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LeBron can't hide desire to win
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 04:55 p.m. EDT, Mar 29, 2008
It's always chancy to read body language.
Less it's the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which is pretty blatant.
But LeBron James' body language the other night when the Cavs played the New Orleans Hornets was pretty interesting.
There were several factors at play (and at work) in this game.
The Cavs were playing one of the best teams in the league.
That team featured Chris Paul, one of the best players in the league, a guy who has legitimate MVP credentials.
These things tend to get James' competitive juices flowing.
Especially when the MVP candidate on the other team is one of his better friends.
But James has the superstar's drive, which never will allow him to accept losing to another superstar.
''I'm the kind of guy who wants to win every game,'' he said.
Naturally.
Superstars do not like to be ''out-greated'' (to create language), especially on their home court. No great player wants to be out-MVPed (more language creation) by the opposing MVP candidate.
So James was pretty upset that his driving left-handed layup with 7.7 seconds left was not enough to win.
With time winding down, Paul somehow managed to wriggle his way to make a 180 in the air and pass behind him to an open David West for the game-winning shot for the Hornets.
It left James with a three-quarter court heave to try to win it, which left him gesturing, arms out, and talking pointedly to the Cavs assistant coaches.
More than once during fourth-quarter timeouts, James slammed towels and talked . . . well, sternly with teammates, apparently about defensive miscues that kept allowing the Hornets' jump shooters to get wide open 3-point shots.
This is not a new thing for James this season.
An early-season game on the West Coast was highlighted by James rushing to Drew Gooden to tell him that he had just taken a bad shot.
Gooden had done just that late in the game, and he didn't really argue.
But it was still an interesting sight.
After the loss Wednesday, James spent extra time by himself before he met the media.
This could have been as simple as him wanting to heal his body in the cold tub, which players do.
He might have been cooling off.
He might have been just taking his time.
He might have had a phone call.
But it's not typical. Usually James speaks right after games. Wednesday he didn't.
When he spoke, he was his usual honest, insightful self. He praised Paul, talked about needing to take his shot early because the Cavs were behind, and he said some of the things that hurt the Cavs they could have controlled.
''I wear my emotions on my chest,'' he said. ''And on my face.''
The last statement had to refer to the team's defensive breakdowns. Coach Mike Brown called it poor ''game-plan discipline,'' a statement that seems right out of former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer's ''there's a gleam'' quotebook.
What does all this mean? That perhaps the Cavs are in a tough spot with the end of the regular season just more than two weeks away.
The team is still looking for the right ''rotations'' (wasn't it nice when they were just substitutions?), and the right mix, both early in games and late.
Brown said the team is ''searching.''
It's OK to search early in the year or, even, in January. Then the Cavs searched and found a lineup and ''rotations'' that enabled them to go 15-3.
They have gone 9-8 since the Feb. 21 trades. The Cavs will make the playoffs, but their plan as they head in doesn't seem set..
This is not the ideal time for that to happen.
And James, who has as much basketball savvy as anyone in the league, has to know when things are dicey.
So if James was frustrated the other night, perhaps it's because he would rather see things coming together faster.
And he sees that though the Cavs made the trades, the team isn't appreciably better.
And that the one facet the Cavs always could count on — defense — now is dicey because the new guys don't know the old guys and the system that well.
And that the Cavs success in the playoffs will depend totally on how far James can take them, that the ''supporting cast'' just isn't what it needs to be.
All that could be frustrating to a guy who badly wants to win a championship.
Then again, he might just hate losing.
NFL THOUGHTS
The NFL is going to discuss re-seeding playoff teams this week at its annual spring meetings. This is an effort to avoid end-of-the-year shames where one team rests its starters because it already made the playoffs.
Here's a simpler suggestion: Pass a rule that states any team whose game carries playoff implications for itself or another team must play its regulars.
No resting guys.
No playing a game to ensure a receiver leads the league in yard.
None of this phony pretending to win while playing a bunch of guys who usually never play and sometimes spend the weekend on the inactive list.
If your game has any effect at all on the playoffs, then the starters can't walk around the sideline in baseball hats.
Simple as that.
This could sound like the sourest case of sour grapes this side of Napa Valley. The Browns did not make the playoffs in 2007 because the Tennessee Titans beat a team of Indianapolis Colts backups in the season finale.
But the Browns made their own mess when they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in the penultimate week.
No argument on that one.
But something just did not seem right with the way that the Colts played.
Peyton Manning played long enough to throw a bunch of passes to Reggie Wayne and ensure Wayne would top Randy Moss in receiving yards.
Then they headed to the sideline as the immortal Jim Sorgi took over.
The Colts played like a bunch of quacking ducks waddling around the field, especially on offense.
They had as much chance to win that game as they did sailing their domed stadium down the Mississippi River.
Why would they be allowed to play this way?
Well, the thinking goes this way: A team that clinches a playoff spot has the right to handle its team and its ensuing games any way it wants.
Competition committee co-chair Rich McKay said in a conference call last week that ''the committee has always taken the position that we don't want to be in the business of trying to dictate what coaches have to do late in the season with respect to the decisions they are going to make. They've earned the right to make those decisions.''
Browns coach Romeo Crennel said he would want that freedom should his team clinch a spot early.
This is all well and good — except that those decisions can affect another team.
And fans are still paying full price for what is a less-than-fell effort.
Yes, the backups give full effort, but they are backups for a reason. And allowing this charade to play on pretty much makes a mockery of some late-season games.
Commissioner Roger Goodell was not pleased with the present system, so he advocated seeding teams in the playoffs.
The Competition Committee is proposing making the division winners with the best records the first and second seeds, and then seeding the other two division winners and two wild-card teams third through sixth.
This could give a wild-card team the third seed and a home game against a division winner, which really decreases the value of winning the division if you're not one of the best two.
But it's a solution.
''I think that to make as many games as competitive as we can late in the year without, in my mind, adversely affecting the third and fourth best division records, I think this would be a good step for the league,'' McKay said.
It might be.
But it seems simpler to just say that if your game has any affect on any playoff spot, you must play your starters.
Yes, there is risk.
A guy can get hurt, but he can get hurt in Week 2, 10 or 15. Too, players always say that the risk of injury increases if a player is not giving full effort.
So put the starters out there and play to win the dadgum game.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Ah, the crack of the bat, the sound of the ball hitting leather — all played in 35-degree temperatures.
Now that's baseball.
• The Indians didn't have a lot of real controversial moves to make the end of this spring training, which was about as placid as Lake Lulu just outside the team's Winter Haven, Fla., clubhouse.
Biggest choice was to send Ben Francisco to the minors.
No big deal there really.
• The Indians are going with David Dellucci and Jason Michaels, and have Shin-Soo Choo awaiting.
If any of them falter, there's no reason they can't just bring Francisco back to the majors. Not like he's being sent to jail or something.
• The Web site for the TSA — that's the group that decides to wand 4-year-old kids at the airport — asks: ''Are you on a watch list?'' Kind of them to let us dig in and find out.
• Yes, it was spring training, but the Indians had to love the way Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee threw.
Westbrook did not give up a run in 14 innings, and he pitched six perfect innings his last outing.
Visions of him blowing through the Boston Red Sox his final two innings of Game 7 flicker.
Westbrook being healthy for a full year and Lee (possibly) returning to the form of two years ago gives the Indians two potentially outstanding third and fifth starters, and it's very possible Lee moves up to the fourth spot before year's end.
If he pitches well, of course.
• NFL folks need to get out more. They just spend too much time in bunkers.
Consider that the Kansas City Chiefs have proposed a rule on hair length. That's right, hair length. The Chiefs want long hair tucked under the helmet so it does not cover the name on the back of the uniform.
The NFL players union, which also must have a lot of time on its hands, will fight the proposal.
It all seems silly, doesn't it? • Talking about hair . . .
Then again, there was a big hullabaloo when the NBA decided players must wear sport coats when on the bench. They now wear them, look nice, and the republic did not fold.
Just seems like there might be more for a team to worry about than hair length, is all.
• Are you on a watch list?
• The Browns had an effect on the proposed rule changes. There's the re-seeding of playoff teams, of course, and the league is proposing adding field goals to replays, a fallout from hitting the ''Dawson Bar'' in Baltimore. But the league is also proposing eliminating the ''force-out'' rule. A receiver either is in bounds or isn't, no matter if he's pushed out of bounds by a defender.
Browns had that situation when they beat the New York Jets two years, and when Kellen Winslow's superb catch against the Arizona Cardinals was ruled incomplete.
Both were forceouts.
Next year, it will just be incomplete.
Probably shouldn't mention this, but Winslow's catch would have put the Browns in the playoffs.
• Perhaps it should be put on a watch list.
Until next time, there you have it.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.
It's always chancy to read body language.
Less it's the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which is pretty blatant.
But LeBron James' body language the other night when the Cavs played the New Orleans Hornets was pretty interesting.
There were several factors at play (and at work) in this game.
The Cavs were playing one of the best teams in the league.
That team featured Chris Paul, one of the best players in the league, a guy who has legitimate MVP credentials.
These things tend to get James' competitive juices flowing.
Especially when the MVP candidate on the other team is one of his better friends.
But James has the superstar's drive, which never will allow him to accept losing to another superstar.
''I'm the kind of guy who wants to win every game,'' he said.
Naturally.
Superstars do not like to be ''out-greated'' (to create language), especially on their home court. No great player wants to be out-MVPed (more language creation) by the opposing MVP candidate.
So James was pretty upset that his driving left-handed layup with 7.7 seconds left was not enough to win.
With time winding down, Paul somehow managed to wriggle his way to make a 180 in the air and pass behind him to an open David West for the game-winning shot for the Hornets.
It left James with a three-quarter court heave to try to win it, which left him gesturing, arms out, and talking pointedly to the Cavs assistant coaches.
More than once during fourth-quarter timeouts, James slammed towels and talked . . . well, sternly with teammates, apparently about defensive miscues that kept allowing the Hornets' jump shooters to get wide open 3-point shots.
This is not a new thing for James this season.
An early-season game on the West Coast was highlighted by James rushing to Drew Gooden to tell him that he had just taken a bad shot.
Gooden had done just that late in the game, and he didn't really argue.
But it was still an interesting sight.
After the loss Wednesday, James spent extra time by himself before he met the media.
This could have been as simple as him wanting to heal his body in the cold tub, which players do.
He might have been cooling off.
He might have been just taking his time.
He might have had a phone call.
But it's not typical. Usually James speaks right after games. Wednesday he didn't.
When he spoke, he was his usual honest, insightful self. He praised Paul, talked about needing to take his shot early because the Cavs were behind, and he said some of the things that hurt the Cavs they could have controlled.
''I wear my emotions on my chest,'' he said. ''And on my face.''
The last statement had to refer to the team's defensive breakdowns. Coach Mike Brown called it poor ''game-plan discipline,'' a statement that seems right out of former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer's ''there's a gleam'' quotebook.
What does all this mean? That perhaps the Cavs are in a tough spot with the end of the regular season just more than two weeks away.
The team is still looking for the right ''rotations'' (wasn't it nice when they were just substitutions?), and the right mix, both early in games and late.
Brown said the team is ''searching.''
It's OK to search early in the year or, even, in January. Then the Cavs searched and found a lineup and ''rotations'' that enabled them to go 15-3.
They have gone 9-8 since the Feb. 21 trades. The Cavs will make the playoffs, but their plan as they head in doesn't seem set..
This is not the ideal time for that to happen.
And James, who has as much basketball savvy as anyone in the league, has to know when things are dicey.
So if James was frustrated the other night, perhaps it's because he would rather see things coming together faster.
And he sees that though the Cavs made the trades, the team isn't appreciably better.
And that the one facet the Cavs always could count on — defense — now is dicey because the new guys don't know the old guys and the system that well.
And that the Cavs success in the playoffs will depend totally on how far James can take them, that the ''supporting cast'' just isn't what it needs to be.
All that could be frustrating to a guy who badly wants to win a championship.
Then again, he might just hate losing.
NFL THOUGHTS
The NFL is going to discuss re-seeding playoff teams this week at its annual spring meetings. This is an effort to avoid end-of-the-year shames where one team rests its starters because it already made the playoffs.
Here's a simpler suggestion: Pass a rule that states any team whose game carries playoff implications for itself or another team must play its regulars.
No resting guys.
No playing a game to ensure a receiver leads the league in yard.
None of this phony pretending to win while playing a bunch of guys who usually never play and sometimes spend the weekend on the inactive list.
If your game has any effect at all on the playoffs, then the starters can't walk around the sideline in baseball hats.
Simple as that.
This could sound like the sourest case of sour grapes this side of Napa Valley. The Browns did not make the playoffs in 2007 because the Tennessee Titans beat a team of Indianapolis Colts backups in the season finale.
But the Browns made their own mess when they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in the penultimate week.
No argument on that one.
But something just did not seem right with the way that the Colts played.
Peyton Manning played long enough to throw a bunch of passes to Reggie Wayne and ensure Wayne would top Randy Moss in receiving yards.
Then they headed to the sideline as the immortal Jim Sorgi took over.
The Colts played like a bunch of quacking ducks waddling around the field, especially on offense.
They had as much chance to win that game as they did sailing their domed stadium down the Mississippi River.
Why would they be allowed to play this way?
Well, the thinking goes this way: A team that clinches a playoff spot has the right to handle its team and its ensuing games any way it wants.
Competition committee co-chair Rich McKay said in a conference call last week that ''the committee has always taken the position that we don't want to be in the business of trying to dictate what coaches have to do late in the season with respect to the decisions they are going to make. They've earned the right to make those decisions.''
Browns coach Romeo Crennel said he would want that freedom should his team clinch a spot early.
This is all well and good — except that those decisions can affect another team.
And fans are still paying full price for what is a less-than-fell effort.
Yes, the backups give full effort, but they are backups for a reason. And allowing this charade to play on pretty much makes a mockery of some late-season games.
Commissioner Roger Goodell was not pleased with the present system, so he advocated seeding teams in the playoffs.
The Competition Committee is proposing making the division winners with the best records the first and second seeds, and then seeding the other two division winners and two wild-card teams third through sixth.
This could give a wild-card team the third seed and a home game against a division winner, which really decreases the value of winning the division if you're not one of the best two.
But it's a solution.
''I think that to make as many games as competitive as we can late in the year without, in my mind, adversely affecting the third and fourth best division records, I think this would be a good step for the league,'' McKay said.
It might be.
But it seems simpler to just say that if your game has any affect on any playoff spot, you must play your starters.
Yes, there is risk.
A guy can get hurt, but he can get hurt in Week 2, 10 or 15. Too, players always say that the risk of injury increases if a player is not giving full effort.
So put the starters out there and play to win the dadgum game.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Ah, the crack of the bat, the sound of the ball hitting leather — all played in 35-degree temperatures.
Now that's baseball.
• The Indians didn't have a lot of real controversial moves to make the end of this spring training, which was about as placid as Lake Lulu just outside the team's Winter Haven, Fla., clubhouse.
Biggest choice was to send Ben Francisco to the minors.
No big deal there really.
• The Indians are going with David Dellucci and Jason Michaels, and have Shin-Soo Choo awaiting.
If any of them falter, there's no reason they can't just bring Francisco back to the majors. Not like he's being sent to jail or something.
• The Web site for the TSA — that's the group that decides to wand 4-year-old kids at the airport — asks: ''Are you on a watch list?'' Kind of them to let us dig in and find out.
• Yes, it was spring training, but the Indians had to love the way Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee threw.
Westbrook did not give up a run in 14 innings, and he pitched six perfect innings his last outing.
Visions of him blowing through the Boston Red Sox his final two innings of Game 7 flicker.
Westbrook being healthy for a full year and Lee (possibly) returning to the form of two years ago gives the Indians two potentially outstanding third and fifth starters, and it's very possible Lee moves up to the fourth spot before year's end.
If he pitches well, of course.
• NFL folks need to get out more. They just spend too much time in bunkers.
Consider that the Kansas City Chiefs have proposed a rule on hair length. That's right, hair length. The Chiefs want long hair tucked under the helmet so it does not cover the name on the back of the uniform.
The NFL players union, which also must have a lot of time on its hands, will fight the proposal.
It all seems silly, doesn't it? • Talking about hair . . .
Then again, there was a big hullabaloo when the NBA decided players must wear sport coats when on the bench. They now wear them, look nice, and the republic did not fold.
Just seems like there might be more for a team to worry about than hair length, is all.
• Are you on a watch list?
• The Browns had an effect on the proposed rule changes. There's the re-seeding of playoff teams, of course, and the league is proposing adding field goals to replays, a fallout from hitting the ''Dawson Bar'' in Baltimore. But the league is also proposing eliminating the ''force-out'' rule. A receiver either is in bounds or isn't, no matter if he's pushed out of bounds by a defender.
Browns had that situation when they beat the New York Jets two years, and when Kellen Winslow's superb catch against the Arizona Cardinals was ruled incomplete.
Both were forceouts.
Next year, it will just be incomplete.
Probably shouldn't mention this, but Winslow's catch would have put the Browns in the playoffs.
• Perhaps it should be put on a watch list.
Until next time, there you have it.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.
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