Oct
23
After witnessing Lebron James dominate the Detroit Pistons in the best performance of his young career during Game Five of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals and then being carried to the Eastern Conference crown by the hot shooting of rookie guard Daniel Gibson two nights later, the Cleveland Cavaliers were a flop against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals.
The Cavs were pretenders rather than contenders during San Antonio’s ugly four-game sweep. Beginning and ending with James, Cleveland was passive and in over its head.
Just as when it looked like James had established himself as a dominant closer in the pivotal Game Five against Detroit, Lebron took a major step back during the Finals. It only took James 15 quarters in that series to start attacking the rim. By the time he did, it was way too late.
Even though the Cavs proved to be one of the worst teams to have ever reached the Finals, things would seem to be on the upswing entering this season, right? For heavens sake, James is entering his fifth year and is still only 22 years old. And he’s already taken the Cavs to the Finals while still being a long way from reaching his prime!
Cleveland fans are going to need to develop such idealistic views this season as the Cavs took another dramatic step back in the offseason. In simple terms, Cleveland is in big-time trouble this season and no longer a contender in the Eastern Conference. And it gets worse. James is starting to have doubts about what Cleveland’s management is doing; a bad sign considering that he can opt out of his contract in 2010-2011.
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Oct
19
(Disclosure: I went to the University of Illinois and am not writing this column about Indiana Head Coach Kelvin Sampson because of the Eric Gordon saga. I could care less about Gordon’s decision, even though, it was a bad one. In one year at Indiana, Gordon won’t learn much under Sampson. In one year at Illinois, Bruce Weber would have improved his game. Weber is simply the better coach and the better person.)
Well look who’s at it again! Indiana Hoosiers Head Coach and perpetual scumbag Kelvin Sampson finds himself in the center of more recruiting violations, once again getting nabbed for making impermissible phone calls to recruits.
Sampson was tight-lipped this afternoon as reporters asked him about the 10 impermissible phone calls that he admitted making to IU basketball recruits. Amazingly, Sampson was found guilty of the same cheating prior to leaving Oklahoma for Indiana after the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
It’s very unfortunate that a guy like Sampson, who is liked by most of the national media because he is typically very accessible to them, continues to break the rules. College recruiting is as about as dirty of a business as there is, and Sampson is a king of filth.
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Oct
18
Kobe Bryant is the most talented player in the game of basketball. He is also the most spoiled and fickle player in the game. So as some ignorant members of the Chicago media (Jay Marrioti once again being included) lament for the Bulls to get Bryant at any costs when there appears to be no talks on the frontline to begin with, Hoops 4 the Soul explains why it would be the worst thing possible.
By Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Oct
16
With the exception of its six-game triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1977 NBA Finals, the Portland Trail Blazers have always been a tantalizing yet very frustrating franchise.
From the collapse of Bill Walton’s knees to the selection of Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft to failed championship aspirations on separate occasions in the early nineties to the collapse in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals, the Blazers have always had the ability to draw people in with the team’s potential only to let them down in the end.
So it’s not hard to blame Portland Trail Blazers fans for feeling a bit worried nowadays after it was learned that Greg Oden, the team’s first pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, will miss his entire rookie season following a surprise microfracture surgery.
With that said, Portland fans should not let the Oden setback damper their hopes on the future of the franchise. The Blazers have finally cleaned things up from the discord from earlier this decade (paging Rasheed Wallace and Ruben Patterson) and now feature a plethora of young talent, including 2006-2007 Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy and fellow sophomore LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Blazers will not make the playoffs this season but are certainly going in the right direction, with General Manager Kevin Pritchard doing a very nice job the last two drafts and building a team of collegiate winners and quality people that is starting to look like Chicago Bulls West.
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Oct
16
Two years to the day that the Milwaukee Bucks played its first game in team history (an 89-84 loss to the Chicago Bulls), the NBA opened its doors to two other franchises on this day in basketball in 1970. The Portland Trail Blazers defeated its fellow newbie, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-112 on October 16th approximately 37 years ago.
Entering the 2007-2008 NBA season, the Blazers and the Cavaliers seemingly should be in good spirits but are not. After reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, the Cleveland Cavaliers were miserable last June against the San Antonio Spurs, losing in four forgettable games. Now the team has failed to sign and more importantly replace starting shooting guard Sasha Pavlovic and backup power forward Anderson Varejao. As for Portland, the unbridled excitement of the Greg Oden selection has been dampened by season-ending knee surgery for the rookie, who has been compared to Sam Bowie.
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
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After witnessing Lebron James dominate the Detroit Pistons in the best performance of his young career during Game Five of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals and then being carried to the Eastern Conference crown by the hot shooting of rookie guard Daniel Gibson two nights later, the Cleveland Cavaliers were a flop against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals.
Well look who’s at it again! Indiana Hoosiers Head Coach and perpetual scumbag Kelvin Sampson finds himself in the center of more recruiting violations, once again getting nabbed for making impermissible phone calls to recruits.
Two years to the day that the Milwaukee Bucks played its first game in team history (an 89-84 loss to the Chicago Bulls), the NBA opened its doors to two other franchises on this day in basketball in 1970. The Portland Trail Blazers defeated its fellow newbie, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-112 on October 16th approximately 37 years ago.