Maybe It's A Good Thing The Cavs Didn't Trade For Mike Bibby

Happenings from around sports Monday night:
-The San Antonio Spurs scored 5 points in the first quarter agaisnt the Atlanta Hawks, which sadly is 5 more times than my friend Eric has scored with a girl here at Mizzou. You would think that if a team only scored 5 points in one quarter that they would lose the game. But, not all teams are the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta ends up losing by 15....yes 15 points. Their new addition Mike Bibby shoots 1 for 11, while the old white men in cowboy hats taking in the game celebrate. Oh to be a fan of Atlants sports right now, must be fun.
-Michael Beasley scores 30 points and grabs 15 rebounds, and Kansas State still ends up losing to Texas. In two straight games now, Beasley has scored 74 points and his team is 0-2. Here is pretty much the next couple of years for Beasley. Losing in the second round or so of the NCAA tourney this year, getting drafted by the Miami Heat and immediately getting traded to the Knicks in some crazy ass deal. You think you are carrying your team now Beasley? Oh just wait.
-Larry Hughes shoots 4 for 11 in the Bulls loss to Dallas.....ahh that's the Larry I know and love.
-The Rays are "talking" to Barry Bonds. I guess a plus is that 2,000 fans booing isn't very audible. Although they could change their city's slogan...if cities had slogans....to "Tampa Bay: Barry Bonds and Old People!" I wait for the day that Barry hits a home run into the back wall of Tropicana Field and the entire stadium proceeds to crumble to the ground. Let's make this happen people.
-Kelvin Sampson decided it would be a good idea to text message his players after their "emotional" win over Northwestern. Whatever cell phone company provides Samspon with service needs to throw him into a commerical immediately. If it is Alltel, I can see it now. "Well hey Chad! Got any phones I can illegally text recruits with? You do? Awesome!"

Will the Real Larry Hughes Please Stand Up?

Larry Hughes. Once a promising young player who averaged 22.7 points per game in 1999-2000 for his Golden State Warriors. Larry Hughes. Who once averaged 22 points per game in 2004-2005 for his Washington Wizards. Larry Hughes. Who once shot 46% percent from the field. These were the qualities that the Cleveland Cavaliers saw in Larry after the 2004-2005 season. After being spurned by Michael Redd and Ray Allen, the Cavs turned to Larry. Not only was he just coming off winning Defensive Player of the Year award, Larry also averaged 22 points playing alongside Gilbert Arenas, who may possibly have the ball in his hands more than LeBron James does. Gilbert averaged 25 points that year. All of these qualities led the Cavs to overpay Larry, as most free agents of the time were. Cleveland was ecstatic. A good defensive player who did not need the ball and could feed off of LeBron James. But his stay in Cleveland has been awfully disappointing. His season was cut short his first year in C-town because of injuries. Then his free throw attempts dropped by one hundred since his last season in Washington. His field goal percentage has never been over 40% here. He has become a career 30% three point shooter. Everyone says he does not fit in Cleveland because he is not a shooter, and LeBron creates open shots for people. But this is where I disagree with people.
Larry Hughes has stopped being the player that earned him that big contract in Cleveland. He is a very streaky shooter. But he has games like last night where he scores 40 points and you watch him drive to the basket with no mercy. You wonder where that has been all season. It comes in random spurts, but never for more than 2 games in a row. Just because he is playing alongside a superstar that needs the ball in his hands does not mean that he needs to change his game, which he has. He drove to the hole in Washington, so why not here? He has become a jump shooter. He will shoot a 3 with 23 seconds left on the shot clock. Then he will slash to the hole and drop in a beautiful layup. It leaves us Clevelanders with a severe case of blue balls. If Larry could average 20 here in Cleveland like he did in Washington this team would be in the finals every year. He has the potential to do it. He has great handles and could go to the hole whenever he wants. But he has settled for the long jumper, for reasons I do not understand. Tonight, Larry scored 40 and LeBron dropped 29. That is 69 points between our two stars, and look at the outcome, a win. So Larry Hughes, stop having random great games where you score 30 or more. String them together. We got to the finals without you doing that, just think what we could do with you scoring. Will the real Larry Hughes please stand up?