Mo Williams, Boobie Gibson Spark Comeback Win Over Detroit
February 2, 2009McDyess Will “Live With” Pistons Preference
February 2, 2009
Coast To Coast is your bi-weekly (as in, twice a week, not every other week…or does that mean it’s semi-weekly?) look at the NBA outside of Cleveland through the perspective of the Cavaliers. Because LeBron James should have received more All-Star votes than Dwight Howard.
Due to the fact that my laptop crashed on me last week and I lost all my data, I had to spend most of my weekend re-installing software and tracking down old backup discs to replace as much of the lost data as I could. As a result, though, I didn’t have much time to track down links this week, so this edition of Coast To Coast will be shorter than normal. My apologies. Thursday’s edition will be back to normal. Now, on to the links….
The list of the NBA’s most popular jerseys is out now. LeBron ranks third, behind Kobe and Garnett. Brian Cronin of KnickerBlogger thinks this says something about LeBron staying (or not staying, rather) in Cleveland past 2010:
I think this does well for the whole “Lebron would like to play in a bigger market” angle, as damn, Lebron is third?!!?
Maybe he’s right, I don’t know. Or maybe it’s just that LeBron’s been in Cleveland for 6 years now and pretty much everyone who wants a LeBron Cavs jersey already has one. There’s no doubt if LeBron went to New York he’d be #1 on this list, but is that worth leaving a good thing like what he has going in Cleveland? Only LeBron can answer that question.
[Knicks Have Two of the Top 15 Most Popular Jerseys]
Once again, Carmelo Anthony will watch the All-Star Game from his house. It’s really unbelievable. When you think back to when LeBron and Melo came into the league together in 2003, they were hyped as the NBA’s next great rivalry. When Carmelo averaged more points and rebounds than LeBron in their rookie seasons, some thought Melo was the one who should have won Rookie of the Year. So how is it that Melo has been to only 2 All-Star Games, and one was as an injury replacement? Nate Timmons of Pickaxe And Roll talks about the snub this year:
The biggest gripe for leaving Melo off the team has to be with the selection of David West. West’s teammate Chris Paul was voted by the fans as a starter and apparently the Hornets, who are in second place in the Southwest, were more deserving of two players than the Northwest division leading Denver Nuggets.
West is averaging 20 points and 7.1 rebounds this season. West has missed the previous five games with back spasms, so you can’t tell me that Melo’s broken had swayed this decision.
Melo has missed 14 games thus far and was playing through elbow pain, but has averaged 21.1 points and 7.3 rebounds. Slightly better numbers than West and Melo’s importance to his team is superior to West’s in my opinion. The Western all-stars are now without a true small forward on the roster and missing a true swingman. The only good news for Melo is that he’ll be able to rest his hand and elbow a bit more.
It’s really a mystery to me how LeBron and Melo’s career paths have taken such different turns. Especially with the way the Nuggets have played this year. They’ve been one of the biggest surprises in the NBA and a truly great story, but yet Melo’s contributions tend to go overlooked. Perhaps it is just because of his injury troubles this year, but whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem right to me.
[Billups An All-Star, Melo Snubbed (Again)]
If you’re a healthy NBA player, the last thing you want to have happen is to have your name mentioned in rumors of being traded to Cleveland. You’re had injuries to potential Cleveland targets Michael Redd and Andrei Kirilenko, and now you can add Brad Miller to that list. Melody Gutierrez of the Sacramento Bee writes:
And then came today’s news. The Kings will be without two starters in Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Point guard Beno Udrih is listed as doubtful with a left calf contusion, while center Brad Miller will likely miss at least two games with an abdominal strain.
Nothing too serious from the sound of it, but still, these guys keep dropping left and right. I guess Ferry will just have to focus on getting Chris Bosh then, eh?
[Kings Down Two Starters]
It’s never too early for Mock Drafts. Is it? The guys at 3 Shades of Blue don’t think so, as they have published their first 2009 NBA Mock Draft. They have the Cavaliers at the second to last slot:
29. Cleveland Cavaliers – Tyler Smith – A versatile athlete. This team really has no hole for rookies.
I don’t really have anything to add to that. It’s hard to think about the draft right now, I just thought it was interesting to see such an early Mock Draft attempt. Personally, I’m just glad not to see Tyler Hansbrough’s name there.
[2009 NBA Mock Draft v1.0]
Is Mo Williams really an All-Star snub? Some people don’t think so. xPhoenix87 of BallerBlogger gives an excellent look at the All Star selections and breaks down why he feels certain players should or should not have been on the team. His take on Mo:
Just because Cleveland has the best record, it doesn’t mean they have to have the most All-Stars. Mo Williams has been a substantial upgrade in Cleveland, but the Cavs also had a crappy backcourt last season. Williams has been good, but not All-Star level. Big Z would have been by backup center pick, but he’s played less than 750 minutes this year. That just doesn’t cut it.
I think I agree with his premise. I’m not sure a team’s record necessarily has to correspond proportionately to the number of All-Stars they have. Cleveland is a complete team in the true sense of the meaning, and they don’t rely on superstars beyond LeBron. But I can’t say agree with the part about the Cavs having a crappy backcourt last season. He’s right, they did…..but isn’t that a big part of the reason why the Cavaliers are 37-9 this year? Doesn’t that show just how important Mo Williams has been for the Cavaliers?
[Weekly Wrap-Up: All-Star Edition]
To me, it does not make sense that Dwight Howard got more All-Star votes than LeBron James. I get the logic that everyone, myself included, has been using…..that Dwight has no peers, so of course everyone is going to vote for him. The Basketball.org Blog did a pretty cool study where they compared All-Star voting results to Google search statistics. They found that Dwight Howard is way more popular in All-Star voting than he is in Google searches. They write:
As you can see, the Google search results and the All-Star voting does not exactly coincide. Dwight Howard did lead the All-Star voting but was fourth in the Google results. However, the other spots fit in perfectly between Google and the fans voting.
One explanation for the Howard glitch maybe that he has no real competition in the center category. The next highest vote-getter in the position for the East was Kendrick Perkins, who received a modest 621,709 votes or about 2.4M less than Howard. I think we would all agree, quite remarkably, that Howard deserves the starting nod over Perkins, of course, unless you are a Bahston fan which explains the moronic 621,709 votes (anytime I can hate on Boston fans I will). On the other hand, the other players had much stiffer competition in their respective positions. For example, Lebron was in the Forward category and had to compete with the likes of KG, Pierce, Bosh, Yi (huge Chinese population) and Granger, which could explain why his numbers fall behind Howard.
Again, in principle I agree. But when I thought about it further, I realized the folly in this argument. Dwight Howard has no peer at the center position, but does LeBron really have any peers at the forward position? Does it really make sense that lots of people thought there were at least 2 better forwards in the East than LeBron?
[Google vs. NBA Fan Voting]
TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott is calling all Cavs fans. With LeBron set to make his 2nd trip of this season to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, Henry wants to give Cavs fans a chance to even out all the LeBron-to-NY talk we’re about to hear for the next few days:
So, I’m asking you, Cleveland fans, to explain it to the rest of us. Please tell us what this process feels like. What’s the conversation like in your barbershop? You have probably the best player in basketball, leading one of the very best teams in basketball. You could be on your way to a title right now.
But there’s this dark cloud hanging over everything, and sometimes it must seem like the whole world — or at least much of the national media, LeBron’s big corporate sponsors, the NBA, you name it — must want to break up your team.
Help us understand the other side of the argument. E-mail me (truehoop AT gmail DOT com) your side of the story. Why you think he’ll stay. Why this hurts. What it is that some media reports are missing. What you wish every Knick fan could know …
I think this is a very decent gesture on Henry’s part. I probably won’t be participating, though. I’ve chosen to ignore the hype. I just want to enjoy watching LeBron play for the next 1.5 years. If the Cavs keep playing the way they were when fully loaded and healthy, then things will take care of themselves. But on Wednesday when Henry posts the emails he gets, we don’t want a blank page, so head on over to TrueHoop and let Henry hear your side of it. Let the world know how it feels to be a fan of the Cavaliers. Who knows, it just might be cathartic.
And I can think of no finer way of ending this edition of Coast To Coast than that.
[Cleveland, Let’s Hear It]
18 Comments
Cmon, we’re talking third, behind last year’s MVP and last year’s WORLD CHAMPION. Where will Lebron be on this list if he wins MVP and/or a championship?
I’m too tired to discuss this topic any further, especially with a bunch of people that cannot discern the difference between “they’re” and “their”. I simply do not have the patience or the inclination to argue this exhausted topic.
However, If LeBron decides to sign that extension after 7/1/09, I’ll be more than happy to discuss where LeBron will sign after his next contract is up.
Orlando should not have three all-stars and the Cavs one. That’s an absolute travesty, and the CAVS have every right and reason to be pissed off about it.
RK – nice column, though sorry to hear about the computer crashing…just something you don’t need in your life.
Out of curiosity, what is your gripe w/ Hansborough?
@Chris: Is that in reference to me? Did I miss one somewhere?
@Humboldt: I am huge fan of UNC. I root for UNC sports teams in any game where they are not going up against OSU. So it’s not a spite thing. I just think the last thing the Cavaliers need is another run of the mill energy guy coming off the bench. I hope Hansbrough does great in the pros, I just feel like he’s not what the Cavaliers need, and I think that’s who the Cavs are going to draft.
Rock, no, not at all! I was reading through the comments on truehoop and it made my brain hurt. You certainly know your stuff.
Ok, just wanted to make sure. I’ll be honest, I use “they’re” and “their” so frequently that I often mix them up only to catch them upon proof reading, so I thought I might have missed one.
Tyler Hansborough wouldn’t get off the bench playing for the Thunder nevertheless the Cavs. His game is absolutely not suited for the NBA.
Under-sized, unathletic white dudes have little to no chance of being anything more than a human victory cigar on even a poor team.
Rock, nice work. If this is a “short column,” what are the long ones going to look like??
Regarding the top jerseys, I have a feeling the only reason Garnett is ahead of James is because of his recent trade to Boston just a year and a half ago, coupled with them winning a championship. There’s no way he’ll maintain that level of sales as more people in Boston own his jersey. With the superstars Kobe and Lebron though, I think their appeal is much broader, and it shows in the fact that despite being in the same towns for so long, they still top the charts in merchandise sales.
Naturally then, I doubt this is a major concern in Lebron’s head.
Does Kobe’s inflated jersey sales have anything to do with the fact he changed numbers a year or two ago? How many #8 jerseys do you think he sold before he changed to #24 and made everyone buy a new jersey again?
@DocZeus Songaila whaaa?
LeBron should change his number every game. With all of their throwbacks, the mathematical combinations for jerseys boggle the mind!
So DP, you’re saying the Cavs should = Oregon Ducks of the NBA???
#11 and #12….Great points! I believe you are one of the first to point this out about the jersey sales. I doubt that Garnett’s jersey would be number one if he was still wearing a Wolves jersey, and Kobe number two, had he stayed with number 8. I never understood why nobody has mentioned that before.
That’s what I meant by “Or maybe it’s just that LeBron’s been in Cleveland for 6 years now and pretty much everyone who wants a LeBron Cavs jersey already has one.”
LeBron has worn the same jersey longer than any of those guys. You always get a boost in jersey sales when you switch teams (or, in the unique case of Kobe, jersey number). If LeBron went to the Thunder, I bet he’d have the #1 jersey.
Nobody wants a Cavaliers jersey because they are ugly as hell. The Celts, Knicks and Lake-Show have classic, simple jerseys–not the horrific metallic gold and modern script.
Every game the Cavs don’t wear a retro jersey, I am disappointed. The navy is decent. But the standard home whites and road wines–awful!