CLEVELAND — Maybe he was trying to lessen the booing tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.
Maybe he’s not enamored with South Beach or his new organization.
Maybe he decided New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin had been center stage long enough.
Maybe he wasn’t thinking.
Maybe he was serious.
Whatever the reason, LeBron James thrust himself smack dab into the spotlight Thursday when he said he’d consider playing for the Cavaliers again.
“I think it would be great,” James said following Miami’s shootaround at The Q. “It would be fun to play for these fans again. I had a lot of fun in my seven years here. You can’t predict the future.
“Hopefully, I continue to stay healthy. I’m here as a Miami Heat player and I’m happy where I am now, but I don’t rule that out in no sense. And if I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me.”
Now 27 and in his ninth NBA season, James left the Cavs in the summer of 2010 as an unrestricted free agent, announcing “The Decision” to take his “talents to South Beach” live on ESPN.
That led to an infamous open letter to Cleveland fans from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, with whom James said he has not made amends. In the letter, which was emailed to media outlets the night of “The Decision,” Gilbert repeatedly ripped James and promised the Cavs would win an NBA title before the Akron native did.
“I don’t have any hard feelings,” James said. “He said what he said and I moved on. There’s been no attempt to patch things up.
“I don’t hold grudges. I hold ‘em a little bit, but I don’t hold them that long.”
Whether Gilbert would consider signing the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James is uncertain. A Cavs spokesman said the owner would not — and could not — comment on the matter because James is under contract to the Heat. As of Thursday evening, Gilbert had not posted on his Twitter account since Saturday, the day Cleveland center Anderson Varejao was diagnosed with a fractured right wrist.
Even if Gilbert were willing to pursue the possibility, there’s still the matter of having enough salary cap space to sign James in the summer of 2014, the earliest the two-time league MVP can opt out of his deal with Miami.
James will make almost $19.1 million in 2013-14 and has player options that would pay him $20.6 million in 2014-15 and $22.1 million in 2015-16.
But for one day, at least, the St. Vincent-St. Mary High product seemed perfectly open to one day playing for Gilbert again.
“He said what he said out of anger,” James said. “He probably would want to take that back, but I made a mistake, too. There’s some things I want to take back as well. You learn from your mistakes and move on.”
Asked directly if he could play for Gilbert, James said: “Dan is not the coach. I could play for any coach. We’ll see what happens.”
Moments earlier, James had said he’d love to finish his career with the Heat, which lost to Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Then, without so much as pausing to catch his breath, he added again that he’d consider coming back to Cleveland, apparently unconcerned with how his comments would go over in Miami.
Word of James’ interview — about 25 media members were on hand — quickly got back to the Cavs, who were working out at Cleveland Clinic Courts in nearby Independence.
Veteran Antawn Jamison, acquired at the trade deadline in 2009-10, is the only healthy Cavs player who played with James in Cleveland. Varejao, Anthony Parker and Daniel Gibson, the other players left from James’ time with the Cavs, are injured.
“It surprises me he said it now,” a smiling Jamison said. “Three years down the road, it wouldn’t surprise me if he entertained the idea. After the first go-round, I don’t think anything would surprise you as far as scenarios.”
Cavs coach Byron Scott, who played in the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson era, refused to address James’ comments about possibly returning to Cleveland. But when asked if such statements would have been made in the 1980s, he shook his head no.
“It didn’t happen in our day,” Scott said. “You played where you played, period. If you got traded, that was a different story. If you left as a free agent, that was a different story.
“But you didn’t publicize you wanted to play somewhere else. We just didn’t do those things. But this is a different day. We had a lot more respect for the organizations we played for. A lot of this stuff I don’t understand, because I’m old-school.”
James, who signed an estimated $100 million endorsement contract with Nike before he played his first NBA game with the Cavs in 2003, represents the new-age player.
That hasn’t kept him from having a sensational career. He was league MVP with Cleveland in 2008-09 and 2009-10 and led the Cavs to the 2007 NBA Finals, but James, who is averaging 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists for the Heat, still doesn’t have a championship ring.
“No matter where my career ends up, my goal is still the same, and that’s to win a championship,” he said. “I’ve accomplished all you can as an individual.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
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The progress they have made already is striking — and not because of a quick adaptation to the nuances of Thompsons offense, even if they are second in the Big East in shooting percentage (.464). It is a defense that is second in the Big East in points allowed (58.9 per game), fourth in defensive field goal percentage (.389) and third in rebounding margin (plus-5.5) that puts the Hoyas coach more at ease than he has been in the past. His players have noticed.
I definitely see that this year, senior center Henry Sims said, especially since we have a lot of guys that buy into his philosophies of playing hard and preaching defense first. We all feel the same way. Since Ive been here, this has been one of the times that hes been convinced that everybody is really ready to step in and really ready to play.
The unselfish mentality has bled into the offense, a silver lining to the departure of guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman. After South Floridas recent loss to the Hoyas, Bulls coach Stan Heath said, They were more talented last year. Theyre a much better team this year.
Sophomore forward Nate Lubick agrees.
I think one thing thats different about this team, Lubick said, and not to criticize last years team, is that when people break off of the offense this year, its to get somebody else a shot, rather than last year, if someone was breaking out of our offensive sets, it was kind of to get their own shot. As a coach, thats all you can ask for. I think you can just see that hes having more fun.
How much fun? When asked whether he was pleasantly surprised how far the Hoyas have come so fast, Thompson replied, It was necessary, and so Im glad theyve come through and have done whats required of them to get books, board and tuition.
cstouffer@washingtonexaminer.com
Earlier this month it was announce that Glee star Lea Michele was named the new spokeswoman for the Candies Spring 2012 campaign, following in the footsteps of past spokeswomen such as Britney Spears, Fergie and Vanessa Hudgens.
Candies is such an iconic brand and I am so happy to be working with them, she says.
The trendy clothing amp; footwear firms new campaign is called, Hangin At Home, and Lea explains the idea behind the new ads.
She says, The concept for the new Candies at Kohls campaign is about enjoying being at home, feeling relaxed, comfortable and happy.
The new ads feature Lea in her own environment and gives fans and consumes an idea of her every day life with photos of her hanging by the pool, relaxing in bed and causing more than a little stir in the kitchen.
Lea, when asked which one of the past campaigns was her favorite, reveals, Britney Spears is definitely my favorite past Candies girl, her campaigns were gorgeous.
Candies shoes are sold exclusively at Kohls Department Stores across the US; and Leas new ads will start rolling out in the March issues of such magazines as Seventeen, Cosmo and Teen Vogue.
Check out the full Candies Collection at Kohls.com!
Check out more pics of Lea from her Candies campaign after the behind-the-scenes video from her photoshoot.
I used to be the sort of mom who strung Mylar balloons with ribbon strings for my sons birthday parties. For each of his eight years, I handed out goody bags stuffed with candy and 99 Cents Only Store toys. I bought cakes topped with plastic decorations. I served junk food and Capri Suns. I was oblivious to the mounds of waste I was generating. I just wanted to throw the perfect party.
This year, I decided on something different. For my sons ninth, trash was the enemy. The goal: a party that generates zero garbage. There would be no Slinkies or wax candy mustaches. And Mylar? That was definitely out.
Throwing a zero-waste party was a challenge. Im not going to lie. Certain items just werent possible to eliminate, and the party needed to seem just as fun and normal as any of the previous birthday blowouts Ive thrown. Its one thing to live environmentally conscious myself. Its another thing to ask parents I didnt know well to be part of the experiment, or to include my son, who splits his time between my house and his dads, where recycling isnt as big a priority.
The party was a two-parter. The first half was at Go Kart World in Carson, followed by an all-you-can-eat feast at my house. Invitations were sent electronically via Evite.com. I declined the print invitations offered by Go Kart World, as well as the goody bags that were part of a party package that included race-track rides, arcade tokens, pizza lunch and cake.
Oh Big Bang Theory, I love ya. Can I just say right off the top how hilarious the Sheldon/Amy Fun with Flags videos were? Particularly at the end, when they were in costume; Amy as the pretzel just cracked me right up. This is the kind of Amy I can get behind. She still had her comments about Pennys beauty and love, but it was a bit more restrained and a lot less creepy. I really appreciated Amy more in this episode.
What a great storyline this week for Raj. Hats off to the writers for finally giving him more to do. We were also able to get a glimpse of classic Raj and Howard and their weird sexual undertones when they both removed the plastic from Rajs phone. It reminded me off the episode where they both make out with the webcam microphones Howard invented. Also, a most welcome (however quick) appearance from Kripke demonstrating Siris inability to understand him was also hilarious. Kripke somehow manages to be beloved while extremely creepy at the same time.
Of course, we could all see where the relationship between Raj and Siri was headed, but I loved watching it unfold. When he had Siri refer to him as sexy, I was shaking my head but laughing at the same time. I was hoping this Siri could be a starting point for him to actually talk to women, because weve been waiting a long time to see him talk to women while sober (at least I have). The date night sequence with Howard and Bernadette and Rajs rambling on about Siri as a real person started to make me wonder how long this relationship was going to carry on. Luckily my fears were put to rest when we got to the dream sequence. But I really think Raj is ready for a real woman and a real relationship. I hope we get to see that happen soon. Maybe he can have his chance with Leslie Winkle? Itd be a nice excuse to bring Sara Gilberts clever but cutting character back. However I dont know how well Raj would fair with her, especially when he revealed that Cher, Madonna and Adele rock his world. I appreciated this comment in particular as Adele rocks my world as well.
While all of the Raj/Siri magic was unfolding, Leonard and Penny were continuing to explore their rekindled relationship at a slow pace. I like that they are taking their time, hopefully it will improve this new relationship and have longer lasting success. That said, Leonards suggestion of reporting each others bugs and giving Penny his particularly long list made me groan. Will he ever learn? Luckily Penny had the sense to use it against him in a mocking fashion rather than get actually angry with him. I also liked the included detail that Leonard called Pennys dad to get an activity from her childhood for a date idea. It renews the previously storyline with Pennys dad and his preference of Leonard for his daughter, while showing that Leonard is still thoughtful and nice, despite his long bug list. The gun range was a cute exchange between them and things started to be going better for them, until Leonard accidentally shot his shoe and hurt his pinky toe. Classic Leonard if you think about it. Its the motorcycle injury all over again.
I also liked Sheldon in the background at the office spewing random flag facts. Theres nothing that makes Sheldon happier than citing random knowledge that no one really cares about it. I hope we see more installments of Fun with Flags or any other subject at all, really.
The promo for next week is quite curious; it appears the roommate agreement will be no longer. How can that be? What happens between Leonard and Sheldon to sever their friendship? How long do you think it will last?
