Lebron James May Cost Rap Mogul $2Million Dollars!

 Yup people you read right. $2 Million smackers! That’s the insane amount of cheddar that Cash Money CEO Brian “Birdman” Williams is willing to bet that Lebron James and his over glorified teammates bring home the championship during this years NBA Finals!
Check out Birdman’s rather bold tweet below:



Whoosh! He must really believe in D Wade & Co. to even put up this kind of loot. But then again, its not like he hasn’t done this before.

Brandon Roy’s Days In Portland Might Just Be Numbered

Now-a-days it’s never good news when Brandon Roy is the topic of conversation coming out of Portland. The former NBA All-Star may have a single year left to prove himself to be healthy enough to carry the Portland Trail Blazers.
According to some sources, the Blazers front office is trying real hard to figure out what to do with Roy. Their choices right now seem to be, “They can bring him back and see how much he can play, release him through the N.B.A’s amnesty clause, or induce him to retire.”
Oregonian columnist John Canzano is one person who is siding with Brandon over the team in this instance:

“I don’t for a second believe that Roy will retire. I don’t think he believes he’s done, nor would any physician who examined him. Again, Game 4. Period. End of discussion. But I do believe that Roy’s pride is the true wildcard.”

“I still believe Roy can play at a high enough level to make keeping him worthwhile. I believe developing a new role for him is not only the best option, but also the only option. He’d be overpaid in each of the next four seasons, but at the very least they’d get something in return.” -Source

It’s not fair for Roy to be put in this situation. As soon as he got injured, he’s pretty much been treated like he can’t bring value to the team anymore.

If Portland wants to help themselves and Roy out, they need to pick up another star during the off-season to take some more pressure off of Roy as a go-to scorer.

Daniel Gibson Takes A Shot At LeBron James’ ‘Greatness’

 

The back and forth between LeBron James and Cleveland continues on to this day. Everytime the Queen opens his mouth about his situation in Cleveland, something bad is almost guarenteed to come of it.
After the Miami Heat defeated the Chicago Bulls, for some reason James felt like he needed to address what happened while he was in Cleveland once again:

“I wanted to team up with some guys that would never die down in the moment. The opportunity presented itself with this great organization and we made it happen.”- James

One of LeBron closet friends with the Cavaliers was Daniel Gibson but he didn’t appreciate that comment at all:

“The way it’s said, you can’t help but take it personal. I would prefer to talk to him personally and say, ”Exactly what did you mean when you said this comment? What point were you trying to make?”…I take comments like that and when you speak out and you feel the need for everybody to hear what you are saying, it’s kind of like admission.

By you saying that, I don’t think great players should feel the need to say this about a team or say that about a team. I think what it all boils down to if you’re great, you go play great, be great and everybody will realize you’re great. And you wouldn’t have to let it be known that everybody else was less great.

Great players shouldn’t have to do that. So I feel like it’s kind of an admission. He might have needed some help. He might have needed to go somewhere and find someone who is a little greater so maybe he wouldn’t die down in those moments.” -Source

POW! Talk about using someone’s own words against them!

It seems like every chance Queen James gets to diminish his failures in Cleveland, he runs with it, but Gibson hit the nail on the head. James said he wanted teammates who wouldn’t “die down in the moment” kind of like he did in the 2007 NBA Finals. 

So what does he do? He leaves Cleveland and joins Dwyane Wade, a NBA Finals MVP, in Miami rather then convince Wade or any other number of stars to come to his “Kingdom” in Cleveland.
LeBron should just stop talking about the Cavs altogether, nothing good will come out of it.

Lebron Needs To Realize There’s No Point In Trying To Hold On Any Longer!

It’s over for that hairline bro! Just pull a “Mike” and rock the baldy.  Who knows, it just might fit you because that ridiculous attempt to hide your receding hairline with a headband DOESN’T!

Just let it go bro. Just let it go. 

Check Out Who’s Being Called The Next Kobe Bryant

Marshon Brooks could end up being the steal of the 2011 NBA Draft depending on where the Providence shooting guard is drafted.

He hasn’t been labeled as a lottery pick by ‘draft experts’ for some reason, but he’s been compared to none other than Kobe Bean Bryant.

Jimmer Fredette out of BYUwas on everyone’s radar as the best scorer in college basketball last season, but how many of those people know that Brooks was the second leading scorer (24.6)?
The Kobe comparisons don’t come as a shock to Brooks because not only does he model his game after the Lakers‘ star, but he works out with his trainer, Tim Grover, as well. Yet and still, Brooks doesn’t like the comparisons:

“I don’t like that,” Brooks said during an interview at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. “I think the respect I have for Kobe is out of this world. I look up to him. I don’t think anyone that hasn’t scored a point in the NBA should be compared to him.”

“Honestly, I watch tape sometimes and see why people would say that,” Brooks said. “I can see where they get that from, but I’m just going to keep working.” -Source

The thing about him that will remind people of Kobe, the player he grew up emulating, is the variety of ways this college senior can get his shot off. NBA teams may not love him yet, but he’s got the confidence you want in a scorer.

Right now, he’s slated as a late first round pick or an early second round pick which would definitely make this kid a steal in this year’s draft.

Lakers' Gasol wants to play for Spain this summer

MADRID (AP)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol says he wants to play for Spain at this summer's European Championship.
Gasol confirmed his availability for the defending champions on Wednesday after missing last year's World Championship in Turkey, where Spain finished sixth.
According to the Spanish basketball federation's website, Gasol says that ''if the coach feels he can count on me then I want to help the team win another European'' title.
Gasol helped Spain to a 2006 world title and a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics.
The decision comes after the Dallas Mavericks swept Gasol's Lakers 4-0 in the conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs.
The Euros will be played in Lithuania from Aug. 31 to Sept. 18.

Ricky Rubio Is Coming To Minnesota

 

Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio has finally agreed to come to Minnesota and play for the Timberwolves. The Wolves used their fifth pick to draft Rubio in the 2009 draft but he went back to Spain to play two more years. Rubio supposedly wasn't thrilled about playing in Minnesota or the fact that they took Jonny Flynn with the sixth overall pick. Flynn's also a point guard and I have no idea what the T-Wolves were thinking.

Rubio is still only 20 years old and has proved himself on the big stage before. Ricky played in the 2008 Olympics and became the youngest players, at 17, to play in an Olympic basketball final. Ricky started the final against the USA and collected 6 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. This is big for Minnesota who now have a very legitimate young squad. Led by big man Kevin Love, the Wolves could be looking at a nice turn around from there rough performance last year. Their starting five could look like this:

G- Ricky Rubio
G- Jonny Flynn
F- Michael Beasley
F- Kevin Love
C- Darko Milicic
6th man- Derrick Williams?

I'd love to be a Timberwolves fan now. All these players are young and they could very well be the next up and coming team, kinda like Oklahoma City.

Watch this clip of Ricky Rubio just abusing Jason Kidd at the 2008 Olympics.

NBA Could Force Miami Heat To Breakup Big Three?

 According to a recent report in the Palm Beach Post, the NBA could force the Miami Heat to trade one of their three star players if the team can’t fit all three under the hard salary cap that could result from this summer’s collective-bargaining negotiations.

Said the paper:

If the NBA emerges from this summer’s collective-bargaining negotiations with a hard salary cap, Commissioner David Stern said, it’s possible the Heat wouldn’t be able to keep all three superstars…

“That’s part of the negotiation,” Stern said before Game 1 [of the NBA Finals]. “This is very complex. If there’s a will, we’ll be able to work all those issues out.”

Like the NFL, the NBA is headed to a lockout on July 1 if the players and owners can’t agree to a new collective-bargaining agreement by June 30, the date when the CBA expires.

Dwyane Wade signed a $107 million contract with the Heat last summer. LeBron James and Chris Bosh both signed $110 million contracts.

Breaking News: Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki is not engaged to Swedish girlfriend

 Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is not engaged to his Swedish girlfriend Jessica Olsson, a team representative confirmed.

Mediatakeout.com circulated a false report that was picked up by Dallas-Fort Worth news outlets that Nowitzki became engaged a few days before the start of tonight's NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.
Olsson is not at American Airlines Arena tonight to watch Game 1 in Miami. Nowitzki's parents also didn't make the trip over from Germany to watch their son play in the NBA Finals in Miami.

Scottie Pippen Continues His Assault On The Chicago Bulls

Scottie Pippen has already found himself in some hot water with Bulls fans over the last week when he said that LeBron James may be a better overall player than Michael Jordan was. Which on the Chicago Bulls Scale of Blasphemy ranked somewhere around 132 on a scale of 1-10 considering that LeBron James had just done to the Bulls to knock them out of the playoffs.

So you might think that Scottie would step back a bit and let things cool down before opening up about his feeling again. You would be wrong, however, as Scottie has fired some more shots at the Bulls this week, though he did make sure to focus on the current team this time.

"They made Derrick work too hard for his offense. That's why he ended up shooting 9-for-29 [in Game 5 on Thursday night and 42-for-120 for the series]," Scottie Pippen told ESPNChicago.

"They hound [Rose] off the pick with two guys who are 6-9, so he has to make a pass. And now you give it to a guy who can't make a play. Derrick passes to Joakim, Joakim passes it back and now the shot clock is against him.

"How can you be efficient when you don't even have to make the defense move or shift, because they're not rotating to Joakim, they're not doubling Boozer. You put a little traffic around Boozer, and he couldn't hold on to the ball anyway. I don't know if his toe was the cause of [some of his poor play], but it doesn't explain bad hands. He didn't perform."

And just in case Scottie was worried he was alienating anybody with these comments, he made sure to criticize Tom Thibodeau as well.

"Kurt's number should have been called many, many games ago," Pippen said. "We got to this point with Kurt Thomas, not without him. He's a hard-nosed guy, he gives hard fouls, he carried minutes and was a starter during the season. And then in the postseason, we felt we could win with guys who could get us there but not guys who actually did get us there. It kind of downplayed what the bench did for us all season.

"[Thomas] could have been the guy to come in and knock shots down. To me, you weren't utilizing what he can do for you. Like [Udonis] Haslem, when [Dwyane] Wade wasn't making shots in Game 3, they kept running pick-and-roll plays [for Haslem] because he was making plays. We never went back to Kurt after he made plays."

Now keep in mind that Pippen works for the Bulls as an ambassador, much like the Blackhawks do with Denis Savard, Bobby Hull and Tony Esposito. He's not just a former player hanging out at the United Center taking shots at the team. He's a Bulls employee, and I'm not sure that saying these things publicly is the best way for him to go about his business.

That being said, I don't think he's in any danger of being fired. He's Scottie Pippen.

Also in his favor? He's absolutely correct in everything he said. Scottie wasn't saying anything that plenty of Bulls fans haven't been saying for a while now. Hell, I'd been crying for Kurt Thomas to get some playing time since the Atlanta series. So unlike the LeBron/Jordan comparisons -- comparisons that really weren't as far off as most of us want to believe -- there's nothing Pip said that we can be upset with him here. We can just be upset with the Bulls.

Shaq Announces Retirement Via Twitter

Boston Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal may be finally calling it a career. This video was just posted via “The Diesel”‘s twitter account:

O’Neal will go down as one of the most dominant forces in NBA history, playing for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. His 19-year career accolades include 92-93 Rookie Of The Year, three consecutive NBA Finals MVP awards (00-02), 2000 NBA MVP and 15 All-Star appearances. Shaq, who over the course of his career averaged 23.7 ppg and 10.9 rpg, is also the NBA career leader in field goal percentage (.582) and ranks 13th overall in total rebounds (13,099), 8th in blocks (2,732), and 7th in total points (28,596). His always entertaining personality and display of raw talent mixed with brute force will be missed in the NBA.

Over the course of his career Shaq had the privilege of playing alongside some of the best best guards/wing players in the league, including Penny Hardaway in Orlando, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, Dwyane Wade in Miami and Lebron James in Cleveland, winning four championships along the way (three in LA and one with Miami). Shaq was also one of the most marketable “big men” in sports, with a successful rap and acting career included in his career achievements.

You can love him or hate “The Big Aristotle”, but there will definitely never be another “SHAQ”.

Oh No!! Monta Ellis Could Land In Chicago, Memphis Or Minnesota

So far this offseason, most NBA trade rumors have featured one of two names – Rudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies and Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors. As draft day approaches, those rumors are likely to ramp up and in the past 24 hours, Ellis’ name has been linked to a few more places.

First, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News wrote that the Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies may be interested. A trade with the Bulls could include Luol Deng while a Grizzlies deal might include Gay or O.J. Mayo (who was reportedly offered to the Warriors for Ellis in the past).
Earlier on Wednesday, ESPN’s Chad Ford speculated that the Warriors could move Ellis to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second overall pick. Whether the T-Wolves are really interested in trading the pick is still uncertain. There have been rumors that the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to swing a deal that would give them the first two picks in the draft. But Minnesota’s owner, Glen Taylor, says he expects the team to hold on to the pick.

Regardless, the belief that Ellis could be on the trading block was heightened after Jerry West’s introductory press conference with the Warriors. At that time, he talked about the need for the team to get bigger in the backcourt and mentioned how he once traded Norm Nixon to make way for a younger Magic Johnson. Stephen Curry is the younger of the Warriors’ point guards, theoretically making him the club’s future. Ellis could provide an extra scoring punch for someone either off the bench as a sixth man or in a starting role as an off-guard.