The Sports Guru

I read a great article by Peter Gammons on ESPN.com this week. Yes, that Peter Gammons, the baseball guy. He wrote a great piece about Roger Clemens, and the Rocket’s insatiable desire to be great right off the bat. While I was reading it I kept thinking about LeBron James. LeBron has the ability to be great, perhaps one of the best ever. There are nights it is plainly evident, others, well not so much. The moral of the article, while about a baseball player, can transcend baseball and apply to all sports.

To get at the level these guys reach you have to be good. Great, even. There is a wide gap between high school and college, then another gap between college and the pros. Once at the professional level everything evens out and the difference between good and great is razor thin and usually has to do with one thing - desire. If you’re going to be more than just good, you have to want to be great, no doubt,” says Bobby Cox. That’s a profound statement. How many pros in any sport have you read about no fulfilling their potential? How many guys over-achieved, seemingly overcoming the lack of physical ability to become great? God-given talent can take you only so far.

That brings me back to LeBron. The landscape in basketball is different than the other team sports. LeBron signed a $90 million contract with Nike before his High School graduation. The quest for financial reward was never part of the equation. All that there is to drive LeBron to be great is LeBron, and if he doesn’t feed off that drive it will never happen. I worry that the latter might be the case. When I watch a jovial LeBron hug and smile with Shaq after another bad Cavalier loss I wonder. I talk about that on the Cavs.com message boards and people say that LeBron isn’t the problem, 29 points, he did his job. Their right, and perhaps that is why LeBron is so happy. He is satisfied with putting up the numbers. He quest isn’t for team success, but for individual accollades.

I am not accusing LeBron of this, just using arguments that defend him against those using them. But what i see from LeBron at times makes me wonder if he has the killer instinct that a Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods have. Tiger is good comarison, to a point. Tiger also got big bucks form endorsements before ever really making a dime on the PGA Tour. Tiger has IT though. A killer instinct, a desire to be great, to be the greatest, that drives him when the game itself becomes monotonous. Toger feeds off of those who criticize or try to bring him down. Every time Woods seems to falter, bringing out the vulchers that want to bury him, he comes back stronger than ever, reestablishing himself as the most dominant golfer ever.

Does LeBron Want It Bad Enough?

Golf is an individual sport, however, and maybe most importantly Tiger went to Stanford before turning pro. LeBron is still learning, only 2 months into his 22nd year. He is still learning the game, and learning to lead at the same time. To be a leader, however, means tough decisions have to be made, because your team is following your lead. If you laugh off losses, and excuse them every time, justifying weaknesses, your teammates are going to do the same. LeBron needs to learn that. More importantly, he needs to WANT to learn that.

“You have to think about wanting to beat the other guy,” says Clemens. “To be better than the next guy. When I knew in Boston (after his first Cy Young/MVP season) that I had to pay a price with my legs, I wasn’t thinking about my place in history, or greatness, but I had the drive to be different.

“Do I think about greatness? Not really. I want Debby and my kids to think about it. But the price, the pain, the exhaustion … it’ll all be worth it when the team I’m pitching for wins. There is no pain or workload too great to overcome the feeling of winning.”

Whether you like him or hate him, Clemons is a winner and has been his entire life. He understands what it is to be great, and more importantly doesn’t fear it. The jury on LeBron is still out, and you have to wonder, does LeBron James want to be great??

Technorati Tags: Roger Clemens, LeBron James, NBA, Cavs, baseball, basketball

I just got finished watching the Cavaliers lose. Again. Another loss on the road, the 4th straight, 8 of 11 so far this season. More disturbing is the fact that the Cavs lost another game to a team under .500. Sure, New Jersey is very talented, much better than their 10-14 record would indicate, but they are 10-14. Amazingly, 5 of their 9 losses have come against teams that did not make the playoffs last year. I can go on and on about the numbers, but how much fun is that to read. No, I want to focus more on how this team is playing, and why Mike Brown or LeBron James keep letting it go on.

Tonite was the same ‘ole same ‘ole. Play decent in the first half, collapse in the 3rd quarter, claw back and make the final score look a lot closer than the game actually was. LeBron was great tonite, but noone else decided to show up. Eric Snow is still a waste of space on the floor, and can someone please tell me when Larry Hughes became a jump shooter. Larry did not go to the basket once during the game. NOT ONCE! Wasn’t that his M.O. in the league before breaking the bank in Cleveland? A slasher, a guy that drive hard to the hoop. Not so far this season. Larry seems content to sit out at the 3-point arc and chuck up long range jumpers when LeBron penetrates.

And what about all the talk from Donyell Marshall about playing more inside? Early in the season it appeared Marshall was going to do just that. Rebound, post up and get to the basket more. Not anymore. In the few minutes that he played Marshall hoisted three after three, miss after miss.

Meanwhile the Nets were going inside. Vince Carter, himself struggling with a case of threepointitis, went to the rim early and often, matchin LeBron point for point, especially down the stretch when the Cavs tried to come back.

Yea, all that is frustrating, but not nearly as frustrating as watching LeBron and Damon Jones laugh it up with Jay-Z over and over late in the game when the Cavs were down double-digits. Hey, maybe Lebron wants to play in Brooklyn when the Nets move to the city in 2010. That’s fine with me, go ahead, but until then, when the supposed contender you play for now is getting embarrassed, AGAIN on the road, try to keep the fraternization with the other team’s owner to a minimum. Could you imagine Michael or Larry joking around during a loss? Me neither.

But that’s the thing about LeBron, isn’t it? He’d rather be Jay-Z’s buddy off the court than beat his team on it. Miss a pair of free-throws in the 4th quarter when the game is still in doubt, no problem cuz I am Jay-Z’s boy.

So the Cavs drop their 2nd straight overall, and head home to face the Pistons. Good thing the Cavs are 11-2 at home, becuase the way this team plays on the road they are going to need all the wins they can get.

Technorati Tags: LeBron James, Cavaliers, Jay-Z, Cleveland, New Jersey Nets, Vince Carter, Larry Hughes

When Danny Ferry signed Damon Jones as a free-agent from the Miami Heat after the 04-05 seasons, he no doubt had dreams of threes raining down from all angles at the Q. It finally happened, and only a year later than the Cavs had hoped. Jones, who admittingly showed up to his first Cavaliers training camp a bit out of shape. Such is usually the case for a free agent trying to protect his bidy by ding absolutely no basketball work for fear of an injury. Jones was booed several times, relegated to the bench others, and despite hitting some big shots in the playoffs, namely the series clincher in the first round series against the Wizards, Damon was openly shopped during the off-season. Jones’ situation was made more tenuous on draft night when the Cavs drafted two players that play in the backcourt, then later signed David Wesley for back court depth.

Unlike last season when Jones openly pouted when overlooked for the starting point guard position in favor of Eric Snow, Damon kept his mouth shut and his butt in the gyn. The results were noticeable from the first day of training camp. Jones has been steady, if not spectacular this season, until tonite against the Knick in New York. A career night for Jones, who finished with 29, in the Cavaliers’ 102-96 win. Though Jones didn’t hit a big shot to win the game, he might as well as have with all the big shots he hit in the first half to keep the Cavs remotely close.

As was the case the past few games, the Cavs started slow, with little energy, and quickly fell behind 10-2. It wasn’t James who brought the Cavs back, nor Hughes, Z, Drew, not even Scot Pollard brought the Cavs back. It was Damon Jones, who started firing away from long range, and didn’t stop until he had 24 points on 6/7 from distance, and the Cavs had a 51-47 lead. Jones added 5 more in the 2nd half, but the action after halftime belongs to one person, #23, and it was no different Monday Night for King James, who finished with 29.

FOr the third straight game the bench was a huge factor in a Cavs win, and along with D.J. Cavs’ fans have to be most impressed with the play of Sasha Pavlovic, who followed up 16 and 14 points contests with 7 points and more importantly several key defensive stops. Good things will be in store for the Wine and Gold if the bench continues to give Mike Brown solid effort night in and night out, and the increased minutes for guys like Sasha and Damon can only help come playoff time.

The Cavs moved to 5-2, and once again seemed to win a game that last season they probably would have lost. The Knicks are young and athletic, usually a kryptonite to the Cavs, but not tonite. Cleveland was able to withstand the early rush, jumped out to a 14 point lead, watched the Knick get within one, before putting the game away in the end. A nice game, no doubt about it….

Technorati Tags: LeBron James, Damon Jones, Three Ball, Knicks, NBA, Basketball

After 30 minutes of a care-free attitude towards Saturday Night’s game against the Boston Celtics, the Cavaliers decided that they had seen enough from a bunch of guys that had no business beating them by 25 at the Q. So Seize The Day they did, coming all the way back and holding on for a 94-93 win. There is a definite trend starting for the Cavs, and one I hope guys a lot smarter than me are paying attention to. LeBron James was scoreless through the first 19 minutes Saturday Night, and the Cavs trailed by 20. More troubling than the lack of points was the lack of energy or hustle out of LeBron for the 2nd Saturday in a row. LeBron was less than active in a loss in Charlotte last Saturday, a performance that torqued me alot more than his supposed “quitting” on Tuesday night. It was more of the same as the Cavaliers hoisted jump shot after jump shot, and the Celtics drove to the rack. The result was a 15 point deficit and 10 point first quarter….AT HOME no less. Twice LeBron James has been a bit lethargic in a game, and twice the Cavs were less than effective on the offensive end.

As someone once said, “The best defense is a good offense”, and when the Cavs aren’t playing well offensively, they play with no energy on defense. It was becoming the same old, same old until the Cavs fell down a game high 25, at 70-45 with 5:01 to go in the 3rd quarter. The Cavs were able to shave 9 points off the lead in the final 5 minutes, and trailed by 16 heading into the 4th. Incredibly it wouldn’t be the biggest 4th quarter comeback for the Cavs, who came from 19 behind 2 years ago against the Suns, but the Cavs won that game in OT. The Cavs actually fell behind by 19, as the Celtics scored the first 3 points of the 4th Quarter, and didn’t score a point until a Sasha Pavlovic three with 10:33 to go. That trumps the comeback over the Suns if you ask me…

And that leads me to Sasha, who’s defensive woes have kept him firmly planted on Mike Brown’s bench. Sasha has admitted in the past that his best defense is his offense, meaing he’ll score more than the guy he guards so all is well. That doesn’t sit well with Brown, and Sasha’s playing time has shown that. During the off-season, Pavs re-dedicated himself to his defense, I’m sure an action that had nothing to do with his pending free-agency. “I worked hard this summer on defense; on my legs and I think I’m going to show that to everybody with what I can do on the floor. So if I play good defense, I think I’m going to be on the floor.” Brilliant. And his offense has also gotten better, and the past two games Sasha has been a big part of W’s. Sasha was second to LeBron in scoring last nght, scoring 14 points, 8 in the fourth quarter. LeBron is impressed, “I battle Sasha every day in practice. We guard each other and I’ve always said that Sasha is probably one of the best that I’ve guarded one on one. Once he learns how to completely play the game of basketball from a team aspect, he’s going to be very good and he showcased that early….We’ve got some good one on one players on the team, but he’s by far one of the best”.

The Cavs actually came back a bit too quickly, leading by as many as 4 with 2:24 to go. So do the math, the Cavs went from 19 down to 4 up in just over 8 minutes, outscoring the Celtics 30-7 during that time. The achilles heel of the Cavs that showed it’s ugly head as the team once again failed from the charity stripe, going 2-6 down the stretch.

Things got very interesting after James tried to intentionally miss a free throw with 1.2 seconds to go. He missed the backboard, a free throw violation, and gave the Celtics one last chance that Paul Pierce nearly turned into a miracle win as his 33 foot fall away three rattled in and out to save the Cavs victory. In the end, a Cavs win, but a bit troubling that LeBron looked disinterested in the first half. Let’s hope his 25 point second half is more indicative to the way he is going to play than his 14 point first half.

CAVALIERS NOTES:
• The Cavaliers rallied from 25 points down with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter to post their sixth straight win over Boston. Cleveland trailed by 16 points entering the fourth quarter, making it the second largest comeback after three quarters in team history (19 points down entering the fourth quarter against Phoenix on Nov. 10, 2004). The Cavaliers outscored Boston 34-17 in the fourth quarter and 60-45 in the second half.

• LeBron James scored 25 of his season-high 38 points after halftime including 12 in the fourth quarter.

• LeBron James’ 19 second half free-throw attempts is a team record for free throw attempts in a half. He held the record with 18 attempted at Miami on March 12, 2006 in the second half.

• Sasha Pavlovic posted 14 points, three rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes off the bench. Over his last two games, he is averaging 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists.

• Damon Jones scored six points on 2-2 from three-point range, grabbed two rebounds and dished out four assists in the second half alone.

• Anderson Varejao scored nine points and added 10 rebounds in 30 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Cavs, Celtics, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Cavaliers

They’re at the next level. How else to you describe what is going on? I know, I know, losing to two non-playoff teams can not be considered a good thing. Unless you consider that it is just the next step up the ladder of NBA greatness. After owning the Bulls last night 113 - 94 it became apparent to me that the Cavs had reached a new level, and will have to adjust to it.

The Cavs are now talented enough to beat anyone, anywhere. The win in San Antonio proved that. But the league is too deep, too talented for anyone just to show up and win. The Cavs have also found that out against Charlotte and Atlanta. Two teams the Cavs have owned in the past have already beaten them this year. So what gives?

Temas like Charlotte and Atlanta use the Cavs as a measuring stick, like the Cavs have used the Spurs and Mavericks,, etc in the past. Teams amp up to play LeBron. They know they are playing for a full house, whether at home or on the road, and they know there is a good possibilty of being on National TV, or at least being the first highlight on ESPNews that night. So if the Cavs just show up, or shot 50% from the free throw line chances are they are going to lose, no matter who the competition is.

Last night the Cavs came out with a purpose, and were aggressive from start to finish, just like they were against the Spurs. Drew Gooden was a monster again, and has been the one guy to bring it every night. He is becoming a monster in the league and is proving the Cavs wise for re-signing him. His defensive liabilites are shrinking, and at only 24 he has tremendous upside yet. In just 25 minutes over 3 quarters Gooden went 10-13 from the field, scoring 20 points and grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing 3 assists. This and only turning the ball over 1 time. Not bad for only a half of actual basketball.

As for LeBron, he is seeing the opposite side of the love fest that his career has had with the media. There are people out there that are just waiting for him to misstep, and when he does they’ll pounce. His supposed “quitting” on his teammates the other night, as rediculous as it was seemed to fire LeBron up, and as we have seen with star athletes like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan, the worst thing you can do is challenge LeBron James, unless of course you are a Cavs fan!

His numbers last night are somewhat ordinary, for LeBron anyway, 19 points, 12 assists, 4 boards in 38 minutes, but with the way the bench was playing, along with Drew, there was no need for LeBron to take over. He is still learing when he needs to be THE GUY, and when he can just get it to his teammates.

So it’s on to the Celtics, where the Cavs will look to beat a non-playoff team from last season for the first time this year. I think they have learned from their early season transgressions, and know that they East is theirs for the taking, if they bring it every night!

CAVALIERS NOTES:

• The Cavaliers have now won five straight and eight of the last 10 in the series against Chicago.

• The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Bulls 47-30. Cleveland has out-rebounded the opposition by at least eight rebounds in every game this season.

• Drew Gooden put up 20 points on 10-13 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in 26 minutes. Over his last three games, Gooden is averaging 20.6 points and 13.0 rebounds. He has now posted 20 or more points in three straight games for the third time in his career (Jan. 26-30, 2005 and April 8-11, 2005).

• LeBron James posted his third double-double of the season with 19 points and a season-high 12 assists.

• Sasha Pavlovic scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in 25 minutes. He connected on 6-9 from the field including 2-3 from three-point range. It was his highest scoring output since Feb. 21 last season when he put up 21 points vs. Orlando.

• Donyell Marshall came off the bench to post 15 points on 5-7 shooting including 3-4 from downtown. Over his last three games, he is averaging 13.7 points in 23.3 minutes per game.

• The Cleveland bench combined for 56 points on 21-30 shooting. The Cavaliers previous high in bench points this season was 21 points on two occasions.

• Anderson Varejao scored a career-high 15 points tonight on 6-7 shooting.

• The Cavs 38 assists ties a Quicken Loans Arena record (Cleveland vs. Detroit on Nov. 21, 2000) and was the most by a Cavs team since that date.

• The 25 second-half assists is a new Quicken Loans Arena record, breaking the former record of 23 (by Indiana, 1st half, Dec. 22, 2001).

Technorati Tags: Cavs, NBA, basketball, LeBron James, LeBron, Bulls, Chicago