NBA Free Agency: Cleveland Cavaliers among most improved rosters

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a productive offseason. According to an article on ESPN, they had one of the top 5 offseasons among teams around the NBA.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made fairly big splashes in both the NBA Draft and NBA free agency. But making a splash doesn't always mean that you have improved your team. According to Amin Elhassan at ESPN.com, the Cavaliers had one of the best offseasons.

Elhassan ranks the Los Angeles Clippers as having the best offseason, just ahead of the Houston Rockets. The Cavaliers come in 5th, after the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets. The most obvious way that the Cavaliers were able to improve their roster was through the draft. As you know, the Cavs had the #1 and #19 picks in the draft. Despite the fact that most people were surprised by the selection of Anthony Bennett, Elhassan writes highly of the talent that he brings to the Cavs.

Drafting Anthony Bennett and Sergey Karasev: It almost seems unfair that Cleveland should draw the No. 1 overall pick a mere two seasons after drafting Irving first overall. While Bennett is currently injured, he brings a lot upside as an inside-outside frontcourt threat.

He also speaks very highly of Sergey Karasev.

Karasev also was an excellent selection. A 6-foot-7 wing with deep range and good feel, Karasev has the potential to fill the hole the Cavs have at small forward, providing Irving with another spacer on the floor.

Unlike most of the other teams on the list of most improved rosters, the Cavaliers were able to utilize both the draft and free agency to add talent. Amin Elhassan also praised the additions of Andrew Bynum and Jarrett Jack.

Signing Andrew Bynum: It is easy to forget that a year ago the general consensus was that Bynum would sign a max extension upon arriving in Philadelphia. To sign him to a two-year, $24 million deal with a team option on the second year and just $6 million guaranteed in the first year is nothing short of a home run. But the Cavs will gladly turn in the cost savings in favor of Bynum actually playing.

Although it's possible that the Cavs slightly overpaid for Jarrett Jack, their particular situation makes it a solid signing. The health of Kyrie Irving is slightly concerning in the near future. If Jack can allow Kyrie to avoid some additional damage, that's probably worth a couple million alone.

Signing Jarrett Jack: While paying $6.25 million per year for a backup point guard is a little steep for my taste (I had Jack valued at $4.5 million per year), it is a luxury Cleveland can afford. Irving has missed an average of 19 games per year so far in his career, and Jack not only gives them an insurance policy should he go down, but also a means to reduce the wear and tear on the All-Star guard by shortening his minutes.

Do you agree that the Cavs had one of the NBA's top 5 off seasons? Be sure to read the rest of the article and see the reasons for putting Cleveland fifth behind the Clippers, Rockets, Warriors, and Nets.

Source: http://www.fearthesword.com/2013/7/15/4525170/nba-free-agency-cleveland-cavaliers-among-most-improved-rosters

california earthquake california earthquake tyson chandler tyson chandler the pirates band of misfits cleveland browns minnesota twins

T-Mobile OTA Update Heading to the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Bringing LTE Support

For you Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 users out there, seems an OTA update is slowly rolling out to your tablets. The update is still Android 4.1.2, but they have added a nice little feature called LTE support. We know that T-Mobile has begun to launch their LTE all over the place, so this is a much needed update.

The update will begin to hit tablets today, and T-Mobile is hoping that the update will hit every tablet by July 19th. So keep checking your system updates, or be alert to the update?s notification. Let us know if you have received it.

Source: Android Police

Share This Article....

If you like that, Try these....

About the Author

David Pena

Been an Android nerd since the G1 days. I believe I hacked and flashed that phone into dust. Since then I jumped onto the G2 and now rocking the totally awesome HTC One S. I also host and produce The ManDroid Show every week and love talking Android to whoever wants to talk about it. Long Live Android!
More articles by David Pena+ ?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidspin/feed/~3/u_0LuSy4Kgc/

jobs act greg mortenson jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees full moon aubrey o day

Chinese firm to build pilot training centre in Singapore

Beijing, Jul 14 (IANS): A private Chinese company, the Sichuan Haite High-Tech Co. Ltd., will invest 95.3 million Singapore dollars to set up an aviation training centre in the country.

The Haite High-tech Singapore Aviation Training Center is expected to be operational by early 2015, making it the largest pilot training centre in Singapore, Xinhua reported.

The company said that prospects for the aviation training market in the Asia-Pacific region are very bright over the next decade. During this period, some 44,000 pilots will be needed to support the growing aircraft fleets.

Sichuan Haite High-Tech Co. Ltd. is currently the only company in the business of aviation maintenance listed on the country's stock exchange. Its total asset value stands at 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion).

Source: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=179823

teresa giudice atlanta hawks 2012 white house correspondents dinner forrest gump bernard hopkins devils la riots

Texas Dems see chance to become relevant again

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? It would seem that Texas Republicans have never been stronger. An all-but-certain Republican successor is emerging to follow the departing Gov. Rick Perry. They're jubilant over their victory at the Capitol, where a GOP-heavy legislature plowed through a bill to sharply restrict abortions.

Behind the scenes, however, anxious Republicans and hopeful opponents are poring over data suggesting that the GOP hegemony may end.? With the state's Hispanic population growing rapidly and voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Democrats should be able to compete for statewide office again in the next decade after a 20-year eclipse, strategists in both parties agree.?

"Republicans have at most one two-term governor left in them. From 2022 on, everything is up for grabs," said Republican pollster David Hill, who runs a firm in suburban Houston. "Numbers don't lie," he added. "We're going to completely undo the alignment."

No one disputes that a huge opportunity is fast approaching for the Democrats. Potential candidates are already waiting in the wings, including the party's telegenic new star, Sen. Wendy Davis, who led a dramatic, if ultimately futile, effort to hold off the latest abortion legislation.

But what actually comes of it, and when, rests on a number of factors in dispute.

Can Democrats turn enough Hispanic residents into Hispanic voters? In the last governor's election in 2010, only 24 percent of Hispanics voted compared to 44 percent of whites. Democrats have set up a massive new voter targeting effort aimed at pushing the Hispanic rate beyond 30 percent, potentially enough to close the party's vote gap in elections.

Can Republicans attract a larger share of the Hispanic vote and neutralize the demographic bulge? Republican strategists believe future GOP candidates can stretch the meager 38 percent Perry got in his last race into the 40s by working harder to appeal to this group. But how to do it? by stressing the GOP's self-help economics or conservative social values -- is a matter of debate.

"There clearly is a wave out there. It's up to the each one of the parties to figure out how to ride it," said Todd Olsen, a Republican strategist and key adviser to Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

The consequences of what happens extend far beyond Texas. No other state except California, which has the nation's largest population, carries as much weight in national elections. A shift by Texas from a GOP stronghold to a two-party battleground would seriously complicate the GOP's plan for winning presidential elections.

Few foresee any changes in the short term. Even without three-term incumbent Perry on the ballot, leading Democrats have not rushed to replace him. Texas' Republican attorney general, Greg Abbott, who already has a $20 million campaign treasury, appears to be a strong favorite to win the governor's race.

The era of Republican dominance in Texas came about when conservative whites began moving en masse to the party two decades ago_a phenomenon felt across the South. The Democratic political organization began to atrophy, leaving the party ill equipped to capitalize on the growing Hispanic immigration.

Now, Democrats insist, a change is at hand.

By 2020, Hispanics are projected to reach more than 42 percent of the state population, up from 38 percent in 2010. They will be the state's largest racial or ethnic group. Whites will rank second at 39 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau projections. Newly eligible Hispanic voters will outnumber newly eligible whites four to one.

"Ultimately, it suggests they would be increasingly dominant," said the state's leading demographer, Steve Murdoch, a sociologist at Rice University in Houston.

In February, President Obama's 2012 campaign field director, Jeremy Bird, set up an Austin-based operation to identify and register the roughly 1.5 million Hispanic citizens who are not on the voter rolls. A similar effort during the presidential campaign increased Obama's Hispanic vote in Florida, Colorado and Nevada. The Texas group has raised more than $1.1 million for the effort, according to a campaign disclosure report scheduled for release Monday.

Volunteers are canvassing Latino neighborhoods in Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande River valley. A small-scale version in 21 precincts in largely Hispanic East Austin in 2010 helped produce turnout 20 points higher than the county average.

"No matter what happens in 2014, we need to see it as a stepping stone," said Bird. "We really need to, long term, cement the infrastructure."

But Republican campaign officials insist that Hispanic voters are not inherently Democrats. Persuasive Republican candidates will still win elections, said David Carney, a longtime Perry adviser.

"People don't vote for the person who signed them up," he said.

Strategists in both parties are assessing how different issues play with Hispanic voters, including abortion legislation, which limits the kind of public services poor women use, but also conforms with many Hispanics' Roman Catholic doctrine.

Inside the GOP, arguments are raging over whether the party is doing enough.

"There is a sensation that the Democrats are on the move in our state and we can't be behind the curve," said Carolyn Hodges, president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

Recently, the federation endorsed allowing the children of illegal immigrants obtain legal status. The state GOP is also counting on candidates like George P. Bush, the namesake of two former U.S. presidents who is running for state land commissioner, to project a friendly face to the Latino community. Bush's mother was born in Mexico.

But the numbers are ominous, said Mark McKinnon, top media consultant to President George W. Bush's presidential campaigns. Because Republicans haven't bonded as well with the Latino community, "Democrats will soon be within striking distance of turning the state blue again," he said.

-------------------------

Beaumont reported from Des Moines.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-dems-see-chance-become-relevant-again-135742512.html

overboard east of eden weather radio indiana autoimmune disease news channel 9 insanity workout

Celebrity Dirt

Celebrity Dirt

Helen Mirren on the Red Carpet in Stripper Heels?[The Frisky] Lady Gaga Announces New Music Release Date?[HollyWire] Lindsay Lohan Lands a Reality Show?[Right Celebrity] Jenny McCarthy Snags “The View” Gig?[The Celebrity Cafe] Carly Rae Jepsen Throws Terrible First Pitch at Game?[The Blemish] Justin Timberlake Facing a Lawsuit??[The Huffington Post] Blake Shelton Packs on 50 Pounds?[Celeb ...

Celebrity Dirt Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/07/celebrity-dirt-6/

WrestleMania 29 Lilly Pulitzer Ben And Jerrys Accidental Racist Lyrics Mad Men Jenna Jameson melissa mccarthy

Decision in Montana boosts GOP chances in Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans received a boost in their attempt to win back the majority in the Senate next year when a former Democratic governor bowed out of Montana's open Senate race, a development that could further hamper President Barack Obama's agenda during his final two years in office.

Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Saturday he would not run for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Max Baucus in 2014, dealing a blow to Democrats who considered the popular ex-governor their best chance of keeping the office. Republicans have not settled on a candidate in GOP-leaning Montana.

Republicans need to pick up six seats to recapture the Senate majority and are trying to take advantage of geography and history in their quest. Democrats must defend 21 seats, including seven in largely rural states that Obama lost in 2012, and the party that controls the White House typically loses seats during the midterm elections of a second-term president.

"For the first time in a couple of years, you can see the Democratic majority has never been on shakier ground," said Rob Jesmer, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Democratic retirements in Republican-leaning states like West Virginia and South Dakota have given Republicans an advantage. The GOP has recruited popular Republicans for those seats, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds.

In Montana, Republicans hope to persuade Rep. Steve Daines or perhaps former Gov. Marc Racicot to mount a campaign, which could give them an edge in three of the six states they would need to win the majority.

The fate of the Senate could then be decided in four states that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won in 2012 and are held by Democratic incumbents: Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.

Republicans view Rep. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana as a strong challenger to Landrieu, a perennial GOP target, and hope Rep. Tom Cotton, a Harvard-educated lawyer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, will challenge Pryor in Arkansas.

Alaska and North Carolina could offer unpredictable primaries. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, said she may run for the Senate in the Republican primary against Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Joe Miller, a tea party favorite. In North Carolina, state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Greg Brannon, a physician with tea party support, want to challenge Hagan, but they could be joined by others, including Rep. Renee Ellmers.

Prominent Republicans have passed up opportunities to run in states like Iowa and Michigan, where Democratic incumbents have announced their retirements. Reps. Bruce Braley of Iowa and Gary Peters of Michigan are seeking the open seats, giving Democrats an edge in keeping them.

Schweitzer's decision surprised many Democrats, who viewed him as their best chance in Montana despite recent reports about the ex-governor's ties to nonprofit groups that Republicans intended to raise in the Senate campaign. It jumbles the primary with a potential field of largely untested candidates that could include state auditor Monica Lindeen, state school Superintendent Denise Juneau, Brian Morris, a Montana Supreme Court justice, and Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY's List, the powerful fundraising group for Democratic women.

Democrats said they remained confident they could hold onto Montana's seat and maintained that Republicans would need to pull off major election victories to win back control.

"Only three Democratic incumbents have lost re-election in the last decade," noted Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a reference to the defeats of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota in 2004 and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin in 2010.

Obama's party, however, has fewer ways of going on offense. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky remains one of their top priorities for 2014, but Obama is unpopular in Kentucky and McConnell is building a large financial advantage against his likely Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's secretary of state.

Democrats also view potential success in Georgia, where Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, may enter the race. Georgia remains a Republican stronghold and several Republicans are vying for an open seat created by the retirement of Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Fifteen months before the 2014 midterms, Democrats say history could repeat itself. They say Republicans could face more polarizing primaries like the ones that created problems in 2012, when some tea party Republicans won bruising primaries over more mainstream Republican candidates and then faltered against Democrats.

"The map was always going to be a challenge but the Democratic incumbents are seasoned political veterans who have run difficult campaigns before and are not taking anything for granted," said Penny Lee, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "As 2012 proved, those who predict outcomes a year out do so at their own peril."

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/decision-montana-boosts-gop-chances-senate-205521578.html

Avery Johnson iTunes Alfred Morris weight watchers fandango google play Christmas Story

Atlanta football player, Roddy White, Says jurors should go home and kill themselves.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the liberals, and I did not speak out--
Because I was rolling on the floor laughing my ass off.

Source: http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/311228-atlanta-football-player-roddy-white-says-jurors-should-go-home-kill-themselves-new-post.html

is snooki pregnant snooki pregnant gbc hedy lamarr kowloon walled city ronda rousey vs miesha tate lindsay lohan snl