Zydrunas Ilgauskas Questionable

Zydrunas Ilgauskas took part in some of practice Wednesday, but clearly is still being bothered by his sore right knee. The team has listed him as questionable, and a decision as to his status against the Nuggets will likely be determined after shoot-around today. He missed Tuesday’s loss to the Hawks.

“It is one of these things that I can do it or I can’t; taking more time off won’t make it better,” Ilgauskas said. “Hopefully the swelling goes down enough that I can play through it.”

Brown held a closed-door meeting with LeBron James late Tuesday night after the Cavs’ loss and then met privately with Larry Hughes after practice Wednesday as the Cavs prepared to host the Denver Nuggets.

“I am disappointed in our effort,” Brown said. “You have to learn from it, grow from it and make sure your guys understood what happened.”

Hughes, Jones and Marshall

I thought it would be interesting to compare last seasons stats to this season for Larry, Damon and Donyell.

Larry Hughes
Year G MPG FG% 3p% FT% RPG PPG
2004-05 61 38.7 0.430 0.282 0.777 6.3 22
2005-06 19 38 0.389 0.390 0.803 4.5 16.8
Damon Jones
Year G MPG FG% 3p% FT% RPG PPG
2004-05 82 31.4 0.456 0.432 0.791 2.8 11.6
2005-06 19 23.9 0.411 0.394 0.824 1.5 8.3
Donyell Marshall
Year G MPG FG% 3p% FT% RPG PPG
2004-05 65 25.3 0.443 0.416 0.791 6.6 11.5
2005-06 18 27.9 0.385 0.320 0.813 7.2 10.3

Wade Tops LeBron in Jersey Sales

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has the highest-selling jersey among NBA players, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The 2003 first-round draft pick leads the Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James in the top 10.

The jersey list will be released Thursday and includes sales from the NBA store in Manhattan in New York City and on NBA.com from the past three months, ESPN said.

Atlanta Topples The Cavs

Tyronn Lue helped the Atlanta Hawks record a most improbable winning streak. Lue scored a season-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting off the bench as the Hawks handed the Cleveland Cavaliers a seventh loss in nine games, 100-94.
“It’s all about those guys in the locker room,” Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. “They’ve been busting their butts. It’s fun winning.” Joe Johnson collected 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Hawks, who had lost seven in a row to the Cavaliers and been just 1-10 on the road this season. “This is a carryover from the last game,” Johnson said. “We felt that if we could beat the Spurs, we could beat just about anybody in the league. Everybody kind of had a little swagger, and we came out and played hard.”
LeBron James scored 39 points – his sixth straight game with at least 30 – but did not get much help from his teammates, who combined for just 55 points. “It’s too early in the season for me to get down,” James said. “Especially with me being the leader of this team, I can’t get down because it will rub off on everyone else.” Cleveland was playing without All-Star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is averaging 15.0 points and 7.5 rebounds, due to a sprained right knee. “From our effort standpoint, it is an embarrassing loss for us,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “I don’t care if we won or lost, just effort-wise, our effort was horrible. I am part of it. My effort was horrible too.”

“(Atlanta) had nothing to lose and they came out and played,” said Cavaliers forward Donyell Marshall, who scored eight points off the bench. “They came out and played a better game then we did. They played better defense. We’re struggling right now.”
For a complete game recap CLICK HERE

Artest in Wine and Gold?

Indiana Pacers star Ron Artest kicked off a firestorm Sunday, demanding a trade in an interview with The Indianapolis Star.

“I would go to Cleveland. I wouldn’t mind coming off the bench behind LeBron James.”

Well, let’s think about this:

  • It is highly doubtful the Pacers would trade him to a team within their own division.
  • Cavs leadership has serious questions about his character. This is despite Artest’s great defensive reputation and his history with Cavs coach Mike Brown.
  • It is doubtful that the Cavs would be willing to give up one of their prime assets for Artest.

    • Indiana Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said Monday he’ll try to do that.

    Artest was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 but has major warts. He was suspended for 73 games after chasing a fan into the stands last season, he once asked to take a month off to promote a record that he had produced and he has had numerous suspensions for flagrant fouls.

    What do you think? Would you like to see him in Cavs uniform? Who would you trade for him? Please feel free to add your comment and let us know what you think.

    Where is Usher?

    A Cavs insider confirmed what has been rumored for months now, that recording artist Usher Raymond IV has yet to deliver on his investment promise to owner Dan Gilbert and is not currently welcome.

    On a recent Tonight Show interview, Usher chatted with Jay Leno about the Cavs, but apparently all hasn’t been well with he and Gilbert for months.

    Usher was supposed to be a prominent part of the ownership team and was said to have purchased a “significant” percentage of the team. He was on the podium with Gilbert and large shareholders David Katzman and Gordon Gund when Gilbert took control in March.

    Source: Akron Beacon Journal

    How great is LeBron James?

    Net Gain, which combines points, rebounds and a weighted-assist total, suggests that over his first 175 games, he’s been better than such stellar perimeter players as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and just behind Michael Jordan according to Allen St. John from the Wall Street Journal .

    Net Gain adds together all the positive things a player can do on offense — points, rebounds and assists (which are multiplied by 1.5) — and divides that total by the number of games he’s played.

    “First, let’s look at Mr. James against the other stars who jumped to the NBA straight out of high school. In that regard, there’s no real comparison. With a Net Gain of 40.5 after 175 games, Mr. James more than doubles the mark of either Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers (19.1) or Tracy McGrady (18.9) now of the Houston Rockets, at the same point in their careers. The somewhat more apt comparison is between Mr. James and Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves (25.3), who shares a certain physical maturity with the Cavaliers star and played for a team that gave him time on the court right from the start.

    So while Mr. James has established himself as the pro game’s greatest prodigy, how does he compare to Hall of Famers at his positions — guard and small forward — during their first 175 games? Here again, he more than holds his own. He edges Magic Johnson (40.1), who left Michigan State at age 20 after his sophomore year, and Larry Bird (39.3), who entered the NBA at age 23, after a year at Indiana University and three at Indiana State. And he comes fairly close to future Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan (44.4), who spent three years at North Carolina before turning pro at age 21. While Mr. James hasn’t scored like Mr. Jordan (24.5 points per game vs. 31.3), his assists (6.4 vs. 5.0) and rebounding averages (6.4 vs. 5.5) beat the early record of the Bulls legend. The one perimeter player who stands head-and-shoulders above Mr. James is Oscar Robertson (57.4), who spent four years at the University of Cincinnati before turning pro at age 22. Mr. Robertson’s Net-Gain figure includes the 1962 season, in which he became the only player in league history to average a triple double, recording 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game.

    Even when you compare Mr. James at 175 games to the league’s best-ever big men, who have historically had the biggest immediate impact, he fares rather well. His Net Gain tops San Antonio Spurs superstar Tim Duncan (38.2) and isn’t far behind Boston Celtic Bill Russell (42.2), who averaged 24 rebounds per game, and Shaquille O’Neal (43.4). Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (51.2), who led the Milwaukee Bucks to a title in his second season, and Wilt Chamberlain, who averaged close to 40 points and 27 rebounds during his first seasons in the league, clearly outclass the Young King James.”

    PLAYER PTS REBS ADJUSTED ASSTS NET GAIN
    O. Robertson 5356 1943 2743.5 57.4
    M. Jordan 5477 984 1303.5 44.4
    L. James 4290 1112 1678.5 40.5
    M. Johnson 3349 1517 2152.5 40.1
    L. Bird 3718 1848 1306.5 39.3
    K. Bryant 2242 551 556.5 19.1

    James 52, but Bucks Win

    LeBron James scored an NBA season-high 52 points, but T.J. Ford tied his career high with 24 and Michael Redd added 23 to help the Milwaukee Bucks beat James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-106 on Saturday night.

    James was 19-for-29 from the floor, including 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range, and 9-for-10 from the line. He fell four points short of his career high of 56 set in a loss at Toronto on March 20.

    “I don’t want to score 50 again for the rest of my career because I am now 0-2 when I score 50,” James joked after the game. “I don’t look at it as me playing well. It’s the fact that we didn’t get a win and that’s all I care for.”

    James, who also had seven assists and seven defensive rebounds, had 31 points in the first half on 13-of-17 shooting and 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.

    The Bucks couldn’t stop James, but did a great job on his teammates.

    Ilgauskas scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half for Cleveland. Larry Hughes, the team’s second-leading scorer, had all of his nine points in the second half.

    The Bucks have won five of their last six games.

    James, who entered the game averaging 29 points, became the first Cavaliers player to have five consecutive games of 30 or more points. Mike Mitchell scored at least 30 points in four straight games from March 1-9, 1981.

    Cleveland is 1-4 during James’ scoring surge and has lost six of its last eight since a season-high eight-game winning streak.

    “We will get it together,” James said. “We know we’re a good team.”

    The Bucks led 86-82 going into the fourth and Mo Williams’ 3-pointer gave them a 91-84 lead early in the fourth. But Milwaukee couldn’t pull away.

    James’ layup tied it at 98 with 5:07 to play, but Bogut took over down the stretch.

    Bogut dunked over James, who had 10 points in the fourth, and after Ford made a layup, Bogut added another layup and Milwaukee led 104-99 with 2:40 left.

    James banked in a 3-pointer to trim the lead to two points, but Bobby Simmons made a free throw and Cleveland could get no closer.

    Donyell Marshall missed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Simmons grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made both free throws and Cleveland missed two 3-points attempts in the final 9.3 seconds.

    James tripped over Dan Gadzuric late in the third quarter, but finished the quarter. The Cleveland star did not start the fourth and received treatment on his left leg during the break. He returned in the fourth and cut and slashed to the basket without any problem, but only attempted five shots in the fourth.

    Click HERE for complete game recape