Leadoff with Lee 3.1.16

By Chris Lee, @TripleThreatLee

- Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams is expected to miss at least two weeks with knee injury according to coach Tyronn Lue. The team will reevaluated after that time period and Williams will continue treatment on his knee. Last week Mo visited orthopedist Dr.James Andrews, who diagnosed Williams with chondramalacia under the knee cap.

- The Toronto Raptors will waive former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett in order to sign free-agent forward Jason Thompson. The Raptors gave Bennett a chance this season after he bombed out with the Minnesota Timberwolves last year. The Cleveland Cavaliers made the 22-year-old the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, but he had a historically bad rookie season and was sent to Minnesota along with Andrew Wiggins. 

Bennett hasn't been productive for the Raptors, appearing in 19 games and averaging 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds while shooting just 29.6 percent in 4.4 minutes per game. Anthony Bennett maybe the biggest NBA bust of this decade.

- Former NBA player Michael Beasley was named Foreign Most Valuable Player of the Chinese Basketball Association. Beasley is eligible to be signed by any NBA team and would be playoff-eligible as long as he is signed by the final day of the regular season. He averaged 31.7 points and 13.2 rebounds in his 37 games, with Shandong Golden Stars and they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.   

- NFLPA announced that the 2016 salary cap will be at $155.27 million per team. With that being said here are the official franchise and transition figures:

- Tom Brady and the Patriots agree to a 2 year contract extension,the deal will run through the 2019 season when Brady will be 42 years old. Brady had two years left on his contract, paying him $9 million for 2016 and $10 million for 2017. Immediate details on his 2018 and 2019 are currently unavailable.

- Browns safety Donte Whitner has talked to Tashaun Gipson: "I don't think he's too hopeful he's going to be back" "It would be a blow" if Gipson is gone in free agency.

- The New Orleans Saints released veteran wide receiver Marques Colston Monday with a failed physical designation. Colston, 32, was in the final year of his five-year, $36.3 million contract that included $17.7 million guaranteed. In 2015, Colston appeared in 13 games and caught 45 passes for 520 yards receiving and four touchdowns.

- The Los Angeles Rams are discussing an extension with head coach Jeff Fisher. In his four seasons with the Rams, Fisher’s teams have compiled a 27-36-1 record and have never gone over .500. The Rams finished 7-9 last season which was the third time they’ve won seven games under Fisher.

- Finally, during the halftime of the Clippers game last night, the team unveiled their new mascot: Chuck the Condor. Uhh.... yea.

Leadoff with Lee 9.23.15 #Browns #Cowboys #BayernMunich #AnthonyBennett

By @cleeverizon

- Former Indians manager Manny Acta has interviewed for the Florida Marlins to land a front office job with the team according to various outlets. Acta served as manager of the Washington Nationals from 2007-2009 and the Cleveland Indians in 2010-2012 seasons. In May, Miami appointed general manager Dan Jennings as manager to replace Mike Redmond, who was fired.

- The Dallas Cowboys place Tony Romo on the injured reserve/designed for return list. The Cowboys traded a 2017 5th round pick in exchange for Matt Cassel and a 7th round draft pick. The Bills saved $1.7M in cap space by trading QB Matt Cassel to the Cowboys.

- The Browns sign LB Cam Johnson to practice squad. He previously has played with 49ers and Colts. To make room the Browns released DL Kelcy Quarles from the practice squad.

- Sunday's announce crew for CBS' Raiders vs Browns game will be Carter Blackburn and Chris Simms.

- Former Browns WR Terrelle Pryor worked out for Jets Tuesday. According to scouts close to the situation. Pryor reportedly turned in a 4.2 and a 4.3 in the 40 yard dash.

- Anthony Bennett and the Minnesota Timberwolves agree to a injury settlement On Tuesday. The Timberwolves will owe Bennett the difference between his new contract and the $5.8M he is due this season once he clears waivers. The Portland Trailblazers are nearly $13 million below the NBA's league's salary floor, so claiming and signing Bennett would clear waivers by 5pm Thursday and would be no issue.

- The Cleveland Cavaliers have hired Oakland University assistant coach Brandon Weems as a scout. Weems played with LeBron James in high school at SVSM.

- Robert Lewandowski comes off the bench and scores 5 goals in 9 minutes for Bayern Munich. In the second half, Lewandowski checked in at the 46th minute and, in the 51st minute, scored a goal. Sixty-three seconds later, he scored another. About 2 1/2 minutes later, he had a hat trick. A little over two minutes later, he had a fourth goal. A little over three minutes later, he had a fifth goal.

Leadoff with Lee 8.8.14

-It seems as if the Kevin Love to Cleveland deal is about as official as it comes. The news hit the wire yesterday morning about the trade of Kevin Love to Cleveland in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a protected first round 2015 draft pick. Cleveland has received word that Kevin Love will opt out of his 2015 player option and re-sign with the Cavs for the max deal of 5 years, $120 million dollars.

People have said why would he do that when LeBron only signed a 2 year deal with a player option for the second year? Real simple. The NBA television contract renewals are coming up. LeBron will opt out and re-sign for a max deal. After "The King" signs his deal, Kevin Love will sign his max deal. Well what if LeBron doesn't want to re-sign? He didn't come home to go somewhere else. Remember he's from here, his wife's family is from here, his mom is here, he wants his kids to go to Akron schools and don't forget about that nice ass house in Bath Township in which he's barely lived in. Interesting tidbit I received from a source in Minnesota today, was that the Wolves gave the Cavs permission more than 3 weeks to negiotiate with Kevin Love and secure a trade. Andrew Wiggins also has known about him being involved in a trade and his agent has already negotiated sponsor deals with Minnesota businesses. Once Wiggins gets traded this will only be the 2nd time since the NBA/ABA merger that a player will be traded before playing a game for the team that drafted him. The first time was the Golden State Warrior (Anfernee Hardaway) and Orlando Magic (Chris Webber) trade in 1993. Talk about a flashback Friday!

- Kevin Durant withdrew from USA Basketball. Durant is citing physical and mental fatigue from the lengthy season. Personally, I'm saying he fears of being injured after watching Paul George's gruesome, season ending injury last Friday.

-There is now a "Big 5"! The 5 largest conferences in college sports (ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and PAC-12) will create their own governing body with a 80 person committee including 15 athletes. Some of the changes that will be made within these conferences are increasing the amount of scholarship money, health care for student athletes, agent jurisdictions (agents can start interviewing prospects while juniors), decreased time demands allowing student athletes more free time and paying for families of student athletes to post season play plus a player stipend. These by-laws will be voted on by members in January of 2015 and will take effect the same season. Just imagine if this was in effect during tattoo-gate. We would have had another trophy in the case down in Columbus.

-Wow! That's all I could say when I seen the artist renderings of the renovation plans at Progressive Field. A stadium that was built 20 years ago will look like it was built in 2015 after it gets a facelift. The upgrades will include the LONG awaited Larry Doby statue, a new kids clubhouse, an upper deck bar, feature local area foods from the Tremont and Ohio City areas of Cleveland, a new team shop, new social area, bullpens that will be redesigned (so we won't have 2 balls on the field like we did Tuesday), a brand new Gate C and many more upgrades. The first phase will be complete by the beginning of the 2015 season using "Dolans Dollars" and the second phase will be paid for by the "Sin Tax" money.

-In Browns training camp news... LeBron James attended camp with his kids. In a practice that was closed to the public and obviously a secret that was kept between Browns brass and LBJ, LeBron and his crew watched the last hour of practice. After practice, many Browns players scrambled to their lockers to get their phones so they could snap a picture with LBJ. Joe Haden and Phil Taylor had the second best picture besides the Lebron and Johnny Manziel picture. Head coach Mike Pettine had a chance to talk to James and refrained from having James lineup on offence so Manziel could throw him a pass.

-One key note that was said during practice is that WR Travis Benjamin will be the Browns kickoff and punt return specialist this season. Benjamin is returning from a season ending ACL injury last year and is 100% ready to take on the challenge.

-My Grandpa, I mean Greg Oden was arrested Wednesday night for battery. No weapons were involved so this will be a misdemeanor case. When police arrived, they found a woman lying on the ground with blood on her face. Police said she also had swelling on her nose and cuts to her forehead. The victim refused medical treatment. A witness and relative tried to hold Oden back but his arm got free and struck the victim. Oden was calm, apologetic and cooperative during his arrest. Greg Oden and the his ex-girlfriend broke up about 2 months ago. It is not known what started the argument at this time.

-The Indians lost 4-0 to Cincinnati. And that's all I will say about that.

-The Tribe traded Vinnie Pestano to the Angels for class-A right hander Michael Clevinger, the Angels 4th round pick in 2011. Clevinger is 23, with a 4-3 record and a 4.31 ERA in 18 starts this season. The 6'4" 220 pound righty has 85 strikeouts and 42 walks in 79 1/3 innings pitched.

-Can I dunk on my momma? Jeremy Lin did. Check the video below...lol.

Leadoff with Lee 8.5.14

This feels good right about now. Everytime I turn on any random show on ESPN, NBA TV, Fox Sports 1, MLB network or any other media outlet, Cleveland is the lead story. And for once, it's not all bad news. So let's start here..

-According to ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers have all reached a "handshake deal" on the worst kept secret in the NBA, Kevin Love to the Cavs. Additional details were provided by Windhorst yesterday on ESPN radio and the trade scenario goes as follows: Kevin Love to Cleveland in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to Minnesota. Bennett then will be traded to the 76ers in exchange for Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young going to the Timberwolves. If this is a true trade scenario as reported, the Cavs will not need to trade a 2015 first round draft pick and I'm down with that. I didn't want to trade any future potential talent that could help the Cavs create a dynasty for years to come.

-Where's Johnny? If you weren't paying attention, he was running the first team offense all day in Browns practice yesterday. It seems as if the city of Cleveland is split on who will or should be the starter for Week One against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau stated yesterday "I'm expecting Manziel to be the starter." LeBeau continued saying, "I think he's going to be a handful for all of us". To me, it's obvious that LeBeau will fine tune his defense to Manziel or create a "Johnny package", as Brian Hoyer is more of a pocket passer and won't deviate from the base defense that the Steelers run.

-A camouflage Porsche arrived at the Browns training camp facility yesterday morning. Who's car was it? Who can afford a camo Porsche? Yes it was Josh Gordon and his car. Gordon did practice with the second team offense but was dismissed around 11:15 AM so he could attended his appeal hearing via phone. The phone hearing lasted around 3 hours and was submitted for a desicion. According to a source close to Plain Dealer Browns reporter, Mary Kay Cabot, a desicion could take from one to three weeks. In my opinion, if the Gordon appeal to the NFL is so cut and dry why would this hearing take over 13 hours to complete? And if it does take three weeks for a judgement, this puts the Browns at a serious disadvantage next if his suspension is for one full calendar year. Personally, I believe Gordon and his lawyer Maurice Suh presented arbitrator Harold Henderson with either compelling information about the testing, the testing process or they were working on a reduced suspension.

-Browns good guy and former offensive lineman Jason Pinkston will sit out the rest of the season and possibly retire due to blood clots in his lungs. Pinkston, just 26 years old, missed the last 10 games of the 2012 season with the same condition. Clotting in the lungs is life threatening and Pinkston had symptoms of the clots during training which included spitting up blood, fatigue and shortness of breath. Jason was at the Browns facility yesterday and reached an injury settlement . Jason Pinkston was a true class act and volunteered a lot in Cleveland and northeast Ohio in general. We wish Jason Pinkston nothing but success and hope he stays involved with Cleveland and surrounding communities.

-It's clear the Corey Kluber is the true ace of this Cleveland Indians staff. He improved to 12-6 on the season with his 2.55 era to help lead the Tribe to a 7-1 win against the Cincinatti Reds last night. Kluber pitched 7.1 innings giving up 6 hits, 1 run and 7 strikeouts. Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Jose Ramirez each had two hits for the Indians. With Lonnie Chisenhall and Yan Gomes going yard. Chisenhall recorded 3 RBI, with Gomes and Brantley with 2. The Indians and Reds close out the 2 game set tonight at 7 PM, with Josh Tomlin on the rubber for the Tribe, and Johnny Cueto going for the Reds.

Leadoff with Lee 7.31.14

-Corey Kluber needed just 85 pitches in his complete game shutout of the Seattle Mariners and lead the Tribe with a 2-0 win yesterday in Cleveland. Kluber improved to 11-6 on the season while recording 8 strikeouts and giving up only 3 hits. The Indians only had 4 hits on the night, with the biggest hit coming from catcher Yan Gomes with his 2 run single in the bottom of the 6th inning. The 3 game series comes to a end tonight, as Zack Mcallister getting the start for the Tribe and Chris Young for the Mariners.

-Justin Masterson was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfield prospect James Ramsey yesterday. The trade deadline is over today at 4 PM. The Indians dodged a bullet by not signing Masterson to a $43 million dollar extension prior to the beginning of 2014 season, and did get a top prospect in return. Masterson will become a free agent at the end of the season. Masterson will join his new team on Friday and is scheduled to make his first start on Saturday. The right hander was 4-6 on the season with a 5.51 era in 19 starts with the Indians this year. James Ramsey is a former first round draft choice and will report to Triple-A Columbus. Ramsey, 24, was considered one of the top prospects in the Cardinals organization. Ramsey was the 23rd pick in 2012 draft out of Florida State. He is hitting .300 with 13 homeruns and 36 RBI.

-Trade talks are heating up between the Timberwolves and Cavs in a deal that would send Kevin Love to Cleveland. The Cavs have emerged as the front runner to land Love as Chicago has backed out of trying to acquire Love. As it stands, it looks like the Cavs will need to part ways with lasts years first round pick Anthony Bennett, this years number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins and a first round pick in 2015. A third team, possibly the Philadelphia 76ers, may also be apart of the deal to make this trade more appealing and to make all the salaries meet NBA requirements for trades. Neither Minnesota or Cleveland can comment on any trade until August 23rd when Andrew Wiggins' 30 day no trade clause expires for signed NBA rookies. Wiggins was signed last Thursday and may not don a wine and gold jersey when the regular season starts. Anthony Bennett was pulled from Team Canada by his agent fearing he may get injured and to protect his client from any trade that maybe in the pipeline.

-74 year old NBA official Dick Bavetta will be retiring. Bavetta's first game as an NBA ref was December 2, 1975 at Madison Square Garden in a game between the Knicks and Celtics. In April 2014, Bavetta worked his 2,633rd consecutive regular season game. By comparison, legendary Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken's "ironman streak" was 2,632 straight games.

-The Browns had a much needed day off yesterday and resume training camp today in Berea. All the live action will begin as the Browns will actually be tackling. 

Leadoff with Lee 7.12.14

-"I'm coming home" is the theme in Cleveland, Akron and Canton right now. My friend Wayne Allgood and I made a trip to Akron yesterday and the digital billboards on I-71 all read the same. He's back! 9 of the top 10 trends on Twitter read #welcomehome #LebronJames #Cavs #Wiggins #Cleveland #for6iven #anthonybennett #rayallen #kingjames. The news broke around 12:15pm on Friday. You heard it on the radio and you seen it on all the tv shows. It went from soap operas to Lebron coverage. Program directors went from regularly scheduled programming to a Lebron media circus. ESPN's Josina Anderson was in Cleveland just moments after the announcement standing in front of the "Q" and fans were rabid and excited. Bron' is expected to sign a full 4 year $88 million dollar max contract. Sportscenter literally turned into LebronCenter. Cleveland is the hottest city in the United States right now. With Johnny "F'N" football and LBJ in Cleveland, "What's not to like?" to quate Nick Gilbert. So what's next for the Cavs? Mike Miller? Kevin Love? Ray Allen? Trading Andrew Wiggins? Who knows but Cleveland looks like a pretty good place to play in right now. How will the Cavs react with the Princeton style offense that Byron Scott tried to implement and it failed? It can't be any worse than Mike Brown's "stanky leg." Oh yeah Cavs season ticket sales have obviously seen a spike in prices and fans are asked to deposit $200 per season. Will Lebron's personal reporter Brian Windhorst make a comeback too? The Cavs are 4-1 odds of winning the NBA championship this year. The biggest increase in NBA history. Season tickets were sold out in 8 hours up hearing the news of Lebron James' return.

-Nick Swisher and the Indians rolled past the Chicago White Sox 7-4. Swisher went 2-4 with a 2 run home run. David Murphy also went yard for the Tribe. The Indians are playing .500 ball for the first time since June 30th, improving to 46-46. Cory Kluber made the start for the Wahoos and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings pitched. Kluber improved his record to 9-6 with Cody Allen recording his 11th save on the season.

-Former Browns quarterback Kelly Holcomb wants to see a healthy Brian Hoyer be the Browns starting quarterback for the 2014 season. Will Hoyer's knee be healthy enough to win the job? Or will Johhny Manziel's swag be to much for Hoyer to handle?

-The deal to acquire Mike Miller for the Cavs should be finalized by Monday. Chris "Birdman" Anderson and Ray Allen are also targets that LBJ is recruiting.