Larry Bird recently sat down with Bill Simmons for a podcast session and had some interesting things to say about LeBron James.
First off, Bird said LeBron is without question the best player in the game today.
"LeBron James is by far our best player in this league," Bird said. "I don’t think there’s anyone next to him."
But then Bird was asked who in the game he would like to play an entire season with. Bird went with Kobe Bryant because of "his desire to win, his dedication in the offseason to get better and he’s tough. He’s just a tough cat."
Bird added: "But if you want to have fun like I did with Bill Walton you play with LeBron. It would probably have been more fun to play with LeBron but if you want to win and win and win it’s Kobe. Not that LeBron isn’t a winner."
LeBron was asked about Bird's remarks after Wednesday night's loss to the Magic:
"It's simple, [Kobe] has five rings and I have none so it's easy to say that," James said. "If I had five rings and Kobe had none, it'd probably be the other way around."
Oh, the nonsense that turns into news these days. The latest installment comes from Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins, who apparently is still a little sensitive about getting "poster-ized" by Clippers forward Blake Griffin.
Perkins has made a point in recent days to remind everyone of his toughness on the court. Would he challenge Griffin again? "Of course!" Perkins screamed from the moutain top. "I'm not afraid of anyone!" Or something like that.
Of course, gritty Kendrick Perkins is oh so sensitive when it comes to Twitter. Aren't we all. Getting dunked on by Griffin is one thing, but being called out on Twitter is another thing entirely.
LeBron James posted this to his Twitter account after Griffin's dunk: "Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6."
Perkins' hubris couldn't handle the scorn, if that's what you want to call it. Here's what Perkins had to say about James to Yahoo! Sports:
"You don't see Kobe tweeting," Perkins said. "You don't see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you're an elite player, plays like that don't excite you. Even more coverage of the Big 3 and their adventures in Miami.
"At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play. They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2.
Then Perkins apparently followed up with: "I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him."
LeBron addressed Perkins' gripe after Wednesday's loss to the Orlando Magic.
"Did I call him out? I mean, did you read the tweet? Did I call him out? I can see why he felt embarrassed. I don't think I was the only one to react to the unbelievable play by Blake and that's what it was all about," James said. "Now, if Kendrick Perkins dunked on somebody like that on the other end, I would have done the same thing.
"If Perkins dunked on Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan or whatever the case may be, it would be the same thing. That's just my love for the game and connecting with my fans."
You've got to think that LeBron James has emerged as the frontrunner for the MVP award after earning his third Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. I mean, the season can't be but about three weeks old, right?
Actually, Sunday began the sixth week of the season. It's gone by quickly. The Heat went 4-0 from Jan.23-29 with James averaging 29 points, 7.5 rebounds, six assists and one steal per game. Of course, James will be a strong contender for player of the week once again after he did this to John Lucas on Sunday:
Fox Sports Ohio and then our friends at ESPN's Heat Index posed an interesting question on Tuesday: Will LeBron James ever play for the Cleveland Cavaliers again?
Not unless LeBron buys the team from Dan Gilbert before he retires. Seriously, did everyone suddenly forget the letter Cavs owner Dan Gilbert penned in the wake of LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami? Even if you think Gilbert felt compelled to do something rash lest he be blamed for letting James get away, that still doesn't mean Gilbert is going to suddenly welcome LeBron back with open arms in two or three years.
Like last season, rumors are once again finding their ways into columns with anonymous sources saying LeBron is unhappy in Miami. Fox Sports Ohio intimated that LeBron is at odds with Pat Riley because LeBron "doesn’t particularly care for the heavy-handed and disciplined style" of Riley.
Because, you know, LeBron is a child.
I have no reason to believe that James will remain with the Heat for the rest of his career. He can opt out of his contract as early as 2014. I can see him leaving for the Lakers. I cannot see him leaving Miami to return to his hometown.
If it happens, I clearly will have misjudged the people of Cleveland.
The Heat trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half but ended up winning by 22. LeBron James had 33 points, including 17 in the third quarter but the feel-good story of the night revolved around Mike Miller, who made his season debut scoring 18 points on 6 of 6 from three-point range.
Of note:
--The Heat is 4-0 without Dwyane Wade.
--The Heat scored 39 points in the third quarter, which was the second highest scoring quarter for any team in the NBA this season.
--Seventy-one points in the second half was a season high.
--Second time this season the Heat has rallied from at least a 14-point deficit at halftime.
--The Heat shot 68.3 percent in the second half, a season high, after allowing a season-high 63 points in the first half.
--The original plan was for Miller to only play five minutes. He ended up playing more than 15.
"I'm so out of shape right now," Miller said. "That's what's tough, my conditioning. But it will come."
--Miller went down in pain late in the fourth quarter holding his side. It was a scary moment but Miller said he's fine. Miller said "a dumb defensive play" aggravated his surgically repaired hernia.
"I got caught up in the air," Miller said. "You know, it's going to hurt. Obviously, it's where I had the surgery. So, one good thing about this game is I took every shot I needed to take to see where I'm at and I'm still standing, so that's the most important thing."
--Miller said he's just going to have to fight through the pain for "four or five weeks."
"My main concern was if it was going to tear again and they said the likelihood of that was slim, so I'm going to continue to battle."
--Miller joked about his bad luck over the past year.
"Like I told them, I'm not going to tell them anymore injuries. I'm not going to do another X-ray, because anything to do with an X-ray is bad news. So, they know my stance right now and I'm just going to continue to play."
--Chris Bosh scored 30 points, showing increased aggression around the basket. Bosh's highlight was a spin move around Tiago Splitter in the lane followed by a powerful one-handed dunk.
"I should be like that every game," Bosh said. "Just another shot at it. Good things happen when you're aggressive and when I'm aggressive I don't think. I think less and that's always better. Always better not to think so much and just go out and play. If they give me the shot, I'll take the shot. If I need to drive, I'll just drive."
SAN FRANCISCO -- The NBA named LeBron James its Eastern Conference Player of Week on Monday. This is the second week in a row James has been named player of week.
James averaged 31 points, 9.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.33 steals per game in the four games between Jan.2 and Jan.8. The Heat went 3-1 during that stretch with victories against Atlanta, Indiana and New Jersey. James has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week 33 times, which is a record.
James shot 60.7 percent from the field in the second week of the season. In the first week, James shot 59.8 percent from the field and averaged 29.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. In the eight games James has played this season, he has shot at least 55 percent from the field. James is the only non-center to accomplish that feat in franchise history.
Shaq holds the team record for shooting 55 percent or better in 11 straight games. Shaq also did it in nine straight games twice and eight straight games once.
Well, looks like it's time for Chris Bosh to carry the team.
Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are both questionable for Wednesday's game against the Hawks, which could leave Bosh the only healthy member of the Big 3 to face the team that handed the Heat its only loss of the season.
Wade missed Wednesday's game against the Pacers due to pain in his left foot and remains day-to-day. LeBron picked up the slack for Wade on Wednesday but then sprained his ankle in the third quarter leaving his status for Thursday in doubt.
Thoughts from Heat 118, Pacers 83:
--Seriously? The Pacers have six players on the all-star ballot? What the?
--Joel Anthony (along with Wade, James and Bosh, of course) was selected to the all-star ballot. What the?
--The Heat held the Pacers to one field goal in the second quarter, setting a franchise record for field goals by an opponent in a quarter. The Pacers shot 6.7 percent, which is also a new Heat record.
--Who says James Jones can't be a starter? Looked pretty good to me. He was 4 of 5 from three-point range in the first half.
--Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole are really pushing each other to perform at their best. Chalmers had another great game (14 points, 3 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal in 30 minutes) and Cole chipped in 10 points and five assists (mostly in garbage time).
--Cole had six turnovers. Needs to clean that up.
--Danny Granger was 2 of 13 from the field and 1 of 7 from three-point range. What an awful game. I remember him playing much better against the Heat last season.
--Udonis Haslem continues to quietly play like a beast inside. He had 10 rebounds off the bench and is averaging 10 rebounds per game (a team high).
--Dwyane Wade wore a nice suit on the bench.
--James Jones had a trucker hat on before the game. This is a picture of that trucker hat:
After watching the Heat struggle just to get past the Bobcats, it's clear any game can be a difficult one on the road for Miami.
Friday's against Minnesota could be quite interesting, then, because the T-Wolves have potential coming from just about everywhere.
For starters, you can expect an early dose of Darko Milicic, who has a big height advantage over Joel Anthony and an effective hook shot.
Kevin Love can stretch the defense with his three-point shooting, which hasn't been very good yet this season (1 of 7 for the year) but is a legitimate part of his game.
Then you throw in the scoring ability from the wing with Michael Beasley and rookie Derrick Williams, the three-point shooting of Wesley Johnson, the gnat-like, floppish annoyance of J.J. Barea (although a hamstring injury might keep him out of the game) and the passing ability of Ricky Rubio, and it adds up to a team that could score with the Heat -- especially after you just saw Miami give up 60 points in the first half to the Bobcats.
The Target Center was pretty amped in Minnesota's opening game against OKC, which ended in a close loss for the Wolves. And this second home game should have a similar, if not more intense, atmosphere.
LeBron James should be able to put together a good game, though, given that either Beasley or Johnson will defend him early, with only Anthony Tolliver as a decent defensive option off the bench. The Wolves have been going small often in the backcourt, with some combination of Barea, Rubio and Luke Ridnour playing together. That means either a small defender on Wade, or a helpless rookie (Rubio) for segments of the game.
Here's what LeBron James had to say about Sunday's sellout for the Heat's first preseason game after the lockout:
"To see how many fans came out for a preseason game, I give a big shoutout to those, our fans tonight. They were unbelievable tonight. We didn't expect that much as far as attendance. To show up in the way that they did, shows how much we missed them and how much they missed us. We respect that."
So, camp begins today and the Heat struck out on signing a center with its full mid-level exception. Sam Dalembert didn't take the bait and the Heat wasn't in a position to trade for a big name like Nene.
Instead, the Heat is taking a flyer on center Eddy Curry, hoping the once overweight big man is ready to take his career seriously. Is it enough? Remember, team president Pat Riley indicated last season that it was the Heat's top priority to sign a center with its mid-level exception.
It appears Riley did the best he could with the limited resources at his disposal. The addition of Shane Battier provides a top-notch defender to the mix and that could be important come playoff time. For example, if the Heat meets the Bulls in the playoffs again, Battier could guard Bulls forward Loul Deng, which would allow LeBron James or Dwyane Wade to conserve energy.
A retrospective example: If the Heat had a defender like Battier in last season's Finals, things might have turned out differently. Instead, James couldn't keep up with Jason Terry and, conversely, James didn't have enough left in the tank to close out the series.
At least, that's one guess as to what happened to James in The Finals.
Of course, free agency is far from over and the Heat could potentially still reel in a quality center willingly to take less money to chase a championship. Options are limited at this point, though.
The Heat's other area of need heading into free agency was the point guard position. All signs point to Mario Chalmers resigning with the Heat, but if a larger offer sheet than his qualifying number is placed in front of Chalmers, there is a very real chance he would take it. The Heat would then have to match the offer or, worse case scenario, go searching for a starting point guard at the start of camp. Carlos Arroyo, anyone? (According to the latest speculation, the Knicks are interested in Arroyo.)
Expect it to be worked out by Friday afternoon when practice begins. If Chalmers is absent, that means another team has offered him a contract and the Heat would have three days to match it.
As for the original question: Does the Heat have enough without a mid-level center? I'd say yes. For me, this free-agency period isn't nearly as important to the Heat as some would like you to believe. Give me Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh and I like my chances.
