Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Cavs romp, LeBron teases, and the fans don't know what to think

Well as the Cavs finish up the hottest November in their history, including absolute demolitions of the Knicks, Thunder, and Warriors in four nights. Games in which LeBron barely had time to unsnap his pants before he was back on the bench for rest.

Interesting stats I saw yesterday--LeBron ranks like 39th in minutes per game this year, compared to top 3 or 4 most years. That, obviously, is an excellent sign. Although he's going to struggle to win the scoring title playing 30 minutes a game. Trade that for a ring? Also John Hollinger's Player Efffectiveness Ratings have Zydrunas Ilgauskas ranked #11 in the league, trailing only LeBron and a venerable who's who of perennial all-stars (and Devin Harris.)

Of course, it's early, and this week's competition was, shall we say, a little weak. But you need to beat the bad teams as well as the good teams, so this is a good sign.

Tonight they take the show back on the road versus the Bucks.

In other news, I think a couple people have been talking about LeBron leaving for the Knicks after next year, or of course, one of the other 28 teams in the league. LeBron coyly has fanned those flames, leading none other than Charles Barkley to tell LeBron to "shut the hell up."

"If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up," Barkley said in the Wednesday interview. "I'm a big LeBron fan. He's a stud. You gotta give him his props. I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years. I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers."
In response, LeBron called Barkley "stupid." Not that this will affect the Cavs at all, but similar to Mark Twain's advice "Never get into an argument with a man who buys ink by the barrel," LeBron should think twice about getting into a war of words with a guy who has basically his own TV show twice a week.