LeBron returning to Cleveland? Yeah right

LeBron James is in Cleveland for a game Friday night between the Heat and the Cavaliers. After practice at the Q on Thursday, LeBron tells reporters: "If I decided to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me."

Asked further about Cavs owner Dan Gilbert: "I don’t hold grudges., he said what he said out of anger. He'll probably want to take that back. I made a mistake too."

At first glance it seems like LeBron is extending an olive branch to the Cavalier organization. However we know better.

During the entire 2009-2010 season, LeBron teased the home fans in every city the Cavaliers visited. Whether it was New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Miami or Chicago, James talk about his impending free agency.

Now he is doing it again. LeBron can opt of his contract after the 2013-2014 year and if the Heat haven't won a championship (or two, three, seven) by then LeBron may need to get out of dodge.

Don't believe it for a second. As long as Gilbert is still the owner, the only time James will come to Cleveland is as a visiting player.

With rookie Kyrie Irving running the offense, the ball moves around and the rest of the players on the floor are in the flow. Too many times with LeBron he would dribble, dribble, dribble and then launch a panic three-pointer. Not saying the Cavaliers are a better team with Irving instead of LeBron – just pointing out that the franchise has moved on and so should we.

The build toward the game tonight could have been about the Cavaliers past (James) and Cavaliers present and future (Irving) and instead James made it about himself like the selfish player that he is.

Cavaliers say no Mo

The Cleveland Cavaliers in the middle of a 10-47 season are looking for first round draft picks and they acquired one last night when they traded point guard Mo Williams and small forward Jamario Moon to the Los Angeles Clippers for a 2011 first round draft pick and point guard Baron Davis.

Usually fans get excited about big trades, I'm going to hold my excitement until the NBA Draft this coming June. I'm excited about more ping-pong balls in the hopper come NBA Lottery time (of course, the Clippers need to oblige by missing the play-offs). I'm indifferent about the players.

Yes, Cleveland. We do have a basketball team.

I'm just as stunned as the rest of the country over the Cavaliers win over the Lakers.

After the Varsity team delivered a 55-point beat down to a bunch of 8th graders, it was nice to see the "Cadavers" get mad and do something about it. They couldn't let that shellacking go unanswered. The team finally played some defense, played with a lot of energy, and for once acted like they cared.

I still find it hard to believe how Cleveland has laid down in games against Miami, LA, and most recently Detroit and Washington. After last Sunday, I had no reason to watch that team again this season. I guess that's how the NBA works.

Maybe even more stunning is how LA, aside from Pau Gasol, didn't get off the bus. They were terrible. I haven't seen Kobe Bryant play that poorly in a long time - probably because he wasn't facing LeBron James.

I know a lot of things were in Cleveland's favor:

• last game for LA before All-Star break – final game of an East Coast trip,
• LA has played a lot of games in recent years going to the NBA Finals in three straight seasons, 
• Coach Phil Jackson has to pick and choose when to go through the motions to avoid burn-out.
• LA is weak against young team like Cleveland because the Cavaliers can run and had two full days of rest since their last game at home. 

Still, Laker fan has to be gripping.

Quitter at the Q tonight and it wasn't LeBron.

What a huge disappointment. The Cleveland Cavaliers have their biggest game of the year as LeBron James returns to the place where he spent his first seven NBA seasons. It was the biggest regular season home game in franchise history. All eyes in the sports world were on the north coast, the TNT game, hundreds of media credentials were issued.

Problem is no one apparently told the Cavaliers that this was a big game.

Maybe the Cavs were swept up in the LeBron hype. Maybe they were licking their wounds from last week's four games in five nights with Thanksgiving. Maybe they were trying to treat tonight like one of 82 games played.

Inexcusable. The team could go 1-81 and if the one win was tonight against the Miami Heat, Cleveland fans would be happy. If there was any game on the regular season to punch in, it was tonight. How can a professional with any kind of pride not get jacked up for tonight’s game?

The Cavaliers came out flat. A very uninspired first half, they shot 29% and did not play much defense. That was before the 3rd quarter debacle when they shot 4-21 and LeBron James scored 22 points. At that point it was time to locate the Hefty bags for garbage time.

Losses happen in pro sports. Just how the Cavaliers lost tonight is the most irritating. Where was the effort? Where was Mo Williams? Why was the Cleveland bench chatting with LeBron during the game?

Cleveland fan should be applauded for their behavior unfortunately the Cavaliers effort did the fans a disservice.

LeBron James returns to Cleveland

Thursday December 2 is a day circled on the calendars of a lot of people particularly Cleveland Cavalier fans. Tonight, Akron born and raised LeBron James returns to Quicken Loans Arena to face the Cavs a team he played for in his first seven NBA seasons.

James now plays for the Miami Heat who was predicted to break the Chicago Bulls 72-win record. Unfortunately, things haven’t worked well for LeBron and the Heat.

• They haven't figured out who is the alpha-dog? LeBron or incumbent superstar Dwayne Wade
• They lack a point guard and a center. It’s interesting the team is now starting Zdrunas Ilgauskas who was exposed as a starting center in the play-offs when also playing with LeBron James in Cleveland.
• Not only haven’t they clicked offensively but it has carried over to the defensive side.
• The team lacks maturity: James has complained about playing too many minutes, while the Heat's third superstar Chris Bosh has come out and said the team would rather "just chill” while it seems no one respects head coach Erik Spoelstra.

It is only a matter of time until Pat Riley once again takes over, much like he did in 2006 when he replaced current Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Miami gets their act together and is playing for the NBA Championship in June.

On the other hand, if Cleveland can get their act together on Thursday night and get a win against LeBron, the other 81 games this season won't matter.

LeBron James watch needs to end

Ever since LeBron James announced "The Decision", it seems every day there is a sighting.

People, this needs to come to end. It is time to move on. LBJ plays for the Miami Heat. The Cavaliers don't play a game until late October. It's time to take a break.

Football will begin shortly. The Cleveland Browns play an exhibition game this Saturday, high school football starts in two weeks, and the Ohio State Buckeyes will be national title contenders.

Charles Barkley ripped LeBron yesterday. I like Charles but he's a hypocrite. This guy couldn't get out of Philadelphia fast enough to join an already good Phoenix team and then when that went south he orchestrated a trade to Houston to join Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

Final thought on James: his twitter name is King James. As far as I'm concerned, the only Kings are Elvis Presley, Richard Petty, Jerry Lawler, and Budweiser.