You know how some people just “Get It”? Well the Knicks are one of those ‘people’. They are just so in tuned to whats going on and so well run, it’s no wonder they keep winning championships. They make strong hires from the get go.  They are great at the draft. Always get their guy. Oh, and they play great defense with their coach.

Wait, that’s Spurs, or… The Lakers.  Or really anyone but the Knicks.

Isiah Thomas is BACK!! great news for everyone named Isiah Thomas.

Isiah Thomas cost the Knicks over 200 million dollars whlie he was with the team via his contract, absurd luxury tax costs due to high payroll, and his 12 million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit that they settled on with an intern.

Playoffs were never even really an option, even though they had double the salary that anyone else did.

No question Thomas is one of the greatest players of all time, and no one can forget his sprained ankle quarter where he put up like 30 points in a quarter in the playoffs. But he will also go down as not only the worst coach, but also the worst GM in NBA history (Kahn is making a hard push for it though).

Thomas will be hired as a “consultant” which means to me that they’ll eventually give him GM-ship and then the coaching reigns once again.

Isiah was just coaching FIU (and will “stay there”) last year. They put up a solid fight in UNC”s opener last year (which made me realize off the bat how bad UNC was going to be). But he had to coach for free, no one would touch him. I guess he needed money, and the Knicks have plenty of that. I’m sure he’s had a positive impact at a non-existant college basketball program with recruiting. But come on, Knicks, are we really going down this road again?

This is definitely the #1 reason Lebron James made the right decision to not go to the Knicks…. They sent Isiah to represent their team during the recruiting push.

I don’t think America/the World is ready to stop hearing about Lebron James and his media antics the last few weeks. And here to comply, I’ve got two more great spoofs.

First takes the footage of Hul Hogan defecting to the WWF or some wrestling federation years and year ago, dubbed over with Wade/Bosh/Lebron faces and names.  Hilarious:

This spoof dubs over “The Decision” (which keep in mind raised 3 million for charity) with Lebron announcing he is gay.  And somehow it isn’t cheesy at all and is perfectly done:

]]> http://pickingpros.com/blog/nba/two-more-great-lebron-spoofs-videos/feed/ 0 http://pickingpros.com/blog/nba/the-decision-as-mocked-by-simmons-on-sportsnation-and-steve-carell-on-espys/ http://pickingpros.com/blog/nba/the-decision-as-mocked-by-simmons-on-sportsnation-and-steve-carell-on-espys/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:18:52 +0000 Britt Engelbrecht http://pickingpros.com/blog/?p=343 Tweet

A lot has been made about Lebron and his “decision” and the incredible backlash that ensued. Bill Simmons had a great mockery of it with his decision on SportsNation as to whether he would re-up on his Clippers tickets for the upcoming season, or change to another team.

Steve Carell with Paul Rudd on the ESPY’s also mocked it with some shameless restaurant plugs.

Carell and Rudd on the ESPY’s “The Decision”:

Simmons on SportsNation “The Decision”:

Ron Artest makes sure everyone is entertained at his post-game news conference. A little champagne really makes the crazy come out in Ron-Ron. Unfortunately we didn’t get to settle the Sheed-Artest, who-would-win that-fight argument in game, but this clip from Artest is well worth 10 minutes to watch.

Tyler McGill, Celtics fan, somehow got his friends to bet him that he wouldn’t walk from Madison Square Garden in downtown New York, to the TD Garden in Boston. The distance? 200 miles.  This idiot/genius walked 200 miles in order to get his buddies to buy him tickets to game 3, 4, and 5 at Boston vs the Lakers.  This probably netted him a cool $1000-$2000 worth of tickets PER GAME ($3k-$6k Total).

That works out to be about $15-$30 per mile, and about $45-$90 an hour for this guy. Check out the CBS News video:

Don’t let Phil Jackson’s laid back demeanor fool you, He’s got plenty to cheer for for game 7.  Throughout these playoffs, Phil has seemingly taken every timeout break to state the obvious about the game, and let his players motivate themselves.

While this has proved successful with 9 championships handed to him by Shaq and MJ, and last year’s first great coaching job to the cahmpionship.

He actually does have incentive to win game 7 tomorrow versus the Celtics.

2 Million Bucks. According to ESPN.com, Phil Jackson has a $2 million dollar trigger bonus in his contract for winning the NBA title this year.  And while he already made $12 million this year, an extra 16% to anyones salary is significant.  So if theres any way to go out for retirement, it’s an extra $2 million to drop into that 401k.  Good Luck Phil, get yourself some more suits like the Bulls’ days.

Please lose, Kobe.

The celebrity of Cleveland actually does realize that their entire economy depends on Lebron James playing basketball in Cleveland.

So they decided to get everyone who has ever been famous from Cleveland into a video singing a Lebron rendition of “We Are The World”.  The only problem is the most famous person they had in the song was an MTV’s Real World personality.  They did get the Ohio governor, which tells you how important him staying with the Cavs really is for Ohio and it’s people.

Check it out:

And the Lyrics:

Please stay LeBron! Lyrics: There comes a time, when a decision must be made Will the King, move on or will he stay? We’re helplessly waiting, as we hold our breath in fear. Should we renew, our tickets for next year? Please stay LeBron, We really need you No bigger market’s gonna love you half as much as we do It’s a choice you’re making, will you go or will you stay…. What will we do with that big sign, if you move away? Just tell us King, what changes we must make, We’ll rename every street ‘LeBron’ if that’s what it takes…. New York’s overcrowded, Those people are unbearable, And don’t forget, the Knicks and Nets are terrible…. Please stay LeBron, we really need you, No bigger market’s gonna love you half as much as we do…

So overall it wasn’t too terrible, and definitely worth the effort to keep Lebron.  He’s a smart guy, and he’ll realize that the business contacts he’ll associate with for the rest of his career are pretty poor in comparison to those in New York, Chicago, and LA.

Good effort Cleveland, keep trying.

What’s the message?  I need help, I do it alone every game.  There is no other team, no less a powerhouse team like this in the NBA, and Lebron wants you to realize it.  Now Bron-bron does have a very good supporting cast, with Mo Williams, an aging Shaq and Antwan Jamison.  None of these guys really create their own offense. Jamison is a perfect fit with Lebron because he gets 18 points/8 rebounds without running him a single set.  Shaq has to hog possessions where he generally gets overly aggressive and commits a offensive foul or throws a low arcing brick at the back of the rim.  Mo Williams needs to get hot to get in his game, or get a wide open look from 3 from Lebron.

So what does any of this have to do with Lebron? He wants you to know how good he is, and how dependant the Cavs are on his game. Only once all season did he have 3 field goals like he did on Tuesday.  And only once did he have only 4 FG. And only 5 times all season did he have fewer than the 15 he had in game 5.  In every single one of those 5 games, he had 9 assists, and was very involved. Lebron took a huge back seat in this game. If you watched, you know how lackadaisical Lebron played, and when he was open and felt forced to shoot, he shot the ball to the short front of the rim and started walking back on defense.

Lebron either wanted to set everyone up for a fantastic game 6 and game 7 out of him, or to set everyone up to accept free agency. He proved there isn’t any help from his teammates.  Shaq had one of his best games of the season with 21 points (7-11 fg, 7-10 ft) and 4 blocks.  But he is the only guy who showed up, and hes one of the teams least talented players on the roster at his age. The fact is, Shaq is the only player capable of stepping up, but his talent/age doesn’t allow that on a nightly basis.  Mo Williams folded, 3-8: 9 pts.  Jamison folded, 4-10: 9 pts.  Mike Brown blew it not playing the only guys that consistently play hard on every possesion: Varejao: 17 minutes (28 avg), Delonte West: 9 minutes (25 avg), J.J. Hickson: 4 minutes (20 avg).

So should we really tarnish Lebron’s reputation because he decided to not show up in a game 5 of the eastern semifinals? No, its a game 5. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals…. And I’d say he proved his point pretty well. We shuold be giving him credit.  That’s how good he really is.  They lost because the role players couldn’t step up.  Lebron has to have a good game every night if the Cavs have a chance.

The Lakers are arguably better when Kobe isn’t playing, until he needs to take over in the 4th.  The Magic have won most of their playoff games with Dwight Howard in foul trouble on the bench. When Lebron doesn’t have a phenomenal game, and the role players can’t step up, they lose, almost every time.

Let’s just wait this one out and see what point he was proving in game 6 and game 7.

The Cleveland Cavaliers essentially traded for Antawn Jamison for one of the last picks in the first round of the draft.  Sounds like a fair trade.  The Washington Wizards need to save money and cap room and the Cavaliers wanted to bolster their team for their championship push.  The Wizards also received Big Z Ilgauskas but he will eventually be waved and resigned with the Cavs in 30 days, like Jerry Stackhouse with the Mavs last year.

So what does this mean for the Cavs?  Instant Championship.  Jamison is one of the most underrated players in the NBA and has been for many years.  He isn’t as explosive offensively as Stoudemire who was rumored to be heading to Cleveland instead, but hes probably a better offensive player.  And Stoudemire is essentially worthless on defense, Jamison has a very high basketball IQ and will help the Cavs defend the Odom’s and Lewis’ in the late stages of the NBA playoffs.

Jamison plays from the perimeter and works his way inside.  So he won’t just be clogging up the lane with Shaq like Stoudemire would.  You don’t have to run any sets for Jamison to do his part like you do with Shaq and would need to for Stoudemire.  Jamison fills up the stat sheets in the natural flow of the game, just making teams better.  He puts up 20 ppg and 9 rebounds without too many sets run for him and hes done it every year he’s been in the league.  This instantly makes the Cavs a much better team, and a favorite over the Las Angeles Lakers for the NBA championship.

But was it a good idea?  Well if the Cavaliers assume Lebron is leaving after this season and signing with a team with more financial ability it was a great move.  I mean really just one of those Gasol to LA for Kwame Brown trades that is just genius and is instant championship in a bag, just add water.  But if you were trying to keep Lebron long term, it was a huge mistake.

Lebron wants to sign with a team that has flexible cap space and can bring in another big time star like Chris Bosh of Toronto to play along side of them.  While the Cavaliers have shown the commitment to winning by bringing in and paying Shaq, and now Jamison (33 yrs old, 2 years, 28 million contract), they have strapped themselves financially.  Even though Shaq’s 22 million and Big Z’s 12 million wont be on the payroll for next year, with Jamison they now have a commitment of over 50 million dollars for the 2010-2011 season.  Big problem.  The salary cap is projected to be lower than this years 57 million, meaning there would only be 7 million dollars to sign another big name player which obviously isn’t enough.  Now that 7 million dolalrs worth of room doesnt’ include Lebron.  While they will go way over the cap resigning him, it’s allowed under the CBA since he is a veteron player who has been with the Cavs.  But it does mean they cant sign Bosh, Stoudemire, Boozer, any big talent young big guy who is a free agent this off season.  The only option is signing a player to the mid level exception.

Had they taken Stoudemire, it could have been an audition of sorts to see if him and Lebron can play long term.  And just for the record, I think Stoudemire is garbage unless packaged with a Steve Nash, Lebron James, or Dwayne Wade.  He would have worked very well with Lebron and there would have been a ton of highlight reels from every game to prove it.  And if things didn’t work out with Stoudemire they simply do not resign him and go with Bosh or Boozer (Who Cavs management would never resign after he screwed them 4 years ago).  So while I firmly believe Jamison would allow the Cavs to easily win 2 out of the next 3 NBA championships, it doesn’t provide the long term talent and roster Lebron is looking for to go after a pocket full of NBA championship over the next 10 years and will eventually lead him out of town.