The Daily Dish - February 18, 2010

Thank you Dan Gilbert. For opening your wallet and shelling out the tens of millions of additional dollars necessary for your general manager Danny Ferry to go out and acquire The Missing Piece, Antawn Jamison last night. And thank you Danny Ferry for never panicking, always weighing your options correctly, and making your fourth straight major trade in the last two years where the Cavs gave up nothing and added key pieces to this now very talented puzzle you’ve assembled. Let’s review The Balded One’s last four deals:

~ Laura Hughes’s awful contract and filler for Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerzbiak, Joe Smith, and Delonte West
~ Amon Ones (no D, no J) and the previously acquired Joe Smith for Mo Williams
~ The previously acquired Ben Wallace and filler for Shaquille O’Neal
~ One month of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a #1 pick they can likely purchase back if they want for Antawn Jamison

If you didn’t already love Danny Ferry for being the only player in NBA history to throw a punch at Michael Jordan, you have to love him now. Wow!

Make no mistake Cleveland sports fans. This is, by far, the city’s best opportunity to end the 46-year drought and bring a professional sports title here to the north coast. I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, ‘cause this is Cleveland, but these next four months are going to be enthralling. I’m talking 8-10 cups of Keurig coffee a day and prep the wife that you’re going to be a very bad husband for four months enthralling.

Antawn Jamison is the perfect fit for this basketball team. He is a man of incredibly high character that cares about winning first and everything else later. He can stretch the floor and knock down 18-20 foot jump shots. He is still highly productive and is signed for the next two seasons. He is a very intelligent player that does a lot of the little things at both ends of the floor that don’t show up in the box score. He can rebound. He can defend. He is an All-Star forward. I still have nightmares of him destroying Drew Gooden in past Cavs/Wizards matchups.

If LeBron is being truthful in saying that he will be motivated only by championships when deciding who to sign with this summer, then he won’t be going anywhere. No moving trucks. His family, friends, and support system here in Cleveland. A championship team that has the ability to win multiple titles together. And the full-fledged support of a very rich owner and very competent general manager.

Lastly, on Z. Yes, it is very sad to have to deal him. There is no better guy. No one more deserves (well, maybe LeBron) to be able to hoist that Larry O’Brien trophy above his head as millions of Clevelanders weep openly over a Cavaliers championship. But he can come back if he wants in 30 days if the Wizards buy his contract out, as they are expected to. Other teams (Dallas and Denver) are already rumored to have interest, and he could sign with them immediately, and for more money than the Cavs would likely be willing to give him. Or he can take a month off, go nowhere, hang out with the two kids he just adopted, eat at Lola every night, and come back and join this team in late March as they prepare for their quest for the Larry O’Brien.

After successfully predicting the Saints upset win in the Super Bowl and the Jamison acquisition (when everyone else thought Amar’e) right here in the Dish, as a public service to Dish readers, here are the numbers for tomorrow night’s Mega Millions drawing:

11, 19, 23, 38, 40. Bonus ball will be 36.

And you know the Cavs trade is big news when it relegates Lindsey Vonn winning a gold medal to this slot in The Dish. I was already a fan. The gold elevates her to Scarlett Johansson/Giada De Laurentiis status here at Dish Headquarters.

Quote of the day …

“Antawn is a great pro. We are very excited to have an experienced all-star player of Antawn’s caliber and character join us. He has the ability to add a special, unique dimension to our team with a strong inside presence and the ability to stretch teams defensively, while impacting the entire court. We think he matches the culture we have built, and continue to build, and will fit well with our group on the court and off.” ~ Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry, on his new toy, Antawn Jamison

Market …

Same old story. Just when we get some positive momentum going to the markets, the train gets derailed. Maybe that’s a little harsh. Maybe the train’s not off the tracks yet, but we got some setback news this morning when we found out that first time jobless claims unexpectedly surged last week and that inflation jumped far more than expected in January.

Let’s start with first time unemployment claims. Came in at 440k last week. Had been trending down. Expectations were for that to continue, and a # of about 430k this morning. Comes in at 473k. Ouch. The labor market, hardest hit by the worst recession in seven decades, has lagged the economic recovery that started in the second half of 2009. The economy has lost 8.4 million jobs since the start of the downturn in December 2007. First time claims is kind of like our weekly update/indicator on the health of the employment market. And this morning’s was not good. No way to sugar coat it.

On the inflation front, the Labor Department said this morning that the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 1.4% in January. Expectations were for a 0.8% rise. The more closely watched “Core PPI” (which extracts volatile food and energy prices) rose by 0.3% amid expectations of a 0.1% rise. Investors are keeping a wary eye on inflation following massive efforts by the Federal Reserve to pull the economy out of its worst slump since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Low capacity utilization and a weak labor market are, however, keeping inflation pressures in check. Nothing to worry about yet here, but the # now has investor’s attention.

Mortgages went in the tank yesterday afternoon after the release of the minutes from the latest Fed meeting. The minutes revealed that “several” Fed officials favored starting the sale of the Fed’s MBS portfolio “in the near future.” Investors were not expecting that Fed MBS sales would begin so soon, and many were even holding out hope that the Fed would stay in the MBS market as buyers, not sellers … so clearly, you can see why it had the impact it did on mortgages.

Is this the start to the climb for mortgage rates? Are we headed towards 30 year fixed rates in the high fives, approaching 6.00% after years now of rates between 4.75%-5.25%? The best long term thing for the US economy and potential future inflationary fears is to let rates rise naturally and to exit the MBS markets as buyers. But there’s a lot of political pressure for more federal intervention to manually keep rates low and help out upside down homebuyers, especially in the wake of the generally ineffective last year of results from the mortgage modification program. It will be VERY interesting to see how things unfold.

Yesterday was another positive day for the stock markets (Dow rose 40 points) though. Deere & Co. and Whole Foods both reported strong profit, and the government said construction of new homes and industrial production rose more than anticipated in January. Prior to this morning’s bad news, stocks had been surging thanks to positive earnings reports and diminished concern about potential overseas troubles derailing a global economic recovery. Investors have been worried debt problems in Greece and other European countries could spread and stymie a global economic rebound.

News …

~ Cavs Acquire Antawn Jamison in Three-Team Trade with Wizards & Clippers

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/trade_100217.html

~ Jobless Claims, Inflation Jump as Economy Wobbles

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35457298

~ One Year Later, Obama Defends Economic Stimulus Plan

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G38U20100218?type=GCA-Economy2010

~ Mortgage Modification Program Has Had Little Effect

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-loan-modification-effort-languishes-2010-02-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp

~ Wal-Mart Sales Fall Short of Expectations; Outlook Cautious

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35442486

~ Bond Vigilantes Say EU Needs Better Plan For Greece