“Akron Hammer … You are not the better Nickname for LeBron” Maury Povich, Video. OK, I did my share of “Sports Nation” bashing, but even I can admit this is great work.

The competition was between Akron Hammer, which is an awesome nickname, and the classic King James. King James won ins a landslide.

Last month a London court ordered the British government to disclose confidential US intelligence showing that this man (see picture below) was detained and suffered “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” whilst in US custody.

Now, you’ve read the headline and seen this picture. After putting two and two together, some of you may have gotten five. This man above is indeed NOT LeBron James. He sure does look like him though, doesn’t he? For comparison, here is the real LeBron James:

Many would be deceived at first glance into thinking they’d just seen King James at the microphone. At this point, I should point out that the man in question was cleared of any wrong-doing and was declared not to be a terrorist, he was merely held on suspicion of being one. In fact, the article from AOL News, tells us that he was tortured in cruel and unnatural ways by the Guantanamo Bay authorities.

Among the many heinous crimes committed against this man, by far the most disturbing was the following (young readers, stop reading right now):

Mohamed was then taken to a “dark prison” run by the U.S. in Afghanistan, where he says he was forced to listen to a recording of rapper Eminem, played at deafening volume, continually for a whole month.

People need to be taken to task for this. This is beyond a human rights issue. This is a crime against nature. No one should be forced to listen to Eminem for more than three minutes straight, perhaps as they walk around a record shop or stumble into the wrong night club.

Just for clarity, this man below is LeBron James and whilst he has blown up in the league, he is not a terrorist.

Follow us on twitter @Stacheketball.

There’s a ton of news flooding the blogosphere about both the long and short-term implications of every team involved in the trade deadline frenzy. I’ll try to avoid most of that and merely focus on the major players coming and going to teams who are not caught up in the Summer of LeBron.

Boston – Gets: Nate Robinson, Loses: Eddie House

Not sure what I’m missing here, but the Celtics seem to have an affinity for volatile unreliable point guards from the Knicks. The Starbury experiment failed miserably last year and now he’s playing overseas in China. House always seemed like a Celtic to me, he played hard, never overstepped the boundaries of his role, and he could catch fire in a hurry.

Now while I won’t argue that Nate is a superior scorer, he’s virtually the polar opposite of House. He uses too many possessions on pull-up threes and wild drives to the rim. He can shift the momentum in his team’s favor much like House could, but unlike him he doesn’t seem to have an “off” button. The only way to turn him off is to take him out of the game which is exactly what Mike D’Antoni did. For the entire month of December. One whole month free of injury. I’ll let that settle in for a bit. He can certainly help the Celtics, but I’m not sure his net upside in regards to House is worth the potential downside he poses.  Why are the Celtics not wary of this? I’m not sure, but I don’t see a dynasty spawning from this.

Charlotte – Gets: Tyrus Thomas

I’ve always been hesitant, as most people are, to stay high on Thomas. He’s got the physical tools to be great defensively, blocking shots and grabbing boards, but he lacks the consistency and to me that translates to a lack of effort. He doesn’t consistently box out, he takes too many jumpers and he’s too eager to provide helping defense leaving his man open for an easy bucket.

Hopefully a new beginning for TT will bring him some consistency via Larry Brown. If he can get it together then he’ll bring much needed rest to Gerald Wallace who has been logging an NBA-high 42mpg. If the Bobcats expect to challenge the elite teams of the East they need Wallace to be rested come playoff time.

Cleveland – Gets: Antawn Jamison, Loses: Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Probably the biggest of all the trades merely because of the impact this could have on LeBron’s future. If they win it all this year, it’ll be hard for him to walk away. If they lose, we can all start writing Cleveland letters of condolences. While Amar’e was the real gem on the market Jamison’s a pretty good consolation prize. He’s a solid, high-efficiency player in my eyes who rarely turns the ball over(1.7 TOs on his career), can score in the post and rebound well for a stretch four. He also shoots 35% from three for his career which should improve slightly with LeBron running the floor now.

Big Z will be missed, but if the Wizards buy him out like they’re expected to then the Cavs can pick him back up after thirty days. Will this move put them over the top? I’d say the Lakers are still the team to beat mostly because their championship roster is largely unchanged. The Cavs had the best regular season record last year and are on pace to repeat, but they were knocked out fairly convincingly in the ECF. They’ll reach the finals this year in part to their improved roster and the struggles of Orlando and Boston, but their ultimate challenge comes from the West.

Dallas – Gets: Caron Butler, Loses: Josh Howard

Butler always seemed to have the heart to play hard and win, but in Washington he either deferred to pre-gun-toting Arenas or was asked to do too much. Here in Dallas he’ll be play second, sometimes third, fiddle to Nowitzki and Terry which is just about right for him. Kidd should also help him get settled quickly because even though he can create for himself(sort of) it doesn’t mean he has to. The less the Mavs need Butler to do on the offensive end the better. Defensively, he’s a slight upgrade from Howard in my view. He won’t be the defensive stopper à la Bowen or Battier, but he’ll carry his load on that end.

Josh Howard was a great fit when he wasn’t playing hurt and by ditching him now the Mavs seem to be in full win-now mode much like when they acquired Kidd. Sadly, this deal doesn’t vault them into the top half of the western playoff seeds. I would even say the Thunder would  take them in a best-of-seven series.

Houston – Gets: Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill Loses: Carl Landry

This one caught me by surprise since it went down in the waning moments of the night. I absolutely love this trade for the Rockets and mostly because of its potential long-term effects. I know I said I would not stray from the immediate future, but while all of the moves I’ve discussed so far are concerned with the here and now, the mastermind, Daryl Morey, has done it again. Martin slides Ariza and Brooks down a notch which they desperately need because we now know that Ariza cannot be the #1 option, or even #2 really. Hill, a disappointment so far can still be a productive player as he has shown in flashes this season, albeit in limited minutes. As a bonus the Rockets also receive two first-round picks from the Knicks which Morey will turn into gold.

The real stinker here is the loss of Landry as he was easily the most productive player on the team. He’ll be sorely missed, but Martin sufficiently fills the void of a sweet-shooting guard to keep the offense churning. For now, the Rockets stand pretty much pat since Martin merely makes up for the loss of Landry. I suppose that is where the true genius in Morey lies: investing on the future without giving away value now.

Portland – Gets: Marcus Camby, Loses: Steve Blake

Camby is a brilliant addition to a team that saw two great centers go down in a bizarre twist of fate. He’ll anchor the inside defensively much like Oden and Pryzbilla did and pick his spots on the other end. He can hit the spot-up jumper and pass better than the other two combined. That’s all Camby really needs to do and I’m certain he will, but with contenders loading up in the already stacked West I’m not sure this move is that significant.

Losing Blake will hurt a little more than people realize because behind Miller we have Bayless. I wouldn’t doubt his potential at this moment, but that’s exactly what he is, potential. Blake wasn’t flash and he won’t dominate games, but you knew you could rely on him to sop up some minutes from the bench while Bayless can be a bit unpredictable. I am also a bit concerned about the age of Camby and Howard, 35 and 37, but at this point the Blazers didn’t have many options if they wanted to contend this season. Even if this blows up in their face Camby comes off the books at the end of the season so they don’t have to deal with 3-way mess at center.

With talks apparently heating up about a possible trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns, it might be an idea to explore what this trade does for both parties.  The trade proposal floating around is Zydrunas Ilgauskas and J.J. Hickson for Amare Stoudemire. So what does the deal mean for both teams?

PHOENIX

They get a young big man in the form of J.J. Hickson to grow within the Suns system, play pick and roll basketball with Steve Nash and take a lot of shots around the basket. You have to believe that Hickson’s agent is pushing for this trade because it would mean that he gets more playing time, which means more points, more rebounds and more money down the road. If you’re a fan of Entourage like I am, you can clearly imagine Hickson’s agent acting like Ari Gold and telling people to keep it moving and make sure the deal goes down.

As it pertains to Ilgauskas, he would only be part of the deal to make the salaries work and to give the Suns cap relief at the end of the year. The fear that Phoenix had was that Stoudemire was going to pick up his player option at the end of the season which meant he would be on the team again next season for the modest amount of $17, 7 million. Instead, The Suns would rather have the cap room to perhaps lure in a high quality free agent.

CLEVELAND

Let’s get this out of the way right now: Amare Stoudemire is a gifted offensive player. He is a legit big man with great hands, great athleticism, and he finishes with authority around the basket.  The concerns that Cavs fans have is his allergy to defense. Time and time again we saw him in Phoenix either be late on rotations or just fail to rotate altogether. Also, his strength, speed and athleticism should make him one of the best rebounders in the league; and yet his highest rebounding season  was during the 2006-2007 campaign where he averaged was 9.6 rebounds per game. Why would a great defensive team want to add him to their roster?

Well for one, Stoudemire’s  production this season (21.2 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 55.5 FG%)  actually surpasses the combined production of Ilgauskas (7.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 45.2 FG%) and Hickson (7.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 55.3 FG%). So imagine putting LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire in a pick and roll; shouldn’t that terrify the rest of the league? Think about it, here are the leagues five best finishers in my opinion:

1. LeBron James

2. Dwight Howard

3. Amare Stoudemire

4. Dwyane Wade

5. Carlos Boozer

Basically, if the Cavs acquire Stoudemire, they will have two of the best finishers in the NBA on the same team. Can you say And One’s ?

The second reason I see the Cavs making this trade is that they believe Stoudemire has the tools required to play good defense; he just hasn’t been willing to do it in Phoenix because no one held him accountable for it. Mike Brown is the guy that hasn’t been afraid to bench Shaquille O’Neal in the fourth quarter of games, so getting his message across with Stoudemire shouldn’t be too difficult. Stoudemire should flourish as a defensive player in Cleveland.

Bonus Track

Like every good album, this one comes with a bonus track. Ultimately, if consumed, this trade would be made with the idea that the Cleveland can not only win the East, but also compete with the Lakers. In recent years, Cleveland has struggled to get consistent scoring from their big men against the purple and gold because of the twin towers combo of Gasol and Bynum. But look at what Stoudemire has done against the Lakers ever since Gasol went to L.A..

Stoudemire vs. Lakers: 19.2 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 0.8 APG, 1.5 BPG, 47.2 FG%

That might not be a great line, but it’s still a very good line, especially against the defending champions. Keep in mind, this trade has not happened yet but it is in the works. If it does happen however, the Cavs will have one of the best frontlines in the NBA.

All season, Lakers fans have been singing the D-Generation X song:

“Are you ready?

Yeah you think you can tell us what to do?

You think you can tell us what to do?

Well you better get ready

To bow down to the masters

Break it down!”

Well just like the WWE, it would seem as though the script might just change a little….

Someone Stole Shaq’s Shoes, and a New Shaquote, video. The fact that someone walked away with 2 behemoth shoes and was not stopped by someone is hilarious on its own. The fact that Shaq waves goodbye with his tootsies is great, but the sobering “Shaquote” is what we need to talk about.

Shaq’s new quote rings very true to this aging superstar that is starting only 25 minutes, hopefully 30 in the playoffs.

“The Only Demise of Shaquille O’Neal Will Be His Age”
This interview got me to thinking. If the Cavs win it all this year, I will put Shaq in my top 5 all time, even though he shoots free throws like my Grand Mother.

LeBron’s Over The Backboard Shot vs Kobe’s Over The Backboard Shot, video. In a perfect world everyone would just be happy with both of these extraordinary shots, but this is an imperfect world. Everyone wants to know which one is the best. Here they are side by side. LeBron’s shot was from the other night, Kobe’s is from about a month ago.

I think LeBron jumps further out of bounds, but I hate Kobe and the Lakers, so take it for what it is worth.

Rewind: Michael Jordan Slaps Ron Harper in the back of the head, Video. If there were blogs back in the day, then this video would have blown up. Michael Jordan, the games biggest star, slaps his team mates in the back of the head, and it ,” Really Hurt”.

On second thought, I am 95% positive that, even though Jordan was the best player to ever lace them up, he would be constantly rediculued and questioned. In today’s media we love to constantly build people up and then tear them down.

Micheal Jordan was so big that, if he played today, the press would make it their personal vendetta to take him down.

Anyways, I liked this video, but I couldn’t help but think of how even this little video would bring more hate than laughs if it were posted featuring LeBron slapping Mo Williams in the back of the head. Why do haters always gots to be hatin?

Blitzen Muppet is the M&M of the rapping Reindeer, Nike Commercial. Game Over! Santa Muppet tried to freestyle on the Reindeer, and he did a good job. But Blitzen “#1 Reindeer in the World!” destroyed Santa, Kobe, and LeBron in this lil ditty. M&M would be proud.