President Barack Obama has called on the reigning Rookie of the Year to assist with his re-election effort. The "Obama Classic" will be held on August 22nd in New York City, and the Cavaliers Kyrie Irving is amongst the players scheduled to participate.

Others scheduled to play in the fundraising event include: Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, Patrick Ewing, Sheryl Swoopes, Alonzo Mourning, Vince Carter, Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway, Juwan Howard, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Austin Rivers, Rajon Rondo, Steve Smith, Dawn Staley and John Wall.


Details on the "Obama Classic" from the USA Today are as follows: 

President Obama's campaign is planning a fundraiser with some of the biggest names in his favorite sport, basketball. Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony and Patrick Ewing are among the participants in the upcoming "Obama Classic," the campaign announced in an e-mail that offers donors a shot at an invite. The e-mail asks donors to "imagine shooting hoops" with these and other players.

Says the basketball e-mail: "Pitch in $3 or whatever you can, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win. Hit the court with Patrick Ewing and Melo? Trade stories with the President? This is the kind of stuff your kids will tell their kids, and no one will believe it until you show them a photo. Don't worry if suiting up with hoops stars isn't your thing. I know you've got a kid or a friend who would love nothing more than to play with their heroes while you cheer them on from a courtside seat. If you've been waiting for the right moment to chip in and support the President, it's time to get off the bench.

The event is Aug. 22 in New York City. This is the latest in a string of raffles by the campaign, most of them involving dinner or meetings with the president, first lady Michelle Obama, or Vice President Biden. 

I've never run for political office. If I did though, I would certainly try to align myself with Kyrie Irving too. Well played in that respect, Mr. President. Keep your hands up at all times out there on the 22nd, if you're open he will find you.

Last week, Scott at WFNY referenced a Sole Collector report that detailed plans for the Cavaliers to wear their Electric Blue Throwback uniforms at some point during the 2012-13 season. This is great news, and good on everybody for making it happen. Not to be lost in the celebration, however, is an opportunity to honor the player who put these very jerseys on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His name is Thomas Terrell Brandon.


Back in October, I made the claim that Terrell Brandon is the most under-rated Cavaliers player of All-Time. I suggested then that we should take an opportunity to honor Terrell by holding a Terrell Brandon Appreciation Night. After revisiting this concept with Ben Cox, Cleveland Jackson, and others last week upon reports of the Electric Blues, the feverish momentum towards an actual Terrell Brandon Appreciation Night has never been more apparent.

We are looking to engage Cavaliers Nation on ways to get involved with this grass roots movement below. First, a reminder of why Terrell Brandon Appreciation Night is so important:

Terrell Brandon: The Most Under-Rated Cavaliers Player of All-Time (Excerpt / StepienRules Oct, 2011):

The Terrell Brandon chapter is often forgotten when paging through the history of Cavaliers lore even though he was awesome. He wasn't really part of those Mark Price teams (even though he was a solid back-up) and he wasn't part of the LeBron James years either. In fact, when Brandon was playing for the Cavaliers, LeBron came to his basketball camp as a 7th grader. If the galaxies could have realigned somehow, and Brandon could've replaced Jeff McInnis, Eric Snow, Damon Jones, Larry Hughes, or even Mo Williams for one season or even two with James...oh well.

The truth is, I'm as guilty as anybody else of actually forgetting how good Brandon was as a member of the Cavaliers too. I didn't really start thinking about it again until I interviewed Chauncey Billups for an article I wrote for SLAM Online a few weeks ago. In a conversation about the Knicks 17th pick overall this past June, Iman Shumpert, Billups told me this about the type of pro that Terrell Brandon was:

The Cavaliers have reportedly come to terms on a two-year deal with 6'6" free agent swingman CJ Miles. From as best I can tell, CJ is not on Twitter. A Twitter search for CJ Miles I conducted earlier this afternoon yielded results that were not him. 

I did later find out that CJ Miles was the second player in the history of Dallas' Skyline High to have his jersey retired by the school. The first player was Larry Johnson. Larry later starred as Grandmama in a series of critically acclaimed television commercials wearing a dress. That's where the comparions to Johnson and CJ end. To his credit, CJ has never been in a commercial wearing a dress.

He didn't go to college either. In 2005, CJ Miles was drafted directly out of high school. He was considered to be a first rounder coming out as McDonald's All American, but wasn't drafted until the second. He was selected 34th overall, just after Brandon Bass, and two picks before Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova just got paid this summer btw. The contract value of Miles' reported deal with the Cavaliers hasn't been announced yet.


In that 2005 Draft, the Cavs swapped two second round picks with Orlando in order to attain the services of Martynas Andriuskevicius. He would go on to play 6 games for the Cavs. His friends call him Marty. CJ was reportedly going to attend Texas even after he was drafted that year too. I read that somewhere, not sure how that's possible, but I'm guessing he didn't sign with an agent maybe. Whatever the case, Utah ended up locking Miles into a 2-year guarunteed rookie deal soon after the Draft, and he'd become the youngest player in the NBA that first season.

In his second year, Coach Jerry Sloan dropped a "diapers blast" on CJ which is always unfortunate. Sloan said in a postgame interview of Miles: "He came out kind of soft. I mean, I don't care if he's 19 or 30. If he's going to be on the floor in the NBA, he's got to be able to step up and get after it. We can't put diapers on him one night, and a jockstrap the next night. It's just the way it is."

From there CJ grinded his way through some D-League games, and eventually proved his worth as an NBA player. From 2005-2012, he played in 389 NBA games which is a lot for a guy who's only 25 years old right now. He's averaged 8.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists on his career. His best season was in 2010-11 where he averaged 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. Last year he averaged 9, 2, and 1.

The Cavaliers announced their preseason schedule last night. We'll get to that in a minute. First, we need to talk about Leandro Barbosa aka the Brazilian Blur aka StarBosa. The 29-year old guard is currently playing alongside Cavaliers big man Anderson Varejao in the London Olympics for their native Brazil, and reports indicate this morning that he is interested in the idea of signing a free agent deal with the Cavaliers.


Remember when you guys said you wished Cavaliers players used events like the Olympics to recruit other star players to CLE? Varejao is doing that for you, it seems. That's what you meant, right?

Regardless, I thought I'd capitalize on this opportunity to post an awesome highlight video of Barbosa from when he used to back-up Steve Nash in Phoenix six years ago. As a warning, you will be humming the Brazilian rap song used to score this video for the rest of the day. Thank me later on that.

 

FSO's Sam Amico had the report on Barbosa this morning, offering the following:

"Barbosa has drawn little interest in free agency, with no team having made a serious run at his services. Most haven’t even given him a second thought. So Barbosa knows that at this point, a short-term contract most likely awaits. That could make him a nice find for a team like the Cavs, who wouldn’t mind finding some help in reserve – provided they’re able to preserve their assets and cap space. And according to several sources close to Barbosa, he’d be more than willing to talk with the Cavs about a potential role. Those sources could not say, however, if the interest was mutual."

On a short-term contract, I would certainly support the idea of the Cavaliers bringing in Barbosa to provide depth at the guard position off the bench. There is currently $16 million of salary cap space available, and since it's not my money, I have no issue earmarking a portion of that for Barbosa's services. I wouldn't go more than two years on a potential deal with Leandro though; a one-year deal could even work for me too.

If the Cavaliers could add Barbosa, I would see him in a role where he came off the bench with the ball in his hands for the second unit. He's backed-up both guard positions throughout his NBA career, and I'd almost like to see him as a back-up PG who's job is to score, create, and stimulate as much offense as possible while the starters are on the bench. The Cavs didn't really have that guy last season. Barbosa could also play alongside Kyrie Irving for different stretches as well. Last season he played in 66 games and averaged 12 points per night. If he could give the Cavaliers that type of production, he's worth a shot on the right deal. 

The Cleveland Twittersphere exploded with talk of Dan Gilbert and the idea that he purchase the Cleveland Indians last night. Maybe you saw this. In an apparent response to tweets he'd most likely been receiving from Cleveland fans who were upset about the lack of moves made by the Tribe at the trade deadline or something, Gilbert first posted the following on his Twitter account just after 9pm: "Cleveland, help me understand why U are going nuts on twitter about the Indians the past 2 days. I am very humbled but Tribe not for sale".


This was met with an avalanche response. I am setting the over/under on @msg's Dan Gilbert directly received in response to the above tweet at 849 as of 8am this morning. This post was retweeted 215 times by 11pm last night, and favorited thirty-three times by then as well. As of 8am this morning it had been retweeted 242 times.

I would categorize the vast majority of responses that Gilbert received as glowingly supportive of the idea that he purchase the Cleveland Indians. Below are some of those examples. A Twitter search of @CavsDan will result in a zillion more; or if my over/under line is accurate approximately 842 more.


I personally enjoy Dan Gilbert owning the Cleveland Cavaliers. As long as he continues to do that, I'm cool with whatever else he wants to do. I also do think that the Dolan family gets unfairly blamed to an certain extent for guys like Travis Hafner being awful and Grady Sizemore getting hurt all the time, but you didn't come here for commentary on any of that. 

Getting back to Gilbert, the last time he spoke on the possibility of buying the Cleveland Indians was back in May. At his season ending media availability, Gilbert said that he "has not studied or explored the idea of buying the Indians". Doesn't sound like that's changed since then either. If it does, I'll let you guys know right away.

The first time I met Kyrie Irving was at his summer basketball camp in Cleveland last year. His ProCamp was well attended, despite the fact that he'd just been drafted and hadn't played a game for the Cavaliers yet. This will be year two in Cleveland, he's the Rookie of the Year, and I imagine the gym will be at capacity for the entire camp. I'll be stopping by, and may even hoist up a jumper from the corner when nobody's looking. So stay tuned on that. Kyrie's camp will also end up being the first time he'll speak to the media since breaking his hand in Vegas. Not a big deal really, but I'm sure he'll have a valuable lesson about punching walls packaged up and ready to go for the campers. One of the best parts of his camp last year was the talk he gave at the end I thought, and this year will be no different because KYRIE IRVING CAN DO IT ALL.





Here is the press release from ProCamps as a heads up:

Anderson Varejao last helped the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA win on February 8th. He played 32 minutes, scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 99-92 home win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Two nights later he'd play 19 minutes at home against Milwaukee before fracturing his right wrist and ending his season. Luckily for Brazil, he's all healed up just in time for the 2012 London Games to begin.


On Sunday, he tipped things off by helping his country move past Patty Mills and Australia in opening round pool play action. I would've said he helped lead Brazil past Andrew Bogut and Australia on Sunday, but Andrew Bogut didn't play. He was injured still, Anderson Varejao wasn't.  

In 25 minutes of Olympic work, Varejao scored 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field. He grabbed 7 rebounds for the Brazilians, and added 1 assist and 2 steals on his way to earning the 75-71 win over the Aussies. Patty Mills threw in a game-high 18 points in defeat, on 7 of 14 shooting. Brazil hit a couple free throws in the final five seconds to secure the four point win. 

Unlike Mills and the Aussie side, Varejao is not the only NBA'er representing Brazil in the London Games. Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and Nene are all teamed up with Andy right now too, and the squad they've formed is kind of under-the-radar-good. Brazil is certainly not Spain, the odds on favorite to finish second behind Team USA, but they're pretty deep up front when you go Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Nene.

During Sunday's win against Australia, Nene and Splitter each came off the bench (behind Varejao who started) to score 10 and 7 points in 20 and 25 minutes respectively. They also each tied Andy for a game-high 7 rebounds. Barbosa led Brazil in the scoring column with 16 points, he also added 4 assists.

Brazil is in Group B, opposite Team USA, along with Russia, Spain, China, and Great Britain, in addition to Australia. Brazil is 1-0 so far, but technically in 3rd behind Russia and Spain based on margin of victory. Their next game is on Tuesday against Great Britain.The only NBA player the home-team has is Luol Deng, and they lost to Russia by 20 over the weekend in their opener. Should be an opportunity for Andy and Brazil to get one more, and open things up with a 2-0 start. 

Here's a quote from Anderson Varejao following the Australia game:

"It was a tough game. That's how it's going to be in the Olympics," Varejao said. "You can have a lot of ups and downs like we did. We knew what was going to happen, pushing, provocations. But when the game is like that I like that."

We'll be keeping tabs on Andy's trek through the 2012 London Games as the week goes on. With Rubio out, maybe Brazil can shock he world and end up winning Pool B. Stay tuned.

The word undefeated comes to mind. I'm not trying to put too much pressure on anybody though so I'll streamline into a series of other notes that jumped out at me from there.

Cavs fans will have the opportunity to see 3rd overall pick Bradley Beal play here in Cleveland on opening night when his Wizards come to town. He'll be matched up with 4th overall pick Dion Waiters.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the 2nd overall selection in this year's Draft, won't be back here to CLE until the second last home game of the season on February 6th. January 4th the Cavaliers travel to Charlotte for a road match-up in their only other meeting of the season with his Bobcats.

At first I thought the Cavaliers would not be playing against 1st overall pick Anthony Davis and his New Orleans Hornets. Somehow I didn't see the February 20th home date between this year's number one pick and last year's. Pretty weird I missed that. 

It will also be weird when Skyenga and his Lakers make their triumphant return to Cleveland on December 11th, but you already had that one circled. Steve Nash is coming with Kobe and Christian that night, along with Antawn Jamison.

Ryan Hollins will also be out for revenge himself on November 5th when the Cavs head to Los Angeles to do battle with his Clippers. Ryan will have teammates Chris Paul and Blake Griffin fired up for that one to be sure.

That Clipper game is also the second road game during a month in November where the Cavaliers play 11 of 15 away from the Q. After playing Washington and then Chicago at home to open the season, their next six games are on the road; a stretch that ends on November 13th when they make their first trip out to Brooklyn.

I'm not anywhere near trying to project wins or losses right now, but if the Cavs come out of their first 17 games above .500 that's doing something I think.

Here's some other notes I pulled out of the Cavaliers press release on the schedule:

Chris Grant has seemingly involved himself in every major NBA trade discussion this off-season. He's appeared to engage teams desperate to make monumental moves as a third-party facilitator in hopes to fleece somebody for an undervalued asset along the way. Wednesday was not one of those deals. In a straight-up exchange with the Grizzlies, Chris Grant pulled the trigger on a trade that sends DJ Kennedy to Memphis. I understand, most of you didn't even realize the Cavaliers could trade DJ Kennedy. They did though. In return, Jeremy Pargo is now a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cash considerations are also earmarked for Cleveland in the deal, along with a 2014 2nd Round Pick.


Mark Deeks from ShamSports called this move a salary dump on behalf of the Grizzlies, and he's probably right. I'm not sure DJ Kennedy had anything to do with it. Pargo has a $1 million guaranteed deal for the 2012/13 season, and the Grizzlies are doing everything they can right now to not pay the luxury tax. Every little bit helps. Josh Selby also makes Pargo expendable for Memphis. After showing some promise this past season at times, the 2nd Round pick from Kansas was absolutely killing in Vegas last week. Maybe that's why this move was made now from the Grizzlies perspective. From the Cavaliers side of things, in some ways they were simply paying $1 million for a second round pick. In others, they now match Donald Sloan up with Jeremy Pargo in a battle for the back-up PG spot. Let the best man win.

For what it's worth, I did always like the way Jeremy Pargo approached his NBA career. Maybe he can catch some traction on that here in Cleveland. Instead of biding his time in the D-League after a four-year run at Gonzaga, he went over to Israel to play a couple seasons there. Work on his game, mature through the overseas experience, compete at a high level. When he felt he was ready for his one shot at the League, he made the jump at 26 years old. Last season was his rookie year down in Memphis, and he only put up 2.9 points and 1.3 assits in 9.7 minutes per game. This after averaging double figure points and over 5 assists for two seasons in Israel. Maybe Byron Scott's Princeton attack is just the look he needed stateside. Or maybe the Cavaliers will end up with a stud second round pick in 2014. Regardless, best of luck to DJ Kennedy. Sorry we didn't get to know you better my man.

A scout from the Western Conference told me that he believed there were twenty players in the D-League better than Alonzo Gee. That sounded real harsh to me when he said it. I'm almost not sure that's even fair to say, and I immediately thought this guy might still be bitter over a missed opportunity to recommend Alonzo to his GM or something a couple years back. Instead of saying all that though, I simply replied with "really?" He continued. "Hey, I'm not saying the guy didn't capitalize on his opportunity. He did, and great for him. He was very productive this season, and he plays real hard. I'm just saying that my team, we'd never sign him. He's not the type of player we're looking for."


I mention this because Alonzo Gee did average 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season. The Cavaliers extended him a $2.7 million offer sheet as a result earlier this month but he wasn't interested. He instead opted to test the free agent market, and that market has responded with zero offers so far. Despite being a solid defender, punishing finisher at the rim, double digit score and effective rebounder from the small forward position, it's possible that the scout I talked with isn't alone. I think being a player who emerged from the D-League might be working against Alonzo right now in some respects. That guy's just a D-League player, people around the League might still be saying. Even though it's clear he's more than simply that.

Cavs meeting with CJ Miles:

Sam Amico from Fox Sports Ohio reports that the Cavaliers will be meeting with C.J. Miles: The Cavaliers have scheduled a two-day visit with free agent small forward C.J. Miles, a source familiar with the meeting told FOX Sports Ohio late Tuesday. Miles, 25, is an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team and leaving the Jazz without the option to match. He has spent all seven of his NBA seasons in Utah. The Cavs are said to be far apart in negotiations with Alonzo Gee, who finished this past season as the team’s starting small forward. The meeting with Miles may signify that the team is considering other options at the position, the source said.

Miles is an okay player. He underwhelmed as the 34th pick out of highschool back when you still could come out of highschool (2005), and went on to average 9.1 points per game last season. He shot 38-percent in the process coming off the Jazz's bench. The year before that he averaged 12.8 points, which was his best year ever in the League. If I had to guess, I'd say that meeting with Miles is a positioning move for the Cavaliers in their negotiations with Alonzo Gee. So Alonzo, we offered you $2.7 million, the market set your price at zero, and now we're meeting with other small forwards. Would you like to talk a little bit more maybe?

Delonte West will remain a Maverick:

Delonte West's broken finger allowed him to play only 44 games last season, but he did enough to re-up with the Dallas Mavericks. On behalf of all of us here at Stepien Rules, congrats on that Mr. West. Terms of his contract were not known, but it is reportedly thought to be more than the $1.1 million he played for last season. This from the Dallas Morning News: