Tuesday Insider

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Are the Cavs unwatchable?

by Terry Brown

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Also Below: Agent says he can prove salary-cap indiscretions | Winning Charlotte bid to be announced soon | Peep Show

The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

What if they held a professional basketball game in Cleveland with real-life, honest-to-goodness NBA players, and no one showed up?

Live from Belgrade

Chad Ford, ESPN's NBA Insider is traveling through Eastern Europe this week with NBA international scouting guru Tony Ronzone. Together, they're checking out some of the top European prospects for the 2003 NBA Draft. Follow Ford's trip in his daily journal:

Mon: Out of the Darko

Chat: Chad & Tony transcript

Tue: Face to face

"If you're not going to have any fans, you should move [the team] or something," Cavalier shooting guard Ricky Davis told the Willoughby News-Herald after an announced crowd of 7,596 at Gund Arena (that was actually more like 4,000) saw the Cavs lose to the Seattle Sonics Monday on night. "I think we're losing [the fan support]."

After the 111-98 loss, the Cavs fell to 5-21, on pace to win 16 games this year. Last year, they were 29-53. The year before that, they were 30-52.

"It's cold in the building," Davis continued. "The fan support is terrible. It's kind of sad. [We're] trying to rebuild. Everyone is talking mess about us playing. If we could get some fans in here to play for, we'll find a rhythm and it wouldn't be so cold and hollow."

In those 26 games this season, the Cavs have given up 2,637 points for an average of 101.4 per game while scoring only 90.5. Head coach John Lucas, however, refutes any report that he has a bad defensive squad, saying that he is opening up the game on purpose.

Which, I guess, would explain the last three opponents scoring 40, 35 and 36 points in the first quarter, essentially ending the game before it has begun.

Ricky Davis

Guard-Forward

Cleveland Cavaliers

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

24 22.5 4.2 4.1 .445 .752

"I can't blame the fans at all," Davis said. "You blame what we've been doing and what our record is. Maybe they should give away some tickets and fill up the seats. ... They don't cheer when we score a basket, or they cheer for the other team. It's ridiculous."

Lucas has already been slapped on the hand for getting a little too close to high school phenom and Ohio native LeBron James. Davis has been sat on the pine for conduct unbecoming. Lottery pick DeSagana Diop has yet to score 36 points -- we're talking total points -- a third of the way through the season but has picked up 41 personal fouls. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavs big man who has played a total of 91 games out of a possible 328 in the four previous seasons, is limited to about 25 minutes a game and is often taken out to a chorus of boos.

"There's no life in the building," Davis said. "It's like we're playing on the road. There's more life when we're on the road. We just have to find a way to get the fans back involved and come back and see us."

Davis vents after defeat

Bob Finnan / Willoughby News-Herald

Agent says he can prove salary-cap indiscretions

Either Peter Vecsey of the New York Post really has caught someone with their hand in the cookie jar or he's scrambling for crumbs.

Not two years after the Minnesota Timberwolves were put in the stockade for cheating with salary-cap rules involving then free agent Joe Smith, Vecsey says he has an agent ready to blow the whistle on another team for doing the same thing.

"A dumped agent swears there's proof documenting the desecration; he's weighing the consequences (ratting on himself figures to lead to decertification - temporary or irrevocable - unless given immunity) of turning over the evidence to David Stern," writes Vecsey in today's edition.

Not saying a word could cost the agent $500 thousand in lost fees. Imagine what it would cost one of the 29 NBA franchises if it were caught.

But why?

"Why in the world would owners and their management teams chance stigma, sentencing, the surrender of millions of dollars and being penalized multiple first-round draft picks, for the thrill of bagging a marginal starter?" Vecsey questions.

Any why, if you're going to cheat, would you put it on paper or on recording as evidence?

"Evidently, because there's no honor among mopes; trust in these situations is neither bestowed nor received, so protecting one's assets is essential."

For those scoring at home, Joe Smith has averaged 10.5 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Timberwolves since the incident while the franchise has lost the chance to draft the likes of Jamaal Tinsley">Jamaal Tinsley, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas last year and Dan Gadzuric and Carlos Boozer, who is averaging 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in his rookie season.

Agent May Rat Out Cap Cheats

Peter Vecsey / New York Post

Winning Charlotte bid to be announced soon

What David Stern giveth, David Stern taketh away.

And vice-versa, I guess.

Two groups are ready, willing and able to begin NBA basketball in Charlotte all over again. They are, in no particular order, led by Robert Johnson, the billionaire founder of the Black Entertainment Network, and none other than NBA great Larry Bird.

The winner will be determined within weeks, possibly as early as today, said Tim Frank, a league spokesman, to the New York Times. The franchise will cost about $300 million.

Johnson, who Forbes Magazine estimated is worth $1.3 billion, hopes to become the first African-American majority owner of a major sports franchise. Bird is backed by Boston entrepreneur Steve Belkin and fellow former NBA player M.L. Carr.

"This is going to be a toughie," said Phoenix owner Jerry Colangelo, who leads the NBA Board of Governors. "Both groups bring a lot to the table."

Two Groups Present Case for Charlotte Franchise

Frank Litsky / New York Times

Johnson, Belkin Present Case to Lead NBA Team in Charlotte

Rachel Nichols / Washington Post

Peep Show

Iverson

Sixers: The Philadelphia police department may catch Allen Iverson before the U.S. National team, especially since the latter may not even be after him. "I've heard a lot of names of people who should be picked for the team, and mine is never mentioned," Iverson told the Philadelphia Inquirer Monday night. "Anyone in their right mind who has seen me play for seven years knows that wouldn't be fair . . . If Coach Brown had his way, I'd be on the team. That's not even an issue. I know if I'm not on the team, he wouldn't have anything to do with that."

Bulls: Chicago may be on a roll, but Corie Blount certainly isn't. The veteran was placed on the injured list Monday following a hip contusion. He will be replaced by Dalibor Bagaric after coach Bill Cartwright decided to start Tyson Chandler in place of Eddy Curry for the first time this season.

Delk

Celtics: Who knows how long Tony Delk will be out after not even suiting up Monday night with a tender knee. "It just happened," Delk told the Boston Herald. "It felt really tender on Saturday night in New York, but I just went out and played on it. Then [sunday at practice] it was really sore. It was constant pain all day. I thought it would go away, but it never did. I iced it right after practice and I got treatment on it [yesterday] morning. I've just got to get the inflammation to go down. I'm taking some anti-inflammatories, and I also have to just rest it and not pound on it."

Heat: As he awaits disciplinary action for past comments, Pat Riley doesn't really want to say that the referees are biased, well, on second thought, he does . . . "This is really the bottom line, for me, I think," Riley told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "When I was coaching teams that had a lot of talent, and I coached against teams that were perceived to be bad, I knew that I had an edge, without having to say anything. I just felt it, with Magic and Kareem, it was like a cushion that you have, a subconscious, psychological cushion. And we're right now perceived to be a bad team, and I think it just is normal. There might be a half-dozen teams in the league that right now, that some nights against very good teams, [referees] are going, 'Well, they can't beat 'em anyhow.' I don't know what they're thinking. But I know now that I'm on the other side of it. I feel it. You see. I just feel it."

Iverson expects to be left off U.S. team for 2004 Games

Marc Narducci / Philadelphia Inquirer

Hip contusion sidelines Blount

Sam Smith / Chicago Tribune

Knee keeps point guard out of lineup

Steve Bulpett / Boston Herald

Riley sees refs' bias from opposite side

Ira Winderman / South Florida Sun-Sentinel