A NEW SHERRIFF IN TOWN?

The Associated Press is reporting….

The Cleveland Cavaliers are close to acquiring center Shaquille O’Neal in a trade that would pair him with MVP LeBron James, multiple people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press early Thursday.

The Cavs and Phoenix Suns have reached an agreement in principle on the deal, which gives Cleveland two of the league’s biggest superstars.

O’Neal will join Cleveland in exchange for center Ben Wallace, guard Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round draft pick (No. 46 overall in Thursday’s draft) and cash, said the two people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the league still must approve the deal.
What an awesome trade…IF IT THIS WAS THE YEAR 2001!!

Granted the Cavs are getting Shaq for Ben “bad knee” Wallace and some tall white dude from Yugoslavia, basically they got Shaq for NOTHING! But let's be real, Shaq is pretty much DONE! The Cavs are known for being a defensive team and Shaq just don't do defense, Shaq is known for scoring points and he has not even been doing much of that lately.

It does help the team but the Cavs need some youth in the post, possibly a Zach Randolph maybe?

Let's just be real here, they need a new coach as well. The current coach Mike Brown, is good, but to win a ring they need better. With Mike Brown the team is cohesive, and defensive, which is great but as soon as they play a team with a decent, not great but a decent defense, he cannot draw up an offensive play to save his life.

Brown does not appear to make adjustments offensively, as he says “we just put the ball in Lebron’s hands and sit back and watch”. WHAT? You will never here something like that from Phil Jackson and he coached Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant., 2 of the best that have ever done it and he still made them function with in the offense.

Either way, this trade makes the NBA offseason a little more interesting and helps with the summer sports news which has been on life support since the NBA Finals ended. COME ON FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!

And then there were 4!

The real final 4 is about to start tomorrow night! The Orlando Magic on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers. As well as the Los Angeles Lakers at home against the Denver THUGet….I mean Nuggets. Sorry for the Freudian slip, Mark Cuban influenced me for just a second.

Here is the Classic University take on the current NBA situation, Orlando is a very deep and well coached team however Orlando does not always show up and they are very irregular at times. With attributes like these, I cannot see how they will be able to defeat the Cavs. I think Cleveland will beat Orlando in 6. I really think 5 games will do it, but these are the Conference Finals and I have to give a team more credit than that.

Orlando does not play defense well enough to stop the Cavaliers, Lebron James averages over 30 against the Magic and that is bad news. Even though I feel the Orlando Magic probably have a better team than the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cavs are playing so well and are so focused, that I believe the Cavs win the series in 6.

Now on to the good stuff! The Denver Nuggets have been much like the Cleveland Cavaliers the entire playoffs…ON A MISSION! The Nuggets have been focused and driven and motivated to crush their opponent, not stooping to the level of their competition. That is more than I can say about Los Angeles Lakers who were taken 7 games by a Houston Rocket team that was so depleted by injuries that they actually called me last week and asked if I could play but I was busy last week.

The Rockets front office actually got upset with me, and I really think I could have contributed but my sister was getting married, you have to have priorities.

Game 7 normally is where the biggest and brightest stars shine in the NBA, but check this out…

Pau Gasol had 21 points, Trevor Ariza had 15 points, Andrew Bynum 14 points and Superstar Kobe Bryant had a whopping 14 point on 4 or 12 shooting!! Is he a role player now? Kobe Bryant scores 14 points in an elimination game 7 against Shane Battier and Laker fans are ok with this?

The Lakers are not going to have the luxury of showing up or not showing up against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers have no answer for Chauncey Billups or Carmelo Anthony, these 2 stars will be able to score at will. That half way defense they have been playing only worked for the undersized, undermanned Houston Rockets.

Personally the Lakers do not seem hungry enough to beat Denver so I think Denver wins this series in 6 games. The Lakers are what people keep calling a “FINESSE” team, well here at Classic University “FINESSE” is kind way of saying “female”.

Finesse has no place at Classic University and no place in the playoffs. That so called “FINESSE” is why the Lakers keep appearing to not appear! Finesse, just like a female, everything has to be just right for the Lakers to play up to par. In order for the Lakers to play good basketball, the lighting in the arena has to be just right, the referees have to wear the right shoes, they have to get all the right calls, the cheerleaders have to dance just right, and the teammates have to do exactly what Kobe tells them to do.

Houston exposed the Lakers but were not deep enough to finish the job…the Denver Nuggets are that team. They will finish the Lakers in 6 games and send them back to the drawing board and I can not wait!

The NEW Bird and Magic.

The media has found their new Bird and Magic...It's Lebron and Kobe and they are going to milk them for all they can!

However Kobe is throwing a big wrench in the plans, letting the Houston Rockets, a team with two franchise players on the bench, whup the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the NBA semi-finals.

Lebron looks focused and has lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to 1st and 2nd round sweeps and double digit wins, Kobe...not so much.

Steal a look at the new Nike commercial of the new school Bird and Magic...

This is how it should be done!

This is how it should be done!!!

The new NBA MVP Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers molly-whopped the Atlanta Hawks yesterday in game 1 of the Second round of the NBA playoffs. When you are the #1 seed playing an inferior #4 seed that is what you should be doing.

Some one needs to tell that to Kobe Bean. Yesterday Kobe said this in response to people worrying about the Lakers losing at home to the Houston Rockets in game 1.

“It’s not like it’s the end of the world,” he said. “We’re not the first team ever to lose a Game 1 at home, it’s just here in Los Angeles, people get pretty nervous.”

That’s all you got Mamba?!!? First off your team has been very choppy the entire playoffs THIS year, you got embarrassed and pushed around LAST year in the NBA Finals and you come out and say some crap like that?

Where is the hunger from trying to redeem yourself from last year, where is the fire to be the best in the game and to crush any unworthy opponents?

Through much research and analysis we here at Classic University have narrowed down the crucial issue of the Laker team. Before I get into my analysis, humor me and read this list of names of some of the players on the Los Angeles Lakers…

Trevor
Derek
Kobe
Andrew
Shannon
Sasha
Sun

Is it any wonder the Lakers keep getting pushed around by tough teams? Is there any wonder why they seem to have no heart? That list of names sounds like a list of characters from a 90210 spinoff, not a tough NBA squad.

All the great teams had personality, they had character, they had heart, and they had that garbage man blue color player that set the tone. The Lakers of the 90’s had Kurt Rambis, Clark Kent was as tough as nails. The Detriot Pistons had Dennis Rodman, Bill Lambeer, aaaaaand Rick Mahorn, some of the toughest nastiest dudes to ever play the game.

The new Lakers toughest player is a dude named Sasha Vagin….I mean, Vujacic, who wears a headband his mother gave him to hold back his long pretty flowing hair. Please!!!

Reality check stimulus plan coming right up!!!

If ever you are feeling just a little too good about yourself and need to be humbled. Or if you ever want just a small dose of reality click here!!

On this site you can compare your annual salary to what LeBron James, Ben Wallace, Mo Williams and the other Cleveland Cavaliers will be paid this season. Enter a salary and choose a player.

If you suffer from depression in any way, do not click on that link! LOL!

(In the Picture you see Scrooge McDuck Making it Rain back in the day)

Want to see something funny?

Yes you are seeing what it is you think you are seeing!! That right there is a album cover with the 1995 No. 1 overall draft pick on it….JOE SMITH!

Yes, VA’s own, Joe Smith! NOVA UNIT (Joe Smith's own record label) IN THE HOUSE!! HAAAAAA!!

That would be Joe Smith for those foreign to the Cleveland Cavaliers' veteran power forward. The Cavaliers and about 47 other NBA teams....wait...the NBA only has 32 teams. My bad. But I am almost certain he played for 47 teams. Oh well.

Joe Smith…I mean Joe Beast released a mix tape in December called "The Beginning" is taking publicly his love of music and rapping with his playoff song and recent CD.

Cleveland.com reports…

"Primarily, though, Smith sticks to songs about life. He raps about the diamonds he wears, about how he's "the last of a dyin' breed," about his difficult upbringing in Norfolk.
In all, Smith says he's written about 400-500 songs"

Here are some lyrics from the Beast song where he raps about the Cavaliers quest for a championship…

"One team, one goal, one dream.
One thing, one quest, one ring.
Once again it's on, back on the quest for a title.
In order for us to get it we must compete with our rivals.
See the president, 'Bron James the King;
and Anderson Varejao, they call him the Wild Thing. "

That mess sound like my 3 year old son made it up!! I would tell Joe Beast to stick to basketball, but then again, he is not even that good at basketball either.
Click here to hear the HIlarity that is Joe Beast.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!

The NBA playoffs start at noon:30 today!

Here are my personal Eastern Conference analysis!

There are some very good matchups!!! I am sooo looking forward to more than a few of them! Let’s start with my personal favorite to win it all...The Cleveland Cavaliers against the Detroit Pistons. Trading Billups hurt the Pistons but Stuckey and Hamilton give Pistons nice tandem. However the Cavs have a nice blend of veteran experience and young legs on the bench, not to mention they have this guy…ummm…I can’t remember his name….ummm….oh yeah…Lebron JAMES!!!

Lebron’s leadership and and newly discovered defensive skills have propelled the Cavs to the best team in the NBA with a home record of 39-2. I am a witness! (Literally) Either way, this will be just as quick and painless as the Lakers first round. The Pistons' chances of making their seventh straight East finals end at LeBron's feet. Cavs will win the series in 5 games.

Boston Celtics versus my beloved Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have made great strides this season, with a great rookie PG in Derrick Rose, however even with out Garnett the Celts are just going to be too much for the Bulls. The Bulls have a rookie coach and young players with NO playoff experience. So even though the Celtics are hurting right now, they still take advantage of the inexperience and youth of the Bulls, sad to say. Celtics will win the series in 6 games.

The Orlando Magic versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Are Turkoglu and Lewis healthy? That could be a big factor, but either or, the 76ers have NO answer for Dwight Howard. Van Gundy is a very good coach and the Magic are just too nice for Philly in the end. The Orlando Magic will win the series in 4 games.

Last up in the eastern conference is the Miami Heat versus the Atlanta Hawks. Dwyane Wade has clearly re-established himself as one the NBA's top players and MVP candidate.
The Rookie Michael Beasley is starting to develop into the player he was drafted to be for the Heat. Frankly even though the Hawks have home court advantage, I just would not bet against Wade right now. He has been straight unconscious with it this year, I have to go with the HEAT. Miami Heat will win the series in 6 games.

I personally see no team capable of defeating the Cavaliers in 7 games, but as a wise man once said, "that is why they play the games". If it was that easy we could just give the Eastern Conference to the Cleveland Cavs right now. But no, they will have to take it!!