Cavs vs Lakers and the NBA Finals

By On October 27, 2009 · 38 Comments · In Cleveland Cavaliers, Girls, LeBron James, NBA

Shaq Cavs

Here’s my big problem with the 2009-10 NBA season – why didn’t LeBron’s people get on Sports Illustrated about how they picked an image that made him look kinda wimpy for their cover issue.

I bought both these mags, but haven’t cracked either one – probably won’t. That’s okay – it’s the thought that counts, plus it’s Cavs over Lakers in the Finals, provided Shaq can stay healthy and Delonte West isn’t locked up somewhere.

I feel so confident in this prediction that I’ll even admit I accidentally typed “Lakers over Cavs” in the previous sentence before I caught myself.

Also, not to bring up old wounds, but can we finally all agree that Joe Dumars isn’t that great of a GM. @iamboney confirmed that the big-money Detroit free agents are coming off the bench.

Anyone could’ve told Joe – and many people did – that those guys are perfect 4th scoring options on a good team.

Now to the important stuff, and in conclusion – here’s some IM action from lasterday. “Girl” is totally her real name, as well.

Brian: Ilu
Girl: Ok omg. Ilu2. Byeee
Brian: Lol
Girl: Don’t laugh at meee
Brian: : /
Girl: Ughhh
Girl: A-hole
Brian: Thx ttyl
Girl: I threw up lol
Brian: Lol can I put part of this on my blog if I don’t say it’s you lolol

NBA NBA NBA NBA NBA

How ready are you on a scale of 1-10. Also, what are your most profound, personal, and/or private NBA predictions.

 
  • goathair

    I'm at about an 8 right now.

    I predict someone pulls Joakim Noah's hair.

  • http://twitter.com/Dennymayo Dennis Mayo

    The best part of the FA signings in Detwaa is the fact that Ben Wallace is starting. I mean, he very may well be healthy, motivated, etc. but the fact that he's their starting PF is amusing to me.

    I am ready at level 9.5.

    Most profound is that Shaq leads the league in angry post-dunk scowling. LeBron will be number 2 in this category.

  • http://twitter.com/ColleenBurns constantsparkle

    “provided …. and Delonte West isn’t locked up somewhere.” – UGG SOOO SAD! Someone help him. His “Team-mates” need to step it up…they need to get over themselves and realize they are a team and not the Cavabrons – or the Shaqabrons…WTF? SO over this team already (no offense BS23).

    Anyway, i think the Cavs are going to fall apart for all the reasons I just listed above. If I know ANYTHING about my boys – it's ORLANDO's year FO SHO! Magic/Lakers – Magic in 7 – BRING IT!

    *The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the LadyBallers, its clubs or WSM.

  • Wish

    Second attempt at this:

    I don't see Lakers/Cavs. Shaq is fat, can't figure out the playbook and is going to cause problems when they don't give him the ball enough. Maybe they can trade him at the deadline.

    I'm at a 14.

    Spurs/Magic or Spurs/Sixers in the Finals. Spurs in 5 for both of those.

  • http://twitter.com/milquetoast7 [redacted]

    Oh I see what you did there – put in a girl “conversation” because otherwise this would be a sports blog.

    Now can we go to that treehouse – it's 6.5 hours away from me – wonder if he rents out rooms.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Hahah and he will be like, “got that Jamaica peace!”

    What.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Are you serious – I had no idea! I guess that good for my movie, if nothing else.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Wait – how do you know they aren't doing everything they can to support Delonte? Everything I know and have read says they adore that guy. Do you need a press release from LeBron or something?

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    lol go Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers go.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I'm serious I'd rather go to that treehouse than any other place on Earth. I will be there some time in 2010.

    TREEHOUSE TWEETUP.

  • http://twitter.com/milquetoast7 [redacted]

    I'm serious too – I'd just like to take a book and go up to one of the random floors and layabout reading in the treehouse all day.

    I think it'd be a nice spot for a wedding -

  • Wish

    I really enjoyed this quote from Shaq about JR Rider:

    ““J.R. was the type of player who wanted to do things his way, and if his way didn’t match with the system sometimes there was a conflict,” Shaquille O’Neal(notes) said. “Whenever you go to a new team, you have to go with that system. If you don’t go with that system, then they oust you.”

    Isn't that exactly why teams get rid of Shaq?

  • http://twitter.com/ColleenBurns constantsparkle

    just don't think it would get worse if he had all his teammates to hold him up…i could be wrong…dont jump down my throat…but if you can get a bronbron PR about it, i wouldn't believe him anyway ;oP But if someone else spoke about it…maybe – anyway – i have faith in the team…just wish it wasn't so hard for one of my fav players…

  • http://www.ndeddiemac.blogspot.com NDEddieMac

    I'm at a 10, can't wait, the Spurs have been fun to watch in the preseason, and I can't wait to watch DeJuan Blair get like 8000 boards this year. Nice to see your NBA fan side has returned there Brian, altho how quickly will it fade once LeBron goes into Movie night mode? Also, I like your style Wish, so much so that I pushed the like button. Game on

  • http://twitter.com/kristinbrennan Kristin Brennan

    since i don't know anything about the nba, i'll leave you with this: you might have more relationships than anyone i know.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    What kind of relationships are you talking about. lol

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    If LeBron comes out tonight with one eye on Saw VI, I won't watch again until Christmas. This does scare me – my own work, no less:

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/403568144_77…

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    Well I think it's a lot more respectful to not talk to the media about it at all – I don't see how talking in public about a teammate's personal problem is better than talking to and supporting him privately.

  • http://www.ndeddiemac.blogspot.com NDEddieMac

    Here I figured Bron would be much more excited for Astro Boy than Saw VI

  • http://twitter.com/iamboney Boney

    I feel so bad that I don't comment here that much anymore. I wonder if the minions who grace these pages with their funny tidbits miss having Boney to kick around.

    The problem with Detroit is, they didn't have any horrible contracts to dump for “names” like Shaq/KG/Gasol/etc… so while Cleveland gets Shaq (and traded Ben Wallace's horrible deal) and Mo Williams (traded away the other awful contracts) but lost out on trading Wally's bad contract, Detroit is stuck with mid-level pay guys like Hamilton (who at this point is untradeable), Prince and Gordon who all don't make enough to balance out a salary for salary swap to net a superstar.

    So yeah, we can get all technical with this all we want… the piss poor contracts I was making fun of the Cavaliers about 2 years ago have turned into a very fat Shaq (lol), Mo Williams (who played well above his head last season) and the only other bad contract that could net a stud at this point is Z. Trading Z would be the biggest dick move of the season because it would show 0 loyalty, but I wouldn't be surprised.

    Ferry is not a good GM, acquiring Shaq is not guaranteeing anything other than entertaining player intros for the stooge Cavalier fans who got a sniff of winning last season… we Piston fans know about winning, with the 239839 titles that we won between 2001 and 2007.

  • http://twitter.com/iamboney Boney

    and let's not forget that LeBron is a max player next year, so all of this player “movement” to build a team around him will be gone and retired and they'll be left with guys like Hickson, Boobie, Mo's bad contract, Jamario Moon and a handful of minimum salary players with no cap room to pay a max deal to anyone or players to move to acquire a high paid player.

    for all the “LOL” Spaeth does about Joe D's non-GM skills, his favorite team was pressing hard for Joe D's table scraps at the beginning of the free agency period (Sheed and McDyess). Enjoy your season this year, it'll be interesting come next offseason in Cleveland.

  • MCBias

    “we Piston fans know about winning, with the 239839 titles that we won between 2001 and 2007.” –Ok, I admit it, I just come here hoping for a good side portion of Boney attitude.

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    You know as a Celtics fan I had to stop in and say thanks to the Cavs. (Yes, you generally represent the Cavs to me for some reason)

    Great job laying down like the worthless, over hyped heap that you are. I enjoyed seeing the Celtics “Sheed” their way to their first of many big wins this season. Props to Shaq for staying relevant with a 10-10 game.

    Prediction: Celtics beat Lakers in Finals. Lakers get (*) next to their title from last year. Artest melts down and bites Kobe's ear off in the series ending game 5, just before jumping into the stands and raping a drunken and emaciated Lyndsay Lohan.

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    Dammit Boney! You really need to leave me more fodder than that… great comment, can't F with any of it, because its 100% true.

  • http://preludetoapretentiousreview.blogspot.com/ Kingsley Le Corbusier

    So I'm late on this, and have the advantage of posting these bold predictions AFTER watching the Cavs lose and studying the box score, but I'm going to predict that the Cavs sort of implode on themselves, that Shaq misses a lot of games, that he averages under 10 when he does, that LBJ leads the league in scoring but accounts for 40% of team scoring and gets incredibly frustrated in April sometime. Finals: Spurs/Celtics*.

    *If and only if KG stays relatively healthy and is at 100% for the playoffs.

    I'm at about a 3. Love the NFL way too much.

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    Eeeesh… 0-2 is not the greatest way to start a championship season.

  • http://www.jenwatch.com orange5o

    they started out poorly last year too. it's like 2% of the way into the season

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    That's what the Suns fans kept saying when they got Shaq.

    “It will just take time for the team to gel. It's only the first couple games they've played together…”

    I'm sure they'll rebound against the weaker teams really soon; but it still doesn't bode well to lose at home, to a conference rival. And then to follow that up with a loss to a team they probably should have punked pretty easily… Eeeesh.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    But he got Shaq (expiring) for Ben Wallace (expiring) – that's an easy deal.

    Sent via my BlackBerry Tornado II.
    Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brianspaeth
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brianspaeth
    Blog: http://www.brian23.com

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    10-10 is better than Ben Wallace's 2-4…not sure how anyone can knock that trade.

    That's the first real post game I've seen from CLE is like 6 years. I'm decently happy – the team has a lot of work to do, but they were running with two new starters, Z off the bench – it's different mix for sure. I hope LeBron can look a bit more inspired on offense going forward.

    By all means though, fire up the “LeBron is Going to NY” stories for tomorrow based on one game.

    KG looked good and I was glad to see it.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    They look like they've never met before – also LeBron looks uninspired.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I'm glad KG is healthy again – he's a warrior.

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    Yeah, there is no way the Shaq for Wallace trade can ever be seen as a failure, everything considered.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    But he got Shaq (expiring) for Ben Wallace (expiring) – that's an easy deal.

    Sent via my BlackBerry Tornado II.
    Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brianspaeth
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brianspaeth
    Blog: http://www.brian23.com

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    10-10 is better than Ben Wallace's 2-4…not sure how anyone can knock that trade.

    That's the first real post game I've seen from CLE is like 6 years. I'm decently happy – the team has a lot of work to do, but they were running with two new starters, Z off the bench – it's different mix for sure. I hope LeBron can look a bit more inspired on offense going forward.

    By all means though, fire up the “LeBron is Going to NY” stories for tomorrow based on one game.

    KG looked good and I was glad to see it.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    They look like they've never met before – also LeBron looks uninspired.

  • http://brian23.com Brian

    I'm glad KG is healthy again – he's a warrior.

  • http://iareawesomeness.com/ Jeremiah

    Yeah, there is no way the Shaq for Wallace trade can ever be seen as a failure, everything considered.