Making Headlines…at least small ones

 

Let me be pretty clear about this, the only circumstances under which Halftime Adjustments will refer to the ballpark in which the Indians play as ‘Progressive Field’, would be in some sort of sarcastic harsh tone. Since 1994 the Indians have, and until it is knocked down, will always play at the Jake.

Cavalier Shannon Brown requested to be sent to the developmental league. The Cavs granted his wish yesterday. My guess is that barring injury or trade that will be the last we see of Shannon Brown in Cleveland. It is obvious that the Cavs have no interest in Shannon past this season, and he wasn’t getting playing time lately. Shannon had an opportunity to play when LeBron was injured, but really wasn’t ready to shoulder that much of the load. Perhaps a couple weeks of solid games for the Vipers will increase Shannon’s trade value. I’m sure that was his intention, plus the opportunity to play every day.

James, Varejao return, Hughes stars

When we signed Larry Hughes back in ’05, this was the kind of performance we hoped to see.

This one was over before it started. Actually, it wasn’t over until the Cavs’ trio of LeBron James, Larry Hughes and Andy Varejao took the court with 6 minutes to go in the first quarter. Then the rout was on. The Cavs slashed, dished and shot their way to a 118-105 victory, that really wasn’t that close. Larry Hughes led the way with 36 points on 13 of 17 shooting, including 5 of 8 from deep. He played only 26 minutes, but was very effective in his time on the floor. Hughes was free to roam the court playing a true shooting guard in his minutes tonight. According to coach Mike Brown, that is the role Hughes will play from now on. In fact, Brown said he intends to bring Hughes off the bench. Certainly he has the ability to energize the team and provide a boost coming off the bench. Now, let’s not get crazy and think that he will shoot 76% and score 30+ every night, but if he can provide that 15-20 point lift, especially when LeBron is resting this team is dangerous.

Kidd out with migraine (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

Pat saw this report today and passed it along to me. Very interesting.

The original report comes from Yahoo Sports. The article insinuates that Jason Kidd, who didn’t play in New Jersey’s game yesterday against the Knicks, sat out not because of a headache as is being reported, but because he is angry with management for not building a championship caliber team. Apparently Jason would like to be traded, more specifically, to be traded in order to play with LeBron.

There was no migraine headache holding Jason Kidd out of the New Jersey Nets’ loss to the New York Knicks Wednesday night, but a superstar sending a message to a floundering franchise that he’s irate with management and teammates, several league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

As the Nets flew back to New Jersey late Tuesday from a victory over Cleveland, sources said Kidd already had decided he would be sitting out against the Knicks in the Meadowlands. Kidd didn’t tell Nets officials until Wednesday afternoon, but several people inside and outside the organization were made aware of the meaning behind his sick day.

Kidd’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, isn’t believed to have formally demanded a trade, but Wednesday’s bold act could be the precursor to starting that process. Two sources said Kidd has been a constant text messaging partner with LeBron James since playing with him this summer on Team USA and that the Cavaliers are his preferred destination.

Wake me up when LeBron is back…

I got to watch the Cavs last night for the first time since LeBron’s injury. It will be my last until he returns.

Do you have any friends that don’t believe LeBron should be the MVP, or perhaps think for some reason he is over-rated? I have the solution. Make them watch this game a few times. That was horrible. Terrible. I wish I could do Frank Caliendo’s Barkley impersonation here. The Cavs deserve it after that shooting demonstration. The Cavs shot 21 for 88! 34 percent for the game. To be honest, I was surprised it wasn’t worse. I had to stop watching after the third quarter. I couldn’t stand it.

Drew Gooden and Zydrunas couldn’t make a play because nobody knew how to get them the ball in a position to score. Drew had an off night shooting, but again he tried to do too much and play outside of his game. I can’t say that I blame him.