The Cavaliers held their annual Wine & Gold intra-squad scrimmage game today at the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron. The event, which traditionally kick starts the preseason for the Cavs, was filled with news today yet again as Delonte West and Shaquille O’Neal both made the news headlines. Playing at the JAR, the home court of the Akron Zips as well as the former alternative home court for LBJ’s St. V-M Irish back in high school, it was sold out to a maximum crowd of 5,000 with many waiting at the line for tickets as early as 8:00 a.m. this morning.
On to the news information, West has held out of the scrimmage today despite showing up to team practices Thursday. The troubled guard, who may face legal trouble and/or suspension from the NBA, missed the first few practices at the start of training camp. He was supposedly held out due to the ever-cautious hand of GM Danny Ferry.
It seems like it should not be a big bother to the team and was just precautionary for West at this time. I am sure we will get more information later in the week as to the precise reasoning for this move. Speculation is very risky at this point in time, as fans are still not aware of the ongoing in the team clubhouse or in Delonte West’s private sphere. Hopefully things are all going well, and he will be back on the court soon.
Looking at the actual scrimmage itself, the Gold Team led by Shaq beat LeBron’s Wine Team 51-41 according to the ever-informative Twitter of beat writer Brian Windhorst. Rookie Danny Green and second-year J.J. Hickson were both impressive according to Windy, both good signs for the depth of the Cavaliers. LBJ was supposedly rusty in his old stomping grounds, but after attending this contest several times over the years it is definitely nice to hear that the young guys looked all right.
Share your thoughts on the state of the Cavaliers here. Not too much going on today, but it is definitely pretty cool to hear about the first live-action contest with Shaq and LBJ both wearing the Wine & Gold today. Anyone at the JAR today got some more comments on the action? Any deeper meaning or other report you found on the game?
(Site Note: We will have a Buckeyes open thread up closer to game time. Sorry for the slow start to the day so far but things should be back in order from here on out. Look forward to the open thread tonight plus WWW, Indians, Browns and maybe some Cavs action tomorrow during the day from several of the staff writers.)
