Despite the Heat’s signing of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, it was Joe Johnson and his $120+ contract who were the big winners in the NBA’s free agency market of 2010.
Setting Up the Joe Johnson Situation
The Atlanta Hawks were in a tough situation, or so they would have you believe. Their four-time All-Star and leading scorer, Joe Johnson, was out of contract at the end of the year and able to leave the Hawks as a free agent. The ownership group in Atlanta made resigning Joe Johnson it’s top off-season priority, feeling that the 53-win team had much more to give. Most fans in Atlanta would have welcomed Joe back with open arms, had he not run his mouth in the playoffs and put up an absolute stinker of a performance.
LeBron James is the biggest star in the NBA and one of the most famous athletes in the world. He has legions of adoring fans, including many from competing cities. But in 15 seconds, he ruined 7 years of goodwill (and his legacy) for nothing more than a 60 minute infomercial on ESPN.
On July 8th, roughly 30 minutes after 9pm Eastern Standard Time, LeBron announced his intentions to sign with the Miami Heat, joining fellow All-Stars Dwyane Wade & Chris Bosh. In doing so, he betrayed Cleveland fans and left the franchise gutted yet bloated with terrible contracts signed only to appease LeBron. Many can excuse LeBron for wanting to change teams. But no one can excuse the manner in which he did it — on live TV, with no warning. His public jilting of Cleveland is akin to a woman delivering a baby with her husband by her side, only to tell him it’s not his right before the baby is born.
Athletes change teams all the time. When contracts end, they are allowed to seek employment elsewhere. Sometimes in the middle of a contract, their team decides it is best to part ways. That is part of sports. Sport leagues are (for the most part) run as businesses and even fans understand this. Loyalty is expected by fans, but most recognize that if a better deal comes along it simply must be considered by the athlete who has at most a 10-15 year earning window. But one thing fans do not expect (and certainly detest) is false hope.
Little Nate Robinson may only stand 5 foot 7 inches, but he saved the city of Boston from a humiliating loss.
Nate Robinson scored 13 points in 8 minutes of the first half as the Boston Celtics eliminated the Orlando Magic in the pivotal game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. The former New York Knickerbocker energized the aging Celtics off the bench, scoring in bunches. The veterans, most notably Paul Pierce, followed suit and bombed the Orlando Magic who failed on their attempt to become the only team in NBA history to win a 7-game series after going down 3-0.
Instant offense is exactly what is expected of Nate Robinson. Like Jamal Crawford in Atlanta or Vinny Johnson of the Pistons years back, Nate is there to do one thing: score. Tonight, on the biggest stage of his career, Nate delivered. The Celtics had all the pressure on them going into Game 6. A comfortable 3-0 series lead had been swept away by aggressive play from the Magic. Dwight Howard looked like a new man and the Celtics were having trouble containing the spritely Jameer Nelson. A loss tonight and all the momentum would be with Orlando, and the deciding game would be on their court.
The Celtics took no chances and came out aggressive. Early foul trouble on Jameer and Dwight, horrific three point shooting, and a renewed commitment to defense by the Celtics gave the Magic very little hope of winning this game. Credit the Celtics for regrouping and delivering a championship-caliber performance, even though Rondo still hasn’t found his groove since Game 3.
Ron Artest has had a bad year with Los Angeles. But his Game 5 tip-in at the buzzer of the Western Conference Finals may have punched LA’s ticket to the Finals.
Ron-Ron, as he is known in NBA circles, has not had the incredible impact that was expected when he arrived in LA from Houston in a trade that sent the playoff-peaking Trevor Ariza to the Rockets. Long praised as a defensive stopper, Artest no longer strikes fear in opponents. Though his play against Kevin Durant helped LA overcome the Oklahoma City Thunder, Artest has done very little on the offensive again.
In Thurday’s Game 5 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles was cruising against an out-of-sorts Phoenix team. Shooting poorly and with an uncharacteristically low number of assists, Phoenix was unable to get any flow going. Not so for the LA Lakers. Led by Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom, they were finding holes in the new Alvin Gentry zone and when not exploiting the middle, hitting deep threes.
No team in the history of the NBA has ever lost a 7-game series when leading 3-0. But the pressure is on the Boston Celtics to win tonight at home, or risk failing in historic fashion.
Blown out by the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday, the Boston Celtics return to Beantown and try to regroup. What was once a laughable series dominated by Boston, Wednesday’s impressive victory by the Orlando Magic has made this series a near coin flip. Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis have yet to earn 10% of their bloated salaries, but the performances of All-Star Dwight Howard and the resurgent Jameer Nelson are driving the Magic back into the form they enjoyed during the regular season.
Dwight Howard was a man among boys in Game 5: hammer dunking, fly-swatting shots, running the break and even hitting a few free throws. Boston lost its best big man, Kendrick Perkins, after two dubious technical fouls in the 2nd quarter. His backup, Big Baby Glen Davis, was leveled by an errant Howard elbow, dropping him like a stone. As Davis stumbled and faltered about the court, suffering the effects of a concussion, he was a the perfect image of the Celtics last two games: unbalanced and unable to execute the most basic of plays.
The good news, if there is any, from yesterday is the Kendrick Perkins had a technical rescinded, so he will be able to match up against Dwight. The key for the Celtics is Rondo. His tentative play has taken them from world beaters to rec center backups. He must improve and energize the Boston crowd. The pressure is squarely on the Celtics tonight in Game 6. Lose and they must travel back to Orlando, where despite losing twice in this series, the Magic are normally very difficult to beat. Add to the Celtics woes that no team has ever lost a 7-game series after leading 3-0 and any Game 7 scenario may be too much.
Mike Woodson was fired by the Atlanta Hawks after taking the Atlanta Hawks to their best regular season finish in more than a decade. Should it come as any surprise that the regular season Eastern Conference champions have fired their coach?
Mike Brown was let go by the Cleveland Cavaliers after 5 seasons as head coach. The one-time assistant for the Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, and the Indiana Pacers, was the only coach that NBA All-Star LeBron James has ever had. That is both good news and bad news for Brown. With LeBron comes instant wins but monumental expectations.
Brown is one of the most successful coaches in Cavs history, going 314-177 in the last two years and qualifying for the playoffs in each of his five years. However, after winning the coach of the year award in 2009, a year where the Cavalies won 66 games, he was unable to duplicate regular season success into playoff wins. NBA finalists in 2007 (the only appearance in Cleveland history), the Cavaliers have backslid every year, losing to the Orlando Magic in teh Eastern Conference finals last year and bowing out to the aged Celtics in the second round this year.
Brown’s fate was sealed by the performance of his team in this year’s playoffs. A sluggish and well contested first round series against a scrappy Bulls team may have been a sign of things to come. Despite excellent performances by LeBron James, the Cavs were never comfortable in the series. Game 1 of the second round against the Boston Celtics started ominously for the Cavs as they trailed by double-digits well into the second half. But a LeBron outburst in the fourth quarter led to a win and a 1-0 series lead. Two more games, and it was 2-1 for Cleveland. Inexplicably, the team lost 3 games in a row, some in blowout fashion to a Celtics team on the backside of their careers.
Setting Up the Joe Johnson Situation
