For some reason, I was in a particularly bad mood last Friday night.
I was tired. I was cranky. I was like Justin Bieber when his mom tells him it’s time for a haircut. Every little thing was pissing me off. And it only got worse when a few buddies called from San Diego, where they just so happened to be vacationing…without me. After a few minutes of small talk, I rushed them off the phone, claiming I was headed out myself. The truth was, I wasn’t doing anything except watching the Royals-Yankees game, and thinking things to myself like “Is this really my life?” and “Is it just me, or does Joba Chamberlain’s face get fatter every time I see him?”
It wasn’t until an hour or so later though, that I got my surliest. That’s when I was browsing ESPN.com, and saw a report that not only had New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul demanded a trade (that was old news), but that he had revised the list of teams that he’d consider being traded to. Wait, what?
Here was my bitter response via Twitter: “On a different note, who cares what Chris Paul’s preferred (trade) destination is? Here’s a novel idea, shut up and play out your contract.”
Now that a few days have passed, I’m happy to report that I’m not nearly as grumpy as I was on Friday night. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And thankfully my friends are done with their vacation.
Even after those 72 hours though, my opinion on one thing hasn’t changed: Chris Paul needs to just shut up and play basketball.
When I went to schedule a weekend getaway a few months ago, I figured early July would be the perfect time to do it, right in the lull between the NBA Finals and the start of football talk. Little did I know that by booking my vacation for July 9, I’d be leaving in the midst of one of the five biggest sports stories of my lifetime.
But of course that’s exactly what happened, and there I was at an Atlantic City sports bar Friday night, watching LeBron James, a player synonymous with one organization as much as any in sports, staring back at me in an ugly, white Heat jersey. I’m not even a Cavaliers fan, but the whole thing seemed like a bad dream.
Anyway, since I wrote an article LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami last Friday, a lot has changed. Some good. Some bad. Most insignificant to the general public.
Without getting into too much of what I already wrote or too much of what I can’t possibly project (Like the economic impact of LeBron’s departure from Cleveland), here are some closing thoughts on the whole LeBron fiasco of the last couple days. Now hopefully the next time we discuss James, it’ll be for something he actually does on the court, rather than all of his actions of it.
If you’re looking for a coherent column on LeBron James’ Thursday night “Decision,” you’ve come to the wrong place. It ain’t happening. Not here. Not now. Not as everything we thought we knew about LeBron James is going up in smoke, much like one of his old Cavaliers jerseys.
LeBron James is going to Miami, we know that. But now that the greatest water cooler debate of our lifetime is over, the real questions begin.
Is LeBron the most selfish athlete we’ve ever seen? Or is he actually the most selfless, for deferring so much- including potentially his legacy- to Dwyane Wade?
Was LeBron ever the loyal guy he always claimed to be? Or was that all a ploy?
Maybe most importantly, after labeling LeBron the “Next Michael Jordan,” for the last seven years were we all wrong? Is he really just a more glorified Scottie Pippen?
I don’t have the answers to those questions, yet, but I do know this: LeBron made the choice we’ve all been waiting for, and ended up selecting the Heat. He will likely win multiple titles in South Beach, although we won’t know that for years.
All I do know is, that after the stunt he pulled on Thursday night, I’ll never feel the same way about him.
For the last couple days, I’ve been debating how I was going to attack this article.
Thursday, July 1, 2010. The start of NBA free agency. I couldn’t even tell you when my dad’s birthday is, yet I’ve had this date marked on my calendar for two years. So has every NBA fan nationwide.
Today isn't just a big story, but one which could change the NBA as we know it forever. Will the stars end up in New York? What about L.A.? Could they change the fortunes of the Heat or Nets? What about the Bulls? Are they all going to go their own ways?
But for all the talk about which guy will end up where, what this ultimately all comes down to is one man, and one question: Where will LeBron James land. Because once the LeBron domino falls, all the others will fall with it.
Which is why rather than spending the rest of this article talking about Bosh and Wade, Boozer or Amare, Dirk or Paul Pierce, I’m skipping them all. This is about LeBron.
But before we can get an answer to where he ends up, we need to first start asking the important questions…
On Monday, Aaron was sat down with Ryan McNeill, editor and reporter for HoopsAddict.com in an action packed NBA chat. While the conversation centered on last Thursday's NBA Draft and this Thursday's start of the NBA Free Agency period, Aaron and Ryan touched on a number of other subjects, including:
- Ryan's (Who covers the Raptors for HoopsAddict) take Toronto first round pick Ed Davis, and why he might have been the steal of the draft. - Why Ryan thinks the Kings may have had the best draft overall - Aaron and Ryan arguing over the merit of Oklahoma City's selection of Cole Aldrich - Aaron and Ryan continuing the argument on Golden State's selection of Ekpe Udoh - Why the Jazz were the NBA Draft's biggest loser
Their conversation continued to NBA Free Agency, where they discussed:
- Whether the Miami Heat's approach of clearing cap space and filling out their roster with second round picks is a good idea or not - What the Cleveland Cavaliers should have done differently in their attempts to keep LeBron James - Where Ryan believes all the big name free agents (James, Dywane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer) will end up
Finally, how HoopsAddict.com has emerged as one of the elite, independent NBA websites on the 'net
Like everything else this NBA season, Thursday night’s draft wasn’t so much a celebration of welcoming in a new group of players to the NATIONAL…BASKETBALL…ASSOCIATION (Get it? Like when Ron Jaworski calls the NFL the NATIONAL…FOOTBALL…LEAGUE?? Get it? Copyright Aaron Torres 2010). Instead it was more about teams positioning themselves for this summer and free agency.
Draft day deals this year were marked by several teams not trying to improve themselves, as much as simply trying to dump bad contracts. Everyone in the league fell into one of two categories:
1. Teams shedding players and salaries for a big free agent push (I.E. the ability to sign 2-3 max contract players. Think Miami and Chicago)
2. Teams with no chance of signing the big boy free agents, and instead improving their rosters with everyone else’s leftover parts (Think Oklahoma City).
Because of this, it’s pretty hard to gauge how teams actually did in this draft, since everyone’s motives were so different. However anyone who knows me knows how stubborn I am, and because of it, I’ve handed out 30 grades to 30 teams after the 2010 NBA Draft
On Wednesday, my buddy Arjun Chandrasekhar engaged in an epic argument, debating over who we think should be the first five picks of Thursday night's NBA Draft, in Part I of what we liked to call "The Great NBA Draft Debate."
For those who missed, here are how the first five picks went down: 1. Washington Wizards- Aaron selected: John Wall, Kentucky
2. Philadelphia 76ers- Arjun selected: Evan Turner, Ohio State
3. New Jersey Nets- Aaron selected: DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky
Here at AaronTorres-Sports.com, we’re always trying to figure out what’s next in sports. Who’s the next great team? The next great player? The next football coach at the University of Georgia. Woops, sorry Dawg fans.
Anyway, in our search for the next big thing, we’ve found the next great sportswriter, Arjun Chandrasekhar. (If he’s not on your regular reading list, he should be. You can access his work by clicking here)
You see, as it turns out, Arjun stumbled across this site a few months back, and since then, well he’s been a thorn in my side.
Why a thorn? Well, because not only does Arjun comment on just about everything I write (Which I always appreciate), but because his comments are so well crafted, well thought out and so darn intelligent, that nine times out of 10, he makes me completely re-think and re-evaluate everything I’d just previously written. And when Arjun contacted me a few weeks ago about potentially collaborating on something, I knew I had to take him up on it. Because regardless of what we ended up talking about, I knew it’d be enjoyable for the readers. Which is always my No. 1 concern.
All that brings us today.
After lengthy e-mail exchanges, Arjun and I settled on doing an NBA Mock Draft, similar to the one’s you’ve seen previously on ESPN.com with Chad Ford and Bill Simmons.
Simply put, we took every team in the NBA Draft Lottery (Picks 1-14), and gave our well informed, thought out opinions on how we think the draft should go down. Please keep in mind however, that these are the picks that we think teams should make, not necessarily the one’s we think they will make.
The conversation ended up very, very lengthy (but believe me, it’s a good lengthy. You’ll enjoy) and we decided to break the Great NBA Draft Debate into two parts, with Part I running right now, and Part II on Thursday.
With the first pick in the draft, Aaron Torres and the Washington Wizards are on the clock…
When I decided a few months back to schedule a vacation for this past weekend, the timing seemed perfect. There'd be no football or basketball on TV, allowing me to focus on the important things you're supposed to on vacation, namely eating unhealthy food, poisoning your body with alcohol, and catching some sun by the pool. Or as my friend Syed calls it, "Getting your burn on."
Of course, as it turns out, I was wrong. If there was one weekend in the past few months that I needed to be in front of the TV and a computer, this was the one. Game 7 of the NBA Finals. World Cup coverage in the late morning and early afternoon. The U.S. Open taking over in the late afternoon and early evening. Wimbledon starting Monday.
By Saturday my head was spinning with potential column ideas for when I returned to work on Tuesday. Would it be too late to talk about the NBA Finals? What if Tiger Woods won at Pebble Beach? Could I squeeze out 1500 words on my trip to Washington D.C. and the Nationals game I attended on Friday night? What about the World Cup? At a time of the year when most sports writers are scraping and clawing for story ideas, I actually had too much to write about, which isn't necessarily the worst thing. With all this in the back of my mind, I hit the town for one last time Saturday night, actually feeling a little guilty for not being in front of my computer.
Despite it, I was actually having a good time, at least until a text came, from my mom at 10:53 p.m. All it told me was that Manute Bol had passed away at the age of 47. The World Cup and U.S. Open would have to wait. I had my column for Tuesday.
To those of you who've been waiting for an NBA Finals preview from me, you've been patient, and I appreciate it.
For the last few days I've been going back and forth, up and down, left and right, trying to find an interesting angle, something out of the ordinary to share with you. Much like Kenyon Martin playing Scrabble though, I've really got nothing.
The Celtics-Lakers rivalry? Overplayed. Kobe continuing to obliterate LeBron in the "Best player in the world," debate? Ehh. East Coast vs. West Coast, Rajon Rondo's back, or the fact that Ron Artest is attempting to become the first certifiably insane person to win an NBA title? Booooooooring.
So instead of trying to sell you on a bogus bag of goods, I'm just going to give you a straight, ho-hum, player for player, position for position breakdown of everything you need to know heading into these Finals.
No fancy gimmicks. No crazy theories. Just, roughly 3,000 words of good old-fashioned basketball talk.
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For some reason, I was in a particularly bad mood last Friday night.
When I went to schedule a weekend getaway a few months ago, I figured early July would be the perfect time to do it, right in the lull between the NBA Finals and the start of football talk. Little did I know that by booking my vacation for July 9, I’d be leaving in the midst of one of the five biggest sports stories of my lifetime.
If you’re looking for a coherent column on LeBron James’ Thursday night “Decision,” you’ve come to the wrong place. It ain’t happening. Not here. Not now. Not as everything we thought we knew about LeBron James is going up in smoke, much like one of his old Cavaliers jerseys. 
For the last couple days, I’ve been debating how I was going to attack this article.
On Monday, Aaron was sat down with Ryan McNeill, editor and reporter for 
Like everything else this NBA season, Thursday night’s draft wasn’t so much a celebration of welcoming in a new group of players to the NATIONAL…BASKETBALL…ASSOCIATION (Get it? Like when Ron Jaworski calls the NFL the NATIONAL…FOOTBALL…LEAGUE?? Get it? Copyright Aaron Torres 2010). Instead it was more about teams positioning themselves for this summer and free agency.
On Wednesday, my buddy Arjun Chandrasekhar engaged in an epic argument, debating over who we think should be the first five picks of Thursday night's NBA Draft, in 
Here at AaronTorres-Sports.com, we’re always trying to figure out what’s next in sports. Who’s the next great team? The next great player? The next football coach at the University of Georgia. Woops, sorry Dawg fans.
When I decided a few months back to schedule a vacation for this past weekend, the timing seemed perfect. There'd be no football or basketball on TV, allowing me to focus on the important things you're supposed to on vacation, namely eating unhealthy food, poisoning your body with alcohol, and catching some sun by the pool. Or as my friend Syed calls it, "Getting your burn on."
To those of you who've been waiting for an NBA Finals preview from me, you've been patient, and I appreciate it.
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 