FanHouse Mo WIlliams

ORLANDO -- Mike Brown made like an emcee for a lounge act.

With his pregame interview Wednesday night running out of steam, the Cleveland coach suddenly saw his point guard, Mo Williams, walk by. Brown yelled for Williams to come over and say a few words to the assembled media.

Williams rolled out some early material about how his alma mater, Alabama, was going to continue to do some damage on the gridiron. Then he got to the good stuff.

"You all ready for a show tonight?'' he said. "Because I'm going to give you all one tonight.''

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ORLANDO -- Mo Williams just scoffed at the suggestion Wednesday afternoon that his Cleveland Cavaliers won't be as good this season because of the changes they made to the roster.

The biggest change was adding center Shaquille O'Neal. The Cavs won a league-best 66 games last season before losing in the Eastern Conference final to the Magic, their opponent tonight.

"It's too early to tell anything,'' Williams said after practice, almost miffed at the suggestion that they have gone backward. "But obviously, we can be better. We have the personnel to be better. You can't make any assumptions this early.''

ORLANDO -- If the state of Texas is planning on any commercials during NBA games over the next week, officials might want to hold off. Cleveland's Daniel Gibson will be a walking advertisement.

Just in time for Wednesday's big nationally televised game at Orlando, the guard has shaved onto the left side of his head a big map of Texas with a star on it. While it is the Lone Star State, Gibson, who is from Houston and a big baseball fan, calls it an "Astros star.''

"I'm the first one,'' Gibson claimed about being the initial NBA player with a state shaved onto his head for a game.

Title Chaste is the diary of Matt Snyder in his season a virgin fantasy basketball player.

Well, that didn't take long. Thanks to Mo Williams, Danny Granger, Amare Stoudemire, Brook Lopez, Jason Terry, Andrea Bargnani and Shawn Marion, I won my first career fantasy basketball game. I should also point out I owe the scheduling for the victory as well, because my team checked in as the sixth-highest scorer out of 12. Really, it could have gone either way. This victory was a sign that being lucky is just as worthwhile as being smart in fantasy basketball, just as I already knew in fantasy baseball and fantasy football. On the other hand, skill is still paramount -- as the top scorer for the week was, not surprisingly, Tom Lorenzo.

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Folks who frequent the fantasy sports version of this website are likely familiar with my work in the fantasy baseball and fantasy football sections. I have been playing both of those games since the mid-'90s. To those people, I have news for you: I have never played fantasy basketball. Until now. I'm diving right into our FanHouse fantasy basketball league on Fleaflicker.

On top of my inexperience, I haven't even watched more than a few minutes of an NBA game since May 19, 2005. That was the date of Reggie Miller's final NBA game. During that season, the Pacers -- my favorite team since the days of Wayman Tisdale, John Long and Steve Stipanovich -- had ruined my love for the NBA. Thanks a lot, Ron Artest, Jamaal Tinsley and Stephen Jackson!

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Cool things happen when a team trades for a center who has at least one MVP trophy on his mantel.

Wilt Chamberlain got traded, and won a championship. He was traded again, and won another title.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was dealt, and won five more crowns.

Bob McAdoo got traded, and later won two rings.

Bill Walton was shipped away, and eventually got another title.

Moses Malone was traded. You guessed it. He won a championship.

Shaquille O'Neal was dealt. He won a ring to add to the three already on his fingers.

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In our inaugural edition of the NBA Twitter mailbag, we've got some interesting topics to get us started. How will Shaq's ego fit in Cleveland? Is Kevin Durant getting the attention he deserves? And what's left on the Celtics' summer to-do list?

These questions and more, answered for you below.

Rasheed Wallace is one of the last major free agent names to make a commitment, and if the reports turn out to be true (thanks to Hedo Turkoglu, you can never be too sure), he'll be suiting up to start the 2009 season as a member of the Celtics.

Our own Matt Steinmetz thinks that makes Boston the favorite to take home the title next year. But to me, that seems -- to put it as politely as possible -- a bit overly-optimistic.

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Well we are here, perhaps the deepest and most pivotal draft in recent NBA memory, filled with so many impact players at the top and some scattered in the middle. This will always be known as the LeBron draft, but its reputation was further enhanced by the stellar careers of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony.

This draft was loaded, even with second-round gems such as Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Kyle Korver, Mo Williams, James Jones and Willie Green. Even the international prospect proved worthy such as Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa and Mickael Pietrus.

Editor's Note: The following is an updated version of Saturday's Game 6 column.

Isiah Thomas was the original poor loser and superstar mope. His image never recovered after he and his Pistons teammates, unable to accept the collapse of their mini-dynasty, snubbed Michael Jordan and the Bulls by refusing to shake hands. It's one of the last practices of good sportsmanship we have left in the athletic arena, a ritual that should be preserved.

LeBron James, arguably the best team-sports athlete in the world these days, dumped all over that playoff tradition Saturday night. The least he can do, while thrusting his commercial ambitions in America's face every other TV timeout, is be a man and congratulate Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic instead of blowing out of Amway Arena without even a nod to the Eastern Conference champions. Yes, I understand James is 24, feeling the weight of his eventual place in history and surely wondering if Cleveland is feasible as his long-term base in a career that demands multiple titles.