Tip-In: 4 and 0 and 0 for Lebron in Rochestah

You bring up a good point about the players not playing...or the coaches not playing the players. Especially in specially set up venues...to bring the game to fans in different areas (which I gather this game was). It would have been easy for Lebron NOT to play against Tel Aviv, but instead he played significant minutes in that game, and missed this game against the new fan base. It is pretty disrespectful to the fans, and probably turns them off from a game. Because it turns into a nbad game for the most part

Yeah, that was a little dirty with "King James" not adressing his people. Oh well. Anybody else really digging what José Calderon is doing? He's just playing with so much more confidence than last year. I suppose having Jorge Garbajosa there with him helps a bit. You guys think that Calderon could realistically challenge T.J. for burn? But if not, how good of a back-up PG is he in this league? I remember watching the Raps - Celts game, and (aside from the trash spewing from those FSN announcers), they seemed really quite sold on Calderon... moreso than most Raps fans, I think.

Can you say Humphries is A STEAL for Arraujo from just his performance in the preseason?!? WOW! He's been putting up some great stats so far in the preseason. Even though the frontcourt is booked solid, I hope we can rest up Bosh until needed for crunch time. He's a solid player and I think frontcourt is going to be the asset this year. Slokar also had a decent game with the minutes he had.

Rebounding is another issue. What's up with such low numbers from our PF/C other than Humps?

OH, and just to add, I think Calderon has better shooting abilities than TJ. At least so far Calderon has similar stats in this game in similar minutes but he's able to jack the 3 vs. last year's funk. Think he deserves the starting role or a challenge to Ford? Any input?

If you buy a ticket for pre-season then you are taking the risk that some of the star players may not play. If I were a Cavs season ticket holder and the King got hurt (or was not given time to rest/heal) in a meaningless pre-season game then I would be pissed.

The Raps might remain without a loss this pre season . Bravo . Rumor has it that Coach Sam is gunning for a 82-0 record in the regular season .

I don't think their should be any pressure on players or coaches to appease fans in the preseason. If a coach determines he wants to rest his players, that's a competitive decision and should never be compromised by the NBA's marketing plan. HOWEVER, I am of the strong belief that preseason games should be significantly less expensive. How can they possibly justify charging full price tickets for preseason. Even if you do get to see LeBron or Bosh for 10-12 minutes, your still spending a lot of money to watch 2nd and 3rd string players for most of the game. I know the demand is there and owners are into maximizing revenue, but you have to back up your product, and charging full price for preseason games is insulting to the fans.

As they say, pre-season is just summer league in bigger arenas. You don't know who's going to be be on the floor in the regular season either, so the fans aren't owed anything. It's to see who can play to determine rotation, not work your stars who've already spent their summers overseas.

Why is this a problem? How is this any different then buying a ticket for a regular season game only to have the star player be ruled out beforehand due to injury? I mean, you have to assume the risk when you buy the ticket, especially if it's in preseason. The ticket buyer is not an idiot (albeit the game did take place in rochester *-I ) and should understand this.

If they are willing to pay that amount of money for a ticket (full season price) and they are aware that in a preseason game the star player does not always play, then so be it. If not, spend the money more wisely somewhere else.

AND the fact that so many people knowingly assumed the risk or were simply naive enough to think that Lebron would take this game as serious as a regular season game screws over the people like us, who know we are not going to be watching a high calibre game. We should actually be blaming these marks not consoling them. They are keeping the preseason ticket demand high enough to justify the overvalued ticket prices, from a team perspective.

or something like that...

While I agree that you paid your money and take your chances. But fans in Rochester paid to come and see King James in a once in a life-time sort of deal. I'd be pissed too.