Just like that, the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery has come to a close. The Cavaliers have to be ecstatic, landing two of the top four selections. The Jazz are thrilled too, and may be looking for the next Deron Williams at number three overall. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, can’t be too happy, dropping from the first overall selection.

So, where did your team land in the draft order? Take a look below at the complete draft order for both rounds of the 2011 NBA Draft.

First Round:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers, 2. Minnesota Timberwolves, 3. Utah Jazz, 4. Cleveland Cavaliers, 5. Toronto Raptors, 6. Washington Wizards, 7. Sacramento Kings, 8. Detroit Pistons, 9. Charlotte Bobcats, 10. Milwaukee Bucks

11. Golden State Warriors, 12. Utah Jazz, 13. Phoenix Suns, 14. Houston Rockets, 15. Indiana Pacers, 16. Philadelphia 76ers, 17. New York Knicks, 18. Washington Wizards, 19. Charlotte Bobcats, 20. Minnesota Timberwolves

21. Portland Trail Blazers, 22. Denver Nuggets, 23. Houston Rockets, 24. Oklahoma City Thunder, 25. Boston Celtics, 26. Dallas Mavericks, 27. New Jersey Nets, 28. Chicago Bulls, 29. San Antonio Spurs, 30. Chicago Bulls

Second Round:

31. Miami Heat (from Minnesota Timberwolves), 32. Cleveland Cavaliers, 33. Detroit Pistons (from Toronto Raptors), 34. Washington Wizards, 35. Sacramento Kings, 36. New Jersey Nets, 37. Los Angeles Clippers, 38. Houston Rockets, 39. Charlotte Bobcats

40. Milwaukee Bucks, 41. Los Angeles Lakers, 42. Indiana Pacers, 43. Chicago Bulls, 44. Golden State Warriors, 45. New Orleans Hornets, 46. Los Angeles Lakers, 47. Los Angeles Clippers, 48. Atlanta Hawks, 49. Memphis Grizzlies

50. Philadelphia 76ers, 51. Portland Trail Blazers, 52. Denver Nuggets, 53. Orlando Magic, 54. Cleveland Cavaliers, 55. Boston Celtics, 56. Los Angeles Lakers, 57. Dallas Mavericks, 58. Los Angeles Lakers, 59. San Antonio Spurs, 60. Sacramento Kings

Magic fans have been subjected to nonstop speculation, and knee-jerk reaction by the headline-seeking media after they made a trade to better position the team for a championship. Every game is either a glimmer of hope for success stemming from a much-needed overhaul, or proof that the Magic are fundamentally flawed and are destined to lose Dwight Howard in 2012.  If you look at the experience and coaching capabilities with the other teams, one can see that there are several reasons the Magic have a punchers chance and winning it all.

The first, and most obvious reason is Dwight Howard, facing the Atlanta Hawks (whom they swept last year) in the first round would allow Howard to flex his considerable muscle and dominate the series.  The Hawks simply don’t have a player, or double-team combo, that can defend him.  Josh Smith is a lazy defender who only seems to go for blocks, and plays uninspired defense.  It’s a bad matchup for the Hawks, and if you add the loss of Mike Bibby earlier this season they don’t have a proven floor general.

Another advantage the Magic have over a lot of teams is a deep and flexible roster.  In 2009 the Orlando Magic defeated the seemingly unbeatable Cleveland Cavaliers by exploiting multiple favorable match-ups throughout the series.  The Magic have a lot of players that can come off the bench and contribute, the biggest of course being former All-Star Gilbert Arenas.  Arenas still is a shadow of his former self because of his off season knee surgery, but he has shown flashes of being that player several times this season.  If the Magic face the Bulls in the second round, they will get a heavy dose of Ryan Anderson at the four, pulling Carlos Boozer out of the paint and forcing him to defend at the perimeter.  Which in turn, frees up Howard to pull down an abundance of offensive rebounds by out-muscling Joakim Noah, and Boozer isn’t known as a great rebounder anyway.

The Celtics gave up their biggest edge against the Magic by shipping out Kendrick Perkins and Semih Erden at the trade deadline.  Shaq is still not 100% healthy, and is no where near the player he was five or six years ago.  Howard should enjoy an advantage against Shaq even though the Diesel still takes up a lot of space in the middle, there is no big man the Celtics have that can shut Howard down one on one.  Only the Celtics and the Lakers have won more playoff series the three years than the Orlando Magic, but the Magic need to fix their defensive play if they are going to win the championship.

The X factor for the Magic and their ultimate fate lie with two people, Stan Van Gundy and Jameer Nelson.  Van Gundy is a good coach who gets a bad rap at times, but he has yet to get this new configuration of players to lock down on defense.  Jameer Nelson is the spark plug that makes the Magic a dominant or mediocre team, we all know Dwight Howard will get his points, but when Jameer Nelson is on his game this team is as good as any in the NBA.  The Magic may not be the top seed for the 2011 playoffs,  but they have some qualities that give them the ability to enter every series with the expectation of winning.

No, that man doesn’t reside in the city of Denver.

Not even close, he’s from Detroit as a matter of fact and his name is Joe Dumars.

Because of Dumars, there is no guarantee that Spike Lee and the rest of the New York faithful would be welcoming Anthony aboard.

It was June 26, 2003 when Dumars, the general manager of the Detroit Pistons, decided to draft a project in Darko Milicic with the second overall pick instead of Anthony, whom everyone had already anointed as the second best player in the draft (LeBron James went first overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers).

To Dumars defense, the Pistons were coming off a loss in the Eastern Conference Finals that year and won the title the following season.

Looking back though, the Pistons have since fallen on hard times, mostly because of bad personnel moves from Dumars. That all began with him passing on Anthony.

Had Dumars drafted Anthony, who knows how things would have played out? Detroit likely could still be a team at or near the top of the standings and Melo very likely isn’t headed to Madison Square Garden as a member of the Knicks.

It goes to show how one bad decision can have a snowball effect for years to come.

Knicks fans know all about that though, having to suffer through the Isiah Thomas years.

In the case of both Dumars and Thomas, one man’s foolish decision has turned into a pot of gold for another team.

The Knicks owe a big thank you to Dumars.

For once, the Knicks were on the right side of the rainbow.

NBA Analysts have been giving the Lakers a pass all season on their mediocre play.  After the Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic on Sunday everyone said they were tired from their “Grammy” road trip, and they will put it together.  They then went out and were handed a 20 point loss to the Charlotte Bobcats of all teams, but no one wanted to hit the panic button just yet.  You commit 19 turnovers and lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers of all teams, then it’s officially time to say there is something seriously wrong with the Chemistry on this team.

The Lakers have the same team they did when they won the title last year for the most part, and right now those pieces are just not good enough.  Some will say the Lakers are bored and will turn it on in the playoffs, but their problems are deeper than that.  The Lakers are old and believe it or not Kobe Bryant isn’t as good as he was two or three years ago, and Derek Fisher can’t stay in front of anyone on defense anymore.  Lamar Odom is too wrapped up in releasing cologne and starring on T.V. with his reality television show wife, that he does not seem as hungry as he did in previous years.

Odom offered this as a possible reason for the loss, “We take teams lightly at times.  We play the cat and mouse game.  Sometimes the cat loses.”  Odom can offer that up for losing to teams like the Cavs or even Bobcats, but the Magic and Heat handed them two recent losses and the Lakers are not that much better than those teams (if they are even better at all).  The fact that the normally stoic Phil Jackson was yelling at his veteran team tells you all you need to know, it’s time to panic if you are a Laker fan.

This team has lost its chemistry, and with the immaturity of Bynum and quirkiness of Ron Artest thrown into the mix it is hard to overlook those as possible contributions to the problem.  The window for the Lakers to win another title just might be already closed, and another three-peat may not be in the cards this year.  It’s just the mid-point of the season, so of course the Lakers will have an opportunity to turn things around and get here form back.  The question is has the ship already sailed on another realistic run at a title?

The NFC demolished the AFC 55 – 41 in the Pro Bowl on Sunday. The Pro Bowl returned to Hawaii after taking a one year hiatus in Miami, but it was still the week before the Super Bowl which lends itself to better ratings.  The game is a true exhibition because the rules in place prevent hard hits and plays that would cause injury, so it makes for bad football all around.  The NFC jumped out to a 42 – 0 lead as they walked through the AFC’s defense.  How does that even happen with all those all-stars on the AFC side?  Then the AFC goes on a 41 – 13 run in the rest of the game to make it interesting.  I know they have to have these exhibition games, but they sure can be bad to watch.

The Boston Celtics handled the Los Angeles Lakers 109 – 96 in  a game that really was not even that close. The game revealed a lot about the Celtics resolve to win another title, and the Lakers  seemingly content with winning the last two.  If you compare the two teams games against the elite teams in the NBA this season you can see where they are both headed at this point.  The Celtics have now beaten the Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Magic and Heat twice.  The Lakers’ best win was probably over the Bulls at home in November when Carlos Boozer was injured.

The Cleveland Cavaliers extend their losing streak to 20 games courtesy of the Orlando Magic. Cleveland hasn’t won since Dec. 18. That’s one victory since its last meeting with LeBron James and Miami, who the Cavs face on the road Monday night. Orlando heads to Memphis.  Dwight Howard had a double double, and Ryan Anderson poured in 23 points as the Magic cruised to a 103 – 87 victory over Byron Scott’s team.  It is becoming more apparent now just how much Lebron meant to that Cavaliers teams as they have gone from the best record in the East with him, to the worst team in the NBA without him.

The Cincinnati Bengals are not inclined to trade their star QB Carson Palmer. Despite Palmer’s trade demand the Bengals ownership has come out and said they will not trade him, but instead focus on fixing the team that surrounds Palmer so he can be successful.  The Bengals even let Palmer off the hook for under performing this season, citing the quality of team they surrounded him with was to blame.  It seems that Palmer was bluffing when he used the “retirement” threat during his initial trade demand, and will be playing football for the Bengals again.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Friday that five of the 13 players hospitalized this week with a muscle disorder following grueling offseason workouts are being discharged.  The players had been hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis, a stress-induced syndrome that can damage cells and cause kidney problems.  It is unclear what caused the 13 players to all end up in the hospital and the University is launching an investigation into the incident.  This is the problem with college football, these players are not being paid millions of dollars for this and there is little to no oversight of the workouts and practices of the football teams at major universities.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have started their NBA campaign this year with a 5 – 5 record, and the years started off great with a surprising win over the Boston Celtics.  The Cavaliers had a horrible offseason losing their franchise player in Lebron James, and will have to fill the void with a remaining roster that has no real super stars.  They finished last season with the best record in the NBA, and it is highly unlikely that will happen this year.

Odds to Win 2010-11 NBA Finals: Nothing startling to cover here. Cleveland was one of the tops to win the championship last season, but once James jumped ship you recognized their odds would nose dive. Looking at the current NBA lines over at Sportsbook.com, Cleveland is listed a +10,000 ($100 bet wins $10,000) to win the title.

Odds to Win the East: The Cavs aren’t anticipated to be the worst team in the East, but they aren’t going to be great either. They are currently listed at +6,000 to win the East.

Recommendation: There’s little to no reason to take either of the above wagers. The Cavs will being the long process of rebuilding a team after a centerpiece bolts. Don’t waste even a little of your bankroll on a bet with such a little chance of paying off.

Strengths: The Cavs do have some above-average size on the floor and some above-average offensive players. Antwan Jamison and Mo Williams will be the Cav’s main sources of offense, but they will need someone like J.J. Hickson or Anthony Parker to step in and be a major contributor. Hickson is one of the more promising power forwards in the NBA this year and I can easily see him stepping up to lead this team in scoring.

Williams, Parker, and Jamison are all decent outside shooters. When these guys are hitting, they will keep Cleveland in a lot of games they might not otherwise be in.

Weaknesses: Cleveland simply doesn’t have a go-to guy. Jamison doesn’t create his own looks and while Williams is a good-scoring point guard, he doesn’t have the ability to carry this offense.

Beyond center Anderson Varejo and shooting guard Anthony Parker, this team is not great defensively. They have some operational players coming off of the bench, but nothing special.

Predictions: The post-Lebron James Cleveland Cavs will not be a horrible team, but they won’t be great either. It will be challenging for Cleveland fans to watch, not because they have awful players, but because they have a pretty good roster, there’s just too much missing defensively and nobody will be able to fill the void left by James.

I’m projecting the Cavs at fifth place in the Central. They certainly do not look like a playoff team on paper and it is going to take a long time for them to re-establish an identity after losing LeBron.

Be sure you visit our site all year long for expert NBA picks from the top basketball handicappers on the planet. There is simply no better site for winning NBA predictions.

By: Terrance Jackson

We all remember the look on LeBron James’ face when he walked off the court while shedding the Cleveland Cavaliers jersey for the last time after a 4-2 series loss to the Boston Celtics.

LeBron would then go on to make one of the most anticipated free agent moves in NBA history as he held his one-hour “decision” and told the world of his relocation to Miami.

After months of harsh criticism, the Akron native finally had the chance silence all the critics as the Heat opened their much awaited season with the “Perfect 10″(Wade 3, Bosh 1, James 6) against the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.

This is the same team that caused the season to end for two of the Heat superstars when they beat D-Wade in the first round, then LeBron and his Cavs next.  This was the stage for the trio to flex their newly acquired muscle and shut up all the doubters in one fell swoop.  LeBron and Heat fans only wish that were the case, as the Heat lost to the Celtics 88-80 and looked bad doing it.

The game could not have started any worse for the Heat as they mustered only nine points in the first quarter and just 30 for the half.  Though the Heat cut the lead to just three with a little over a minute to go, the C’s proved to be more than enough to handle the Heat.

LeBron did have 31 points, but he also had eight turnovers and the other two superstars had terrible games as they combined for 21 points on 7-of-27 shooting.

LeBron quickly cited the fact that the Heat still have a long way to go to being a dominant team and D-Wade echoed the same point. So lets hold off the 72-win season talk for right now.

And what about the Cavs?

They were basically left for dead as they had no LeBron or Shaq and were left holding the bag. Cleveland, with new coach Byron Scott and highly motivated owner Dan Gilbert, looked to pick up the pieces.

I’m sure seeing the Heat taken down by the Celtics was better than a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day to the Cavs and their fans, but that same Boston team was coming to Cleveland and would, in all likely hood, do the same to the Cavs.

But that’s why they play the game.

The Cavaliers thanked the Celtics for sticking it to LeBron, then proceeded to shock the C’s by handing them a 95-87 loss.

The Cavs were lifted by the young and talented J.J. Hickson, who poured in 21 points as the Cleveland fans rejoiced.

I think this was the most important regular season win by any sports team since the 2006 Saints with the reopening of the Superdome.
Which game was more significant?
The Heat loss The Cavaliers win Submit Vote vote to see results

With all of that being said, reality will bring Cleveland and its fans back to earth in the near future. This was a great two days, but the fact of the matter is they will not be a great team this season.

Yeah, they may make the playoffs (which is not that hard to do in the East), but they will not be around come June. As much as the fans in Cleveland want it to be true, no team that loses LeBron James gets better or stays just as good.

They will lose many more games than they are used to and the Heat, despite their loss to the Celtics, will win a ton of games and be first or second in the East.

LeBron James will most likely get the last laugh in this game, as the Heat are much better than what they showed against the Celtics and will be a force in the East and challenge for a title.

The Cavaliers will not be as good as they were against Boston, and will be around the bottom of the East fighting for a playoff spot.  The Celtics were sick of hearing about the Heat and their superstars and LeBron James, so they were extra hyped to shut up the Heat and gave them their playoff best.

On the other hand, the Celtics were not expecting to have trouble with the Cavs and looked to sleepwalk through the game.  Cleveland was looking to make a statement as the crowd was cheering like it was Game 7 in the NBA Finals.  They wanted to prove they did not need LeBron and gave the zombie-like Celtics all they had.

The Heat bounced back with a win vs. the 76ers and look to be fine. Common sense tells you that the Cavs will not be winning 60 games again this season.

So one game, as big as it may have been, will not tell the story for the rest of the season. And reality will hit the Cavs like a heavyweight prize fighter and hurt some feelings. But if I was a Cavaliers fan, I would feel good about what happened.

It’s funny, LeBron left Cleveland to join the Heat to beat teams like the Celtics and even with his new superstar teammates loses to the same team that knocked him out last year.

Meanwhile, the team James left gets a win against the same Celtics team without him.  Call it poetic justice, irony, karma or just luck.  Bottom line, the city of Cleveland hasn’t had much to smile about these past months, so I say enjoy it, Cleveland.

When you go to bed tonight you should rest easy because your team, for however short a period, is No. 1.

In GQ’s September issue, the magazine will run an in-depth interview with LeBron about his decision to leave Cleveland for the Miami Heat, how he decided to announce his decision, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s comments, and other things.

It’s too bad, however, that LeBron has lost the attention of the nation, which is worse than how he lost the nation’s respect when he went forward with “The Decision”. At least people listened then.

Oh, we hear what LeBron has to say, which is why fans are talking about this magazine interview. We just aren’t listening. There’s a difference.

When LeBron sat in front of millions on ESPN, looked like a scared kid, and said he was “taking [his] talents to South Beach,” many people rushed to blame his agent, his family, and all his other close friends that reportedly had a say in the decision (no pun intended).

How could they let LeBron do this? How could they allow him to make the worst PR move in years? Excuses and scapegoats for LeBron popped up everywhere.

His jerseys burned in the streets. His image was cursed in bars. His name was altered forever.

The only thing that followed was one nasty letter from Gilbert—which made him look just as idiotic—and weeks of people harping on LeBron and turning him into America’s newest pariah. James went from being loved nationally to being scorned internationally.

People took shots at LeBron. He posted on Twitter that he was “taking mental notes” of all the people who fired away.

LeBron wanted us to believe that we were adding fuel to his fire, that for once he would create the chip on his shoulder necessary to morph into the ruthless champion that Michael Jordan was and Kobe Bryant currently is.

It was a joke then, and it is even more comical now. We’ll believe it when we see it, LeBron.

Which is why the GQ interview is simply the next decision in a long line of poor ones.

LeBron opened up like he needed to justify why he decided to join the Heat instead of heading back to Cleveland.

He tried to build up excuses for suddenly not loving Cleveland as much as the state of Ohio hoped he did, instead of simply saying that it was a career decision he felt he needed to make.

“Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us,” LeBron told GQ. “So we didn’t actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There’s a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day.”

LeBron wasn’t referring to Gilbert when he said that, but his disdain for his former owner still seeped out.

“I don’t think he ever cared about LeBron,” LeBron said. “My mother always told me: ‘You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You’ll get a good sense of their character.’ Me and my family have seen the character of that man.”

Some will say that character isn’t actually LeBron’s strength, but that’s unfair. LeBron isn’t a bad guy, but he continues to show his immaturity. This interview—let alone “The Decision”—is childish and more self-serving than anything.

When asked about his comment last season that he “spoiled” Cleveland with his play, LeBron didn’t back off the statement. He only added to it.

“I mean, even my family gets spoiled at times watching me doing things that I do, on and off the court,” LeBron said.

Clevelanders may have a different take, especially considering how so many rushed to say James “quit” against the Celtics in the playoffs and mailed it in during the waning seconds of Game Six.

LeBron had memorable playoff moments in Cleveland but nothing that led to a ring. For years, LeBron supporters pointed to his lack of quality teammates.  It is all in the past now why is LeBron still trying to justify his actions or clarify things from his days in Cleveland.  “The Decision” has been made Mr. James move forward and stop playing damage control, it seems more and more evident that LeBron reads all the newspaper clippings and comments about him.  His actions indicate a person who does not enjoy being disliked, but it is hard to believe that he did not anticipate this just about everyone in the nation did.

Lebron James has worked hard to shape his image over his seven years in the NBA; he has a publicly stated several times that he wants to be the first billionaire athlete.  People refer to him as “The King” because of his last name and the fact that some believe he is the best player in the NBA.  Lebron has been very careful to keep his private life out of the limelight, which is relatively easy to do when you play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There is now a new reality for James one that he may not have considered when making “The Decision”.  James now plays in Miami, Florida which is a place where keeping your personal life quiet does not happen all that often.  The media in Miami are much different than the media in Cleveland, and now that he is in a more visible place reporters from all over the country will be snooping around for any information they can get their hands on.

Recently reporter Arash Markazi for ESPNLosAngeles.com had the opportunity to party with Lebron James in Las Vegas, and the subsequent story he wrote about his experiences was pulled by ESPN.  The story chronicled an event that was straight out of a dream for most men, here is an excerpt from the story to give you the full effect.

“About a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.

Bottle after bottle of “Ace of Spades” champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he’s dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James’ No. 6 Miami Heat jersey.

James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter’s last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, “I wish they’d have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy.”

Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James’ party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the “King” sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.

Davis shakes his head and walks on.”

“Five security guards are stationed around him, one at each corner of the table he’s about to sit at and another roving around with him, watching his every move. Anyone who takes two steps toward James is stopped and must have James’ approval to come closer.

The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder.

She wants to take a picture with him. “I can’t right now,” says James. “Maybe later, upstairs, I’ll remember you’re the one with the tattoo.”

That was during dinner, as James and his entourage head to the club through back hallways in the bowels of The Palazzo Casino and Resort, the story picks up.

“James, now wearing sunglasses in the dark club, immediately stands up on the couch and folds his arms high on his chest and nods his head.  He smiles as he looks at the dozens of people crowded on the dance floor.  Noticing him, they stop dancing and snap pictures as the DJ screams out, “LeBron James in the building!” and plays LMFAO’s “I’m in Miami.”

A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, “KING”.

This is nothing new for James much like many other athletes, but stories like this about Lebron have only been rumored for the most part.  Very few concrete stories of his off the court activities are out there, this is all part of James’s plan to keep his image on the up and up.  He saw what happened to Tiger Woods and his endorsement deals when Tiger lost control of the information about himself being released to the public.

My problem with this situation is not the fact that James is celebrating his fame by partying it up in Las Vegas, any young red-blooded man would do the same thing.  But the fact that the story was posted on the internet and pulled within a half hour tells me that both James and ESPN did not want the story out there.  ESPN claims the author did not go through proper editing channels and the story was posting prematurely, then later they said the story would not be posted at all.

Why the cover up?  ESPN has invested a lot in Lebron and cannot afford for his image to take a hit in the public eye.  Having a self serving party in Las Vegas is par for the course when dealing with professional athletes.  I think Lebron over did it a bit, and I think he is over playing this “King” moniker a bit too much.  When a majority of the television viewers see themselves as conservative, and a majority of the viewership is struggling financially the last thing ESPN wants is their marketing cash cow viewed in an arrogant light.

The interesting part of all this is what if this were Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, or Chad Ochocinco would all of this be covered up so fast?  The answer is no, it would be almost front page news.  Ron Artest at club with a crown on dancing with naked strippers!  That would be the headline, but when it is King James all we hear is silence.  I have a variety of sports sources and I only stumbled across this story purely by accident, once again I am not saying that Lebron cannot party and have his fun.  My only point here is, let’s eliminate the double standard, if Terrell Owens self serving actions get reported on in the media then Lebron should be no different.  Making an ass of himself in public is his choice, but he should not be free from the same scrutiny as everyone else.  Doing crossover dribbles, shooting fake baskets, and faking dunks on signs outside of businesses inside a Casino are all immature and childish things to do.  But who can blame him, all the people around who want his money and to profit off of his fame are going to continue enabling him to act this way.

You can read the original posted article here if you want to see all the details about what went on at the party, this was captured by a few people before it was removed by ESPN.

The Cleveland Cavaliers put their coaching hopes on Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, which if you analyze it can be looked at as a good or dumb move.  How successful would a college coach, even one as accomplished as Izzo do in the NBA?

Well, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who has led the Spartans to six Final Four appearances in 12 seasons including a national championship in 2000, has turned down an offer to become the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Free Press and ESPN report.

There was a report last week that Izzo reached out to James to get some clarity on what he was thinking in terms of his free agency decisions.  It was a smart move by Izzo because with James there was a much higher chance of success than without him, which would have definitely set Izzo up for failure.

Now the underlying question is “What effect will this decision have on the LeBron James sweepstakes?”  This decision delivers a huge blow to the Cavs’ chances of reeling in LeBron once the NBA free agency begins on July 1st, 2010. Cleveland’s head coach situation is still in flux and the Cavaliers have become synonymous with not be able to execute and perform come playoff time.

James has constantly been compared to the likes of Michael Jordan and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, but his legacy will not be complete until he wins a Larry O’Brien trophy. And evidenced by the Cavaliers’ recent performances in the NBA playoffs, that will not happen if he stays with Cleveland.

Meanwhile, the only realistics front runners for Lebron’s services are the Chicgo Bulls, and New Jersey Nets. But the Nets are in rebuilding mode right now and they have a new owner in billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as well as a new head coach in former ESPN NBA analyst and Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson. I really do not believe that LeBron would go to a team in a rebuilding stage so that puts their odds in getting LeBron around 10 percent in my opinion.

It will always be good water cooler conversation about how Tom Izzo would have done had he accepted the Cavaliers head coaching offer.  Being a head coach in the NBA is a drastic change from the college ranks, and it would have been interesting to see Izzo attempt to make the transistion.  Maybe he will eventually take a chance on the NBA, but we will have to wait and see if that ever comes to pass.