FanHouse Cleveland Cavaliers

He heard the question from ABC's Michele Tafoya, pondered it, removed his cap, cocked his head skyward, then shouted the line that defined not only his career but the Boston Celtics' return to NBA prominence. "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!" screamed Kevin Garnett, motioning to the banners and the heavens before breaking down and weeping in a friend's arms last June.

Alas, it took only 10 months to realize what suddenly isn't possible: the idea of the Celtics repeating as NBA champions without Garnett. That fatal twist is assured after a series of staggering events Thursday, when it became clear that the team's emotional leader and defensive force will miss the entire postseason with knee problems. With Garnett, the second championship in a potential dynasty run was possible. Without him, the Celtics can't beat LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, a rude awakening that has New England in mourning -- what, six titles involving three teams isn't enough this decade? -- and may have contributed to the stress levels of general manager Danny Ainge, who is said to be "recovering nicely" after a minor heart attack.

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Okay, here's a good one. We all know that NBA players are obsessed with stats and money, probably in that order. So when Cavs GM Danny Ferry decided to put some incentive-based bonuses in the contract of Larry Hughes, he flipped the script a little. According the Akron Beacon Journal, Hughes will reap a cool two mill if his team reaches 49 wins.

You don't hear about this kind of bonus in the NBA nearly as much as in the NFL, mainly because it's a lot easier to gun for numbers in basketball. And I guess there's nothing wrong with Hughes really wanting to win. It's a little odd, though, that this sets up as him being bribed to give extra effort down the stretch, when many players are taking it easy for the playoffs.

Two great ironies of the situation: Hughes got additional loot last season, even though he missed most of the second half. And, according to the Beacon Journal, it's by being unselfish that Hughes really helps the team win:

As the point guard, Hughes needs to be a team player for the Cavs to be effective. Hughes, who said he isn't thinking much about the potential payout, needs his teammates for the significant extra cash...Over the past two seasons, the Cavs are 30-5 when Hughes has five or more assists.

All of a sudden, Ferry kind of looks like a genius for this. Provided someone has shared the above information with Larry Hughes.

Each week I'll look at the players who would have the best shot at the league MVP award if the season ended today. Why? Because we're bound to disagree and fight each other with chain whips ...

1. Steve Nash, PG, Suns: The Suns beat the Mavs, again. Steve Nash did exactly what makes him a viable MVP candidate, Dirk didn't. Somehow, though, this makes Nash seem less convincing, too. He didn't really prove himself, he just didn't hurt himself--unlike last time these two met, when Mr. Two-Time went above and beyond our expectations. Shouldn't that be part of what makes an MVP: the ability to surprise even his biggest supporters?

2. Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Mavericks: I wish I could demote him, I really do. Nash at least has an excuse for not taking over on Sunday, since anything dominant that team does counts as him taking over. Unfortunately, no one else is pushing hard enough to unseat that "best player on best team" logic. I also will only ever say this once: point guards and traditional post players can hide behind the team, freak scorers like Dirk can't.

3. LeBron James, SF, Cavaliers: Ladies and gentlemen, your Eastern Conference Player of the Month. This humble horse from out of Cleve-town averaged 30.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 7 assists, leading the Cavs to an 11-5 record. He stepped up immensely in getting a win against the Pistons. And unlike the front runners, whose teams are stacked, or Kobe, whose team is lousy with him, he's a unquestioned alpha dawg whose squad responds to his magnificent example. I wonder if a whole season of this would be enough to leapfrog Nash or Dirk. Oh well. He'll get his three MVP's before it's all over.

I apologize for the choppy video quality ... blame Windows Vista.

Stephon Marbury hit a game-winner against the Cavs last night ... the ball molested the rim in all varieties of ways, but it did eventually drop, and the Knickerbockers get a quality win over the Cavs.

That capped a 4th quarter in which Ed Curry scored 13 of his 25 points to bring the Knicks back. There was a bit of bad news for the Knicks -- actually, we'll just call it a bit of news -- Steve Francis rolled his ankle in the first quarter. X-rays were negative.

LeBron James, not comfortable with his current living conditions, is building a new 35,000-square-foot house. The home will have a few nice things, some of which, I'm guessing, did not come with your home.

Dyer said the home has everything and is a "playground for adults."

The home will have a casino, two-lane bowling alley, barber shop, aquarium, sports bar and a recording studio.

Oh, good, a recording studio. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I'm tired of living in a world where professional basketball players have to leave their homes to record rap albums that no more than 12 people will ever purchase, and even fewer will ever enjoy.

What, no 24-hour Chinese restaurant? No drive-thru carwash? I think the place is big enough to house an actual university. I think that's what he should do. The east wing of the house should be home to LeBron James Junior College.

It's a lifestyle to which I can't relate, so some of this seems weird to me. Don't get me wrong, if I had LeBron's bank account, I'd have a house with some wild stuff in it, too. Like a petting zoo, filled with bisexual Brazilian lingerie models.

The casino seems odd to me, though. If LeBron's going to be the house, and his friends are going to come over and gamble ... is that legal? Is it legal for LeBron James to run a casino in his home? And if it's not, what's he going to do, hire a dealer, sit down and play some blackjack against his own money? "Hey, sweet, blackjack. Please move my money from this side of the table to the other side."

But, hey, a man's home is his castle. Enjoy, Bron.

Damon Jones is no stranger to public displays of, well, Damon. He hammed it up when Shaq and Wade landed him in the limelight, and this season made a big show of his Three-Point Shootout aspirations. I've always found him kind of pathetic, but others think he's a barrel of laughs.

This latest bit of Damonology, though, is definitely on the sad side. From Brian Windhorst's mighty Cavaliers Blog:

Not to say that Damon Jones is either disgruntled or assured he's moving elsewhere after this season, but he informed everyone within earshot Sunday that everything he had was for sale. His house, his cars, even his diamond-crusted watch, which Daniel Gibson wanted a price on. I won't say the number, but It seemed out of the rook's range. He asked LeBron if he'd buy his house, which he bought off Bob Sura for 600K according to my searching. LeBron quoted him a cash price, which Damon thought about but rejected.

What's weird here is that, were Jones just annoyed or ready to move on, he wouldn't have to dump all his earthly possessions. This really makes it look like Jones is in fact broke, or anticipating an absolute end to his NBA income. Both of those seem kind of unlikely, given that he's still in theory a decent long-range threat. So who knows, maybe this is just Damon being Damon.

Or maybe that Chinese shoe money just isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I've always been part of the "play LeBron at the point" movement, mostly because it would be awesome. Plus it wasn't ever clear that the Cavs had a better option. Eric Snow isn't even Eric Snow any more, Boobie Gibson is a shooter, and over-priced import Larry Hughes only became a player in Washington once he moved over to the two.

Apparently, that's never going to happen. At least not for a while, since the Cavs have solved their point guard woes...with Larry Hughes. From Cavalier Attitude:

Ever since installing Larry Hughes at the point on March 3rd against Toronto, the Cavs are a perfect 7-0. Even more impressively, they've had some of their biggest offensive explosions during this stretch, something that was a pipedream a few months ago when the stagnant offense prompted discouraging remarks by Hughes and LeBron James about head coach Mike Brown.

The rest of the post goes on to discuss the current, uplifting state of the Cavs in great detail. Highly recommended. But I'm not sure why they hadn't tried Hughes before this point. Yes, he struggled at the position early in his career, and at least early on in Washington, he was primarily a scorer and rebounder. Yet when he and Arenas tore it up in 2004-05, Hughes did his fair share of ballhandling and facilitating. With LeBron in the line-up, it's not like he'll ever have to really man the point.

This is great for Cleveland fans, but maybe even better for the rest of us. Not only is LeBron back in effect--his team isn't now totally painful to watch.

Via True Hoop, a lesson on the perils of trying to be a fan favorite. The Cavs' floppy-haired Anderson Varejao is the very definition of one: goofy appearance, brimming with effort and energy, emerged from obscurity. So you'd it would make sense that, in the waning moments of Sunday's game, he tried to do a little something for the fans. From the Akron Beacon-Journal:

As the final seconds ran off in the Cavaliers' 99-88 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Varejao decided to hoist up a 3-point attempt. It was Varejao's effort to appease the fans, who were vocally hoping for the Cavs to reach 100 points so they could get their free Taco Bell chalupa.

The shot was flat and so was the response.

Okay, so the fans are too dense to recognize a good thing. That's cool. What really threw Varejao off, though, was the response of his teammates.

The protocol in those situations is to dribble the ball out and then shake hands. The Cavs are trying to avoid a reputation as poor sports.

"We're not that type of team," LeBron James said. "He knows not to do that again; it is as simple as that. You never want to show off, and he definitely made a mistake and he learned from it."

Brian Windhorst's column also details Rick Carlisle (omnipresent) dirty look and some other Pacers staring. But first off, it's the Pacers. A thousand Troy Murphys couldn't make them into an authority on good behavior. And what's with LeBron calling out Varejao, when he has a commercial clowning Nate Robinson's 2006 Dunk Contest performance? I like LeBron as much as the next guy, but he seems awful opportunistic about showcasing what a well-rounded human being he is. Maybe because without those cues to feast on, he's not.

Rasheed Wallace is expected to return from his ankle injury on Wednesday against the Cavaliers. The Pistons struggled during Wallace's absence, losing two games to the Heat and Warriors and barely winning against the Grizzlies, the doormat of the NBA.

The casual fan may be surprised by this, especially since Rasheed is averaging just 12.4 points per game, his lowest mark since his rookie year. At a glance, it often looks like he spends half the time floating around by the three-point line and the other half yapping into a referee's ear. Heck, even when he's sitting out he manages to get on the wrong side of the league.

But the truth is that he's an underrated game-changer on defense, patrolling the air space above the paint his long, lanky arms. In his absence, big men like Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol enjoyed monster games, and the Warriors picked the Pistons apart with their constant driving into the paint. And when he's healthy (and motivated) on offense, Rasheed can still post up with the best of them -- his turnaround jumper on the block with his arms fully extended may be one of the few un-blockable moves in the entire NBA.

I can't tell if this is a truly significant thing, or something beyond trivial, but the Ohio State Buckeyes will not be wearing the traditional Nike logo on their uniforms during the NCAA tournament. Instead, they'll be wearing the LeBron James Nike logo (you can get a better look at it here).

On one hand ...

Never before have the lines between professional and amateur basketball been that blurred. You've got a group of college student athletes taking the floor wearing the logo of a man who had absolutely no use for college. LeBron's very presence almost makes a mockery of college. Not only is he so far past the idea, of college, but now he gets to actually brand the young men who aren't. I'm sure it didn't need it, but imagine the boost that gives to LeBron's ego.

And from LeBron's perspective ... he wants to be a "global icon"? I say this puts him more than halfway there. You see corporate logos on uniforms. You see the Nike swoosh, the three stripes of adidas, the RBK vector ... and now the LBJ23. Is he on that level? And did he get there while playing the most uninspired basketball of his career?

But on the other hand ...

Maybe it's just another corporate logo. Maybe it's just Nike goofing off a little bit, throwing a bone to their star endorser. Maybe it means nothing.

Feels like it does, though.