Debut of Shaq makes Cleveland a Bang

As I have seen in the Sports News earlier, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal made their first public appearance together as Cleveland teammates.

The Cavaliers’ troubled guard, who is dealing with personal problems as well as legal issues pending from a recent arrest on weapons charges, was kept away from Cleveland’s intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, a workout that served as the Cavaliers’ debut of James and O’Neal.

James and O’Neal played on opposite teams one last time. O’Neal, acquired in an offseason trade, played for the Gold while James led the Wine. O’Neal was unofficially 6 of 8 from the field, dropping at least four short jumpers and one layup when he got behind the Wine’s defense. The 7-foot-1 big man is settling into his new home, but he’s still learning about some of his new teammates.

Earlier in the day, O’Neal and James mugged for the cameras and generally clowned around during the team’s media day, which was postponed after two hours on Monday because of a power outage. James and O’Neal rapped some lyrics together and lifted guard Mo Williams off the ground during a photo shoot.

New Owner, New Outlook and Hopes for Nets?

With an agreement for Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov to purchase controlling interest of the team, the fortunes of the New Jersey Nets changed dramatically. The Nets have gone from the franchise with the biggest debt in the league to the franchise with the richest owner. And with that, the team’s chances of finally getting to Brooklyn have increased. The move to New York has faced two obstacles: financing and an eminent domain hearing set for Oct. 14. The financing was the bigger obstacle of the two, and that doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore, with Prokhorov agreeing to acquire 45 percent of the new Barclays Center.

New Jersey has a promising young core with All-Star Devin Harris and big man Brook Lopez, but could have put itself in a better position this summer by trimming some roster fat with a buyout or two and acquiring additional building blocks. That, of course, would have required a willingness to spend. Given the Nets’ financial situation, they didn’t sign a single free agent.

In fact, Nets fans have never liked current owner Bruce Ratner. From Day 1, many have believed that Ratner’s reasons for buying the team in 2004 had little to do with basketball. His main reason for owning a team, according to his detractors, was to develop 22 acres in Brooklyn with an arena as the centerpiece.

Even if the financial handcuffs were immediately taken off, it’s too late to add an impact player for this season without sacrificing future cap space. Which means this season’s focus likely will be developing the youngsters and proving to future free agents that they can contend for a championship in Brooklyn with the Nets’ supporting cast. With Prokhorov, the Nets will have an owner who cares about hoops and should allow Thorn, to do what it takes to fully rebuild the team.

Jordan, Hall of Fame Highlights

The annual event of Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony and this is always elicits a pilgrimage of the basketball community to this small city in southwest Massachusetts. But the event has never had and probably never will have the buzz that this year’s ceremony did. The enshrinement of Michael Jordan brought more people, more attention and more buzz than Springfield or the Hall of Fame has ever seen. A night which usually doesn’t see much fanfare beyond the world of basketball turned into something more like the Academy Awards.

Well, that should be no surprise because Jordan’s presence has had that effect since his days in Chapel Hill. Whether or not you agree that Jordan was the greatest player in history, you can’t deny that there has never been a player who has influenced more aspiring players around the world than he has. On the court, he was the ultimate combination of talent and competitiveness, the ultimate showman and the ultimate winner. Off the court, he was the ultimate spokesman and marketer of the game. To this day, Jordan’s highlights elicit an emotional response and they drew oohs and ahs from the Symphony Hall crowd before he was introduced.

Tiger Woods at Barclays event

According to the news, Tiger Woods moved into contention at The Barclays at Liberty National in New Jersey with a third-round 67 on Saturday. The American improved on his first two rounds of 72 and 70 to move to within five shots of compatriots Paul Goydos and Steve Marino at the top of the leaderboard. Consecutive birdies at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes set Woods up for an impressive round, and although he dropped a shot at the par-four 10th, two more birdies moved him onto four under for the tournament.

While Marino claimed he would not look over his shoulder for Woods, he told the official PGA Tour Web site. “You know, I’m sure he’s probably going to play pretty well tomorrow. He always seems to play well on Sundays. But I can’t control what he does. I can only control what I do and I feel like if I play well, being five ahead of him, I shouldn’t really have to worry about him.” Marino added.

Poulter also had to make do with a 70, ending his round in disappointing fashion with bogeys on the 16th and 18th, although he did birdie the 17th. Americans Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar were the other two players on four-under.