Ex-Cavs center makes news with new book

Former Cavaliers center Lance Allred has authored his second book, this one entitled, Basketball Gods: The Transformation of the Enlighted Jock. For those who dont remember Allred, he was a member of the Cavs for part of the 2007-08 season -- signing two 10-day contracts in March, then another for the remainder of the year. He was waived the following October. Allred was a media favorite during his brief stay, a regular guy in sneakers and baggy shorts. He was also very open about his Mormon upbringing and the fact he is hearing impaired (he wears a hearing aid to help overcome his 75-80 percent hearing loss). So while the 6-foot-11 center never received many opportunities in the NBA, the fact he even made it to the pros was quite an accomplishment. He also established himself as an occasional force in the D-League, with career averages of 13.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in four full seasons. Allreds first book was entitled, Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA. It received critical acclaim and it detailed exactly what the title suggested: Including Allreds early years in a polygamous sect, his hearing issues, his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder. As good as the first book was, the second may be even better. At least, it may be for die-hard NBA types. I write that as someone who has yet to read the second book, but I have seen parts, including this from his time on Orlandos 2009 summer league team: Patrick Ewing was the coach for those two weeks and for some reason he decided that he was going to play and start a guy at center who played no more than 10 minutes a game in the D-League the season before, with stats not much better than five points a game. That same guy would not even stay on a D-League roster the next season. Go figure. That paragraph alone proves Allreds book will give us an inside and genuine look at the world of pro basketball. Its the type of openness and honesty Allred exhibits often -- including his recent interview with USA Today, in which he discussed LeBron James. Allred and James were teammates on that Cavs team back in 08. While they werent friends, Allred said James did occasionally go out of his way with small, simple gestures to make me feel welcome. Allred also said that there were times when James was simply having a bad day, like all of us do. Allred added, At times, the PR machine around LeBron does not best represent him as a person. Maybe as a celebrity, but not as a person. He has many good qualities that maybe are not shown to the world, as some may fear it is less than cool or masculine, that it does not feed into his superhuman persona. Allred concluded this thought with another telling line. When the lights turn off and we go home, he said, we are often far different people than the athletes you see on the court. The entire interview can be read here. And you can find out more about Allreds book by visiting his website. I highly recommend that you at least check it out.