FilteringCraig

 There are a whole lot of weird things going on in the NBA right now, and it just doesn’t feel right.  It is crazy enough to have guys get traded at the trade deadline and have guys reshape the way a team works, like what has happened in Cleveland, Phoenix and Dallas.  Then on top of that, there are all these tertiary transactions that are taking place which all seem to be effecting the playoff races going on, and it seems anti-competitive.

Here are the things that come to the top of my head.

• Brent Barry gets traded, cut, and then re-signs with the team that traded him to begin with, the San Antonio Spurs.
• Sam Cassell gets bought out and gets to go to the Celtics who have been talked about as a potential suitor for months.
• Theo Ratliff gets cut and gets to join the Pistons for the league minimum.
  • Chris Webber gets bought out the year before this by the 76ers and promptly joins the Pistons.
• Dallas uses a retired playe, Keith Van Horn, to get a deal done that brought Jason Kidd into their lineup.

Now, I guess these are all technically legal under the rules the way they are set up.  It just doesn’t seem right that contending teams can get players who were making a lot of money without giving anything up and then not having to pay the incoming players any significant amount of money.

I don’t know what the answer is, but why, exactly do the Celtics deserve the services of Sam Cassell?  Why exactly, do the Pistons get to pick up a big man late in the season, two consecutive years in a row?  Finally, how is it that someone can be part of a trade, and a short time later end up back with another team?  This calls into question the validity of the games and has clear implications on the playoffs.

I feel like maybe the trade deadline needs to turn into a bigger deal so that these cuts, waivers and roster moves can’t be made up to the playoff roster deadline.  Having the time difference between the two deadlines only opens up these types of inexplicable roster moves that seem shady, at times.

According the the Plain Dealer, Corey Williams is the newest member of the Cleveland Browns. Williams will be joining the Browns in exchange for a second round draft choice, contingent on the Browns’ signing of Williams to a multi-year deal.

When a team’s run defense consistently ranks anywhere in the high twenties and thirties in the entire league for multiple years in a row, it is time to do something to change the look of the defense. Bringing in a 6 foot 4 inch 320 pound monster of a defensive end who is known for his “speed” in getting to the QB, you are headed in the right direction.

The Browns traded their second round pick, which was the only pick they had left in the first two rounds because of the trade they made with Dallas last year to get Brady Quinn. What this tells me is that Phil Savage is expecting to pick up a first and third round draft pick when someone signs Derek Anderson.

This is good news all the way around. Derek Anderson might go on to do great things, but then again he might fall flat. Obviously, Phil Savage feels like DA was a product of the system that Rob Chudzinski installed for the Browns’ offense this season. All Browns fans can do is hope that he is right. There will be no QB controversy this year. Brady Quinn is your new starting QB. He will do battle with one of the best offensive lines, and hopefully a defense that can compete more consistently than the one that was on the field last year.

Michael Redd nailed a long three-point shot to skip overtime last night in Milwaukee versus the Cavaliers. Normally, I wouldn’t be upset about a Cavaliers loss like that, because Michael Redd is just that good to be able to pull out a huge win on a last second shot. But today, I am upset about the game because Michael Redd’s shot isn’t the story for me. The story comes down to three names; Mike Callahan, Pat Fraher, and Brian Forte. Those were the officials for last night’s game in Milwaukee and they cost the Cavs a game.

The free throw differential for last night’s game was 37-14 in favor of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks did a nice job of converting those opportunities on the night by hitting 32 out of 37. But last night the Cavs had a game come down to three points and the officiating was so one-sided (by TWENTY-THREE free throws) that they just couldn’t pull out the victory. That will put a sour taste in just about anyone’s mouth.

It is a long season, and one game doesn’t make it, but this one stings a bit.

Oh, and as for the refereeing crew of Mike Callahan, Pat Fraher, and Brian Forte, they are making quite a name for themselves.  They are the same crew that ended up ejecting Kobe Bryant the other night with two technicals, and Kobe isn’t exactly known to be the Rasheed Wallace of the Western Conference.  Mark Cuban has made this an issue for a while now, and he is right.  The NBA needs to have some structure in place to deal with refs who are incapable of calling a decent NBA contest.

Sarah Silverman did a video for Jimmy Kimmel for some anniversary show. Sarah is Jimmy’s girlfriend. She did a video called “I’m Fu**ing Matt Damon” which I thought was one of the funniest videos that I have ever seen. Well, Jimmy has a response video now that couldn’t possibly be more perfect and funny. Count the cameos at the end of the video if you dare.

This week we talked about the Cavs’ blockbuster trade.

 

 2008-02-23 Cleveland Sports Curse Radio: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is a week old.  I am behind trying to post this stuff, but whatever.  Enjoy, if you choose.

 

 Cleveland Sports Curse 2008-02-16: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hey, remember when I posted that YouTube video of that song from that movie that I thought was so amazing and beautiful? Well, apparently there are a lot of people out there in the Academy that agreed with me that it was a beautiful song. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova accepted the Oscars last night and the acceptance speech was kind of funny.

When they first came out, Glen Hansard talked about some stuff and ended his speech with “Make art. Make art” as his battle cry and then the music piped in and the mic was cut off so Marketa Irglova couldn’t say anything. What was cut out of this clip is how John Stewart dead-panned to the audience and sarcastically said, “Man, THAT guy is SO arrogant” with mock disgust on his face.

Then apparently, for some reason, he decided to bring Marketa back out to give her portion of the acceptance speech. Check it out in this video and then check out the original video I posted of the amazing song, “Falling Slowly” that thankfully beat out all those crappy songs from Enchanted last night.

The Cavaliers reinforcements have arrived. I thought I would talk about it at least for a while.

• 6:15 - Starting Lineup - Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, LeBron James, Devin Brown, and Delonte West
• 6:17 - The team is looking awkward so far. Delonte West hasn’t been bringing the ball up consistently yet, and then…
• 6:18 - Ben Wallace with the steal LeBron on the break, Delonte gets the ball, throws the oop for LeBron on the slam.
• 6:19 Delonte West might have to become my favorite player with his uniform number choice of 13. I can’t remember the last Cavalier to wear that jersey number.
• 6:21 - Wally just walked to the scorer’s table to check in.
• 6:23 - First time out on the floor and the Cavs lead early 18-8 and there isn’t anything to say of note yet other than the defense is playing well. Wallace really does provide an imposing presence in the middle to anybody driving, and Delonte West seems to play defense with a lot of energy.
• 6:29 - And here come the rest of the traded players. Looks like we are about to get our first look at Wally and Joe Smith off the bench.
• 6:32 - Uh oh. Here comes Ben Wallace at the free throw line. This will drive my brother crazy, who doesn’t understand why people will not learn to shoot free throws. And Ben Wallace nails two of them.
• 6:41 - Even with all brand new players, I find Mike Brown’s rotations to be mind-boggling. He has Dwayne Jones on the court along with Wally, Devin Brown, Joe Smith and Damon Jones. That is just weird.
• 6:45 - Dan Gilbert, owner for the Cavaliers, has just goaded Fred Mcleod, the Cavs TV announcer into a bet where if the Cavs win the championship, McLeod will have to shave a mohawk into his head.
• 6:51 - SZCerbiak, SZCerbiak… I gotta remember that. I have trouble remembering whether the C or Z goes first. Z before C when it comes to Wally World.
• 6:52 - Shit. SZCZerbiak. S - Z - C - Z - erbiak… this is worse than Anderson Verajao by a longshot.
• 6:59 - I know that this game isn’t going to be proof of anything, but it is exciting nonetheless.
• 7:00 - Dan Gilbert is talking about Orlando’s reaction to the trade and how someone in Orlando said that the Cavs’ trade will help Orlando. Dan Gilbert is openly laughing at that. Dan Gilbert is pretty outspoken, but I haven’t heard him speak this much before.
• 7:10 - It is half time and the Cavs have a 21 point lead. That doesn’t suck for a debut, anecdotal as it is.

Well, that’s it for me.  I am done with the live blog, but this is a lot of fun.  If nothing else, it changes the ride from last year.  That rocks all by itself.

So, now that the Cavaliers unloaded Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown, Donyell Marshall and others, who will start tomorrow night?

I am voting for the following:

C Zydrunas Ilgauskas
PF Ben Wallace
SF Lebron James
SG Wally Sczerbiak
PG Delonte West

That’s right.  I want to see THREE new guys in the first game.  This should be exciting.

What I am really looking forward to is having Ben Wallace and Anderson Varejao on the court at the same time, defending and rebounding.

Update again:

Cleveland gets Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerbiak, Delonte West, Joe Smith

Seattle gets Ira Newble, Chris Duhon, Donyell Marshall

Chicago gets Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons

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UPDATE: According ESPN 850 in Cleveland, the Cavs are on a conference call with the NBA, Chicago, and Seattle.

The reported deal would send Ben Wallace, Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiak to Cleveland

The Cavs lose Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall and other people that don’t matter.

__________________

From the chatroom, Chad Ford is reporting that the Cavs and Bulls might or might not have been talking about this deal.

Ben Wallace, Chris Duhon and Joe Smith to Cleveland for Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble, Shannon Brown, Devin Brown and Cederic Simmons … unless Ilgauskas is in this deal.

I am not sure why the Cavs would really want Ben Wallace, except that Mike Brown loves defense and maybe Dan Gilbert feels some Pistons connection with Wallace. Chris Duhon would help, I think. Joe Smith could help.

We will see. There is about an hour to go until the deadline hits.