HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

We’ve already heard numerous scenarios involving Antawn Jamison this season, and more recently Mo Williams’ name has come up in trade talks. Now we’re hearing that Anderson Varejao – injury and all – could be moved, and even Anthony Parker’s name is starting to attract attention around the league. There’s blood in the water and the sharks are circling, hoping for an easy kill, but what’s the best move for Cleveland?

One school of thought says the Cavaliers should use the $14.5 million trade exemption to bring in another star-quality player, someone like Rashard Lewis or Andre Iguodala (should he become available), and let that new addition fire up the existing veterans and spark a last-ditch postseason push. 

Unfortunately, with Cleveland sitting dead last in the Eastern Conference and riding an 18-game losing streak, it’s hard to imagine any available veteran helping them make any significant headway in the standings.

The second school of thought makes a whole lot more sense, as hard as it will be for Cavaliers fans to stomach. It’s time to accept reality, and the reality is the Cavaliers as we knew them are finished. Mo Williams spends more time injured than anything else and Antawn Jamison is talking retirement. If those guys were relocated to playoff teams you can bet their situations would improve, from Williams’ health to Jamison’s long-term prospects. The Cavaliers need to go ahead and deal those two, as well as Varejao and Parker, add the trade exception and bring back a load of draft picks, young talent and cap space.

It’s time to find out just how good JJ Hickson is going to be, time to throw Christian Eyenga, Alonzo Gee, Manny Harris and the next generation of Cavaliers into the deep end to see if they can swim. They certainly can’t do any worse than the more veteran guys, who haven’t won a game since before Christmas. 

Ultimately, the majority of the guys who fill out head coach Byron Scott’s current rotation were brought in to complement LeBron James. With James gone they simply don’t have an identity, and they are stuck with leftover pieces from a playoff team and a bunch of guys who aren’t ready for prime time. The time for tweaking is over. It’s time to declare a state of emergency in Cleveland and blow up the team.

Finally, it’s time to set the veterans free. Jamison and Williams don’t deserve to be left behind in a shambles of a situation. Let them go fight for playoff positions while they are still young enough to do so. 

The rebuilding project really began in Cleveland last summer. Now it’s time to finish the job.

Another All-Star Lineup

As you know, here at HOOPSWORLD we are not only committed to bringing you the absolute latest news and information about the players who make our game great, we are also about bringing you the latest in innovations around the game. From changing the NBA ball to new Ektio shoes that prevent ankle sprains to the latest in uniform technology, HOOPSWORLD seeks to cover the game from every angle.

All-Star weekend is more than just a chance for all of the NBA’s top players to get together, it’s also the time when adidas roles out the next wave of innovations for improving athletes’ on-court performance. Last season we heard a lot about the TECHFIT compression jersey and we even saw Dwight Howard wearing a prototype in the slam dunk contest two years ago. This year we’re going to get an up close and personal look at the next wave in uniform technology as adidas rolls out the TECHFIT PowerWeb jersey.

"Los Angeles is an exciting convergence of sports, style and entertainment unlike any other place in the world," said Lawrence Norman, adidas Vice President, Global Basketball. "Our latest on-court uniform design and innovation, as well as our off-court footwear and apparel, celebrate the city and the game of basketball. NBA All-Star is the premiere event for adidas to showcase our innovations on basketball’s biggest stage and there is no better time or place to show basketball fans around the world how our products make the best athletes in the world, lighter, faster and stronger."

The NBA All-Star game is also the front line in the battle for your sneaker dollars, and this year we’re going to see players sporting two new shoes from adidas. 

NBA All-Stars and East squad starters Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose will debut a second version of their adidas signature shoes during the NBA All-Star Game. Howard will sport the Super Beast, while first-time starter Derrick Rose will debut the adiZero Rose 1.5. Other adidas athletes will wear the adiPure or Crazy 8 basketball shoes during NBA All-Star.

As much as All-Star is a chance to see your favorite NBA players take the court together, it’s also a chance to see the absolutely latest in on-court uniform and shoe technology, and there are plenty of treats in store for us this year in Los Angeles. It’s a time when style meets substance, when technology takes an ordinary uniform and turns it into a game-enhancing piece of equipment that actually helps players perform at a higher level. All-Star is for die-hards, and for die hards there’s nothing better than seeing tomorrow’s innovations being unveiled today on the NBA’s biggest stage.

Davis, Del Negro in Synch

The relationship between Los Angeles Clippers point guard Baron Davis and new Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro got off to a rocky start, but now the two are on the same page and helping their team turn the corner. Davis talks with HOOPSWORLD about that relationship, about Blake Griffin’s phenomenal growth, and more in this exclusive interview:

{AUTHOR_BOX}Patterson Cracking the Rotation
 
It’s no secret that the Houston Rockets are caught between a rock and a hard place. Add a healthy Yao Ming and the team is likely among the handful of championship contenders. Without him, as they are, they’re a borderline lottery team. One the one hand, they want to make a strong push and make the playoffs. On the other, they need to start developing some of their younger players in the event that the front office can’t pull of a major trade to land a franchise cornerstone.

One of the players who is starting to get more playing time from head coach Rick Adelman is rookie forward Patrick Patterson. Patterson was somewhat of a surprise participant against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, when Adelman gave Phim 20 minutes of playing time, getting six points and five rebounds in return.

"I wanted to see how he could do," said Adelman. "I wanted to see how well he could play the people he was going to be matched up against and he did a nice job. I just felt that the fourth quarter I was going to go back to Luis (Scola), but I wanted Chuck (Hayes) on the floor the whole time (Blake) Griffin was on the floor so there wasn’t a whole lot of minutes going around other than that. They were playing pretty well and defending pretty well, so I left them in there. He’s athletic." 

Patterson’s physicality is also something his teammates notice, and forward Shane Battier believes Patterson’s strength will serve him well.

"Pat’s got a lot of talent, and he knows how to play," said Battier. "He’s probably our strongest player . . .well, Chuck (Hayes) is pretty strong . . .but Pat’s really strong and he needs experience. Once he sort of figures out how to use his strength he’s going to be a really solid player in this league for 12, 15 years."