Still much work to do for Burke to fulfill his master plan

Between Burke's stockpiling of draft picks and prospects, there's only hope ... hope that the likes of Joe Colborne(notes) and Jake Gardiner develop into quality NHL players and that the handful of picks Burke's collected can become valuable assets or valuable trading chips.

According to Burke, his plan is the "right way" to get to the playoffs and avoid a one-and-done April scenariol:

The National Post's Bruce Arthur writes that Burke now having these potential trading chips are fine, but being able to cash them in for their worth will be the biggest test of the Leafs' turnaround:

But with Burke, it's only partly about this move; it's about what he does with the next move. He is selling now, and buying later. He is trying to find young, promising, undervalued players, or restricted free agents, or young players whose teams can't afford them. Which means he is only trying to add the coin of the NHL realm, these days, plus probably Dallas's Brad Richards(notes) as a free agent July 1.

"It's not what we wanted precisely," Burke said. "But it's assets in the shopping cart and now we're going to see what we can turn them into. Ideally, we turn them into a young player."

Can he do it? Maybe. At least he is not in it for the extreme short term, but it just seems like the hardest possible route. Burke tried to pry big 21-year-old winger James van Riemsdyk(notes) from Philadelphia in the Versteeg deal, according to Tim Panaccio of Comcast Sports Net, but settled for a first-rounder which he will now try to flip.

More and more, teams are locking up the great young players before they ever hit the open market; you can get a Versteeg or even a Dustin Byfuglien(notes) in the right circumstances, and maybe better. But when free agency is dry and trades are blunted, how do you acquire the kind of centrepieces that make a Stanley Cup team? How do you filch crown jewels?

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Cavalier fans are still giving LeBron James jerseys to the homeless

You might remember this story from the summer, the one which comes to an unofficial end Tuesday night for us NBAniks, as the season begins.

Cleveland-area Cavaliers fans wanted nothing to do with their LeBron James(notes) apparel once the "self-proclaimed King" signed with the Miami Heat, so why not collect the unused gear and ship it down to Miami, for the less fortunate to wear?

Of course, Miami-area politicians weren't exactly receptive to this sort of half-joke/half-gift. But that hasn't stopped Clevelanders from taking their Toyota down to South Beach and handing the stuff out themselves.

In what is one of the more engaging reads of the year, Gus Garcia-Roberts and Vince Grzegorek detail the story on '64 and Counting, and Miami New Times:

One forward-thinking local citizen stepped forward to collect your unwanted jerseys -- and sneakers and T-shirts and everything else LeBron -- and ship it to Miami for distribution to the homeless. In short order, Chris Jungjohann (pronounced "Young John") founded "Break Up With LeBron," a DIY collection using a website and boxes distributed at supermarkets and Yours Truly restaurants around Cleveland. Foolish, he figured, to burn perfectly good clothing that somebody somewhere would gladly wear.

Within weeks, Jungjohann had amassed more than 400 jerseys and other items. The only remaining detail was delivery to those in need. It was simple brilliance, but it was doomed to meet the buzzsaw of south Florida bureaucracy.

The Miami Coalition for the Homeless and several other agencies rejected Jungjohann's bounty. "It's on hold right now," policy director Rita Clark told us, adding that Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado was privately against the project, though his spokesperson denied it. "There's a lot of politics around this."

"The general consensus was that it was an attempt to mock the homeless population," explained Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. "The reaction was a tense but pleasant ‘No thanks.'"

Well, yeah. It was meant to mock the homeless, just after the mocking of LeBron James had finished.

At the very least, if the minds behind the idea were in it for solely benevolent reasons, then they would have sent the jerseys to several cities, in amounts predicated on the amount of homeless in that particular urban setting. The fact that the bureaucracy has taken its typical hold within Miami's political scene does nothing to change that. The people stopping the shipment of LeBron James jerseys to Miami's homeless are sniveling, worrisome hand-wringers at this point, but this doesn't do anything to distract from the idea that this was a gimmick, plain and simple.

The homeless need everything they can get, and a jersey (of any origin) would help. But this is still just a basketball jersey, a polyester brand of logo and mesh without any sleeves, and hardly the most comforting style one could bestow on someone who has to live outdoors most every night. If the minds behind this idea were honest about their intentions, they'd pool all this hateful LeBron imagery and sell it online, then take the proceeds and buy a series of shirts, sweaters, hoodies and pants; to then distribute to whatever charitable organization needed it most.

But to send Cleveland Cavalier jerseys with LeBron James' name on the back to Miami is just a bad joke. It was a noble sentiment, until they were offered to Miami-only homeless.

The good thing? The people behind the initial offer are trying to get past the "bad joke" part of it all. This is a redemption story nonpareil, told by fans that were hurt to a degree unseen in the annals of popular sport. I can't even look at a picture of a Cleveland-era LeBron James jersey without shaking my head, and I'm not even a Cavs fan. How these guys do it, and work with this apparel, is beyond me. There is still a lot to argue about, regarding their approach ("wino and gold," in reference to the Cavalier team colors? Not cool), but hopefully some minds can be changed here.

This is truly a great read. Nothing heroic, and certainly nothing satisfying, but well worth your time.

Related: LeBron James, Miami Heat

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