Trade Deadline Talk

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers completed a three-way trade that sent Antawn Jamison and Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland, Al Thornton, Zydrunas Ilgauskaus, and a 1st round pick to Washington, and Drew Gooden to Los Angeles.

This is a big move on Cleveland's part, as they are clearly doing whatever it takes to try to keep LeBron James from signing with another team this summer. By bringing in Jamison, the Cavs get a versatile 6'9 forward that averages 20.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Before they traded for Jamison, the Cavs were rumored to possibly be trading for Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns. Danny Ferry and the Cleveland management want to show LeBron that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win a title THIS season, even if it means trading away a guy in Ilgauskas who was the face of the Cavs before LeBron showed up.

On paper this looks like a great move for a Cleveland team that already has the best record in the NBA (43-11), and perhaps the best player in the game in James. But in my opinion this move may actually hurt Cleveland more than it helps them. Now you probably think I'm crazy for saying that, but let me explain my reasoning here.

I think we can all agree that Cleveland is the clear cut favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, and rightly so given the way that they have played this season. Now we can probably also agree that the team they would face should they get to the finals is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavs have beaten the Lakers twice this season, including once without their All-Star point guard Mo Williams. I think one of the main reasons why the Cavs had so much success against the Lakers is because Zydrunas Ilgauskas gave the Cavs the size to matchup with the Lakers big men, as he and Shaquille O'Neal would guard Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Lamar Odom is a matchup problem for any team the Lakers face, but now the Cavs just gave away one of their two seven-footers for a guy who's three inches shorter, and certainly is not as much of a presence down low.

If the Lakers and the Cavs do face each other in the finals, the Lakers will have almost every matchup to their advantage, with the exception being LeBron James and Mo Williams. Think about it, now the only true presence down low the Cavs have is Shaquille O'Neal. You can't tell me Shaq is going to play 35+ minutes in an NBA Finals game, because we all now that won't happen. He's old, and he'll get too tired if he does. In the two games against the Lakers this season, Shaq only played 22 and 28 minutes. The Lakers now have Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol to throw at Shaq, in addition to the 6'11 Odom who is a huge matchup problem from the start.

I'm not saying Ilgauskas was the reason why the Cavs beat the Lakers, but it certainly didn't hurt having him in the lineup. Jamison is a better scorer and rebounder on paper than Z has ever been, but you also have to consider that Jamison was the number one option on a mediocre Washington team, where as in Cleveland he could be the number three option once Mo Williams returns from his injury.

A lot of basketball experts always talk about how important team chemistry is, and how critical it is to not mess with anything when a team is rolling. The Cavs are currently on a 13-game winning streak, yet they just traded away an important piece to their team. I don't cover the Cavs and I'm not an expert, so I very well could be wrong, but I'm assuming that Ilgauskas was a great guy to have in the locker room, and that he was probably very well liked by his teammates given that he had played all of his 12 seasons in the NBA in Cleveland.

I'm not as worried about this move as other Laker fans are. The Lakers are still the team to beat, but they have clearly had problems with Cleveland this season, and that has a lot of Laker fans worried. When you really look at it, this move may have just reversed the roles and put the Lakers in the drivers seat to win another title should they face the Cavs in the finals. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but hey, only time will tell if this was the right move for Cleveland.

Dunk Contest Letdown

I'm not sure NBA in-game dunks translate well to a competition, because if that was the case then I could guarantee that Shannon Brown would have won the 2010 NBA Dunk Contest, a contest that will certainly go down as one of the worst in history. I'm not sure what went wrong with Shannon's performance. Maybe he had stage fright, or maybe he was overhyped, but one thing I don't understand is why people I'm friends with had so much hate for the Los Angeles Lakers' reserve after the contest.

For about a month and a half I had been one of many that had been hyping the movement for Shannon to be in the dunk contest. The movement simply became known as "LetShannonDunk", a website whose title states its purpose. The website got recognition shortly after its launch, as ESPN SportsCenter Anchor Robert Flores and TNT's Marv Albert and Kenny Smith gave the site shoutouts during live broadcasts. On January 18th it was announced that Shannon Brown would be a participant in the dunk contest, along with Gerald Wallace, Nate Robinson, and either DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon.

As soon as I found out who the other participants were, I immediately assumed Shannon would win because of one reason: he has had the best dunks of all the participants this season. From his ridiculous highlight reel poster dunk in the preseason to his dunks in which he jumps like a kangaroo , Shannon has electrified Laker fans around the world with his amazing vertical leap.

With that being said, Shannon was a huge letdown in the contest on Saturday night. Both of his dunks were subpar, at least for Shannon's standards and for dunk contest standards. His dunks were dunks that would've brought a regular season crowd to its feet, but not a crowd that was expecting to watch the best dunkers in the league.

In his first attempt, Shannon attempted a 360 Statue of Liberty, but he missed, which surprised just about everyone, including himself. He then went on to take off from the foul line area and switched from his right hand to his left hand in a dunk that scored a 38 from the judges. In his second attempt, Shannon attempted to do a double-pump dunk on an alley-oop from Kobe Bryant, but he overjumped the pass and had to settle for a left handed slam that scored a 40.

So after all of the hype and all of the expectations people had for Shannon, he didn't even make it out of the first round. Was I disappointed? Absolutely. I truly believed Shannon was going to win the contest, especially after he said a couple of weeks ago that he had some special ideas up his sleeve. But you know what? It's not the end of the world. At the end of the day the only thing I and other Laker fans hope to see Shannon do is help the Lakers win another NBA Championship. This is an obvious statement, but I'd rather see Shannon sport another ring than hoist up a slam dunk contest trophy any day of the week

I was amused over the fact that some people I go to school with thought I'd be heartbroken if Shannon didn't win the contest. A perfect example of this is with the sports director of the Blaze. He put the following on his twitter a few minutes after Shannon was eliminated: "The NBA wishes they never LetShannonDunk. He really let down his fans who supported his campaign." I found that funny because he only has 27 followers, none of whom are Laker fans other than me. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he wouldn't even know what LetShannonDunk was if he hadn't seen my tweets, so why not just joke around to my face as opposed to try to mock me indirectly?

I also heard from a friend that someone was rooting for anyone other than Shannon for the simple fact that he did not want to hear me "shoving it in everyone's face" had Shannon won. I love the fact that people know I'm a dedicated Laker fan, but come on I really wouldn't be doing much trash talking if Shannon Brown had won a dunk contest. It would have been great had it happened, but all I care about is the Lakers winning another title. Like I said before, I still believe Shannon Brown is the best in-game dunker out of the four that participated in the contest. In-game dunks may just not translate well to a competition.

One final word for those reading this: the guy who launched LetShannonDunk.com is an ASU alum, and is a friend of mine. So I hope all you morons from ASU that were mocking LetShannonDunk take that into consideration after reading this.

Second Semester

I told all of you in one of my final posts in 2009 that I would do my best to avoid month long breaks in between posts, and I apologize because I haven't lived up to that promise yet. This is my first post of 2010, so now I really mean it when I say that I will not go another month without updating this blog.

Second semester at ASU is underway, and I've had about three weeks to get adjusted to my new schedule and classes. I'm already a lot busier than I was last semester, and I'm not at my apartment nearly as much as I was in the fall. I'm writing this and listening to ESPN Radio in an edit bay on the third floor of the Cronkite School. I'll give you a little rundown of my day to day schedule so you can see what I'm up to as I did in first semester.

Monday's and Wednesday's

11:00 a.m.- I wake up, take a shower, eat some lunch, and do any homework that I forgot to do the night before, or was just too lazy to do. I'm up at 7 a.m. on Tuesday's and Thursday's, so that's why I sleep late on Monday's and Wednesday's. (I'm 20 years old, I need my rest, so cut me come slack)

1:00 p.m.- I board the shuttle headed from Tempe to Downtown Phoenix. It's about a 20 minute drive and there's usually a lot of people on the bus. There's always a person on his or her cell phone the entire ride, or a group of people talking very loud, so I pop in my Ipod touch and enjoy my playlist of Lil' Wayne and other rap artists.

1:30 p.m.- I arrive at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and usually stop at the local Starbucks for a few minutes before I start my first class.

2:00 p.m.- First class of the day: Spanish Conversation and Composition. This class is very similar to the Spanish 5 class I took in my senior year of high school, the only difference is that my professor is very attractive, so it's safe to say that I enjoy all of the hour and 15 minutes of class time.

3:15 p.m.- Class is over and I have a break until 6:20 p.m. I usually go up to the third floor of the Cronkite building and hang out in one of the edit bays, kind of like what I'm doing at this very moment. I catch up on 24 and other T.V. shows I missed, in addition to listening to LA Sports Live and the Mason and Ireland Show on 710 ESPN.

6:20 p.m.- Final class of the day: Videography. Interesting class, as I'm learning how to shoot video packages. We're learning the basics of filming since we're just starting, but we get to use very nice equipment and my professor is a videographer for Fox, so he knows what he's doing.

8:30 p.m.- Done with classes, and I get on the shuttle headed back to Tempe. I spend the remainder of the night hanging out at my apartment.

Tuesday's

7:00 a.m.- Wake up bright and early for morning class.

8:00 a.m.- On the shuttle headed back downtown, and instead of listening to my Ipod on the way, I take a 20 minute nap.

9:00 a.m.- First class of the day: World Literature. The only reason why I'm taking this class is because the professor who teaches it is the same professor I had for an English class last year. She's very easy, so I think it's safe for me to guarantee that I will get an A in this class.

10:15 a.m. Done with class, and I've got about an hour and a half break. During this time I watch a replay WWE Monday Night Raw online, since I usually don't get to watch it live since my roomates are wrestling haters.

12:00 p.m.- Final class of the day: Political Science. I'm really not into politics, so maybe this class will change my ways and I'll be motivated to pay more attention once I'm done with the class? (Psh, who am I kidding, I still won't care about politics after this class, the only reason why I'm taking it is because it's a required course.)

1:15 p.m.- Done with class for the day, on the shuttle back to Tempe.

4:15 p.m.- I arrive at the Blaze studios, and get ready for an on-air update that I do at 4:30.

5:00 p.m.- Update is done, and now I'm on-the-air for The Squared Circle, one of my two radio shows I do at the Blaze. The Squared Circle is a wrestling show, where me and my co-hosts discuss the latest news and events in the world of the WWE. Now I know you probably think that an on-air show about wrestling is a joke, but it gives me practice and let's face it, if I can talk about wrestling for an hour, then I can probably talk about anything.

6:00 p.m.- The Squared Circle is done, and now I have an hour break before I go on-the-air for The Sports Lounge. I'm hungry, so I go right across the street to the best burger joint in Tempe, The Chuckbox. I get my bacon cheeseburger and onion rings, and then head back to the Blaze to do some prep work.

7:00p.m.- I'm on-the-air for The Sports Lounge, and unlike the Squared Circle, we talk about real sports.

8:00 p.m.- Sports Lounge is done, and I head back to my apartment for the remainder of the night.

Thursday's- Same schedule as Tuesday's, except I don't have my radio shows in the afternoon/evening. My roomates and I have a tradition to go to Buffalo Wild Wings every Thursday night. We all order 24 boneless wings, eat as much as we can, and then bring the rest back as leftovers. Thursday nights also mark the beginning of the weekend for me, since I don't have any classes on Friday's.

Friday-Sunday consists of my roomates and I watching a lot of sports, catching up on sleep, and going to parties. I'm having a blast with second semester thus far, I'll keep you posted as the semester progresses.

Don't want to wait for my new posts? Then check out my twitter and become a follower to see what I'm up to on a daily basis.