NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

LeBron James must be crying in his orange juice. Once again the Cleveland Cavaliers have failed to help him out. It is very hard to believe that LeBron will spend his whole career in Cleveland.

Don’t get me wrong, Jermaine O’Neal is not the best player in the league, but he is a mobile scoring front line player that could have changed the whole complexion of the Cavaliers.

The Pacers were looking for a starter-quality center in return for O’Neal, which made it tough to make a deal work for the Cavs. They are not permitted to trade Anderson Varejao until at least Dec. 5 due to collective bargaining rules because they matched an offer sheet he signed on that date last year. They were not interested in parting with Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
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Was that a collective groan from Cav’s fans? We missed out on Jermaine O’Neal because we wanted to keep Zydrunas? Zydrunas? You have got to be kidding me.

After 6 All Star years and now his 30th birthday, Jermaine is once again healthy and hungry.

“The fact is, I played on one leg for two years,” says O’Neal, whose averages shrank to 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in 42 games last season after he reinjured his knee in 2006-07. “You hear people say that you slowed down, that you don’t have it anymore — but you know that you still have it. All the naysayers who are saying that I lost a step, they’ll get a full dosage of me next year.”

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Unfortunately for Cav’s fans, Jermaine will be a Toronto Raptor to join forces with Chris Bosh.

Photo source Newscom

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Raise your hand if you think LeBron James will be the next Cavalier to shoot

For Cleveland it was a test drive of sorts of just how will the new players work out in the playoffs.

For Detroit it was game 68 of the regular season. Not a time to get worked up about anything.

Cleveland tried LeBron James on Chauncey Billups. They tried Ben Wallace on Rasheed Wallace.

The Pistons just watched and played. They did not even double LeBron.

The Pistons kept their poker faces.

“They look very similar, and that’s not a bad thing,” point guard Chauncey Billups said. “I don’t see too much difference.”

For one thing, problems No. 1, 2 and 3 haven’t changed — LeBron James, LeBron James and LeBron James, who scored 30 Wednesday.

“The big horse,” shooting guard Richard Hamilton said, “is still LeBron.” source

Did the Pistons learn anything?

“We pretty much want to feel out and see how they play with their new guys,” Billups said of the Cavaliers. “Obviously, you still want to come out with the win. But you learn some things about how they like to play with the new guys and what the new guys can do.”

Hmm, they are not speaking.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Were you excited or panicked over the Piston’s loss to Cleveland?

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

By Guest Blogger, Kori Ellis

As most of you probably know, Anderson Varejao is an unsigned restricted free agent of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played a vital role last year in the Cavaliers reaching the NBA Finals as the team’s rebounding, defending and flopping master.

Varejao went into the summer wanting to get paid big bucks (reports indicate he wanted between $8-10M per year) but the Cavs wanted to retain him for a more reasonable amount. Since he was a restricted free agent, no other team was able to outright sign him without the Cavs potentially matching the deal.

A month into the season and there has been limited progress. However, in a recent report, Varejao has now stated that he doesn’t want to return to the Cavaliers. Instead, he says, he wants to be traded to another team.

Since there is virtually no money out there for Varejao to make, he’d have to accept a small deal if he were to be traded. Don’t count on that happening unless he goes to a team with the unwritten agreement of a new deal at the end of the season.

What do I think will happen? I think that eventually Varejao will come off of his demands and will settle with Cleveland for a shorter contract than he originally wanted. The Cavaliers are doing decently without him so Varejao’s leverage is slim. And even if he were to holdout all season, he’d still be property of the Cavs. Basically, Varejao is between and rock and a hard place and his only real out is to re-sign in Cleveland.

Anderson Varejao Mix …