates. The issue: Where will they land when they become free agents in 2010?
SI.com NBA writers Ian Thomsen, Marty Burns, Jack McCallum, Chris Mannix, Steve Aschburner and Paul Forrester forecast the 2008-09 season.
SI.com will analyze each of the NBA's 30 teams as regular-season tip-off approaches. For a complete list of team-by-team breakdowns, click here. The information in the "Go figure" category below is provided by Roland Beech of 82games.com.
Given our nation's current economic plight, the NBA -- which likes to set trends and provide stellar examples -- ought to consider a departure from business as usual this season. As in, cool it with the pink slips.
LeBron James should never wear a New York Yankees cap or don the blue-and-silver colors of the Dallas Cowboys, as far as some cranky Cleveland sports fans are concerned.
Remember when the Central Division was good? I do. It was three years ago.
(Editor's note: This column was updated after the Nuggets re-signed J.R. Smith on Friday.)
I have the right to predict what may happen next season, even at this early date. And I have the right to change my mind in the months ahead, based on pending events and an unexpected leap in wisdom.
For years now, the NBA's balance of power -- East to West and vice versa -- has drawn all sorts of inexplicable and undue attention. As if it's wrong for things to tilt one way or the other in sports as opposed to, y'know, our daily lives and relationships.
For one of the league's brightest stars, Sunday will mark the end of the season. Until that time comes at around 6 p.m. ET, though, we can all enjoy one final battle between Kevin Garnett and LeBron James for the right the play the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday. Yes, the previous six games were relatively ugly, but Sunday's Game 7 carries with it the apprehension of sudden death and the tensions grown from two teams who have seen far too much of each other over the last two weeks. What factors will determine the outcome. Let's take a look.
The Celtics are counting on a return home to help repair their numerous flaws in a crucial Game 5 on Wednesday against the Cavaliers, who evened the conference semifinal with two victories in Cleveland. But the right to play two of the remaining three games in Boston -- if the series goes the distance -- is one of the few advantages left over from the across-the-board gains the Celtics made during the regular season.
CLEVELAND -- Is LeBron James underrated?
BOSTON -- At 23, LeBron James has already played in an NBA Finals and won five playoff series, which in each case is more than veteran rivals Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce or Ray Allen can say. So has James quickly learned to relax in the postseason, even after shooting 2-for-18 from the field with 10 turnovers in the Cavaliers' 76-72 loss here Tuesday in Game 1.
5. Washington Wizards. Their stubbornness in refusing to yield to Cleveland outweighs the knuckleheadedness of some decisions their players have made recently. The offseason will center on whether to re-sign Gilbert Arenas (who can opt out of his contract) and Antawn Jamison. In both cases, the answer is yes. Arenas can't (and won't, unless the condition of his surgically repaired knee changes horribly) be allowed to walk, because second-team All-NBA guards are almost impossible to replace. The Wizards hope to reach a compromise on a new contract for the 31-year-old Jamison, who has established himself as an All-Star and leader in Washington.
The plan was, Wally Szczerbiak was going to call sometime after the Cavaliers' game at Washington ended Thursday night.
If you're looking for a dark horse in the NBA playoffs, I mean a real long shot, a team absolutely no one figures has a chance to win it, you might want to consider the Wizards.
CLEVELAND -- In his first year as owner of the Cavaliers, in 2005, Dan Gilbert used to lust after Ben Wallace. Gilbert had been a main sponsor of the Pistons, and having seen Wallace's impact, he would talk of bringing Wallace or a hyperactive center like him to the Cavs.
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