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LeBron James Is King of the NBA, But Not the King of Horse

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He puts fear into anyone who steps on the court with him, but in this video he may have met his match ... in the form of a factory worker from Ohio (now living in California). We caught up with LeBron in Venice Beach, Calif., where he played a game of horse with a lucky fan, who was the winner of The Cub Cadet trick shot challenge. Check out the amazing array of trick shots this underdog baller uses to beat LeBron, and then hear what LeBron has to say about falling to a non-NBA player.


Youtube link.

NBA Essentials: From the Lab

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Hardwood Paroxysm. The periodic table of basketball bloggers.

2. Orange County Register. LeBron loses in HORSE against a warehouse worker.

3. Forum Blue and Gold. What Jordan Farmar needs to do to get paid next summer.

4. The Sporting Blog. Bored with basketball? Some activity suggestions.

5. Upside and Motor. Kids love orange jerseys!

6. Oklahoma-City-Thunder.com. Best redirect ever.

NBA Essentials: Cries of Victory for N'awlins

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Hornets Hype. A rather poignant explanation of why impersonal rumors of relocation pain Hornets fans so much.

2. Ball Don't Lie. We're all winners in BDL's "Eddy Curry as a gymnast" Photoshop contest.

3. Free Darko. LeBron + Wade (or Amare or Bosh) in Cleveland 2010, anybody?

4. Posting and Toasting. "The Z-Bo Sweepstakes." Yes, the world is in a'shambles.

5. MOUTHPIECE Sports. Craig Sager is America's storyteller. This week: Ted Turner and Jane Fonda get it on.

6. SonicsCentral, via TrueHoop. The blogger who raised awareness of the shady dealing of the Sonics ownership group gets subpoenaed in Clay Bennett's case against Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

Grizzlies Talking About Zach Randolph

Zach RandolphIs Zach Randolph suddenly a wanted man? After the Cavs reportedly showed interest in the big man last week, Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal (via Knicks Fix) reports the Grizzlies have been talking about acquiring the pudgy power forward, as well.

Who would Memphis give up? Tillery says that Darko Milicic is available, and considering Darko's contract ($7 million this year, $7.5 million next) expires just in time for the summer of 2010, you have to figure the Knicks would be interested.

Even though Darko won't even make half as much as Randolph ($14.66 million) this year, an even one-for-one trade is actually be possible given how much room Memphis has under the salary cap. Given how frugal the Grizzlies tend to operate, though, you have to imagine they'd insist on New York taking at least one other bad contract -- Marko Jaric ( $6.6 million), perhaps?

Randolph is certainly a solid low-post scoring presence, but he also has an outsized personality that might not be the best influence in a young locker room. (And with Antoine Walker already on the roster, the role of "overpaid and perpetually grumpy veteran" is already filled.)

I could see Randolph falling into line on a veteran squad with an established pecking order where his production could put a contending team over the top (Cleveland, anyone?), but putting him on yet another losing team seems like a recipe for disaster.

Charles Barkley Believes the NBA's Exodus Has Been Greatly Exagerrated

Charles BarkleyA lot has been made this summer about players turning down NBA contracts to play in Europe. A bit too much, if you ask Charles Barkley. Despite stars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James admitting they'd seriously consider an overseas offer, Barkley doesn't think anything will come of it. From USA Today:
"I'm reading all this B.S. that there's going to be an exodus - the NBA's not going to lose any great players," said TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

[...] "First of all, I think Kobe and LeBron have too much time on their hands," Barkley said. "These guys want to be the best players in the world. I've been on TNT for years and no one's ever asked me, 'Who won the championship in Greece last year?' "
Maybe not, but you better believe people will start asking the moment a player of Kobe or LeBron's caliber jumps ship. I know what some people are thinking: isn't it impossible to see a Euroleague game on TV? The Knicks won't make a single appearance on national TV, either -- you don't think that'll change once they land a superstar? The moment a bona fide star makes the jump to Europe is the moment that executives from ESPN and Fox Sports start bidding for the rights to televise those games.

Do the Cavs Want Zach Randolph?

Zach RandolphMike D'Antoni's vaunted offense favors fast, athletic big men who can get up and down the court in a hurry and play above the rim (see: Marion, Shawn; and Stoudemire, Amare) -- in other words, players that are the exact opposite of Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry.

Mike Brown's (lamentable) offense is, well, barely existent. Despite featuring the most exciting player in the game (see: James, LeBron), the Cavs play at an absolute snail's pace, and last year failed to score as many points as they gave up over the course of the entire season.

Do you see a potential match? The internet does: one day after Bob Finnan of the Morning Journal cryptically suggested that "the Cavs could be talking to the Knicks about a big man," Bill Ingram of HOOPSWORLD and Alan Hahn of Newsday followed up by brainstorming trades sending Randolph to the Cavs.

NBA Essentials: Rubio, Hungry for Attention

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. The Painted Area. A thorough, excellent look at Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio.

2. Free Darko.
Basketball aesthetes make sense of men's gymnastics by way of comparison/contrast with dunk contests.

3. NBA.com, via TrueHoop. Chuck Daly knows Mike Krzyzewski's tell.

4. Akron Beacon Journal.
LeBron James grades the Mo Williams trade. Danny Ferry waits nervously at his desk.

5. Fourth-Place Medal. Dwight Howard and WNBA star Lauren Jackson shop at the same store.

6. Slate. A satire on Kobe's Olympic experience which is some brand of funny.

Damon Jones' Limo Driver Was the One Who Told Him He Had Been Traded

I don't know about you all, but there's something that I find absolutely fascinating about the inner workings of the lives of players in the NBA. Like, I would think that a player's team, agent, or somebody they were close to would be the one that broke the news to said player that they had just been dealt out of town. But I would be wrong. It didn't go down like that for Ron Artest, and it didn't go down like that for Damon Jones. Observe:
Damon Jones made a guest appearance on ESPN's First Take on Wednesday morning, when he and host Skip Bayless debated about the lack of moves by the Cavaliers this off-season.

A few hours later, as he was getting into a limousine to take him to the airport, the driver told the veteran guard he'd been traded to Milwaukee.

[Jones remarked] "I appreciate the organization for moving me if they weren't going to have a significant role for me in the last year of my contract. At the same time, I'm upset they weren't able to find a role for me."
Going from television analyst discussing your team's off-season moves one minute, to becoming one of those moves and being informed of it by your freaking driver the next? That's cold. As for Damon thanking the Cavs and being upset with them in the very next sentence ... well, I don't know what else you'd expect from someone who lets the fans have a say in his hairstyle, or wears the same jacket to All-Star weekend two years in a row.

[via SbB]

LeBron James Takes in the Olympic Sights



Well, it's nice to see LeBron James and the rest of his Team USA teammates aren't spending their off-days holed up inside some boring old hotel room. Instead, they're leering at supporting Olympic swimmers. (Once you're really famous you don't have to worry about being obvious. At least, that's what David Beckham told me ...)

On an unrelated note, I now completely believe this story. Go USA!

Cavs Grab Mo Williams, Keep Flexibility Intact

As rumored, Cleveland plundered point guard Mo Williams from Milwaukee, losing only 33-year-old Joe Smith and 32-year-old Damon Jones in the process. Jones and OKC alum Luke Ridnour head to the Bucks; Smith and former Sonic Desmond Mason pack for Oklahoma. As I wrote a bit ago, it's a good pull for Cleveland -- Williams shores up a pitiful position and adds some offensive punch to a defensive-minded team.

There's another consideration, though: what's it do to Cleveland's pending cap space? Danny Ferry's public position on all prospective trades has been that the team didn't want to surrender its projected cap space for the summer of 2009. With Smith, Jones, Eric Snow and Wally Szczerbiak definitely off the payroll next offseason, the idea become such that the Cavs would be in good position to either trade for a disgruntled superstar at the deadline or reach out to a top-level free agent in July. (In actuality, once Daniel Gibson was extended, the team still needed to shred one more long contract to be serious players in free agency. The trade avenue would be alive regardless.)