Indiana Pacers Might Trade Artest After Holidays

Marc J. Spears of THE DENVER POST reports, “Indiana forward Ron Artest’s agent expects his client to spend this holiday season in a Pacers uniform.

The Pacers still plan to trade Artest, who recently requested to be dealt and then changed his mind.

The Nuggets have acknowledged talking to Indiana about Artest and are rumored to be dangling forward-center Nene and guard Earl Watson in exchange for Artest and guard Anthony Johnson.

Artest’s agent, Mark Stevens, said Wednesday he is talking to Pacers president Donnie Walsh regularly and expects a trade after the holidays.”

Cavs blast Jazz by 25

In the first quarter, Utah shot 57 percent (13-of-23) and had 11 assists. But its offense disappeared thereafter. A layup by James gave Cleveland the lead for good at 41-39 with 3:31 remaining in the first half and started a 10-5 closing surge.

Ilgauskas scored all 18 of his points in the first three quarters and Jones made four 3-pointers in the third period as the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to their third straight win, a 110-85 victory over the Utah Jazz.

LeBron James scored 25 points in less than three quarters for Cleveland, which overcame a slow start to outscore Utah, 60-30, in the middle two periods

Luke Jackson scored a career-high 14 points and Drew Gooden added 10 for the Cavaliers, who beat the Jazz for the fifth time in the last six meetings.

Cleveland’s Ira Newble made his debut for the first time this season with five points and two blocks in 23 minutes.

“I was just trying to run and get in game shape,” Newble said. “It was like preseason for me. I definitely can get out there and mix it up on defense.”

The Cavaliers shot a season-high 57 percent (36-of-63) from the field, including 6-of-11 from the arc, and attempted 44 free throws. They scored 18 fast-break points.

Click HERE for full game recap

Wagner’s Stepfather gets life in prison

According to Newsday.Com, The stepfather of former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dajuan Wagner was sentenced Monday to life in prison for trafficking in crack cocaine. The life term was mandatory for Leonard “Pooh” Paulk, 37. Like other federal prisoners, he is not eligible for parole. U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson also fined Paulk $15,000, which will be paid with his prison earnings, federal prosecutors said. Paulk was convicted Nov. 30, 2004, of two charges: conspiracy to possess drugs with the intent to distribute, and a drug-dealing count charging that in March 2002 he distributed and possessed with the intent to distribute 115 grams of crack.

Wagner has not played in the NBA this season. He became a free agent after appearing in just 11 games for Cleveland last season. The former Camden High School star was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft after one year at Memphis

Z and Drew are Ailing

Cavaliers All-Star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas did not practice on Monday because of a mild concussion he sustained on Saturday night when he collided with Miami’s Dwyane Wade. Ilgauskas was going for a loose ball when he banged into Wade’s shoulder in the final minute of Cleveland’s 115-107 win. The 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas stayed on the floor for several minutes before being helped off with a large lump already swelling over his right eye. The Cavaliers said Ilgauskas was questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Utah Jazz.

Forward Drew Gooden was also kept out of practice with a sprained left ankle. He got hurt when he came down on Shaquille O’Neal’s foot in the first half and did not return. Gooden said his ankle was sore, but he hopes to play. “I’m going to try to go,” Gooden said. “It was really tender, but I’ve got a couple days’ rest and hopefully I’ll be able to recover. I hate to miss games, it comes from Roy Williams (his college coach at Kansas) because he used to say you can never replace a game and I’ve become addicted to that.”

Jones scores points, but not with everyone

Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon Journal has an interesting article on DJ.
You know the old saying about leopards and their spots, virtually the same goes for NBA veterans.
The book on Damon Jones was penned years ago; now the Cavaliers are reading its dog-eared pages. Jones is giving them exactly what they thought he would when they heavily courted and then signed him last summer. He makes 3-pointers, sometimes in droves. He leads the NBA in 3-pointers per 48 minutes. He leads the team in makes, attempts and percentage (if you discount Sasha Pavlovic’s small 3-of-6 sampling). He’s shooting almost exactly his career average from behind the arc, about 40 percent.
In the locker room, he has become fast friends with the team’s stars. He throws fun parties; he wears the flashiest clothes; he plays stand-up comic and opinion machine with the media. This is Damon Jones at his best.
See, but there’s also Jones at his worst, which the Cavs, and particularly coach Mike Brown, are trying to manage. The fan base has made it clear that they love his shooting ability and have a distaste for his defense, an already popular grindstone on call-in shows. The Cavs knew of his defensive issues when they signed him; General Manager Danny Ferry watches TV, too. Brown insists that Jones actually is doing a decent job and isn’t a bad off-the-ball defender. That is neither here nor there.
The mounting issue with Jones is his attitude. He’s not happy coming off the bench, which he has made ever so clear to any party that asks. He told TNT the other night that going from the starting point guard on the Miami Heat to Cavs backup was akin to going from “the lead singer for the Beatles to a backup, doo-wop guy for the Isley Brothers.” He left the Heat for more money and years with the Cavs, an understandable motive. Yet, the money, it seems, can’t always make up for the fewer minutes and shots he’s getting. At least three times in the past week, Jones has had exchanges with personnel on the bench over substitutions.
Last week in Milwaukee, he asked to come out of the game in the third quarter, apparently frustrated with trying to guard the Bucks’ T.J. Ford. Team athletic trainer Max Benton immediately went over to see if something was physically wrong with him, and the answer was “no.” He didn’t play the rest of the game.
In the loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Jones glared and said something to Brown and assistant coach Hank Egan after he was replaced in the third quarter. Jones had just hit two 3-pointers, but Hawks guard Tyronn Lue had scored or had been fouled by him on three consecutive possessions. Brown then called timeout and put him back in the game.
Then, on Thursday, against the Denver Nuggets, Jones became angry when he didn’t go in at the six-minute mark in the third quarter, when he usually goes in with forward Donyell Marshall. The Cavs were working on a run, and Brown kept Jones on the bench when Marshall went to the floor. Jones glared at Brown and those on the bench when he was sent in at the three-minute mark. During a timeout, a few minutes later, assistant coach Michael Malone spoke to him in an attempt to calm him down.
Jones ended up hitting two big 3-pointers down the stretch that helped the Cavs win that game, so there’s no doubting his value. What remains to be seen is whether it equals the headaches that crop up.
It didn’t seem to in Miami, where the Heat could have re-signed him but passed when they deemed the Cavs’ price too high. Heat coach and president Pat Riley vented Friday when he heard about a comment Jones made to the Cleveland Plain Dealer about how former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy was set up to fail this season.
“He’s questioning my integrity, and it is absolutely who he is,” Riley told the Miami Herald. “That’s why he’s who he is… That’s wrong. But that’s why he’s Damon Jones.”
Riley said it: Damon Jones is Damon Jones. Click HERE for the complete story.

Ron Artest now wants to stay

Ron Artest doesn’t want to be traded by the Pacers after all, his agent says. Artest said last weekend that his past in Indiana haunts him, and he is interested in being traded to the Knicks or Cavaliers. But Mark Stevens, Artest’s agent, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Artest holds out hope he can remain with the Pacers.

I don’t know about you, but Majic Johnson and Charles Barkley’s comments last Thursday night during the Cavaliers and Nuggets nationally televised game helped to remind me that with Artest the Pros probably do not outweigh the Cons. Majic talked about how with Artest this next contract will be his last in the NBA if he does not get his act together. And Charles talked about how Ron would corrupt any young team and that there are only 3-5 teams in the league that should even be talking about trading for Artest. And finally from our own favorite Austin Carr – no way do I want that knucklehead.

Cavs Make it Two in a Row

LeBron James scored 41 points, and Donyell Marshall added a season-high 25 to help the Cleveland Cavaliers hold off Miami 115-107 on Saturday night.

The Cavaliers have won two straight games coming off a stretch where they lost seven of nine games. James added 10 assists, five rebounds and was 12-of-13 from the foul line in the win, but the Cavaliers lost Drew Gooden with a sprained ankle in the first half. He left the game and didn’t return after landing awkwardly on Shaquille O’Neal’s boot. Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas lay sprawled out on the floor his hands over his head with 55.7 seconds left after colliding with Wade’s shoulder on a lose ball for his sixth foul. Coach Mike Brown ran out and called for a trainer and a few minutes later Ilgauskas walked off the court on his own with a large bruise over his right eye.

Larry Hughes added 20 points for the Cavaliers, who led by 20 points after three quarters against a sluggish Miami defense. Miami was playing its fourth game in five nights, but Riley felt his team would not have stopped James no matter what. He’s like a freight train with Dwyane Wade’s speed,” Riley said. Wade led the Heat with 33 points and had seven assists and Alonzo Mourning chipped in with 14 points, six assists and three blocks.
For a complete recap CLICK HERE

Teamwork Helped The Cavs to a Victory

LeBron James got enough help from his teammates to lead Cleveland past the Denver Nuggets 94-85 on Thursday night.

Jones scored 17 points and Marshall 11. Both hit big 3-pointers as the Cavaliers ended a three-game losing streak.

“Huge win,” Marshall said. “You always want to come out of a slump. It’s better to come out of a slump against a good team that’s playing well.”

The Nuggets had won four of five, and Carmelo Anthony was coming off a career-high 42 points in a victory over Charlotte on Tuesday night. Anthony scored 23 to lead Denver but shot just 8-of-23.

Greg Buckner added 15 points and Earl Watson 14 for the Nuggets, who shot 38 percent to Cleveland’s 53 percent.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 16 points and gave Cleveland a presence inside with three blocks after missing one game with a sprained right knee.

“It was one of the first games I feel good about winning the right way,” said Brown, who strives to hold opponents under 90 points and less than 42 percent shooting, numbers not often met by his team this season.

“It started with our defense, our defense fueled our offense. They brought it individually and they brought it as a team.”

Click HERE for full game recap