Just a few extra things to start your NBA week.  Not so much a week in review, more just some things I’ve been wanting to talk about.

-  It took a while to get an official word, but yes, the Cavs will be wearing blue “throwback” jerseys to complement the blue-jerseyed Daniel Gibson bobblehead in Wednesday’s game against the Bobcats.  I think the red piping is a mistake, but otherwise the jersey gets dangerously close to the old San Franciso Warriors jerseys.  

-  The team shop has also been selling white versions of the jersey (with blue numbers and letters).  Is that look also in the future?

-  I’m not sure what exactly LeBron is watching when he says he didn’t travel on that last play against the Wizards.  If he had landed with a clean jump stop, maybe I buy it, but a two-point jump stop and two extra steps is a traveling violation.  But you have to admire his argumentative skills,  calling it a “crab step” almost legitimizes it.  I guess that PowerAde commercial wasn’t that far off. 

-  The Cavs are currently playing without much fire, which I would attribute to too much time in the comforts of home around the holidays.  Anyone can get lazy at this time of year, and the Cavs certainly fit that description.  LeBron is just as guilty as anyone, as part of being a good leader is getting your team focused when they don’t want to be.  Mike Brown has also been a bit soft of late, evidenced by Delonte West’s talk about giggling his way through recent practices.  The Cavs need to tighten it up, and they know that.  It’s just a matter of doing the work.

-  That being said, the Celtics are also scuffling, losing four out of their last six to teams like the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks.  The Celtics, like the Cavaliers, were clearly reading their own press and took the foot off the gas over the holiday season.  And I ask, “how is this possible?”  I thought Kevin Garnett, that ever-passionate, ever-hungry leader of men was the kind of inspiration that wouldn’t allow his teammates to get complacent and lethargic.  I thought he was molding Rajon Rondo into a hall-of-fame point guard, not a guy who scores three measely points in a 12-point loss to the Knicks.  How could this be?

-  I’m not saying that the Celtics aren’t great; I’m just using this as an opportunity to point out that the so-called common knowledge that the national media assaults us with constantly (KG never takes a game off, Michael Jordan never took a game off, etc.) just isn’t true.  Over an 82-game schedule, teams and players go through ups and downs.  Players get lazy, they stop practicing as hard, they lose to an inferior team that wants it more.  But all of that gets cleaned up in the history books if you win championships.  If you win, you’re a winner, if you lose, you’re a loser.  Situations and circumstances be damned, we don’t have time for that level of analysis.  

-  Speaking of the Celtics, the possibility of Stephon Marbury becoming a Celtic is getting a lot of play.  Apparently the Celtics are interested, which I guess means that Doc Rivers thinks his team needs to be handicapped by distractions in order to make it fair for the other teams.  It’s almost like people don’t remember that Sam Cassell was much more of a hinderance than a help for the Celtics last year, because for every big shot he made, he took two shots that he had no business taking.  Cassell was an inefficient scorer on a team that prided itself on efficient scoring - he was the exact opposite of what they were trying to do.  Marbury would be the same thing, a guy who is self-centered on a team full of cooperative personalities, a guy who wants so desperately to be the man that is won’t give up the ball unless he is sure it will lead to an assist.  And what’s worse, unlike Cassell, Marbury has proven that he cares far more about his own legacy than he does about winning, meaning that you can’t count on him to sacrifice himself for the good of the team just to win a ring.  Heck, at the moment he won’t even accept a pay cut to just $17.8 Million to go to Boston.  Adding Marbury would be a terrible idea for the Celtics.

- Now, as a Cavs fan, I hope the Celtics don’t listen to a single thing I’ve said and go ahead and bring him to Boston.  I mean, what’s the worst that could happen (besides a sexual harassment suit in which he testifies that he’s getting intimate with your interns in his truck)?  It’s not like the Cavaliers have ever beaten a superior team because of a headcase player (Wizards in ‘06, Pistons in ‘07).  

-  Not every LeBron commerical is golden, but those Chris Paul Right Guard commercials are atrocious.

Go Cavs.

Yahoo.com is reporting that the Cavaliers and the Miami Heat are involved in trade discussions which would send Wally Szczerbiak and Anderson Varejao to the Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion.  What do I think?

-  First off, let me note that this piece is by Adrian Wojnarowksi, a guy who regularly bumps up his hit count by tossing off more LeBron-to-New York columns than anyone else in the country.  The guy knows that the Cavaliers are hot and that they drive internet traffic, so he’s more than willing to feed that need whenever the opportunity presents itself.  That doesn’t make the rumor untrue, it just means that he might not care if it wasn’t.

-  Second, only someone who has no clue about the Cavaliers would even believe that such a rumor was true.  The Cavaliers are thin at the frontcourt, something that became apparent on Saturday against Atlanta, when the Cavs were out-rebounded 40-34 due in part to the absence of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  Without Varejao, the Cavaliers would have an even bigger hole to fill.  A team that is 20-4 does not move a productive front line player without getting one in return.

-  While Marion has some name recognition, he has been a pale imitation of himself this season, as his numbers have declined across the board.  His points are down (12.4 v. 15.4 ppg), his rebounds are down (8.9 vs. 10.2 rpg), his assists are down (1.7 v. 2.2 apg) and his field goal percentage is down (46% v. 51%).  And he’s doing that in slightly more minutes per game (37.2 v. 36.7) this season.  The Heat are a team that desperately needs Marion to step up and take more responsibility, but so far he is coming up short.  That is not the mindset the Cavaliers want to bring to the team.  While Wojnarowski says that Marion might be more motivated if he was playing for a contender, the fact that he’s not motivated right now speaks volumes about his dedication.

-  Meanwhile, Anderson Varejao is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging 9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.  And those who are watching the games know that Varejao has been far greater than his statistics at the point in the season, and that Andy has become the Cavaliers’ most consistent big man. While Varejao may still be moved at some point this season, it’s becoming more and more difficult for the Cavaliers to make such a deal for equal value.  

-  When a team is rolling like the Cavaliers are right now, the last thing a GM wants to do is do anything that would damage the chemistry of the team.  With that in mind, Shawn Marion is the same guy who was thrilled to be traded from the Phoenix Suns - a 55-win team - to the Miami Heat, a team that only won 17 games last season.  During his time in Phoenix, Marion was once asked if he would prefer winning a championship on the Suns as the team’s third option offensively, or going to his own team where he would be the first option, but not winning a title.  Marion said he’d prefer to be “the man,” even if it meant coming up short in the playoffs.  That mindset is not what the Cavaliers are looking for right now as they strive to win a Championship.

-  Here’s the other thing: Why would the Heat do it?  While the Heat are playing better than expected at this point in the season, they are a one-and-done team at best.  Szczerbiak and Varejao might be an improvement, but that still doesn’t get them into the second round.  With Marion’s expiring contract, the Heat are looking to add young talent that will be around for a while; otherwise they can just let Marion’s contract expire and take advantage of the salary cap relief.  A quick scan of the comments on Ira Winderman’s Heat blog for the Sun-Sentinal reveals that most of those fans aren’t any happier with this rumored trade than Cavaliers fans.  It’s not that they thing Marion is any good, they just have Gasol-esque high hopes for his expiring contract, just like Cavaliers fans have for Szczerbiak’s contract.  Trading one expiring for another is pointless to a Heat team that isn’t going to win anything this season.

-  And finally, there are already reports that the rumors are false.  

Go Cavs.

- The Detroit Pistons will be starting a lineup of Rodney Stuckey, Allen Iverson, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace when they tip-off against the Washington Wizards tonight. That might work against the woeful Wizards (3-15), but there’s no way they expect that lineup to be able to win in the Playoffs, right?

- At least the Pistons will have Antonio McDyess back tonight. McDyess waited out his required month, and then re-signed with Detroit. He can only help a Pistons team that is a mere 7-8 since the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade.

-  Another day, more rumors about Gerald Wallace trades.  I don’t believe anything I hear regarding Bobcats’ transactions at this point, but I am confident that the best deal for G-Force will not be found in Minnesota.  It seems the Bobcats are trying to make sure everyone knows they want to move Wallace in an attempt to drive up the bidding.  Unfortunately for Charlotte, when everyone knows you want to sell, the offers are never as good.

-  Speaking of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they fired their head coach (and former Cavalier head coach) Randy Wittman on Monday, moving (now-former) GM Kevin McHale to the head coach position.  McHale now gets to lay in the bed he made by trading Kevin Garnett to the Celtics for Al Jefferson and a bunch of ugly sweaters.  

-  While there’s no doubt that McHale has been a less than steller GM, I do feel a little sorry for him in this regard: It has never been harder to try to win with young players than it is right now.  If your 23-year-old millionaire star player decides that he’d rather worry about “getting his” than worry about winning basketball games, there’s not much you can do.  With the Timberwolves, McHale has a bunch of young, talented players who have no idea how much they have to learn if they want to become winners.

-  Unfortunately, that me-first mentality isn’t just a problem for bad teams.  The Suns are having the same problem with Amar’e Stoudemire.  Hey Amar’e, I enjoy your complaining, but the stats say you are 40th, that’s four-zero, in rebound rate among power forwards!  You are tied for 83rd overall!  Maybe you should start working on the hustle elements of your game, rather than complaining about how many shots you want.   Cleveland fans, thank the basketball gods every day that your wagon is hitched to an unselfish superstar in LeBron James.  He isn’t perfect, but he is leaps and bounds over so many of these knuckleheads.

-  In case you were wondering, Greg Oden leads the league in rebounding rate.  Now if only he could stay on the floor.  The highest-ranked Cavaliers are (no surprise) Ben Wallace (17th) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19th).  

Enjoy the game tonight.  Go Cavs.

Sorry everyone, I’ve been a little under the weather, so the week in review stuff will have to wait.  But here a few things that caught my eye while catching up on NBA news.

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

-  LeBron James was the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for November, averaging 28.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.  Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that LeBron had three games this month in which he did not play anywhere near his expected minutes.  It was the eighth time that LeBron has won the award. 

-  With the Lakers falling to the Indiana Pacers last night, the Cavaliers have moved into first place on John Hollinger’s Power Rankings list.

-  The Knicks told Stephon Marbury to just stay away from the team after they were unable to negotiate a buyout on Monday.  Marbury was suspended last week for refusing to play when the Knicks asked him to do so, despite the fact that the Knicks have been adamant that Marbury is not part of their present or future plans.  

-  Tracy McGrady is out for three weeks.  It’s too early to tell at this point, but one of the reasons LeBron may become an all-time great is his ability to stay on the floor despite the abuse he takes on a night-to-night basis.  

-  The Portland Trailblazers are tearing it up, winning 5 in a row in the midst of a tough road trip through the Eastern Conference.  The Blazers are the only team other than the Cavaliers to remain unbeaten at home, and their average “Diff” over the last 10 games has been a whopping +12.5 ppg, second only to the Cavaliers(+14.0 ppg) over a similar stretch.  The Blazers are doing all this despite the fact that they have already played 12 road games, as opposed to just 7 home games.

Go Cavs.

News and Notes from around the NBA on this cold rainy Monday:

 -  You have to love the way the Cavaliers are playing at home, keeping the home crowd happy and entertained (if not always meeting their preferred amount of free Taco Bell “food”).  7-0 at home, with games this week against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors, has the team feeling very good about the atmosphere they are creating at Quicken Loans Arena.  That air of invincibility at home is one of the key components to putting together a great regular season.

 -  Brian Windhorst has an interesting article about a group of Cavalier veterans (LeBron James, Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilguaskas and Ben Wallace) called “The Committee,” who meet with Coach Mike Brown regularly to discuss a myriad of team-related topics.  At first I was skeptical, but upon further examination, I think it’s a great idea.  By putting Ilgauskas and Wallace on the same level as LeBron and Williams, Brown has recruited help at the player level in keeping the two younger players focused and working within the team structure.  While LeBron is usually a great team player, he’s also a man who is accustomed to getting his way.  When Coach Brown and LeBron butt heads, it’s helpful to have a player who LeBron respects to help turn him towards the Coach’s point of view.  And when a committee of four, rather that just one player, has an idea to bring to the Coach, the coach is more likely to consider the option fully.  This kind of management strategy is one of the hallmarks of good coaching, and Mike Brown is doing a fantastic job this season.  Could something like “The Committee” backfire should things go off the rails?  Absolutely, and I certainly wouldn’t suggest doing such a thing on a team like the Washington Wizards or the Oklahoma City Thunder.  But on a veteran team led by a quality leader in LeBron James, “The Committee” could very much ease the few dust-ups that inevitably occur over a long season.

 -  The Wizards have fired Eddie Jordan, making him the second coaching casualty of in the first month of the season.  I have no strong feelings about Jordan one way or the other, but I have faith that this successor will at least double the Wizards’ current win total (1) before the end of the year.  Even if that successor is Whoopi Goldberg.

 -  The Toronto Raptors have slipped below .500 with a 118-103 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.  The Raptors are a miserable 2-4 at home, though admittedly those losses have come to Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New Jersey (in overtime).  Now Jermaine O’Neal is down with an injury (surprise).  These are the kinds of things that make me doubt that Toronto can make the Playoffs this season, though the collapse of the Wizards is certainly making it easier. 

-  Antonio McDyess’ agent confirms it - McDyess is headed back to the Pistons.  I suggested that McDyess would be a good fit the moment he was traded to Denver, but over the last few weeks it became apparent that no amount of money could woo McDyess away from Detroit.  At least now Cleveland fans can stop peppering the call-in shows and message boards with how great it would be to see McDyess in a Cavalier uniform.

-  The McDyess announcement reminds me of another pet peeve of this season - “leaks” from the Charlotte Bobcats.  Over the last few weeks various reports have indicated that Gerald Wallace would be traded, that Al Harrington was going to end up in Charlotte, and that the Bobcats were moving things around to bring in McDyess.  Absolutely none of those rumors have been remotely true!  I know that Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson have been the high on the list of players Cavs fans would like to acquire, and rightly so.  But I’m asking all fans to ignore any more rumors that come out of Charlotte between now and the trade deadline.  If the Cavaliers make a deal with the Bobcats, that’s great.  But with the way Michael Jordan is running the Bobcats’ front office, you cannot believe a single thing that is leaked out of that organization.

-  There’s a lot of noise being made about the trades the New York Knicks made on Friday to free up cap space for the Free Agency Summer of 2010.  There are only two important things of note:  1) In making these trades, the Knicks put themselves in a position, at least financially, to make a run at LeBron James, and 2) the Knicks made themselves a significantly worse basketball team for the next two seasons as a result.  The first part absolutely matters.  If it didn’t, Cavaliers fans wouldn’t be falling all over themselves to explain why it doesn’t matter.  But the second part is also important, because LeBron will not risk harming his overall goodwill by leaving a quality team in Cleveland to go to a terrible team in New York with no chance of winning.  LeBron’s legacy will be measured in Championships, not dollars, and that kind of reputation matters far more than his business address.  Unless the Knicks score big in the Draft over the next two seasons (a strong possibility given how bad they will be), there will be no useful pieces around LeBron even if he did end up in New York in 2010.  In short, this was indeed the first step towards getting LeBron into a Knick uniform, but it was by no means the last step.

-  But the Knicks trade does illustrate how the Cavaliers may be able to add a significant piece over the next two seasons.  The Knicks essential gave away their two best players for a chalupa (Al Harrington) and a bag of cinnamon sticks (Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas), all for the chance to make a run at the 2010 free agents.  While the Knicks will be the most visible franchise making that move, plenty of other organizations may be willing to trade away quality players for pennies on the dollar in an effort to free up cap space.  That could even happen with good-but-not-great teams like Orlando and Dallas.  The Cavaliers have a number of players whose contracts end in 2010, and those contracts will be valuable commodities over the next two season.  While Danny Ferry will be careful not to damage the chemistry of a team that is already playing well, he would also be well-served by looking for those players that can be had for next to nothing as their teams desperately try to shed salary.  Thanks to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Cavaliers will be able to offer LeBron the most money regardless of their cap situation in 2010.  I think the Cavs should take advantage of that situation however possible.

-  And in a last little bit of good news, the Pistons lost at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves last night by 26 points.

 Go Cavs.

Lots of Cavs’ Notes today:

Brian Windhorst has a breakdown of LeBron’s current and potential contract situations.  I understand that it sells papers and generates hits (it was the first post on Truehoop today, so mission accomplished), especially from the New York market, but trying to forecast which teams will and won’t be in a position to go after LeBron in two years is still very premature.

Bob Finnan says keep Vince Carter on your list of possible Cavalier acquisitions.  Carter is still very talented, and he fits a position of need at the shooting guard spot - though Delonte West has been superb on the offensive end, shooting 51% from the field and 47% from 3-point range.  But I don’t think there is any way that Vince Cater and Mo Williams can co-exist.  And if LeBron does bolt in 2010, Cavalier fans would be left watching those two fight over the ball nonstop. 

Finnan also mentions Gerald Wallace, a name that has been coming up a lot lately because Wallace has said that he expects to be traded.  Which led to certain news sources to say that a trade was imminent.  Which is why you should always be weary of what you read on the internet.  Wallace may be moved this season, but I expect the Bobcats leaked that information to see what other teams would offer.  Bobcats GM Michael Jordan may not be a great GM, but he saw what happened with the Pau Gasol trade last year, and he doesn’t want to be stuck with making a bad deal just because he didn’t explore all his options.

Joe Tait has agreed in principle to a new deal that will extend his contract through the 2010-2011 season.  Windhorst’s report says the deal has been signed, but Tait refuted that on WTAM’s Wills and Snyder in the Morning on Monday.  Tait will sign the deal when he returns from the Cavaliers road trip this week.

George Thomas compares the Cavaliers old offense to a Yugo.  I would compare it to one of those NHRA drag racers with a front wheel missing and a parachute that would occasionally deploy prematurely.  With LeBron there’s always plenty under the hood.  The trick is pointing it in the right direction and fully unleashing it.

Like everyone else, the Miami Heat have contacted Antonio McDyess in an effort to sign the free agent forward.  Like everyone else, I would love to see McDyess in a Cavaliers uniform.  Like everyone else, I should resign myself to the fact that McDyess is headed back to Detroit in 30 days, and nothing is going to change that.

Kenyon Martin was fined $20,000 for his antics after his ejection on Thursday against the Cavaliers.

Around the League:

Undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow dropped 37 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against the L.A. Clippers in a 121-103 win.  This is exactly the kind of thing that makes a fan base stupid, and with the way things are going in Oakland at the moment, might make the front office stupid as well.  If Morrow develops into a legitimate NBA star, I’ll eat my hat.

Mark Cuban has been accused of insider trading by the SEC.  But this is a civil case, not a criminal one, so don’t go all Martha Stewart on him.  Stewart was sent to prison for lying during the investigation, not for the insider trading itself.  For all of your college football fans, the SEC stands for Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Detroit Pistons handed the Los Angeles Lakers their first loss of the season on Friday, 106-95.  The Pistons just completed a quality road trip, winning 3 out of 4, and play the Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics back-to-back this week.

The Lakers home loss, combined with Boston’s loss to the Denver Nuggets at home, leaves the Cavaliers as the only Eastern Conference team with an undefeated record at home.  The Utah Jazz (4-0) and Portland Trailblazers (3-0) also remain unbeaten at home.

While the Western Conference has been the stronger of the conferences over the last several seasons, this year one could argue that the 3 worst teams in the league are in the West.  The Minnesota Timberwolves (1-8), Oklahoma City Thunder (1-9) and L.A. Clippers (1-8) have just one win apiece.  The only Eastern Conference team in such dire straits are the Washington Wizards (1-6), who are, admittedly, quite awful.  With teams like the Spurs and Mavericks out to slow starts, this could be the season where the East reasserts itself as equal to the West.

Boston’s Kevin Garnett got into a slap fight with Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut, something that could lead to a suspension for either player.  Fortunately for the Celtics, if a suspension does come, it will come against the awful New York Knicks.

A heads-up on the season Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors is having.  Coming into Monday, Bosh is averaging 25.1 points and 10.2 rebounds a game.  With the exception of a bad game last week against Boston (9 points, 7 rebounds), Bosh has been the best power forward in the league.

Jon Mladic of Hoopsworld.com thinks that Paul Pierce is the early leader in the MVP race.  Be sure to let him know what you think of that.

Go Cavs.  Big games this week.