Yeah, I know those aren't LeBron 9's but I wear flip flops 24/7 so deal with it.

It was announced on Saturday that Miami Heat forward LeBron James was awarded MVP for the third time in his career, after leading his team to a 46-20 regular season record and the No. 2 seed in the East. James averaged 27.1 points per game this season, while his “Big 3” cohorts Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh averaged 22.1 and 18 ppg, respectively. Sure, it’s like saying that James was the fastest of the Ferraris, but it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t once again deserve the NBA’s ultimate individual honor.

For his hard work, James’ other “employer”, Nike, has also awarded him with this special new pair of LeBron 9’s that he wore yesterday in the Heat’s 95-86 victory over the Indiana Pacers…

Of the shoes, a Nike spokesperson said that they’re a reward for the company’s “Employee of the Year” – a shame, because I thought for sure that would go to LeBron’s douchebag yes-man and sideways peace sign giver, Jason Petrie. I’ll admit, though, it would be pretty cool to know that you’re the only person on Earth who has a specific pair of shoes that were designed solely for you because of an incredible accomplishment. You know, if that were true.

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I took a couple weeks off from doing these here ROFLMNBAO posts for two reasons: 1) because the last two weeks of the season were soooooo boring and B) I forgot. But I figured what better time than now to resume posting these NBA meme pictures since the news that they’re so in demand. Form a line to the left, attractive girls who want to give me money to create ridiculously corny-sounding sites!

Also, I figured it was a better time than any for this week’s installment with the playoffs in full swing and individual awards being presented by the league. As we already know, Tyson Chandler is the Defensive Player of the Year, Jason Kidd received the Sportsmanship Award and Gregg Popovich is the Coach of the Year. “What about the other awards?” you ask while peeling apart the pages of my vintage Hustler collection. The NBA is taking its sweet ass time with those, so I’m issuing my own awards.

A lot happened in this condensed season, so it’s only fair that we recognize everyone for their efforts.

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LeBron James with Jason Petrie (R) making Kenan Thompson seem awesome.

On Saturday, Chicago Bulls fans watched in horror as Derrick Rose’s struggles to remain healthy this season came to the worst case scenario conclusion, when his knee buckled on a play late in the 4th quarter, resulting in a torn ACL. A lot of people asked the question: “Why the hell was he still in with a 12-point lead and very little time left?” But mostly the answer just came in tears. Even I couldn’t help but feel bad and try to cheer Rose up a little.

Alas, this is competitive sports – a world of us-against-them, heroes and villains and people who just don’t have much common sense. For instance, Nike shoe designer and #TeamLeBron yes-man Jason Petrie watched Rose’s injury take place and his reaction was that Tweet you see above. In this case, Pooh is Rose and Petrie is somehow insinuating that the brand that you rep determines whether or not you’ll suffer a serious injury.

Petrie, though, as most people in certain jobs that could be affected by asinine comments like this often do, later apologized in the most sincere way imaginable.

Adding: “Yo, but 4 reelz y’all, D-Rose need-a comeback in dem new Nikes, cuz Adidas gon giv him MLS.”

Petrie obviously apologized once half the Internet wrote about his insult yesterday, and it was probably after he received a memo from Nike on showing a little more tact on social media. His Tweets are sent from a personal account, which he chooses to use to promote the Nike brand, and most notably plant his lips on James’ billionaire butt, though we can’t really blame him for being a feeder fish with a sweet gig.

As far as James, none of this should really fall on him, but hopefully the remarkable PR effort he’s made this season has taught him to shove one of Petrie’s own fresh designs up his ass for this one.

Back in February we introduced you to an 18-foot tall LeBron James statue built by Florida’s Primetime Amusements to amuse honor LeBron and the Miami Heat. At the time I wondered how a statue of LeBron honored the Heat, and now two months later we have our answer: because he was only the first of a team of colossal monsters.

Well, a team of three. Nobody’s smushing together 18 feet of paper-mache and tubing to build a giant Dexter Pittman, but Golem Dwyane Wade and Golem Chris Bosh are alive and erect now. Bosh has got to be the easiest person to caricature in the history of pro basketball, you just roll up a ball of clay and pinch it in the front.

A little color commentary from Hot Hot Hoops:

With all three completed and finishing touches now in place, such as placing an NBA sticker right in the middle of LeBron’s headband while Hot Hot Hoops was present to take pictures of the trio, plans are still up in the air as to where exactly you’ll be able to see these on display. A logical place would be the American Airlines Arena but for now we’ll have to wait and see where the mega superstars will make their public appearance together.

Here’s a better look at the Extremely Big 3 with a wildly inappropriate funk soundtrack:

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Earlier this month, Orlando’s Local 6 Sports Director David “Ping” Pingalore reported that Dwight Howard told Orlando Magic management that he wanted coach Stan Van Gundy fired. This story “broke” on April 4, and it led to one of the most amazingly awkward interviews in NBA history, when Van Gundy told reporters point blank that he knew Howard tried to have him fired, and then Howard interrupted the interview and put his arm around Van Gundy, completely oblivious to what just happened. Howard’s reaction when the reporters filled him looked a little like this:

The problem with Ping’s report was that it wasn’t anything new. Magic writers like Jarrod Rudolph had reported months ago that Howard wanted Van Gundy out, but it went unnoticed because it hadn’t been preceded by two months of trade deadline drama. Ping’s “sources” – which we’ll discuss in a moment – and their #HOTTGOSS were more timely and convenient for the NBA media that needed something to fill the downtime between the trade deadline and the playoffs. So Ping was heralded for this so-called scoop, and he was given a free pass for his next aimless, unsubstantiated breaking story.

That story, of course, was this week’s report that Howard refused to play for Van Gundy and was faking his herniated disc injury as a protest. Well if that’s true, Howard is the most committed liar since George Costanza, because he is having season-ending surgery that will require four months of recovery.

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With 6 million or so sports blogs to choose from, we all have to get a little creative now and then to keep the ladies readers pleased and coming back for more, so it doesn’t ever surprise me when another site uses a misleading headline to get a few more clicks. Hell, I do it plenty, but I also trust that enough people know not to take it too seriously, because we’re closer to the Onion than we are ESPN. And even when I get something wrong – a stupid little stat or a misspelled name or misconstrued legal jargon – I still take the time to fix or clarify it.

With that mini-rant out of the way, if someone emailed me a photo of Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James wearing t-shirts that depict Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, especially in the wake of Ozzie Guillen’s admission of love, I’d probably take a few minutes to check and see if it’s real. Unfortunately, one blogger, who professes to be the “world’s most popular”, which I assume is recognized in the same category as World’s Best Kisser and No. 1 Dad, doesn’t share that philosophy and ran the above image yesterday without bothering to check if it was real, leading to some mighty fine racism in his comments section.

I make no secret that I dislike Wade and James for their perceived arrogance, but this photo jumped out at me because I immediately remembered it from an event that we featured back in September – Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play, featuring Michelle Obama, Chris Paul, Wade and James. And no, Wade and James were not wearing Castro shirts.

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