According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Baron Davis is “eager” to start working with No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving. Davis told the Plain Dealer that Kyrie is immensely talented, creative, smart and has so much potential. He went on to say that they’ve discussed Cleveland, life as an NBA point guard and head coach Byron Scott. Pretty interesting comments from the former UCLA point guard. We’re not saying we’re “surprised” by Baron’s comments, just a little… taken back. Baron hasn’t exactly been the greatest role model these last few years, especially when you’re talking about his work ethic. Davis has consistently arrived out of shape to training camp. Let’s just hope things change with his new “father figure” role. Irving had this to say about Davis: “I have idolized Baron since I was a kid. He has been in the NBA for so long. He still has the same talent as when he first came in (to the league). What better way to come into the league than with a veteran point guard to learn under?” … If you’re Cleveland, are you throwing Irving right into the mix as the starter right away? Davis is still one of the top 10-15 point guards when he’s healthy and motivated. But at this point, with a team stuck in neutral, shouldn’t they be looking ahead? … Click to read about the foundation of the next Dream Team and the wild NBA All-Star Showdown in Philly last night…
Chris Sheridan wrote a story a few days back talking about Team USA and who will make up the 2012 roster. Sheridan, the former ESPN writer, said that Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant, two players not on the 2008 “Redeem Team,” both have spots on the 2012 team. Sheridan described his sources as “people in the know.” Both players deserve to be on the team. Griffin will prove elite athleticism at the power forward position, as well as the ability to guard multiple positions, a skill vital to succeeding on defense in the European game. Durant – he just scores a lot, and figures to have some fun getting open looks from the closer three-point line. Sheridan went on to list Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, LeBron, ‘Melo, Wade, Kobe, CP3 and Deron Williams as the other “most-likelys.” What do you think? Is that a roster we can win the Olympics with? Is it better than the “Redeem Team?” Add Derrick Rose to that list and we think so … Carmelo Anthony is considered one of our very best International players, but with the Knick, LeBron and KD around, one of them will have to come off the bench (and form a ridiculous second-team partnership with D-Wade). Our guess is the vets get first dibs at starting (for now) … Speaking of All-Star squads, the group led by LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul (known as Team Melo) were beat (and nearly got run out of the gym) 131-122 in the “Battle of I-95” by a squad from Philadelphia that included Lou Williams, Kyle Lowry, Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson and Hakim Warrick. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The Philly dudes weren’t messing around, the game was played in one of those old, classical gyms with no AC (The historic Palestra… Team Melo wasn’t very deep) and of course, it’s not a Philly game unless the crowd serenades everyone (especially ‘Bron) with boos. LeBron, who went off with 43 points and 23 boards, and ‘Melo (31 & 17) did their part, but keeping up with the speedy Philly guards just wasn’t going to work. Lowry continued his overlooked beast of a summer with 34 points while Williams had 31. Evans went for 18 and 18 boards while Warrick had 19 & 12 as Philadelphia jumped out 22-6 to start … Afterwards, Warrick laid down the gauntlet with a bold statement, calling Philadelphia the new “champs” of summer basketball. We’ll give him the day to shine considering his homegrown squad beat a team with three of the best players in the world. But aren’t we still saying it’s Goodman that is the best summer team out there? They beat an Indy Pro-Am team this weekend 170-167 as John Wall had a triple-double (41 points, 12 assists & 11 rebounds). We wonder what Jameer Nelson has to say about this after telling us Philly needs to do a better job with it’s city leagues … And we all know that players aren’t taking these summer league/celebrity games all that serious at times, that the end result isn’t at all what matters. But what happened in the Kansas alumni game is just way too ridiculous. Paul Pierce dropped 22 points, but when Mario Chalmers banged a three with 0.1 seconds left, the game ended in a 111 tie. We need an explanation … We’re out like ties.
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