David Stern on LBJ, the Decision and Dan Gilbert

News:

Dan Gilbert just got fined $100,000 for his reaction to Lebron's decision to leave Cleveland Cavaliers for Miami Heat. Ouch!! As if losing millions after Lebron left isn't enough.

I still retain my position that LBJ has played the whole world as a publicity stunt and even though he is a great basketball player, he has disappointed me as a person.

As for David Stern, his reaction has shown that he remains protective of the public face of the NBA - LBJ. Period.

Stern: LeBron's The Decision was ill-advised. No fine.
Stern: Dan Gilbert's letter was ill-advised and imprudent. $100,000 fine.
Stern: Jesse Jackson's comments are outrageous. No problem, he is a friend of the family, NBA cares after all, you know.

Lebron going to Miami

The long anticipated decision of the big-name free agents to the likes of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh came to light yesterday night. All three are headed to South Beach, Miami. While for fans of great basketball players, such an outcome may be exciting and fun, such is not so for the Cleveland fans.

Let's face it. Dan Gilbert, Cleveland Cavalier's owner, has given Lebron everything he wanted. The city of Cleveland has given Lebron all the love and attention he will never get elsewhere. Still, at the end of the day, all that matters is whether Lebron can become more than just the face of basketball and transform whatever individual success he has accomplished thus far into championships. If not, he has no legacy. If not, he is just another Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton - great players but not champions. Can you blame him for his decisions? I think not.

I am a huge fan of Lebron but there is a reason why Wade stands out over him in my mind. Wade is a winner, filled with determination, desire and a passion for the game. Despite what Lebron says, the game is just a tool for his fame and fortune, an ego boosting mechanism. Kobe haters find all sorts of excuses to put him down. Sure, he would not have won the last two championships without Pau Gasol. But there is no denying he is a hungry monster who will do anything to win. He will play through broken fingers, bad back and one healthy kidney if god forbid, there is a 1% chance he can contribute to win. Lebron may have more talent than everyone else, but his heart is still nowhere close to a champion.

So there was LeBron James, the MVP, the man of the hour, sitting in the middle of his own “Truman Show” on Thursday night. His personal network ran his commercials and celebrated his greatness and let him hijack a platform to build his brand and break hearts. It's the way he broke the news that has labeled him immature, a traitor and weakling.

He is still young, only 25. People will get over this betrayal if he can find a way to redeem himself as a serious basketball player.

Now that this is a fact, we need nicknames!! Here are a few really innovative ones.

1) K-F-C (King James + Flash + CB4)

2) Trio - 5 (305 is area code for Miami)

3) Cerberus (Three headed beast that guarded the gates of Hades)

4) Triple A

5) Tri-Force

Canada wins first Olympic Gold in Canada

Vancourites!!

Time to rejoice after the first weekend of Winter Olympics 2010. After the latest heartbreak as moments after Canada's Heil put up a score of 25.69 to catapult into first place, US's Kearney put together the run of a lifetime to steal the Gold. But Alexandre Bilodeau, who won the men’s moguls tonight, became the first Canadian to win an Olympic title inside our country’s borders. He did it with seriously sick skiing

What a moment!

What a valentine's day!

What a Happy Chinese New Year!!

NBA!! I love this game!!

Brandon Jennings scored 55 breaking Bucks' rookie scoring record of 51 set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) on Feb. 21, 1970 in a game against Seattle SuperSonics that was played in Portland, Ore.


What can I say about Dwayne Wade? He's just sick.

Meanwhile, the Cavs are getting better but is still trying to gel with Shaq in the system. Hawks and Phoenix are surprisingly the best in the East and West respectively. Phoenix's reversion back to its run and gun ways has rejuvenated Steve Nash whose assists look as sleek and crisp as ever. Chris Paul went down on Friday and is in pain; Monday's examination results will show how bad his injury is. Camelo has matured into a deadly scorer as Denver is off to a hot start. Kobe is leading all scorers, shouldering the Laker's scoring load with Gasol out for now but he is also getting a lot of help from a maturing Andrew Bynum.

The season is just about 10% in and there are plenty happening. There are several matchups I hope to see in the playoffs. Denver vs. Lakers. Cleveland vs. Miami/Orlando. Phoenix vs. San Antonio/Lakers. Boston vs. Orlando/Cleveland. Then finally Cleveland vs . Lakers/Phoenix.

NBA 2009-2010 begins TODAY!

NBA Season is starting today. Boy, am I excited.

Eddie Griffin is injured before the season opens so once again, the Clippers can't catch a break. Meanwhile, I will be rooting for Lebron and crew, having added Shaq, Moon, Parker and Green - they are tougher both defensively and offensively than last year. They should be one of the four or five hot favs to win it all.

Hate the Lakers and Kobe. Throw in Ron Artest and I hate them even more. They must be destroyed!!

San Antonio is talented but gaining on age with plenty of health issues. I see them making a run but this is not to be their year.

Boston is still the main threat if K.G. is healthy. But they do not have a better team than the Cavs this year, that is if the Cavs bench do not choke once again.

Orlando. Superman makes this team so dangerous and now they add Vince Carter (not really sure what they were thinking). I still think they are a team that can be easily handled if Dwight is contained, on the other hand, they do have a good coach so matchups problems will almost always exist.

This year will be interesting!!

Shaq to the Cavaliers!!

Lately, I have been on the heels with the Cav’s off season news. Surely this year’s disappointing Conference Finals loss to the Orlando Magic indicated that there are areas to improve on before they finally hold the title trophy up high.

They need an athletic wing with some size even though West and Lebron can play the entire game. They also need a dominant center someone who can guard the likes of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol 1-on-1. Cavs are still too thin in the bench which literally disappeared in the playoffs when it matters. But I am confident that these are areas that can be improved this offseason.

Yesterday, after a late dinner, my twitter was buzzing with news that Shaq has been traded to the Cavs for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, 2010 second round pick and $500,000 cash. Hell of a deal for a superstar. Yes, Shaq is 37 years old but he can still be dominant. He may not be effective in pick-and-rolls like Z, but he is a lane clogging force that will change the game for Lebron. 3 all-stars on a Cav’s team? Oh, and by signing Shaq, Cavs will have the cap space to be active come 2010 when Lebron, Chandler, Bosh, Wade, Yao and Amare are all unrestricted free agents.

Anyways, tonight’s draft were be a snoozer since the pool of talent is weak in comparison to previous years, still it would help some teams to fill their roster needs. Minnesota has something like 5 or 6 picks for this year’s draft so that would make them dangerous come a few years down. Oklahoma, Memphis and Portland are also filled with young talents that would make them interesting.

Anyways, NBA season is over and it is time to enjoy the summer with other activities.

NBA Playoffs 2009

After the weekend of 2009 NBA playoff, I was pleasantly satisfied with the results.

Cleveland and Lakers are still cruising. Spurs(team of dirty plays) was beaten by the rejuvenated Mavs. Honestly, who could have expected the Mavs to click and play on the same page suddenly? Derrick Rose has been phenomenal as he can led Chicago over the defending champs, Boston which probably stands no chance without Garnett. I am less intrigued by shooting teams such as Hornets and Hawks which will have great games and then embarrassing ones. Miami is too young even if Wade sold his soul to the devil. Then it brings us to teams which have been used to disappointments – Houston and Denver. You know he has game as Yao Ming had a perfect night – 24 points, 9/9 FG and 6/6 from the free throw line. How about J.R. Smith? I knew he is good, but damn!! He has matured into a monster. I never really liked Billups but Mr. Big Shot has really molded this unstable team into a contender. Meanwhile…… where are you, Portland? This is the team that has beaten the Lakers twice this year but their performance on Saturday was just ugly.

We should skip to the second round. My dream matchups: East - Cleveland(Lebron) vs. Miami(Wade) and Chicago(Rose) vs. Orlando(Dwight). West – Lakers vs. Portland and Dallas vs. Denver. Hey, now we have four matchups which can go either way. Well, Miami probably doesn’t stand much chance against Cleveland but it would be fun to see the two best players in the game go head to head.

Since the playoff started, I will stop playing NBA 2k9 on my new XBOX 360. I really wore out the game as it was the only game on XBOX I had. Yesterday at Trade And Play, I traded in some old games and got Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect, both long RPGs. I probably will not have time to play the games. Also, it is quite a dilemma whether I should buy a wireless network adapter($100) to set up XBOX live which would make the XBOX 360 portable to say the least.

Sasha Cohen - U.S. National Figure Skating Champion

I have never been a huge fan of figure skating but I love to watch Sasha skate.

She is the most artistic skater and leaves me breathless each time she performs.

Who is the 2009 NBA MVP?

With what averages to 15 remaining games per team, it is crucial to see who can raise their game to the next level and win votes for the NBA 2009 MVP. Three stands out from other hopeful NBA MVP candidates.

Dwayne Wade is arguably the most unstoppable man in the NBA this season, single-handedly bringing his team to victory.

Lebron James is a beast, freak of nature and the king of kings. It's not pretty but he gets it done. His overall stats are more spectacular than the other MVP candidates and his team, Cleveland Cavs, is sitting at the top of the East and tied with Kobe's LA Lakers for #1 in the league. All-star Mo Williams is the best sidekick for James so far, and 4 others Cavs were former all-stars.

Last year's MVP Kobe Bryant is helping the Lakers to the best record by a mile in the West and has the tie-breaker over Cavs for first in the league. Of course, he also has the best team out of the three. Lakers easily have 3 or 4 all-stars with Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom.

But it is tiring to watch Wade do what he does night in and out. Eventually fatigue will kick in and then it will be interesting to see how he can keep up with Lebron and Kobe.

The remaining schedule favors Lebron with a string of home games where the Cavs are nearly unbeatable. To me, being unbeatable at home means they will win the championship this year.

But somehow I am convinced that Wade can win a playoff series in 7 all by himself. I have seen it before. So if Wade by some miracle manages to steal the award away, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Dwayne Wade

After watching Wade hit the game winner against Chicago yesterday, I have to come out and say that he is the best player this season and my 2009 MVP.

Here are some of his amazing highlights.

Devin Harris's Buzzer beater

As the NBA season went on, there has been plenty of spectacular highlights. I went and picked my Fav 3 so far, all buzzer beaters in excitingly close games.

#1 Devin Harris's half court buzzer beater



#2 Brandon Roy's 32 Ft Buzzer Beater vs Houston



#3 Lebron James game winning buzzer beater vs Golden State

NBA All Stars game 2009

Though disappointed the East lost in yesterday's All-Star matchup against the West, there were plenty of highlights that made this game special.

Lebron was unstoppable going to the basket finishing with a wide array of moves finishing with 20 points.

Shaq was highly efficient playing 11 minutes and scoring 17 points mostly on dunks.

Kobe was hot and scored 27 with a wide array of jumpers.

Shaq and Kobe reunite to win co-MVP honors.

Shaq throwing a no look pass cross half court. a Shaq playing the give and go with Chris Paul to perfection starting with a bounce pass between Dwight's legs. That is sick!!

Sorry Kobe, Shaq outshine you on this one and should have taken the trophy for himself.

Wrap me a Foosball Table

Did I mention I am a foosball expert? I almost never turn down a foosball challenge. Come to think of it, I never owned a foosball table. What a shame it is that my skills are not put to more use. So anyways, you guys are welcomed to give me something for the coming New Year's.

While most foosball fans can settle for anything ranging from $200 to $800, the hardcore ones will probably want something more.

The Opus foosball table from ElevenForty has certainly elevated the status of the game from masses to classes and has taken the status of the game to its extremes. The table features luxurious craftsmanship, precision engineering and design making it the most desirable option for the football lovers. Each table is hand-craft from your choice of woods, and stainless steel hardware. Price tag: ~US$75,000

Richmond Olympic Oval Free Day Pass

If you haven't had the chance to visit the new Richmond Olympic Oval, here is your chance now!!

Oval Free Day Pass

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Sport oval day pass

Remember to print in color!!