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It's a Saturday night, which means it's alright for fighting. So let's entertain ourselves with some silliness. There are all manner of reasons to doubt that LeBron James will be leaving the great city of Cleveland this summer. The Cavs can offer the most money. It's his home state. And if he walks away with a championship this year, it will be almost impossible for him to walk away.

But really, what's the fun in that scenario? And today brings us a perfect vision to lay out an unlikely but forseeable path that nets (no pun intended) LeBron in Brooklyn in two years. And the path to the King taking New York by storm? It leads through the great state of Kentucky, where James made an appearance.
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Call him the accidental coach.

The guy who currently sits in New Jersey's lead seat recently was greeted as "Coach Vandeweghe.''

"It does sound funny,'' Kiki Vandeweghe said.

Yes, it does.

Not long ago, Vandeweghe rebuilt the woeful Denver Nuggets as general manager and looked primed to become one of the NBA's top executives. But Vandeweghe ticked off Denver owner Stan Kroenke by flirting with the Cleveland Cavaliers' general manager opening in 2005, and was ousted in 2006.

Vandweghe resurfaced with the Nets two years ago and eventually was named general manager. Vandeweghe, along with New Jersey president Rod Thorn, then began another NBA rebuilding project.

But something strange has happened on the way to the Nets' next summer having some $25 million of salary-cap room. They started losing so badly that coach Lawrence Frank had to go, and the team is the process of being sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
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So what if the Knicks win the lottery and are forced to surrender John Wall to Utah? That would be side-splitting, though it likely won't happen now that Mike D'Antoni has his team playing with something resembling a sense of purpose.

That leaves the Nets, possibly the worst team ever, picking out baby clothes and painting the locker room UK colors. Except that -- cue that funny trombone -- Devin Harris, the team's lone All-Star and de facto franchise player, also plays point guard. What's a team to do?

If you're one of those people who loves hot new trends, you'd suggest the Nets play them together, since two-point guard (or PG-ish) backcourts are in vogue this season. Even Chris Paul has had to suffer this indignity; it's also the number one question that would've arose had the Jazz ended up with this hypothetical pick.
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The master plan to land the Nets in Brooklyn is all but certain at this point, with legal hurdles falling as quickly as Izod Center attendance. But the Nets did get a seat-count boost Friday night from an unlikely source, as ever-vigilant protesters of the development of Bruce Ratner's megalith Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn showed up at New Jersey's home game against the Pacers Friday, with banners and slogans in hand.

The protesters were about as successful as the Nets have been this year. Anti-Ratner banners unfurled by the protesters were quickly confiscated, according to Julian Garcia of the New York Daily News. (But not before an Associated Press photographer could snap a shot!)

Though they'll never admit as much, this could very well be the final public salvo in the anti-Yards crew's war on Ratner, barring an unforeseen successful legal challenge. You can't stop a freight train with moral righteousness, even in arcane arts like land management.

It looks like the Nets will play in Newark next season, so at the very least the protesters should be able to avoid East Rutherford for the duration of their outrage.
So much for homophonic resurrection in New Jersey for Shawne Williams. The Nets today waived the embattled swingman, just recently acquired from Dallas in some goofy cap maneuvering. When New Jersey picked up Shawne, it simultaneously waived its own resident problem child Sean Williams, who just last spring was arrested after some mall hijinks.

The newest ex-Net (that'd be Shawne, keep up!) faces handcuffs of his own. Williams has been indicted on multiple counts of drug possession and conspiracy to manufacture, deliver or sell controlled substances by a Tennesse grand jury, according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. The conspiracy to manufacture, deliver or sell charges are tied to the alleged possession of some codeine-based syrup, a concoction made famous (in part) by a 2000 song by Memphis hip hop group Three 6 Mafia. Williams grew up in Memphis, and briefly attended the University of Memphis before being drafted by the Pacers in 2006.

Williams' indictment follows from a massive Memphis Police Department investigation called "Operation Lockdown," which according to the Commercial-Appeal has netted 24 defendants.
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Wednesday night's contest, er, game, nay, exhibition between the visiting Boston Celtics and their-more-than-gracious hosts, the now 3-35 New Jersey Nets, at the IZOD Center lacked many things that usually make up an NBA game: competition, excitement, fans.

But the tilt between two teams on the opposite end of the sporting spectrum wasn't completely devoid of thrills. In advance, we at Stinkface HQ would like to thank Tony Allen, Paul Pierce and Bill Walker for being the saving graces of this game.

The two Stinkfaces after the jump.
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I'm not breaking any news by noting that, yes, the awful Nets, 3-34 to date, are on pace to be the worst team in NBA history. That record-breaking 18-game losing streak to open the season was quickly followed by a 10-game skid. Right now, New Jersey has lost five straight, with Boston on deck tonight at the Izod Center.

The NBA futility record rests in the trophy case of the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, as Chris Tomasson reminded us in November. The Nets' current winning percentage (what a funny term in these circumstances!) sits below the final verdict of the Sixers of '73, putting New Jersey on pace to own the record on its own.
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Sean Williams and Shawn WilliamsIt took me about half the day to realize that Sean Williams hadn't been traded for Shawne Williams. That would've made a very stupid kind of sense. Then, it dawned on me that the New Jersey Nets just decided it didn't have the energy for both of them.

Sean Williams may have been on your fantasy team at some point. He was a shot-blocking madman who couldn't do much else. For pot-related infractions, Williams was in exile from the Boston College team when he entered the draft in 2007, where the Nets took him seventeenth. He had a lot of cool nicknames, and last year smashed a PC in a mall.

Shawne Williams is an ultra-athletic wing who spent one year at Memphis before going pro in 2006; the Pacers took him at seventeen (just like Sean Williams). He showed promise, but was stuck behind Danny Granger, half a season of Stephen Jackson, and Mike Dunleavy. In September of 2007, Williams ran into some legal problems involving weed, guns and a car. That spring, a murder suspect turned up at his house, and it wasn't long before he ended up a Maverick, traded for Eddie Jones and second-rounders. And after being traded earlier this week, now he's a Net, and Sean Williams is gone.

Both of these guys fit any number of cliches: troubled, raw, promising, disappointing, and forever tantalizing. Yet in the end, the Nets decided they'd had enough of Sean Williams, but according to The Newark Star-Ledger, Rod Thorn "surprisingly didn't discount Shawne Williams as someone who might stick around for a while." Out with Sean Williams, in with Shawne Williams.

Tuesday on Truth About It, Kyle writes about the pains of having Andray Blatche -- another perennially unfulfilled talent -- on his team. But say the Wizards blow it all up and, say, end up with Tyrus Thomas in their lap? Is the grass just always greener when it comes to players who never seem to get off the ground? Maybe teams simply can't resist taking a gamble on one of these guys at any given time.

They just need a change every few years. I'm not sure what you'd call it, but it's something like the inverse of "change of scenery."
Jayson Williams pled guilty to aggravated assault in Somerset County, N.J. bringing to a close his long, complicated legal process that began in 2002 with the death of chauffeur Costas "Gus" Christofi at Williams' New Jersey home.

Williams will receive 18 months in prison for the aggravated assault charge in addition to a five-year sentence, which he received for attempting to cover up the incident; the 18 months, according to the NJ Star-Ledger is not elligible for parole and he must serve that time before being considered for a reduced sentence or parole on the five years.

Before pleading, Williams was forced to answer a series of questions about the incident in a likely attempt for the prosecution to finally get an admission on record.
"I didn't look in the direction the muzzle of the gun was pointed," Williams said. "It discharged and hit Mr. Christofi in the chest."

"Did the injuries cause Crostofi's death?" Hayden asked.

Williams replied, "Yes."
The plea allows Williams to avoid a retrial and the far more punishable possibility of a reckless manslaughter charge. Williams had previously been to trial for aggravated manslaughter (he was acquitted), covering up the incident (he was found guilty) and the reckless manslaughter charge (there was a hung jury on this charge, hence the manslaughter).

Then, in between, that trial and now, Williams was charged with drunken driving in Manhattan -- although the District Attorney's office claims that his decision to plead guilty in this case "is independent of, and not related to, the accident and motor vehicle charges arising in New York ..." it would seem that his decision to enter the plea would at least in part help to curb any potential legal issues arising in New York.
Eduardo NajeraGoing from a 3-34 team to a 25-12 team would prompt most anybody to want to schedule a ticker-tape parade.

But forward Eduardo Najera, expected Monday to be traded from New Jersey to Dallas, told FanHouse on Sunday night he has some mixed feelings about the deal, even though he was one of the Mavericks' most popular players from 2000-04. Najera has great respect for New Jersey president Rod Thorn and general manager and coach Kiki Vandeweghe.

"Kiki is a good friend and so is Rod,'' said Najera, who played for Vandeweghe for a 1 ½ seasons before he was ousted as Denver's general manager in May 2006 and then rejoined Vandeweghe with New Jersey in the summer of 2008 by signing a four-year, $12 million contract. "The team has grown together even though it has been rough at times (with the losing).''

Still, Najera realizes the Nets are rebuilding. And Najera, 33, knows he doesn't have a lot of time left in his quest to win an NBA title.
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