July 2010
27 posts
Goodbye Jhonny, You Were Never Even Allowed to...
OK, let’s dry our eyes and try to get through this latest trade by the Tribe.
Good, I knew that wouldn’t take too long. Jhonny has been traded to the Tigers - so let’s recap.
I’ll skip the obvious jokes here and be slightly sentimental.
It wasn’t Jhonny’s fault that he was told he was a major league shortstop by Wedgie and the Indians front office. It...
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Rooting For The Underdog
I’ve been watching the Indians play a lot more frequently now that basketball season is over and August is approaching, the slowest month of the year in Hollywood. As I’ve already alluded to, I’ve largely enjoyed watching the games, even though baseball has its problems. It is an ideal sport to put on TV in the background when you’re doing something else.
You probably...
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Goodbye Delonte West, You Were Never Even Allowed...
Since we didn’t really address it when the trade to Minnesota happened Monday, I felt that I needed to jot down a belated goodbye note to Delonte.
In many ways, Delonte is an embodiment of what we here at Mesa keep writing about: sports and the athletes who play them are much more complex than most people understand. The man is struggling with a serious mental disorder—one for which...
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Sessions + Hollins - Delonte + Telfair = ???
I was on the verge of writing another column for tonight, one that may have been more fun, when Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn and Cleveland Cavaliers GM Chris Grant burned the phone lines down to the ground, finally, and finished a deal that had been obvious to just about everyone once it became clear that “Razor” Ramon Sessions was on the trading black.
Razor and Ryan...
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Is the Play the Thing?
Between LeBron, Chris Paul, and practically everyone else in the NBA any time there’s a trade of any significance, I’ve come to a strange conclusion: I’m sick of hearing about championships.
I don’t mean to say that I believe NBA players shouldn’t be thinking about winning or trying to win. By their very nature, every professional athlete should be wired to...
Ha! →
Where Wayne Winston predicts the Heat win 66 games this season … aka the Cavaliers win total from 2 years ago.
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Watching Bad Teams Can Still Be Fun
Something we’ve probably all been wondering about - openly or not - is whether the Cavaliers will still be fun to watch in 2010-11, even if they end up not being competitive.
I think I have an answer to this question because I’ve been watching the Indians when I have free time …
The answer is yes.
Unless every single game is a total blowout, watching young players fight to...
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Has LeBron Killed the NBA? →
Linkage will take you to an article by CBS Sports’s Ken Berger, all about how Chris Paul has been so inspired by the Wade / James / Bosh trio that he wants to replicate it somewhere else.
Reports of this idea first surfaced at Carmelo Anthony’s wedding the weekend after James announced his decision to head to Miami. Allegedly, Paul proposed during the reception that he, Amar’e,...
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Can the 2011 Cavaliers Be the 1994 Bulls? →
The above is a link to the blog at Basketball Reference, where Neil Paine put a post up on Tuesday looking at how the 1994 Chicago Bulls won 55 games without Michael Jordan, only 2 less than they did in 1993 when they still had Jordan.
Paine notes that an earlier statistical analysis he did suggested that the Cavs, without LeBron James, would win 20-25 less games - if James were replaced with an...
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The Spotlight Turns
This is my least favorite part of the year from a sporting standpoint.
Not only are the NBA playoffs long gone, but the exciting aspect of free agency is in the rear view miror, too. Regular season baseball holds no draw whatsoever for me (at least, as an Indians’ fan). Football season is still two months off.
In fact, I was in a sports bar on Saturday night and the only coverage running...
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Complex Psychology
I would like to begin by saying that, as a fan of the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers, I am not happy that LeBron James has decided to blow $50M on a house in Miami to “take his talents to South Beach.”
I will miss rooting for James for 82+ games next year.
I will miss regularly watching one of the most talented athletes the sport of basketball has ever seen.
Will I miss...
Hey Dad, Bryant Gumbel? Really? R U Sure??
I’m not a fan of Bryant Gumbel. In fact, I typically think he’s full of crap. However, I heard a comment that he made on his TV show the other day that made me stop and think for a moment.
Surprising, I know.
So, I tracked his comments down on the Internet today - and found his words just as compelling after reading what he had to say. He explains - mentions names in fact - how...
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Dirty Projections: The Do-Over
After a discussion with WP48 expert Holland, I realized that I semi-botched my projection of the Cavs’ team performance this upcoming season. I wanted to take some time tonight to correct the analysis.
For those of you actually interested in advanced statistics, the main error involves some of the nuances of WP48. The purest form of the metric involves position adjustments. For example, a...
Psychological Delay
I’m going to have to wait to put up my post on the complex psychology of LeBron’s decision to go to Miami. Sorry. Movie writing caught up to me today.
A few brief observations…
Yes, it’s only two summer league games, but Sacramento Kings rookie DeMarcus Cousins is out rebounding third year Cavaliers power forward JJ Hickson…
Kyle Lowry will not be a Cavalier....
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Cavs Round-Up
There are two different Cavs-centric topics that I felt needed to be addressed in some capacity tonight.
1) Goodbye Z, You Were Never Even Allowed To…Oh, You Did Everything But Win It All
I don’t have a lot to say here, other than that Z is the only reason to not resent the 20010-11 Miami Heat. In my personal opinion, it’s ridiculous to begrudge Z for making this move....
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The Spirit of Competition
After taking some time to think about LeBron James’s basketball version of The Bachelor this past Thursday night, one thing has remained constant for me:
I’m saddened by the fact that I will no longer be able to watch James and Dwyane Wade try to kill each other on the basketball court.
Back in April when James spoke regretfully of how guys in the league didn’t hate each...
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The 2010-11 Cavs: Dirty Projections
Since LeBron announced his decision to “take [his] talents to South Beach” last Thursday night, I’ve seen a couple of different people pose questions to NBA pundits about the Cavs’ fate for next year. Specifically, how many games should we anticipate they’ll be able to win without James in the line-up?
The consensus answer from those pundits seems to be “not...
The Next Phase
I’m fairly certain that we probably have enough material from tonight to write a post every day for the rest of the summer. There’s a ton to talk about. But due to some other obligations, first post on the exit of LeBron James and its implications for the future of the Cavs won’t be up until a little later. Til then, check the Mesa twitter feed to hold you over. Mike put in work...
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A Look at NWO: The Wolfpack Through WP48 →
Interesting look at a Wade-James-Bosh trio from the WP48 guys, via the Wall Street Journal.
The Patient Was the King and the King is Dead
Please read DAD’s rather astute and sober post below first.
My snap comments on the news - which seems firm - that LeBron will pull up lame and join the competition in South Beach, rewarding a franchise with few fans that tanked for multiple years to roll the dice on a high stakes gamble, are best read on Twitter.
Twenty-four Hours in the Emergency Room
So, it’s the night before “The Decision” is broadcast live on ESPN. In fact, as I write this post, it’s about 24 hours away. That’s right, one day before Life After the Summer of Free Agency (which really lasted less than one week) begins - I’m in a contemplative mode.
It’s sort of like sitting in the hospital emergency room waiting to find out if...
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Bigger Help To Cavs - Chris Bosh or His GF?
The biggest fallout, it now seems, of the entire Summer of Money, may be the impact it has had on Chris Bosh’s ego.
Let’s be honest: Chris Bosh is not in Dwyane Wade or LeBron James’s league.
Here are the advanced stats:
Adjusted Plus Minus
Bosh: +6.97 James: +16.92 Wade: +20.07
Wins Produced Per 48 Minutes
Bosh: .225 James: .401 Wade: .291
PER
Bosh: 25.0 James:...
Darren Rovell May Have Given LeBron / ESPN "The... →
Incidentally, Rovell wrote this piece Tuesday morning.
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Free Agency Update: Pitfall Edition
With two days remaining until free agents can officially sign contracts, I wanted to take stock of the harsh realities that are starting to pile up for LeBron-hopeful franchises—in particular, the Chicago Bulls.
Since last week, the prevailing perception among pundits is that there’s been a huge momentum shift in terms of LeBron’s expected destination. A big part of this seems...
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Winning Titles At a Faster Pace
And now, in a near complete break from the fiasco that is the Summer of Money - well, at least as far as my BlackBerry battery is concerned - let’s talk about pace and winning championships.
During Friday’s press conference, Byron Scott - whose previously coached teams ranked 15, 28, 26, 23, 21, 28, 18, 11, 9, and 13 in pace - made a point of emphasizing his “Showtime...
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Liar's Poker: Day 1 LBJ Free Agency Recap
By the time anyone reads this article, LeBron’s second day of free agency meetings will have begun. He’s scheduled to hold court with the Clippers and Heat today, then the Bulls and Cavs Saturday. But Thursday was all about the NY/NJ metropolitan area—and shockingly, all sources from inside the Knicks and Nets indicate the meetings went “extremely well.”
Pardon me...