Hey, Brian: Brian Windhorst answers your Cleveland Cavaliers questions
by Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer
Saturday September 05, 2009, 9:14 PM
Hey, Brian: Does the NBA assign a value to future draft choices for trade purposes? In other words, if a team wants to trade player A and next year's first-round draft pick for Player B, do Player A's and B's salaries on their own have to match for the trade to be allowed under salary cap rules, or is there a value assigned to the draft pick that can be combined with Player A's salary? Since the Cavs have so few trade assets right now and are over the cap, I'm curious whether future draft choices provide any flexibility. -- John Burnell, Olmsted Falls
Hey, John: Ah, a multi-part question. For trade purposes, draft picks have no salary value. However for salary-cap purposes, future draft picks are slotted onto teams' future caps. Whenever a player is traded for a pick, there has to be something else in the deal. As for the Cavs, I disagree they don't have trade assets. They actually have quite a few young players -- players at the end of their contracts and rights to players overseas. But it is not in Danny Ferry's nature to trade draft picks. He didn't have a first-round pick in two of his first three years as GM due to moves before he got here, and he didn't like it. He values picks and has traded for or purchased numerous picks in the past four years, so don't assume the Cavs will look for such deals.
Hey, Brian: With Michael Beasley's recent troubles, I wanted to ask what do individual teams and the NBA offer its players in terms of psychological assistance? Does it vary for each team? Clearly a kid like Beasley needed some help. -- Todd Spehr
Hey, Todd: The services vary by team, and the players' association can provide help as well. In Beasley's case, he was already part of the NBA's drug program and was under supervision. The teams are of course interested in taking care of their players, but there's also the reality that they are huge investments and are protected as such. As for the Cavs, they have had the same sports psychologist, Dr. Charles Maher, for the last 10 years. Maher also works with the Browns and Indians, in addition to other pro teams.
Hey, Brian: I attended a Cavs game last season, and LeBron James did not get a dunk, and my question is how many games has he played in that he has not gotten a dunk? -- Jay Kool, Cleveland
Hey, Jay: Lots of them, even though it may not seem that way. Last season, just 8 percent of LeBron's shot attempts were dunks. It was actually his highest dunk percentage since the 2004-05 season. In '06-07 and '07-08, about seven percent of his shots were dunks.
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Bond across seasons: Fame could wait, but not football
by Terry Pluto, Plain Dealer columnist
Saturday September 05, 2009, 10:08 PM
Terry PlutoAnyone who walks away from seeing the documentary "More Than a Game" should realize the message is not that you can become the next LeBron James and play in the NBA.
It's about the bond that can develop between teammates, about friendship.
That's something director Kris Belman stressed, and it's part of the reason James agreed to be a part of the project. He did not want it to be THE LEBRON JAMES story. He signed on to the project because it's about loyalty and a second family that came to him from playing with Willie McGee, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis.
A part missing from the film is James also played football at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron. He played football for three years, knowing in his final two seasons that he was heading for millions in the NBA after high school.
Why did he play?
"LeBron wanted to be with his friends," said Jay Brophy, one of his football coaches with the Irish. "LeBron could have been an NFL-type receiver, maybe like Randy Moss. But we all knew his future was in basketball."
If any athlete should have specialized in one high school sport, it was James.
"That's why I give LeBron a lot of credit," said Jim Meyer, the defensive coordinator at Baldwin-Wallace who was the Irish football head coach in James' first two seasons. "He loved football. He wanted to be around his friends. He understood that high school goes by fast -- you only have one chance to play these sports."
McGee was the Irish quarterback. Cotton and Travis played on the line. His cousin, Maverick Carter, was known as a basketball star at St. Vincent-St. Mary, but he also was a receiver on the football team when James was a freshman.
"Too many kids miss the entire high school sports experience by just playing one sport," said Mark Murphy, an assistant Irish football coach. "Yes, you need to develop your skills in your best sport. But how many kids are going to get a college scholarship? How many go on to the pros?"
Brophy and Murphy both know how the odds are stacked against athletes playing after high school -- that's because they both played in the National Football League.
"Do kids really need to play basketball all year?" asked Brophy, now the head coach at Sebring McKinley High in Mahoning County. "Do they need to play baseball in the spring, summer and fall?"
The point is not that most kids should add football to their high school experience, although it may be a good idea for some.
As Meyer said: "Football does add toughness. You get dirty. You get hit. You have people yelling at you. You play in the cold and wind and snow."
But why not try a second sport, as James did?
The second sport can be anything from cross country to bowling to baseball, or any activity such as chess or drama. Four years go by so fast. Think about expanding interests.
"Too many kids and their parents get hung up on all the recruiting services, hiring personal trainers, going to all these specialized camps," said Meyer.
Said Brophy, "Some of these kids are on so many travel teams, they hardly are at home."
Brophy then talked about how James listened to some people who told him to skip football as a junior. Too much risk of injury. James watched the opening game wearing his letter jacket, standing behind the Irish bench. He was excited when his school upset Akron Garfield, and he ran on the field to celebrate with Travis, Cotton and McGee.
The next day, he told Brophy and Murphy that he wanted to play football.
"The first thing we did was put it to a vote of the seniors," said Murphy. "Did they want LeBron back? Because he had missed all the summer workouts. They all said we should bring him back. He made all-state as a receiver that year."
James did not play football as a senior.
"He broke his wrist not in football, but at a summer basketball tournament," said Brophy. "He still wanted to play, but said he better not because of the wrist. He played three years of football for us and calls himself a football player. He gets together with some of the guys from those teams and plays flag football on the field behind the school. That tells you something."
by Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer
Saturday September 05, 2009, 9:14 PM
Hey, Brian: Does the NBA assign a value to future draft choices for trade purposes? In other words, if a team wants to trade player A and next year's first-round draft pick for Player B, do Player A's and B's salaries on their own have to match for the trade to be allowed under salary cap rules, or is there a value assigned to the draft pick that can be combined with Player A's salary? Since the Cavs have so few trade assets right now and are over the cap, I'm curious whether future draft choices provide any flexibility. -- John Burnell, Olmsted Falls
Hey, John: Ah, a multi-part question. For trade purposes, draft picks have no salary value. However for salary-cap purposes, future draft picks are slotted onto teams' future caps. Whenever a player is traded for a pick, there has to be something else in the deal. As for the Cavs, I disagree they don't have trade assets. They actually have quite a few young players -- players at the end of their contracts and rights to players overseas. But it is not in Danny Ferry's nature to trade draft picks. He didn't have a first-round pick in two of his first three years as GM due to moves before he got here, and he didn't like it. He values picks and has traded for or purchased numerous picks in the past four years, so don't assume the Cavs will look for such deals.
Hey, Brian: With Michael Beasley's recent troubles, I wanted to ask what do individual teams and the NBA offer its players in terms of psychological assistance? Does it vary for each team? Clearly a kid like Beasley needed some help. -- Todd Spehr
Hey, Todd: The services vary by team, and the players' association can provide help as well. In Beasley's case, he was already part of the NBA's drug program and was under supervision. The teams are of course interested in taking care of their players, but there's also the reality that they are huge investments and are protected as such. As for the Cavs, they have had the same sports psychologist, Dr. Charles Maher, for the last 10 years. Maher also works with the Browns and Indians, in addition to other pro teams.
Hey, Brian: I attended a Cavs game last season, and LeBron James did not get a dunk, and my question is how many games has he played in that he has not gotten a dunk? -- Jay Kool, Cleveland
Hey, Jay: Lots of them, even though it may not seem that way. Last season, just 8 percent of LeBron's shot attempts were dunks. It was actually his highest dunk percentage since the 2004-05 season. In '06-07 and '07-08, about seven percent of his shots were dunks.
__________________________________________________________________________
Bond across seasons: Fame could wait, but not football
by Terry Pluto, Plain Dealer columnist
Saturday September 05, 2009, 10:08 PM
Terry PlutoAnyone who walks away from seeing the documentary "More Than a Game" should realize the message is not that you can become the next LeBron James and play in the NBA.
It's about the bond that can develop between teammates, about friendship.
That's something director Kris Belman stressed, and it's part of the reason James agreed to be a part of the project. He did not want it to be THE LEBRON JAMES story. He signed on to the project because it's about loyalty and a second family that came to him from playing with Willie McGee, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis.
A part missing from the film is James also played football at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron. He played football for three years, knowing in his final two seasons that he was heading for millions in the NBA after high school.
Why did he play?
"LeBron wanted to be with his friends," said Jay Brophy, one of his football coaches with the Irish. "LeBron could have been an NFL-type receiver, maybe like Randy Moss. But we all knew his future was in basketball."
If any athlete should have specialized in one high school sport, it was James.
"That's why I give LeBron a lot of credit," said Jim Meyer, the defensive coordinator at Baldwin-Wallace who was the Irish football head coach in James' first two seasons. "He loved football. He wanted to be around his friends. He understood that high school goes by fast -- you only have one chance to play these sports."
McGee was the Irish quarterback. Cotton and Travis played on the line. His cousin, Maverick Carter, was known as a basketball star at St. Vincent-St. Mary, but he also was a receiver on the football team when James was a freshman.
"Too many kids miss the entire high school sports experience by just playing one sport," said Mark Murphy, an assistant Irish football coach. "Yes, you need to develop your skills in your best sport. But how many kids are going to get a college scholarship? How many go on to the pros?"
Brophy and Murphy both know how the odds are stacked against athletes playing after high school -- that's because they both played in the National Football League.
"Do kids really need to play basketball all year?" asked Brophy, now the head coach at Sebring McKinley High in Mahoning County. "Do they need to play baseball in the spring, summer and fall?"
The point is not that most kids should add football to their high school experience, although it may be a good idea for some.
As Meyer said: "Football does add toughness. You get dirty. You get hit. You have people yelling at you. You play in the cold and wind and snow."
But why not try a second sport, as James did?
The second sport can be anything from cross country to bowling to baseball, or any activity such as chess or drama. Four years go by so fast. Think about expanding interests.
"Too many kids and their parents get hung up on all the recruiting services, hiring personal trainers, going to all these specialized camps," said Meyer.
Said Brophy, "Some of these kids are on so many travel teams, they hardly are at home."
Brophy then talked about how James listened to some people who told him to skip football as a junior. Too much risk of injury. James watched the opening game wearing his letter jacket, standing behind the Irish bench. He was excited when his school upset Akron Garfield, and he ran on the field to celebrate with Travis, Cotton and McGee.
The next day, he told Brophy and Murphy that he wanted to play football.
"The first thing we did was put it to a vote of the seniors," said Murphy. "Did they want LeBron back? Because he had missed all the summer workouts. They all said we should bring him back. He made all-state as a receiver that year."
James did not play football as a senior.
"He broke his wrist not in football, but at a summer basketball tournament," said Brophy. "He still wanted to play, but said he better not because of the wrist. He played three years of football for us and calls himself a football player. He gets together with some of the guys from those teams and plays flag football on the field behind the school. That tells you something."