LeBron recruitment shows long-term value of prudent draft picks

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As recently alluded to here, The NBA Draft is one of my favorite events of the year for a variety of reasons, most notably that I’m fascinated by the thought process that goes into shaping teams for the future. And despite all the snap judgments made right after it happens, it’s impossible to know without a few years of perspective who truly wins and loses a draft.

But just as a team can set themselves up for success down the road, a simple mistake can come back to haunt a team years down the road.

Now the Cavaliers could very well re-sign LeBron James, and the Knicks could lure him to New York, as Stephen A. Smith feels they might. Those are probably his two most likely destinations for 2010-11. But if either or both misses out, they’ll probably have to look at early parts of this decade and understand that one crucial mistake each cost them big-time.

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The Summer of LeBron: Let’s just get this over with

Profile of a would-be billionaire

As someone who’s been following every move LeBron James has made since before he had a high school diploma, I’ve eagerly anticipated for years the most spectacular free agency in the history of sports. I thought it’d be a basketball Christmas in July.

But then his season ended, I was bombarded by news about it, and I was surprised to find myself nonplused by the whole thing – despite the fact that my beloved Knicks are one of the main contenders for his services.

I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but this isn’t it.

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Missing the point: Blame directed at King should fall elsewhere

Note: This is courtesy of SportsAngle executive editor Frank Pepe, also of Trumbull Island. I could not have said this better myself.

Moment of truth

After turning in the worst playoff performance of his career, LeBron James might only have one more game of basketball left this season. Problem is, the most talented and accomplished young player on the planet famously has aspirations beyond athletics.

A celebrity and an outsized personality, the small forward has traditionally been selfish and petulant after his Cleveland teams’ eliminations, a fate he’s met with since first reaching the playoffs in 2006. Of course, until Tuesday, he’s been mostly excellent in these losses. So what happened early this week? Was he injured, defended well, or was he simply thinking about his dinner reservations?

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Look closer: SportsAngle checks out the scene at the NBA Store

After the Paulie Malignaggi-Amir Khan presser ended – more on that tomorrow – the weather in the City was too nice not to walk around a bit, so I stopped over at the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue for a little while. I like to see what initiatives they’re pushing, to stay on the pulse of a sport I like, and also to check out some of the more ridiculous items.

Also, you never know who you’ll find there – I’ve run into Freddy Prinze sidekick Matthew Lillard and failed St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis, to name a couple. Here’s a pictorial look at what I found – or at least, what I found before employees came by and glared me out the door.

Gallery

Note – If you want musical accompaniment to get the vibe of being at the store, hit play on that dreadful Kesha song after the jump. I think it’s appalling, but lamentably, that’s what was playing when I was there. Brush her teeth with a bottle of Jack, indeed.

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Counterpoint: Rethinking New York’s impending Summer of LeBron

The guys in the middle don't quite fit I had a summit at an East Village bar last night with two members of the SportsAngle brain trust – Frank Pepe of Trumbull Island and Mr. Han, the self-appointed U.S. ambassador to Iceland – and our conversation of course veered toward the Summer of LeBron.

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Frozen moment: Knicks’ tenuous wait for LeBron has virtue in itself

Vanderbilt Kentucky Basketball About a decade ago, Jimmy Johnson said something I’ve always liked:

You can play it safe and be good, or you can take a chance and be great.

Unfortunately, the Dolphins’ then-coach said that to justify his pick of Daryl Gardener over some guy named Ray Lewis in the 1996 NFL Draft. But the words – if not the defensive tackle – stuck with me over the years.

I’ve come to believe that when a shot at greatness presents itself, which doesn’t happen all that often, you owe it to yourself to go for it. It’s clichéd, but it’s almost always 100% true: It’s better to regret something you did than something you didn’t do.

That’s why for the first time in a long time, I’m cautiously excited about the Knicks. Donnie Walsh is trying to shoot the moon, and I couldn’t be more in favor of it.

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Rearview mirror: LeBron-mania reaches its zenith in Trenton

(Note: I originally wrote this during the fall in conjunction with the release of “More than a Game,” but while writing about the Primetime Shootout this weekend, I grew nostalgic for the greatest high school performance I had ever seen at the 2003 Shootout. I usually don’t re-up posts, but indulge me here. Stuff’s about to get crazy with LeBron as July 1, 2010 approaches, but I contend that this game in Trenton was a snapshot in time that will never be duplicated.)

Like a comet streaking across the sky There’s a movie that came out in theaters this weekend that I can’t wait to see. It has extra meaning to me and I find it particularly inspirational. I’d go as far as to go on record and say it’s the feel-good movie of the season.

Obviously, I’m talking about Zombieland, with the great Woody Harrelson.

Woody Harrelson: The man never makes a bad movie, word to Natural Born Killers Okay, I admit, I’m just kidding. Though I do plan to see Zombieland, I’m referring more to More than a Game, the documentary chronicling St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, the high school team that featured a young man named LeBron James. Considering my personal experience with that era of his life, the movie holds extra meaning to me.

As you may have noticed, this site has covered LeBron pretty closely – from his impending cataclysmic free agency, to his relationship with rappers, to his complete dominance of the media. Well, that’s not new. Long before SportsAngle’s hiatus, when LeBron was still technically in high school, we decided to follow him every step of the way.

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All that jazz: Myles Davis hits high note in Prep’s upset of Oak Hill

In the spotlight After watching national prep school powerhouse Oak Hill edge star-studded St. Patrick on Friday night by one point, I figured I had seen the premier game of the Primetime Shootout.

As it turned out, I was in for a real surprise on Saturday – as was Oak Hill, which learned two lessons: Never take anything for granted, and never draw blood from St. Peter’s Prep star guard Myles Davis.

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