Shawn Kemp – The Unfathered Father

Seek not every quality in one individual. — Confucius

Thomas Jefferson had several. George Washington was widely rumored to have a few. Murphy Brown had only one but sparked a nationwide debate. Somewhere in the middle is Shawn Kemp.

Shawn doesn’t talk much about fathering out-of-wedlock children except to say he wishes he could spend more time with them. His love for kids is as obvious as his inability to control his demons.

Starting with his Seattle Sonics tenure in 1989, Shawn dressed like Santa and gave out food and toys to children of the poor. Crowds of adoring kids came out to see Santa Kemp; he returned their affection with a priceless gift. Shawn took these kids seriously; he helped them, he joked with them, he even played ball with them.

“He’s done more in the community in the few weeks he’s been here than a lot of players have done over their whole careers,” says Jim Marsh, the Sonics’ director of community relations.

Six years later, same story. Shawn and Mayor Norm Rice dedicate new basketballs courts, funded by Reebok, at I-90 Park. Continue reading “Shawn Kemp – The Unfathered Father”

Cavaliers’ Chris Grant Rejected GM position with the Hawks

Cleveland Cavaliers executive Chris Grant decided to stay with the Cavaliers as Danny Ferry’s top aid and rejected a General Manager position with the Atlanta Hawks. According to ESPN, Chris Grant “spent the weekend mulling Atlanta’s proposal” and he was “the only candidate to date who was actually offered the job, which came open May 6 when Knight abruptly resigned”.  Atlanta offered the job to Grant and ceased speaking to other candidates expecting him to accept.

Before coming to Cleveland, Grant spent nine years with the Hawks and worked under Pete Babcock and Billy Knight.

Cavaliers 2008 Draft, and Beyond

The Cleveland Cavaliers should follow the blueprint of the San Antonio Spurs.  The Spurs have, for a number of years now, been able to win championships, as well as develop the future stars of tomorrow through the NBA Draft.

Dan Gilbert sees this team as one who can be like the Spurs, and because of this, has hired Mike Brown as head coach and Danny Ferry to be General Manager with both having ties to the Spurs.  Dan Gilbert wants to bring Cleveland championship while trying to be a dominant team in the East just as San Antonio has done in the West.

For the last 10 years, San Antonio has had a knack of putting winning teams on the floor as well as developing young players.  This has occurred with the drafting of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and this philosophy continues today.  Tony Parker was the last pick of the first round in 2001 (28th).  Players like Rodney White, Kirk Haston, and Michael Bradley were all drafted ahead of Parker, but none in the first round has had the success that Parker has had.  Since being drafted, he has started at point guard for San Antonio and has led them to 3 championships in the last 8 years.

For Ginobili, he played in Europe for many years and received many accolades before coming to the NBA.  Like Parker, he was overlooked by many teams and was drafted 57th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft.  He, however, did not play immediately and chose to play in Europe for the next 2 seasons.  But in 2001 he was ready for the NBA and he made an immediate impact to the Spurs.  He has won numerous awards since joining the NBA and was most recently named the 6th man of the year.

Dan Gilbert sees this team as one who can be like the Spurs, and because of this, hired Mike Brown as head coach and Danny Ferry to be General Manager.  Both have ties to the Spurs.  Dan Gilbert wants a championship and wants to bring one to Cleveland and he went to the most dominant team for the last decade to take their top young talent.

In order for this to happen, the Cavaliers need to do a better job of drafting talent and playing the best players that are on the team, not just coaches favorites.  Coach Mike Brown likes to play veterans over the younger guys, and because of this, the best 5 players are not always on the floor for the Cavaliers.  With one more quality run by the Cavaliers in 2009, the Cavaliers have the potential to become the San Antonio Spurs of the East by being able to develop talent from overseas (a la Ginobili) and having these players continue get quality minutes overseas. Once they have grown and matured, that is when the team should bring them to the big lights and sounds of the NBA and have them fit in as role players to fill the void of players who leave via free agency, trade, or retirement.

The future can start now.  ESPN.com recently held their first version of the NBA mock draft.  They have listed the Cavaliers, with the 19th pick overall in the 2008 draft, picking Kosta Koufos from Ohio State.  Kosta, from Canton Glen Oak High School, left after his freshman year to follow Mike Conley and Greg Oden who also left Ohio State after only 1 year in 2007.  Kosta is compared to being a younger version of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and only time will tell if this Ohioan can continue to bring success to the Cavaliers.

Summer Reading: The Franchise, LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers

This year, the summer has started early for the Cavaliers. But that doesn’t mean you have to wait until draft day or the pre-season to catch up on the Cavaliers and how they got to where they are now.

Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst, in their new book, “The Franchise“, give us an in-depth look at how a team and a city are being rebuilt around super- star LeBron James.

After Chicago won the first draft pick in this year draft, I realized how lucky we were in 2003 when we won the top pick. The city buzzed with excitement.

Four seasons later, we reached the NBA Finals and this season we lost to the best team in the NBA in seven games.

Pluto and Windhorst do a very nice job of providing background, insight, analysis, and perspective on recent Cavaliers history and their efforts to get a super start into this organization.

The book goes back to the trade that got Shawn Kemp and how they were able to dump his contract and get him out of town. Followed by the dismantling of the team, and the additional dumping of salaries in the hopes of getting James.

Also, an in-depth look into the shoe companies and how Nike, Adidas and Reebok did everything in their power to sign James.

This book is a must have for every basketball fan who wants the inside story of how LeBron James became the young superstar shouldering the weight of an entire NBA franchise.

– You can buy your copy here | Download a sample chapter here

Ron Harper – The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Michael Jordan

I Roc-a-Fella like Shawn Carter with more game than Ron Harper —Deadly Combination, Big L

Candace Parker, WNBA rookie superstar and first female Bballer to be seriously compared to the NBA, admires one player above all:

I respect Jordan — he is the king — but I would walk past Jordan to get Ron Harper’s picture . . .

Ron Harper

Hanging on Candace Parker’s wall is a long way from recess in Dayton, Ohio, where Ron, struggling with a speech impediment, endured endless taunting. Even then, Ron’s basketball skills spoke louder than words:

Since I was 5 years old, kids been making fun of me. But then they go out to the court for recess and it’s like, ‘I want Harp on my team, I want Harp on my team.’ Nuh-uh. I ain’t playing with you.

As so often happens, cruel kids became older, bigger, stronger, crueler:

He [Ron] kept close tabs on everybody who made fun of his stutter when he raised a hand to answer questions. He heard the snickers and giggles, and they hurt, even though Harper was the star basketball player at Kiser High School . . .

Harper didn’t curse his antagonists. A part of him actually enjoyed the teasing because he was certain he’d get his revenge — during afternoon pickup basketball games.

“My friends used to laugh at me every day,” Harper said. “But the first thing they would say when they stepped on the basketball court was, ‘I got Ron.’

“I’d say, ‘You’re not on my team today because you laughed at me in class. So we are going to go at it.’”

Star player at Miami University of Ohio and Dayton native, no one was surprised when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Ron in 1986. Such a team. When you say the names out loud, voices become quieter, Clevelanders pause and wonder:

Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams, Ron Harper . . .

Unbeatable? Listen and you will hear every single voice in Cleveland raised in the affirmative. Our year. Playoffs looming. Head over to Lottie Moon’s in Oxford, order a Ron Harper All-Star, enjoy the cheeseburger with fried egg and get ready to hear a sad tale. Continue reading “Ron Harper – The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Michael Jordan”

Bucks Shopping Michael Redd

The Milwaukee Bucks are looking to unload some of their players and gauging the interest other teams may have in their players, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

Michael Redd and forward Charlie Villanueva are drawing a lot of interest from other teams.

“In the last week, several officials from both the Eastern and Western Conferences acknowledged the Bucks have been gauging the interest other teams may have in some of their players. The most notable one is All-Star shooting guard Michael Redd.”

Redd’s contract is huge. He will make $15.78 million and $17.04M over the next two years, respectively. Also, his contract has a player option for $18.30M for the 2010-2011 season.

The Cavaliers were interested in Redd two years ago but they ended up with Hughes who is now with the Bulls.

Should the Cavaliers go after Redd? What do you think?

Eric Snow – Player or Coach

 Is Eric Snow more valuable as a player or a coach?

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eric Snow up for head coaching job with Chicago Bulls

 

Cavaliers guard Eric Snow is a candidate for the Chicago Bulls’ head coaching job, according to Snow’s agent, Steve Kauffman.

Getting an interview is the easy part. Getting hired would be a challenge – Snow would have to resolve his contract situation with the Cavs first.

Snow, under contract through next season ($7.3 million), cannot become a coach until the Cavs either buy out his contract or an insurance company grants him a medical exemption because he can no longer play.

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