Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskaus is a class-act. Z and his wife Jennifer recently adopted a 4 and 5 year old from his home country of Lithuania. It's a safe bet that Z took them out of a bad situation and placed them into a great one. Who wouldn't to be adopted by a millionaire and move from Lithuania to America? Zydrunas is just generally a nice guy, and he has been a consistent player for the Cavs over the last several years. This comes two years following Jennifer's miscarraige with twins, which you can imagine was heartbreaking for Z and his wife. Life seems to be full of surprises for Ilgauskaus as of late. With the recent of addition of Shaq Diesel, Zydrunas will now come off the bench. Don't underestimate Z this year, he has been a solid low-post presence and outstanding deep to mid-range jump shooter. Who is a more consistent knock-down shooter in the Cavs lineup? (There isn't one) Z makes the Cavs very dangerous coming off the bench for Shaq, since teams have to defend him out to the perimeter. The 7 foot 3" center was even asked to shoot some 3-pointers last year. This guy is still ridiculously underrated. Coming off the bench won't be an issue for Z, as he made clear when recently asked about the addition of Shaq.

"At this point in my career, I really want to win," Ilgauskas said. "I'm 34 years old and I want to win a championship. Whatever helps me get that, I'm all for it. Shaq is the best center I have ever played against, so if anybody is going to replace me in the starting lineup I don't mind it being him at all."


On another note, I'm sick of talking about Delonte West, but he missed his 2nd straight practice today. Who knows what will happen with him this season. Hopefully he can just get his mind together. Maybe he needs to adopt some children from Lithuania, like my man Z. Adopting children is underrated. LeBron James is underrated

NEWS UPDATE: Delonte West is having some issues. (surprised?) He skipped out on the first training camp practice today, apparently with no excuse. He failed to attend the morning workout and Mike Brown was unsure if he was going to be at the evening practice. He has been dealing with depression and has also been treated for bipolar disorder. Remember Cavs fans, this is the same guy who recently had a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back when he got pulled over for speeding well above the limit on a three-wheel motorcycle. Don't expect Delonte West to be a stable force for the Cavs this year. Clearly he is still having some issues and needs time to assess his own mental and physical well-being. (Not to mention that the NBA will likely suspend him regarding his recent weapons charges) Delonte get your act together, the Cavs need you and Mo to produce this season. I don't know what the hell Delonte West is doing or what his mindset is, but regardless. LeBron James is underrated

After months of anticipation, training camp is finally here. Shaq is done filming his ridiculous reality show Shaq Vs., and the Cavs are ready to get down to business. This season means everything, and Cleveland made a great move to add this legendary big-man to a team that had the best record in the NBA regular season last year. The time for talk is over, and the Cavs need to prepare for the biggest season in the franchise's history. The fate of LeBron James likely rests on the outcome of this season. It's NBA championship or bust. The media attention is already mind-boggling, with 150 media members at the Cavs first day of training camp aka media day. Cleveland will be a dominating force this season, and with two of the game's premier talents, the Cavs will be followed closer than ever. Shaq pushes the Cavs over the top, and the wine-and-gold should be the favorite to win the NBA title. I promise you, LeBron James is underrated

The Boston Celtics are the dumbest team in the NBA. I have an ongoing beef with them and I'll tell you why. When LeBron was in year one with Cleveland, the Cavs were a 1/2 game out of the 8th spot to make the playoffs going into the last game of the season. The Cavs took care of business, and all Boston had to do was to beat the lowly New-Jersey Nets for the Cavs to make the playoffs. Needless to say, they removed Paul Pierce from the game for the entire second half, and they lost the game by a few points. Ever since then, I have had no respect for the Celtics, and I view them as the worst NBA franchise. Enter Leon Powe. He played huge minutes for Boston when they (luckily) won their NBA title 2 years back, and while he was playing for them last year he tore his ACL. At the end of the season, they didn't even offer him a guaranteed contract and the Cavs scooped up Powe, realizing the low-risk, potentially high-reward active power forward. What were the Celtics thinking? They have a bunch of over-paid, old men on their team. I hope they are not seriously thinking about contending for another title with senior citizens Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Kevin Garnett is still a beast but he gets injured too often. Rondo is by far their best player, but he can't hang with the elite point guards in the NBA. It will be very satisfying when Leon Powe has a few double-doubles against his former team, and makes them realize how ignorant they are for not re-signing him. Leon Powe is going to have a huge impact when he returns mid-season for the Cavs, don't underestimate him. He and LeBron played on an AAU team together back in the day, and he makes the Cavs frontcourt even more dangerous. Shaq, Ilgauskaus, Varejao, Powe, Hickson, Jackson AND LeBron? That's a lot of talented big-men. No other team in the NBA will be able to handle the Cavs lineup. Similar to Leon Powe, LeBron James is underrated

There have been recent rumblings about the Cavaliers wanting to bring an additional guard in to help Mo and Delonte with ball-handing duties. There is truth to these rumors, the Cavs are seriously considering bringing another veteran player into the mix at guard. The short list includes Jerry Stackhouse, Juan Dixon, Chucky Atkins, and Bobby Jackson. What does this move mean for Daniel Gibson? Gibson is a solid knock-down shooter but hasn't proven that he can be effective for an entire season. Will he lose playing time if the Cavs bring one of these players in? (yes) There was definitely interest in aquiring ex-Cav Ronald "Flip" Murray before he signed a deal with the Charlotte Bobcats. This is Danny Ferry's last ditch effort to bring in one more solid player to complement LeBron James in this last year of his contract. The hope is with the addition of Shaquille O' Neal, the Cavs win a championship and lock up LeBron for a few more years. The recent news of a Russian billionaire moving a franchise to Brooklyn has probably seriously threatened Dan Gilbert and Danny Ferry and they realize that this year is likely the Cavaliers last shot to win a championship. Cleveland needs this to happen desperately, as he is the face of the city and a home-grown global icon. Basically, LeBron James is underrated

Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest billionaire, has a deal in place to buy controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets, and he is most likely funding the building of a new stadium in Brooklyn. This should be an immediate red-flag for Cavs fans everywhere, who are dreading the thought of LeBron signing with another team after this season. Think about the facts here. The man is the worth $9 billion dollars. He has nothing better to do with his money than buy an NBA team and load it with talent. LeBron has publicly stated that he wants to be one of the richest people in the world. This all adds up to bad timing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jay-Z has also stated his financial interests as well in a Brooklyn-located NBA franchise, and there's a good chance he'll be a minority owner. LeBron and Jay-Z are very close. Don't stress out yet Cavs fans, hopefully the Cavs just win a championship this year and LeBron decides he owes it to Cleveland to come back and win a few more. The fact of the matter is though, that the news of this billionaire buying the Nets and moving them to Brooklyn gives many the impression that this could be LeBron's last year in a Cavs uniform. However, he is from Akron and has built an global empire already. Maybe he'll decide to stay in a Cavs uniform for his whole career. If not, LeBron James is still underrated

Last night LeBron had a free throw contest with David Letterman when he appeard on his Late Show. Apparently Letterman questioned LeBron about whether or not adding Shaquille O' Neal "completes the puzzle" for the Cavs to win a championship. LeBron responded by joking that Shaq is big enough to be a couple pieces to the puzzle. LeBron did Letterman (again) to promote his documentary More Than a Game which I already told you about, as well as his Shooting Stars memoir. David Letterman knows.. LeBron James is underrated

LeBron is at it again, with the release of a book he helped write called Shooting Stars. This is a pretty awesome accomplishment for LeBron, who talks about how he met his High School teammates at SVSM and how they won a national championship. LeBron really wanted this book to spotlight his teammates and talk about how they helped him grow as an individual and as a basketball player. Buzz Bissinger helped co-write the book, and its pretty uplifting story. LeBron even talks about smoking marijuana in High School which garnered a lot of attention. (Don't worry about it LeBron, a lot of other successful people have too) People in this country want their role models and celebrities to be squeaky clean, which LeBron has for the most part always been. He knows how to handle himself when it comes to the spotlight and the media coverage, so don't judge him for one mistake he made in the past. LeBron is most definitely underrated

This video shows a quick snapshot of some of LeBron James' time spent in France promoting his new movie More Than A Game. LeBron desires to be world-famous and increase his international reputation and popularity by marketing himself to countries like France and more importantly China where he is as big if not bigger than Yao. Even in other countries, LeBron James is still underrated.

LeBron in France. from Good Produce on Vimeo.

The Browns are 0-1. They have a 13-10 lead vs. the Vikings and then lose 34-20. (Typical Browns) Which got me thinking, as we head into week 2 of the NFL season.. The Cavs first game isn't until October 27th. Remember the state farm commercial where LeBron was dreaming about being in the NFL playing for the Browns? I'm pretty sure the Browns could actually use him at safety and possibly receiver too. Eric Mangini should offer LeBron a 4 week contract worth $100 million, and he should help the Browns get off to a better start of the season. LeBron was an outstanding football player at SVSM before he was basically told not to play anymore and focus on basketball. I mean, if anyone could do it, LeBron could. 6 feet 8 inches and over 260 lbs. Just for a few games LeBron, then you can go back to basketball and win us a championship with Shaq. LeBron + Shaq = Gold Trophy in June. (it's a proven mathematical formula) LeBron James is underrated

Delonte.... what's the deal? On Thursday, Delonte West was arrested in Maryland for gun charges. This story is priceless. So he's on a motorcycle, speeding down the highway when he cut off a police cruiser and got pulled over. Police found a handgun in his pocket, another in his pant leg, (brilliant) and a SHOTGUN that was in a GUITAR CASE strapped onto his back? I'm gonna stick up for him this one time, not really sure why though. Granted, Delonte is not the brightest individual.. but a shotgun in a guitar case? Really Delonte? If common sense wasn't part of his thought process, maybe the recent events with Plaxico Burress should have been. This is a great way to ruin a career, by getting pulled over with guns and/or shooting somebody or yourself. As if I needed to say it, Delonte clearly lacked good judgment and two things are very clear. First, he had three guns. (one in a guitar case) I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you don't need to be speeding on the freeway on your motorcycle three guns deep, one being a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to your back? Could just be me. What was Delonte West thinking? Maybe he just watched Once Upon A Time in Mexico and wanted to be Antonio Banderas, maybe he's just an idiot. Second, he was speeding on a crotch rocket. Ben Roethlisberger almost killed himself on one, and Kellen Winslow Jr. sat out an important season for the Browns after he crashed his, trying to do tricks in a parking lot. Cavs fans, welcome to the world of Delonte West. The man lives on another planet. All things considered, let's give Delonte another chance, and assume he was either on his way to the shooting range or a hunting expedition. Remember that Delonte has been dealing with depression and a mood disorder, which has haunted him for most of his life. Delonte we got your back, and so does LeBron. LeBron James is underrated

Apparently word is out. LeBron will make his feature film debut in a new movie that stars him called Fantasy Basketball Camp. The movie is supposedly a comedy about 5 guys that come to Vegas to fulfill their fantasy by attending James' basketball camp. He won't begin shooting this until next summer (when James can become a free agent). The movie will be produced by Universal Studios. LeBron basically does it all, his first film drops Oct. 2 called More Than A Game chronicles his rise to stardom and high school at St. Vincent St. Mary. Apparently this movie is getting great reviews so you can't blame him for wanting to do a second, I mean LeBron basically does/gets what he wants right? Let's just hope his first focus is winning in Cleveland and getting us a championship.. LeBron James is underrated.

This is Absolutely Ridiculous.. So Vitamin Water is doing this promotion which allows people to design their own flavor, and Steve Nash brings out his comedic side here to provide everyone with an over-the-top almost BillyMays-esque infomercial. Remember now that Shaq has made it clear that the idea for his reality show Shaq Vs. was actually Nash's idea, which makes you wonder what other avenues of celebrity and marketing Steve Nash might consider after his playing days are over. He still has a few solid years left in this league as an elite point guard though, and don't be surprised if Danny Ferry attempts to trade for him at some point and put him in a Cavs uniform for a one year deal, because he ongoingly needs to show LeBron that he's serious about title contention in the immediate future. LeBron James is underrated