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I am really wondering what Stacey King's karma status must be . . . . Now I won't sleep. That was WAYYYYY scary.

After watching Perry Jones play I definately want him still.

He has amazing natural raw talent. As much as I love Sullinger I would take Perry 10/10 over him.

Oh that karma ..........

http://www.cleveland.com/ohio-sports-blog/index.ssf/2011/01/lebron_james_dwyane_wade_chris_1.html

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh all hurting; Heat 0-3 since James mocked Cavaliers' collapse

MIAMI, Florida – Back in their building for the first time in nearly two weeks, the Miami Heat took final inventory Monday of all that they lost during their marathon road trip.

Two stars to ankle injuries. A 13-game road winning streak. The lead in the Eastern Conference. And for good measure, a balky left knee for Dwyane Wade.

Suddenly saddled with a three-game slide, the Heat play host to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. LeBron James and Chris Bosh didn't practice on Monday because of ankle woes, and Bosh is doubtful for Tuesday. Wade also didn't practice because of some knee soreness, but he says he'll go against the Hawks.

James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Heat as a free agent last July. Via his twitter account, he mocked the talent-short, injury-riddled Cavaliers -- presumably intended for owner Dan Gilbert's attention -- after their 112-57 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Jan. 11.

Thank you Karma ... but please save a little for June.

Poor guy.

I wonder what his excuse is going to be when the Heat have an early exit from the playoffs.

I wonder if you asked the people in Seattle if they'd rather continue teamless, or have a team like the Cavs are right now, what they would say...

There'll be some in every fan base that will miss a team, but I'd be willing to bet that the majority don't even notice that they moved.

I know that I'd barely notice if the Cavs moved.

I always wanted an NHL team more than an NBA team in Cleveland. That's just my personal preference. Maybe it doesn't matter anymore, since I've moved to Chicago, I've adopted the Blackhawks.

Interesting question regarding Seattle. I don't know which team they identified with more (Seahawks, Mariners, or Sonics). With the Browns, it's easy. Cleveland was, is, and always will be a football town. If the Cavs left, I don't think most people would blink (outside of the people that made their livings of them).

Damn, Karma's still being a B down in South Beach.

What a shame.

James and Wade both played tonight too.

Lebron scores over 30 and they still lose. - How's that supporting cast now?

Think that James should make a retraction on that karma thing?

Why should he? He didn't say it in the first place, someone else did

This game was a nice example of what happens when your bench doesn't show up to play, and you get a combined total of 2 points from three of the starters, and 61 from the other two. You don't win too many games that way.

The heat will get wrecked in the playoffs if one of the big 3 are hurt.

8-33 at the midpoint. Losers of 24 of 25; 14 in a row. .195 winning percentage the worst in league history at the midpoint for a team that had the best record the previous year.

Wow.

7-9 seems so long ago.

It's been an unbeleivable collapse so far.

Part of me wants to be angry at Gilbert and Ferry for not surrounding LeBron with more talent during their regime. This franchise is going to sink fast if they can't get a stud player in the upcoming draft.

I think that's being somewhat unfair to Danny Ferry. He walked into an awful situation in terms of bad contracts and made what were viewed as good moves to rid the team of that bloat. He did everything to bring in the players that LeBron asked for, but he couldn't force teams to trade with him. Every player he did bring in was signed off on by LeBron (and this includes Shaq and Antawn), so for him to blame his supporting cast is asinine. You don't win 130 games over two seasons with a poor supporting cast.

The one area of fault with Ferry's tenure as GM would have to be the drafting, but how many times did we not even have a pick because the precious regime dealt it away? Hickson looked like he could be a difference maker but he's proven to be mentally weak. He could be a 20 and 10 guy night in and night out; instead he struggles to hit double digits in scoring.

That Boozer fiasco will haunt the franchise forever.

Granted, he hasn't done too much since he left....well, other than get hurt, miss games, trip over his gym bag, and then most recently, get benched for not hustling on defense....but when he does play motivated ball, he's quite good. He was probably the #2 we needed all along (though Lebron proved he was really a #2 by joining Wade).

Oh well. Such is the life of a Cleveland sports fan. Woulda, coulda, and shoulda's.

I wonder if we could convince the worst owner in the NBA Donald Sterling to send us Blake Griffin.

I'm sure if you gave him enough money he'd be all for it... He's always prioratized making money over winning...

Figured hitting 20 "L's" in a row deserved a bump...

Two undrafted rookie's led the team in scoring tonight. Miami tomorrow.

It's bad man, really bad.

Methinks it to be a catch 22. When the season started, my ego and pride were anti-tanking for the lottery. In that same breath, the only way to truly rebuild in the NBA is to suck hard and suck fast. We're basically taking some serious punches to the gut in the short term, but at least the future can be better by adding a high impact guy like Sullinger.

(I only throw out Sullinger because yes he's a talented big to the rotation, low-post scoring presence, and a hometown guy that doesn't have half the ego as the Prince. I'm not sure who the other top considerations are for the top five at this point. What do the options look like as of now?)

it's just not 20 in a row. we're 1-30 in the last 31. that's hard to imagine from a pro team.

even if we get someone like sullinger, we're still a good 3 years from that from being a half decent team. even if we have the worst record, chances are that we don't get the number 1 pick. we could pick 4th very easily. outside of sullinger, and ervin, I don't see a lot of talent out there. I like the kid from byu, but he's not worthy of a pick that high, at least not from the experts.

JUst look at minnesota. they have a monster in love, and beasley is getting 20 a night, and they still stink. You could say the same for sacramento. evans and cousins were expected to bring that franchise back, and they have 12 wins on the year. Just because you get good young talent, doesn't mean you're going to be better. Everyone brings up the gilbert factor. What about the maloof boys in sac-town.? in the late 90's they were like gilbert; young, succcessful businessmen with tons of cash. In fact they have more than gilbert. Yet since their collapse against the lakers in 02, they have dropped off the face of the nba map. You know why?? They can't get any free agents to go there. The same problem gilbert will face.

Screw the nba. I'll take baseball and their problems any day of the week.

with the nba, the cavs have limited ability to make the team better.

in the nba, here are the ways you make your team better.

1. through the draft, high picks equals high talent. cavs can do it.

2. through the draft, in the late rounds. good scouting can net you good players, however it is needle in a haystack. cavs have proven they can find decent guys late. they haven't found a ginobili or parker yet, but boobie was a good find, as is the talent of jj.

3. free agency. the cavs are out of this. it's not going to happen. a mid level guy is the best they can hope for. even when this team gets good. the weather, the city, and i do believe dan gilbert's letter all play into it.

4. trading for a superstar. not going to work. these guys are giant crybabies running the show. there is absolutely no sense in trading for a guy who doesn't want to play in cleveland. he's not going to play hard and he's gone the minute he hits FA

5. trading for a guy who's good and turns into a superstar. see: pau gasol. this i believe gives a chance to any team. gasol was a good player in memphis, but i don't think any of us thought he'd change the lakers the way he did. he got punked in 2008 by boston and came back strong the last 2 years. i believe the cavs can find a way to pull off a move like that. still it wasn't like gasol was complete garbage before that trade either.

so if you take away free agency, and trading for a superstar, that really leaves the cavs with not a ton of options. the absolute best way for them to acquire talent is to suck as hard as humanly possible, and right now they are unquestionably # in my power rankings. good job cavs!

as far as who to take? i have watched limited college bball, but am getting more into it as football is over. candyman and topdawg seem to have a solid grip on who could be the best guy for the next level.

after seeing a few games, i like sullinger, but i wonder if he can pull it off at the next level. taking him would be a giant risk in my opinion.

good post. I agree.

on Sullinger, I think it's not as big a risk as you think. I think he'll be a decent scoring big man in the NBA without much risk. However, I don't know if he can be a dominant scoring big man and I don't know if he can play defense against the bigger guys he would have to. The Cavs are already undersized in the front court and that would not help.

But, he's still less of a risk than Percy Jones.


And, as far as late-round finds, Skeyenga is looking more like he might be able to be that type of guy. I don't think he ever turns into a top-flight guy (like Ginobli, Boozer, Arenas did), but he sure looks like he can become a really solid starting option once he refines a few things (and he has been improving).

Absolutely amazing streak of futility. I lost all respect for this team when they were laughing along with LeBron during his return to Cleveland.

I feel like an idiot since I thought this team would win 35-40 games this year.

punch, i think that is a little extreme, but again, i can tell you how to root or who to root for. and i feel your pain.

the way i see it. the cavs, when they are good again, won't have but maybe one or two of these guys on this current roster. maybe boobie gibson, maybe eyenga. everyone else will either not be retained or traded *(varejao, jamison)

and that's how i'd like it. give me boobie gibson. he plays hard, he can shoot. i think he'd be a great bench guy on a championship level team. i think over time he will get better as a role player. keep him, dump the rest of these guys. i think hickson will be dealt within 2 years. i like the guy's talent but i just think he's gonna get traded.

still, i would turn them in for an nhl team. i think we stand a far better chance of building a top franchise in the nhl rather than the nba which is now strictly geared towards big markets and warm weather.

i followed the cavs as a youngster during the brad and mark days while the other kids at my school loved the bulls, and Ive been that way ever since. I may not watch them too much when they are terrible but I always keep tabs on what they are doing. To each their own but I can't abandon a team I follow. Unlike the Indians I have faith in the guy cutting the checks at Quicken Loans and feel we just need to reload.

That said I think the NBA would benefit from a more balanced cap structure than what they have now. Its actually easier for top talent teams to stay loaded with the MLE's and other exemptions, but I dont think they'll change it.

Sullinger is decent and a guy I have seen the most of. I think he can be solid, but don't ever see him being a guy like a lamarcus aldridge., he lacks the elite athletic ability. I've now seen Perry Jones the guy from Baylor play 3 times, and everytime I have to go out of my way to even notice him on the floor. He doesn't impress me, though nba draft websites say otherwise, we draft him it will all be on potential imo. I like Irving from Duke the best. Though he's only played what, 8 games (?), he looked awesome and I think he has th best potentiial to be an allstar. I still need to see more of Derrick Williams from AZ St. who is also a consensus top 5 pick.

i don't think the salary structure is the problem with the nba.

i think with the players controlling where they want to go (i think you will see a lot more of the melo type situations) that it is becoming the problem. like i said, if you aren't a big market or in warm weather, you have no chance. (cleveland, minnesota, detroit, milwaukee)

the other thing is i believe contraction, as mentioned by many including lbj, would help the league, and i agree. there isn't enough talent, and there are too many teams. the nfl is perfect where they are. the nhl is probably a tad watered down, and talent pool is the least of mlb's obvious problems.

i think if you took out 4 or 5 teams, the nba would be a better product.

The other part of the problem is that the system works best when these players have big egos about their contracts and the best players make the most money. As much as we hate that about sports, a salary cap is only useful if the max players demand the max contract. If the max contract is $18 million a year and a couple great players agree that they will play for $14 million so they can play together and potentially win championships, then the salary cap is all but useless. And the money is now so big that these guys realize that the money they give up now, if they can win a couple championships will come back to them in the long run.

nba is unique in that talent is vital to winning. in the nfl, it has been proven that you can make a system and not have the most talent, and still win.

hockey is a similiar thing in that teams can create systems with lesser talent and still go. for those that follow the league, nashville is an example of how a team executes without tons of talent.

there is no "system" you create in the nba that makes you win. you need a big man that can defend, you need either a great point guard or a guard who can score at will and bring the ball down the court, and you need at least 3 good bench guys. the closest thing to a system is what jerry sloan has done for 20 years. the same can be said about the twins. they have something in place and do well but it equates to nothing when it's all on the line.

i would like to see if baseball ever did get an nfl style salary cap, if certain twins type systems could work...

I knew the team would suck but I didn't think they would be THIS bad.

J/C

one more note on the Cavs on why I really didn't see this year coming.

the signs should have been all there (complementary pieces w/o a goto guy or anyone that can really take control of a game, minimal defensive players, undersized in the frontcourt, lots of youngsters who will need minutes).

but, blinded by 60+win seasons, I didn't want to believe it could drop this fast. And when you think about it, the last time the Cavs were this bad, the organization had to TRY to be this bad (in a gamble to get LeBron that sure paid off handsomely for Mr. Gund). I figured if we weren't trying to be this bad, then surely we could muster a decent team.

the start I was worried about because our early season schedule was extremely weak. I was hoping to be over .500 by the Heat game if we wanted to have a shot at the playoffs. Still, the Celtics game early and the 7-9 record made me hope.

it was the same stupid Celtics team that started this slide though (the 30pt killing 2 nights before the first Heat game). and this team definitely seems to have 'quit' lately.

Can't really blame fans for quitting on this team ... the last two *meaningful* home games for the Cavs saw them quit by epic standards (Boston Game 5, and vs the Heat this year)

That said ... it's kinda nice to see the bandwagon much lighter now.