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I got an update on my phone yesterday or the day before that the Cavs called the 76ers for T.J. McConnell. They said no.

LINK

Grif is trying.

It would be great if the All Star break started today....and lasted 10 days.

LeBron James rips Charles Barkley: You're the NBA bad boy, not me

Dave McMenamin
ESPN Staff Writer

DALLAS -- After years of being fodder for Charles Barkley to comment on in his role as an analyst on TNT's "Inside the NBA," LeBron James has heard enough.

"He's a hater," James told ESPN of Barkley following the Cleveland Cavaliers' 104-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. "What makes what he says credible? Because he's on TV?"

James had been stewing the past couple of days after Barkley took James to task for the four-time MVP calling out the Cavs for needing to fortify the roster with another playmaker to have a realistic shot at a repeat title.

"Inappropriate. Whiny. All of the above," Barkley said of James last week. "The Cleveland Cavaliers, they have given him everything he wanted. They have the highest payroll in NBA history. He wanted J.R. Smith last summer, they paid him. He wanted [Iman] Shumpert last summer. They brought in Kyle Korver. He's the best player in the world. Does he want all of the good players? He don't want to compete? He is an amazing player. They're the defending champs."

Barkley has consistently needled James, telling HBO's Bill Simmons over the summer that James would "never" ascend to top-five status in NBA history over Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, and going back all the way to 2010 and James' "The Decision" television special, when Barkley told ESPN Radio 103.3 FM in Dallas/Fort Worth that it was a "punk move" for James to leave the Cavs to take up with the Miami Heat.

James initially took the high road when asked about Barkley's recent comments, saying they were "good for the ratings," while defending his competitive spirit.

But after ESPN followed up with a story asking Tristan Thompson for his thoughts on Barkley's comments, James chose to speak out again in ardent fashion.

"I'm not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that," James told ESPN. "I'm not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, 'I'm not a role model.' I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.

"All I've done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that."

James, whose friendships with Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have also been called into question, recalled watching a 1993 NBA Finals game between Jordan's Chicago Bulls and Barkley's Phoenix Suns and being surprised what he saw on his screen.

"Go watch the '93 Finals when John Paxson hit the shot," James said. "Barkley and Jordan were laughing and joking with each other during one of the games while somebody's shooting a free throw. In the Finals. But, oh, nobody were friends back then."

Bringing up Anthony reminded James of another basketball luminary who has tweaked him this season -- New York Knicks president Phil Jackson -- and he had a story to share about Jackson as well.

"I went to see Melo at the Garden two years ago when we were in New York," James said. "They played Portland. I went up to a suite at halftime, and Phil Jackson didn't say one word to me."

This fall, Jackson brought up James unprompted in an interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan and described James and his close circle of business associates -- Rich Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims -- as his "posse."

"I'm here to win ballgames and take care of my teammates and take care of my, what's that word, oh, my 'posse,'" James said, animatedly.

He had more words for Barkley too.

"I know he wanted to retire a long time ago, but he can't," James said. "He's stuck up on that stage every week."

James then issued a challenge, of sorts.

"And if this makes him want to talk to me, the schedule's out there," James said. "He knows every road arena I'll be in. Don't just come up to me at All-Star and shake my hand and smile."

It was James' second bout of frustration shared with the media in a week, as the Cavs finished out January going 7-8. It was the first time James has had a losing record in a calendar month with at least 10 games played since February 2006 -- his third season in the NBA -- when the Cavaliers went 6-8, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

James also spoke up about the perception he and his inner circle face as young, successful black businessmen, believing that identity being so rare in the power structure of professional sports makes him and his partners targets.

"I collect one paycheck from this," James said of his role with the Cavs. "There's the owner, Griff's [David Griffin] the GM, I'm the player. Screw Charles Barkley."

James put on his baseball cap and offered a parting thought as he prepared to leave the visitors locker room at the American Airlines Center to head to the airport for a flight back to Cleveland.

"I'm tired of biting my tongue," James said. "There's a new sheriff in town."

Article

Chris Haynes Verified account
@ChrisBHaynes

ESPN Sources: Cleveland to host mega free agent workout featuring Mario Chalmers, Lance Stephenson, Kirk Heinrich.

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not sure who I'd pick, 2 PG and a SG, I'd like chalmers as the backup PG over Hinrich, and Stephenson is odd, because he's a defense guy who can score a little bit but is a headcase.

Hinrich blows.

Yeah, I don't get the point of bringing in the two not named Chalmers. Hinrich lost whatever athletic ability he had a few years ago, and Stephenson is Shumpert but with head issues.

Really would love them to bring Larry Sanders in for a look

Lot's of interesting stuff out there. I heard about the Philly thing and the open tryout. Wonder why Jack wasn't invited? I like Chalmers the best. Then Jack. Just depends if they are healthy or not.

The Jameer Nelson trade is fairly interesting, too.

LeBron going off on Barkley is blowing the airwaves up. I listened earlier when I was driving to and from the hospital and clinic. It's pretty funny, if you ask me. LOL........dudes are trading bombs!

I just read pretty much the same article on Yahoo, pretty interesting!

Report: Cavaliers interested in Melo; won't give up Love
http://www.thescore.com/news/1222275

I suppose it doesn't hurt to try, although I wouldn't begin to know what we'd be offering. Plus, it feels like we'd still need a backup PG.

I don't really agree with adding Melo, because it feels like we'd be even worse defensively and run nothing but iso offense.

I'll let the smarter basketball minds figure out how it could work, and if it should.

I would be very upset if we traded for Melo. Guy is a selfish player and that is the last thing this team needs.

That's kind of what I've heard/read. I don't follow the team like some on here do, but from what I read, melo is NOT a guy the cav's need. Or want.

But he's friends with LeBron.

Also, Olympic Carmelo is very unselfish and a great teammate.

How does Melo fit on a team with Lebron, Love, and Thompson? (and as the article says, I don't give up Love either)

I don't get it either. We need a 1 or a 5. We've got one of the best Small Forwards of all time, yet we're still overloaded at that position ... So we're going to bring in another one? He wouldn't fit this team at all.

i think melo makes us worse to be honest

provided we don't give up love, probably the only trade involving love I'd do and would work salary wise is for cousins, and I'd do that in a heartbeat, but back to Melo, melo on crappy teams is a selfish dude for sure, but also remember olympic melo is pretty damn good. He passes and defends. If he is in a situation where he knows he can be successful, I think it would be a different scenario here. But at the same time, not sure what we would be giving up. I think we should pick up Chalmers, Stephenson and sign Sanders and call it a wrap

I wonder if people remember how Melo ended up w/the Knicks?

Olympic Melo is good because he's playing against scrub International teams. Lebron is also willing to play at PF for a few weeks to make room for Melo in the starting line-up, but I doubt he'll want to do that for an entire season.

The biggest problem with Melo is there's no where to fit him in the lineup. Do you bump Lebron or Melo to SG and put JR on the bench? Do you play Lebron at Center? And honestly, I'd rather have JR playing the 2. He plays Defense and hits the spot-up 3. He doesn't need to have the ball in his hands to do stuff, whereas Carmelo is going to give us 3 guys in the starting lineup that want to run the play.

Melo is the all time Olympic scorer. I think its a little more than the teams hes playing. Especially nowadays with how good some countries have been, not Us caliber, but not washington generals either. I agree he doesn't seem like he fits. But at the same time, if you can keep love and add a playmaker like Melo, as long as he comes in understanding his role I don't have a problem with it, or maybe he shocks us all and agrees to come off bench.. who knows, but we def. need more playmakers, but i think Melo at this point is a pipe dream..like i said, give me chalmers, stephenson and sanders and I'd be fine with that

Melo has played under some horrible coaches. Phil Jackson is a bum now too.

JR doesn't hit the spot up 3.. he hits the 3 from 5 feet outside the circle while falling out of bounds with a 6'10" guy diving at him.. those shots he will make.

My bad, you are absolutely correct.

Looks like Farmar is the front runner for the backup PG spot, I'm still hoping for Dwill or Nelson, even Mack would be a better option

I see Kyrie is doing the 3pt contest again this year..hope he brings it home again

j/c:


https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/827602572622036996

Just when he though it was his year to finally get a ring! On that note, watch him turn around and accept the ring the Cavs were going to give him.

Rumor is they did this so they could keep us from signing Weber

We could have signed Weber days or weeks ago. We had an open roster spot. Even with us winning last year, I don't think the Warriors are too concerned with how we fill out our bench and would make a roster move out of spite.

we could have had tryouts days or weeks ago too but we didn't.. I'll have to look for the article, but theres a couple articles about it

Wonder if the Cavs would be interested in bringing Andy back considering Bird Man is done for the season?

Andy is just about done for his career.

Strictly speaking as a fan, it would be nice to have him back, contribute enough and get another ring.

Other than that, how much could he contribute at this point?

j/c

I went to the Blavers/Mavs game last nigh. Dallas was crazy good in the first quarter. They made their first 7 or 8 shots, and at one point was 77% from 3 point land.

Unfortunately the Blazers came up just a little short, tying it late in the 4th only to lose by I think 4 points. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team shoot so well in a quarter.

They're feeling it from the arc tonight. And no Kyrie too.

Maybe we should trade for Jennings instead of Carmelo.

He's doing it against felder, so it's like playing against a middle school kid. Felder is trash. I wouldn't mind Jennings or Lee

I play Fantasy BB every night. Multiple entries.

I can tell you that Jennings always posts good numbers when he gets minutes.

Speaking of trash ... What's happened to Korver's shot?? He can't hit anything.