It's official Kevin Love is now a Cavalier

Saturday August 23rd Kevin Love officially became a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was probably the worst kept secret since LeBron James joined the Cleveland Cavilers, but now it is officially done and people can make much clearer predictions. Previously I felt that the Cavs could easily take second place in the East, but now with main components of the Cavaliers roster in place I would easily put them as the favorite to win the East. Also this greatly improves their chances of winning the NBA Finals. When Love joined the team they went from being a project that could take a couple years to a team that is ready to contend. 

Not only did adding Love increase the Cavaliers chances, but also the additions of Mike Miller, James Jones, and Shaun Marion helped. This adds some veteran talents to the roster which consisted of some younger guys. This team has a great mixture of vets, young guys, and all stars to make up a championship squad, but the question is how will they mesh on the court. Team chemistry will play a huge part in this upcoming season for the Cavaliers. Many questions will be answered like can Kyrie Irving play along side LeBron James and Kevin Love without crippling his own offensive game? Will the lack of deffensive ability from Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving allow other teams to score at will? Will Kyrie and Love take the some of the load off of Lebron's shoulders?

Teams like the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Bulls can all still be a threat to Cleveland, but it is hard to not call Cleveland the favorite. 

Cleveland will definitely be the team to watch this season. And it would be nice to see LeBron go up against Duncan in the finals with a new and improved Cavaliers team.

NBA off-season part 4

Cater hits game winning three in playoffs.

Shifting the attention over to the Western conference there as drastic of a difference as there is from last year. San Antonio has identically the same roster. The Clippers gained Spencer Hawes, but lost Darren Collison. The Thunder lost Thabo Sefolosha and Caron Butler. The Rockets lost Chandler Parsons, but added Trevor Ariza. Portland Added Chris Kaman. Golden State Added Shaun Livingston. Mostly minor transactions were made by the top six teams from last year. It is still hard to say where what team will end, but looking at these moves San Antonio is the clear favorite to win the West again.
Further down teams like Dallas and Memphis improved their rosters. Memphis added Vince Carter to provide a scoring punch off the bench. Dallas had great pick up in Chandler Parsons. They also added Jameer Nelson to deep point guard position. Also with the trade with New York they attained Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton. Felton hasn't amounted to much since his playing with the Bobcats and Chandler didn't have a good season last year, but maybe being back in Dallas will improve his mindset.
The Phoenix Suns are an interesting team to talk about. They are young and just barely missed the playoffs last season. They signed Isiah Thomas this summer and created a three guard rotation. They successfully ran a dual point guard line up last year and now with three point guards capable of starting they will always have the dual guard line up on the floor. Thomas has already committed to coming off the bench even though he believes he can start in the league. Phoenix adding another point guard is risky, but could pay off being able to always have two point guards on the floor while one takes a rest.

NBA off-season part 3

Nets looking for strong season from their three stars

Charlotte Hornets return in 2014

The next tier of teams to make the playoffs would be the Hornets, Nets and Knicks. Charlotte has a promising roster moving forward and can keep building on the trio of Al Jefferson, Kemba Walker and Lance Stephenson. Don't be surprised if the Hornets finish in the top 4 in the East this year.
The Nets are a wild card. It all depends on health. If the Nets can stay healthy they might move into the middle of the pack in the East, but with all the injuries this team has it is hard to stay positive. Deron Williams hasn't been the player he was since moving to Brooklyn and has had nagging ankle injuries. Brook Lopez has not played a full season since the 2010-2011 season. Doctors say Lopez is now at 100% and can resume all basketball activities.
That's great news for the Nets because Lopez is the best offensive center in the league.
Having his scoring ability by the hoop opens up shots for other guys on the team and will take the pressure of Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. This also lets Garnett move back to his original position which is the 4. The Nets have the potential to be a threat in the East, but there age hurts them. The window might have already closed on Brooklyn when Pierce walked out the door.

Phil Jackson as new President of
Basketball of operations for the Knicks

The Knicks managed to retain Carmelo Anthony which was the primary goal for New York this off-season. The funny thing is there are a lot of payers the Knicks would like to let go of. Phil Jackson tried to trade away Amare Stoudemire's expiring contract. The Knicks by no means have a bad roster, but the same could be said for last year's team and they missed the playoffs. With Phil Jackson now running the show there is no doubt the Knicks will make the playoffs it's just the matter of how good they will be.

Ray Rice publicly apologizes to his wife

Ray Rice has been a hot topic as of late in the NFL and for the wrong reason. Ray Rice was caught on a security camera in Atlantic City back in February. What was seen on the footage was Rice dragging his wife out of an elevator. It's believed that Rice hit his wife in the elevator knocking her out.
Rice first had a press conference with his wife by his side. This press conference was very awkward considering they didn't look at each other once. They definitely didn't look like a couple. Also Ray Rice gave apologies to everyone, but his wife who was right next to him. He seemed to make it all about him and not their relationship. He also didn't say anything about what had happened. After he was done talking his wife apologized when there seemed to be no reason for her to.
Just a few days ago Ray Rice had another interview where he apologized to his wife publicly and he also used the words domestic violence. It's seemed that he was owning what he did, but the one thing that ultimately made me think he didn't fully own it was the fact he wouldn't talk about what happened in the elevator. Now that is between him and his wife, but it would be nice to know why he'd hit her so hard that she would be unconscious coming out of the elevator.
The NFL has decided to suspend Ray Rice 2 games for his actions. Roger Goodell strongly supports the decision made. Goodell stated that based on other disciplinary actions taken in the past that this action against Ray Rice is on par. The argument is that a player like Josh Gordon gets suspended for a whole season for smoking marijuana where as Rice only gets to games for beating his wife. Neither is good, but in Rice's case he goes against something that women's rights activist have been fighting for a long time now. Many people outside the NFL feel that Rice's punishment wasn't harsh enough and it seems like no one is willing to make him pay for what he did. 

Should NBA players play for team USA?

Paul George pumping up the crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Photo credit: lakersnation.com

If you haven't heard yet, Paul George suffered a very serious leg injury last night playing in a team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas. George who is an up and coming superstar in the league had a break out season last year. Through the first half of the season he was even considered to be in the running for MVP. George was also already penciled in as the starting small forward for team USA.
Last night George was chasing down James Harden who got out on a fast break after a steal by Kevin Durant. George hustled back and tried to block his shot when his leg got stuck between the floor and the basket stanchion which resulted in a open tibia-fibula fracture. His teammates looked down at him in disbelief and some couldn't stomach the scene. The word is George will most likely miss all of next season. That's disappointing to anyone who is a basketball fan.
With all that said should the NBA's elite be competing in international play during the summer? The truth is that it's up to the players. The players choose whether or not they want to play in international play and that won't change. This is what these guys do for a living, they love to play basketball. It's not just FIBA and the Olympics that these players do in the off-season. NBA players play in pro-am's, charity events, street ball events, etc. A player can get hurt doing any of these things or just a simple work out. What happened to Paul George was a freak accident, but it just so happens that it happened in a team USA jersey and it was broadcast on national television. That why this question is brought up.
Fans of specific teams like to see there guys represent the USA. I can tell you as a Nets fan I enjoyed watching Deron Williams play in the 2012 Olympics. Of course I was worried about him getting hurt, but I loved watching every moment he was on the floor. I'm sure Pacers fans were enjoying every moment George was on the floor up until his injury.

Everyone is wishing Paul George a speedy recovery and we are all looking forward to him getting back on the court.