Cavs intend to use No. 1, No. 4 picks

Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant said Wednesday his team intends to use the No. 1 and No. 4 overall picks in Thursday night's NBA draft.



Grant told ESPN's Jeannine Edwards that he knows who he wants to select with the top pick but still has to discuss the selection with the rest of the team.


Either Kyrie Irving of Duke or forward Derrick Williams of Arizona are expected to be the top overall selection.


If the Cavs do take him first, Irving will be the third point guard in four years to go No. 1, joining John Wall, who went to Washington last year, and Derrick Rose, picked by Chicago in 2008.


Grant described Williams as "less polished" than Irving. He said he feels Williams has been "shot out of a cannon these last two seasons."


Of Irving, Grant said the concern was his lack of playing time in college (he played just 11 games for the Blue Devils because of a toe injury), but he said the Duke guard comes across as someone who's been on the national stage and knows how to handle it. The Cavaliers heavily vetted Irving's injury and feel "comfortable" with the status of it.




The Cavs have toyed with moving up to No. 2, so they could land both Irving and Williams -- a two-handed slam dunk in this class. But that seems unlikely unless they can strike a deal with Minnesota, which has entertained offers but seems reluctant to give up the highest pick in franchise history.


When asked about trying to trade for the No. 2 pick and how the Timberwolves basically want the moon in return, Grant said: "Yeah, we don't have a moon!"




Owner Dan Gilbert's 14-year-old son, Nick, the team's good luck charm in the draft lottery, will be calling in the team's two first-round selections.


On Monday, the team held its last round of workouts by hosting Williams, Turkish center Enes Kanter and Kentucky guard Brandon Knight at their suburban training facility. Williams and Kanter were in for their second visits, and the pair also met with Gilbert and some of his kids, adding another layer of mystery to the team's true intentions.


Grant said it was an opportunity for Williams and Kanter to relax a little and put aside their first-visit jitters. Overall, the GM said, the Cavs have been putting more emphasis on their interviews than on their workouts.



Information from ESPN's Jeannine Edwards and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Who is Bismack Biyombo???

TREVISO, ITALY -- More than 100 NBA scouts and GMs pack into a tiny Italian gym at the adidas Eurocamp on a Saturday afternoon. All eyes are on Bismack Biyombo, the mysterious big man from the Congo.






Biyombo is working out. He is alone on the court. Trying to prove himself again. Trying to show the world he's for real.






Clang. Clang. Clang.


All is not going as planned.


Biyombo is here to show the NBA world he deserves to be a lottery pick in the 2011 draft, which is less than two weeks away. Right now his audition seems more appropriate for a bricklayer. The more he misses, the more the NBA execs I'm sitting next to scribble in their books.


After riding a six-month rise to fame during which he could seemingly do no wrong, Biyombo is stumbling at the worst possible time.


As the workout comes to a painful conclusion, one NBA GM leans over to me and says, "Bismack Biyombo just played a game of one-on-none ... and he lost."


Putting the pieces together


Nine more days.


That's how long GMs like Kevin O'Connor, Chris Grant, Bryan Colangelo, Ernie Grunfeld, Geoff Petrie, Joe Dumars and Michael Jordan have to decide on the biggest enigma of this year's draft.






Is Biyombo -- a 6-foot-9 big man with crazy-long arms, an NBA body and bouncy springs -- the next Dwight Howard? The next Mouhamed Saer Sene? Or is he someone in between like Ben Wallace?






Since Biyombo burst onto the scene in January, those execs, along with virtually every other team, have been trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. A handful of teams took a trip to Spain to watch him play with Fuenlabrada of the Spanish ACB league before he left the team in April. More made the trip to Portland to watch him play at the Nike Hoop Summit, where he recorded a triple-double. More recently, a number of NBA teams traveled to Vitoria, Spain, to watch him work out with longtime coach Pepe Laso and do interviews.






NBA GMs don't like to be caught off guard. Six months ago, none of them knew who he was. Now, he presents one of the highest risk-reward conundrums of the draft.






Who is he? Where did he come from? Is Biyombo destined to be another player in a long line of international busts? Or is he going to follow in the footsteps of another Congolese forward, Serge Ibaka, and become a star?


Those are the questions facing a number of NBA GMs in the lottery.


'Basketball was my life'


Late Saturday evening, Biyombo is in a hotel room telling a reporter his unbelievable life story. His huge frame fills a small desk chair next to my bed. His voice is deep. When he tells his story, he has perspective and depth. He's had experiences at 18 that most of us don't have by 40. He's been a pro since 14. He left home at 16 to play in several Middle Eastern countries. He flew to Spain less than a year later to embark on a pro career. He speaks six languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic and two dialects of Congolese.




When he talks, he sounds like a wise, old traveler ... not the 18-year-old he claims to be.


"I was born on August 28, 1992," he tells me several times. He repeats the date several times in the interview.


But ask NBA scouts -- any NBA scout -- and they'll tell you he's closer to 22 than 18. They have no proof, mind you. He just looks, sounds, acts and plays older, they claim.


I understand the feeling. Everything about Biyombo sounds and feels older. But his life experiences might explain that. He's not a coddled AAU star. He grew up in a culture that demands that you fend for yourself at a very young age.






Biyombo is the oldest of seven brothers and sisters from the city of Lubumbashi. He began playing basketball at age 9, professionally at age 14 in the Congo.






By the time he was 16, he decided to leave his home, despite his parents' objections, to play for a professional team in Qatar. But on his way, he stopped in Yemen for a week to get a visa, and once basketball officials got word that he was in town, they offered to let him practice with the team. Even at 16, Biyombo possessed the body of a man and the athleticism of an NBA player. Within a week, they offered him a contract.






"It's very different from the rest of the world," Biyombo said. "I knew nobody. I was still very young. Moving away from my family was a little difficult for me. On the other hand, it was something I really wanted to do. It was something I loved."






He did not attend school. Instead, he practiced for hours a day.






"Basketball was my life," he said. "All of my life."






His young life took another big turn when he traveled with his team to a tournament in Jordan. There he met former Jordanian and Angolan national team coach Mario Palma. Palma was impressed with Biyombo's ability and maturity, and praised his play after a game. Biyombo had a message for him, too: Help me get to a better league.


"He came to talk to me and asked for help," Palma told FIBA.com. "He said he wanted to play at a high level. Initially, I thought of sending him to Angola, where I have some contacts, so he could progress there. I thought of Angola because of the cultural proximity to his country of origin. Then I contacted someone in Spain [agent Igor Crespo] and everything started from there. It was the right choice."


"I told him, I don't want anything, just a good coach and a chance to play," Biyombo said. "That's all I ask."



"A lot of teams came to watch me practice," Biyombo says. "No one was interested, I tell you."





"After many weeks, finally a team [Fuenlabrada] came and offered me a shot at their junior team. They told me if I played well I could then play fourth division. Then in a couple of years, third division. Maybe someday I can play in the ACB. I said, no problem, I'll take it."






Biyombo began playing for Fuenlabrada's junior team, but he wasn't satisfied with the competition. He says he called the coach of the third-division team and asked him whether he could practice with that team as well.






"The coach came up to me right after practice and told me, 'You are not going to play anymore with the junior team. You are going to skip the fourth division. You are going to play with me,'" Biyombo said.






The next year, Biyombo ended up playing for both the third- and fourth-division teams. On Saturday, he'd play third-division games and, then on Sunday, fourth-division games. To keep up with both teams, he'd sometimes have to practice four times a day.






At the end of the season, Crespo asked Biyombo whether he wanted to go home to his family for the summer. Biyombo told him that he wanted to stay and get better. He no longer felt challenged in the third division. His goal was to move up to the first division of the ACB the next season.






At the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Biyombo was still on the third-division team in Spain. One month into the season, he moved up to the second division. He began practicing with the first dvision as well, and his defense against Esteban Batista, one of the best centers in Europe, wowed the coaching staff. When Fuenlabrada received a huge offer for Batista from Caja Laboral, the team decided to pull the trigger.






"After Batista left, the coach says to me, 'You know what, we don't care if Batista leaves. We have you, and you can help us,'" Biyombo said.






Batista left on a Monday. On Sunday, Jan. 9, Biyombo got his first minutes in the ACB. He played 13 minutes against DKV Joventut, finishing with five points, seven rebounds and a block. After two more games, the coach told him that he could stay with the team for the rest of the season.





Within two months, a number of NBA international scouts were following Biyombo's rise in the ACB. Biyombo played 14 games for Fuenlabrada in 2010-11, averaging 6.4 points on 56 percent shooting, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 17 minutes a game.






On March 8, I wrote ESPN.com's first draft entry on him: "International scouts have been quietly buzzing for the past month about Biyombo. He's one of the few ultra athletic players in Europe right now. He has the physical profile down and scouts claim that he's more polished than most players his age. The fact that he's getting some real playing time in the best league in Europe, the ACB, helps him as well. Some are comparing him to Serge Ibaka."






At the time, Biyombo seemed like a big-time future prospect for the 2012 or 2013 draft. A month later, he became the "it" prospect in the 2011 draft at the Nike Hoop Summit.



Bismack Biyombo's athleticism and defensive abilities turned heads at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland.


Rich Sheubrooks, who works for both Nike and the Memphis Grizzlies, had spotted Biyombo in Spain and offered him a shot on the Hoop Summit team. His Spanish team balked at letting Biyombo leave during the season, but Biyombo had a clause in his contract that allowed him to go.






The move would, once again, change his life. Most NBA teams had yet to scout Biyombo, so GMs and scouts descended in force on Portland to watch him play. He was the main attraction, and they weren't disappointed.


Biyombo wowed all week with his toughness, athleticism, shot-blocking, leadership and motor. He was a defensive powerhouse with a Ben Wallace-esque body and a crazy 7-foot-7 wingspan.






In the game, Biyombo dominated on the defensive end, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks in 28 minutes against Team USA. It was the first triple-double in the history of the Hoop Summit.






"When I walked away, I felt proud of myself," Biyombo said. "I put everything on the floor. I played very hard. I did good things on the floor.






Biyombo said Sheubrooks was one of the first to greet him after the game. "He told me, 'What you just did over there will change your life. You'll see what will happen in the next week,'" Biyombo recalled.






Within a week, he had risen into the lottery on our Big Board. In a draft without a lot of players with big upside, he was intriguing. A week later, Scouts Inc.'s David Thorpe argued that he could be the No. 1 pick in the draft.






In six months, Biyombo had gone from an obscure, third-division big man in Spain to a possible lottery pick in the NBA draft. "Meteoric rise" just doesn't do it justice.






Biyombo ended his contract with Fuenlabrada and began working out in Vitoria in preparation for the draft. A number of teams have made the trip. Most walk away impressed -- not so much with the workouts, but with the personal interview.






"He's one of the most impressive young men I've met this year," one GM said. "He won't blow you away in a workout because he's the type of player who just plays basketball. He needs to be in a game. But in his interview? Wow. He had a high level of maturity and he's driven to succeed. He's not ready, but I have no doubt he'll put in the work he needs to be a winner."












He might not be a workout guy, but he knows how to work the room.






Six hours after his shaky workout, Biyombo is standing in the lobby of the Maggior Consiglio hotel, looking like anything but a loser. He is the proverbial most interesting man in the room, with NBA scouts and GMs flocking to him.






Crespo is handing out a packet of information on Biyombo, arranging more interviews and laughing off one bad day of shooting. He's also hoping and praying that all the momentum and goodwill haven't vanished.






Biyombo had been working hard to improve his shooting touch, and a number of NBA scouts who previously attended workouts in Vitoria said it was getting better. Crespo began to feel strongly that Biyombo had an opportunity in Italy to show that he was more than just a shot-blocker and defender. More than just the next Ben Wallace.










Wallace isn't the sort of sexy comparison that agents love to make. Dwight Howard or Kevin Garnett sells high lottery picks. Not Big Ben.

But it's the classic mistake often made at this time of the year. With prospects trying to prove to scouts that they're better than their scouting reports, their agents typically become obsessed with their weaknesses instead of their strengths. Biyombo might have been shooting the ball better, but by NBA standards (and they are the gold standard), he's a terrible shooter.




Had they run a workout in which they planted Biyombo in the paint and had various guards attack the basket, Biyombo indeed would have looked like the next Wallace. Even in limited playing time, his 2.3 blocks per game led the ACB this past season.


Regardless, most scouts seem unfazed by the workout. Some claim he looked better in Spain. Others blame nerves and the structure of the workout. A few are concerned about his hands, his feel. Everyone is still intrigued.


"He didn't play very well," one veteran NBA scout said. "But I didn't expect him to in that environment and with that workout. It really showed off his weaknesses, but they are weaknesses we already knew he had. I do worry about his hands. I worry about turnovers. I'm not sure how great a feel he has for the game on the offensive end. But you can't hide his strengths, either. We know what he could be, and it's very, very attractive. If he is who he's portraying himself to be, he's got a chance to be in the NBA for a long time."


Said one GM: "He can play in the NBA right now. If you understand what he is and what he isn't, and you're OK with that, then I think he's a very safe pick. Defense helps win championships. Ben Wallace and Tyson Chandler don't score, but they help their teams in so many ways. If you value defense, length and drive, I think it's hard not to like him. Maybe love him."


"Maybe" is a scary word so close to the draft. But it also is a hopeful word this time of the year.


There are many "maybe" prospects in this draft. Maybe he flames out. Maybe he succeeds.


There are nine more days to place your bets. Given all he's overcome in life, it might be unwise to bet against Biyombo playing five-on-five.



He is truly someone to watch for the DRAFT.

Officials in Europe firm on Justin Gatlin ban..... WTF??

So for those of you who are scratching your heads on who the heck is this Justin character, let Milly give you a rundown: 

-Handsome guy who happens to be a track and field star. Face was on the Wheaties box as he claimed the "Fastest Man in the World" title in 2004 Olympic Games. 

Back in his "GOLDEN BOY" days

-Handsome dude gets smacked with a ban of 4 years after testing positive for  a banned substance.... Holy Santa Claus shit!! 

-Now a father, he has served his ban and like many athletes who have been shunned by the public eye for many years or months; picks up the pieces and trying to move forward on with his/her life. 

Somebody's hitting the gym....gesh

GOT THE RUNDOWN??? COOL....now for my rant on today's blog: 

The track ban that prevents former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin from competing in main European events still stands despite his serving a four-year doping suspension.

Rajne Soderberg, the director of the Stockholm Diamond League event, said in an email Friday that the ban still holds. Euromeetings, the organization representing Europe's top track events, "will continue to recommend that members do not invite athletes who we believe cause disrepute to our meetings and our sport."

This includes Gatlin, but the policy doesn't cover venues outside Europe.

The American was one of the fastest men in the world when he failed a doping test in 2006 for excessive testosterone.

Gatlin is scheduled to run the 100 meters Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. He was on the waiting list and recently added to the field when other sprinters dropped out. What the heck was up with that??

Tom Jordan, the meet director for the Prefontaine Classic, said Gatlin deserves his spot because his punishment has been served.

"It's not so much believing in second chances as much as the philosophy of our society, which is if you've paid your debt to society and you're considered eligible, then you should have the opportunity if you earn it," Jordan said.

Very true Mr. Jordan, Very much true. But I have something to say to Mr. Soderberg : 

As a former track and field athlete myself, I looked up to figures like Mr. Gatlin.  While in college (Univ of Texas alumni over HERE) ; I had the opportunity, to see Mr. Gatlin live in person. The true talent in front of my eyes were pure. So when the scandal broke out, I didn't believe it. Guess others wanted to see that cookie crumbled.

I truly believe that Mr. Gatlin is trying to move forward from his past. So why cant society?? Its so funny how a country that is soo adiment on moving forward, dont really like to show it. 

....And thats is what's grinding my gears. 

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Am I the only one who thinks Bosh doesn't blink???

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Chris Bosh got up off the mat after getting poked in the eye to hit the game-winner in Game 3.

DALLAS -- On the road, with a battered eye, amid one of the coldest shooting stretches he’s ever endured, Chris Bosh hit the game-winner on the biggest stage of his career.

Bosh was alone. With the game tied and 40 seconds remaining in Game 3, Tyson Chandler left the Miami Heat power forward on the left baseline in order to stop LeBron James’ penetration into the lane. As Chandler met James at the foul line, James immediately turned to his right and flipped a backhanded pass to Bosh, who had missed 11 of his previous 17 shots on the night.

“I saw CB wide open,” James said. “I don't care if he missed 15 in a row, he was wide open and that's his sweet spot."

Without hesitation, Bosh rose up and knocked down the jumper, instantly bringing the 20,000 Dallas Mavericks fans to a hush in AmericanAirlines Center.

Heat 88, Mavericks 86 -- the final score of Game 3.

Following the game, Bosh was alone on another stage, sitting down at the postgame podium and peering into the sea of media. With a tissue in hand, Bosh dabbed at the moisture from his swollen eye.

Considering how violently Bosh writhed on the floor in the first quarter, a return in Game 3 seemed unlikely -- never mind draining the eventual game-winning shot. He had just gotten poked in the eye by Jason Kidd, who swiped his hand at Bosh when he made a move past Chandler. Bosh fell to the ground grabbing his face, and the Mavericks went the other way and hit a 3-pointer against the shorthanded Heat.

How did his eye feel at the time?

“Open your eye like this,” Bosh said after the game, spreading his eye lid open with his left hand. “I’ll poke you in it.”

After a few minutes of attention by Heat trainers, Bosh leapt off the hardwood and trotted over to the Heat bench, still clutching his eye.

The injury clearly bothered Bosh, who has been mired in one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. After the swipe, Bosh missed five of his next seven shots while coughing up the ball twice -- all before halftime. He missed point-blank layups and flubbed dunks in traffic. Bosh, who had averaged 8.9 rebounds in the playoffs entering Sunday’s game, finished the first half with just one rebound.

But we saw a different, sharper Bosh in the second half. In the opening possession of the third quarter, Bosh effortlessly sank a 21-foot jumper. The Heat maintained him as the focal point of the offense, repeatedly running pick-and-rolls with him as the screener. Wade and James never stopped hitting him on rolls and that confidence never waned. Bosh made five of his nine second-half shots, with two of his misses coming on desperate off-balance heaves with an expiring shot clock.

But that final shot from Bosh is what everyone will remember. It was made possible first by Wade when he pulled two defenders toward him out on the perimeter, which started a chain reaction from the Mavericks' defensive rotations. That prompted James to deliver the pass to Bosh in the corner once Dallas' defense spread thin.

But the play doesn’t happen without Udonis Haslem’s tremendous screen on Dirk Nowitzki. Since Chandler rotated onto James, Haslem knew Nowitzki would have to help out on Bosh.

“I told UD who to hit,” Bosh said, describing the play. “He did a fantastic job of screening me. I knew I was going to have an open shot. I just wanted to have good form, follow through. And I’m lucky.”

The effect of Bosh’s eye injury was most evident not in things that he did, but the things he didn’t do. For instance, Bosh completely lost Chandler under the rim on a thunderous dunking putback by the Mavs center in the fourth quarter. As Chandler rose up for the dunk, Bosh could be seen under the basket boxing out nothing but his own shadow.

Bosh said after the game that his vision isn’t limited by the swelling.

“I can see pretty good,” Bosh said. “I don’t know what it is. We’ll spit on it, put a band-aid on it and patch it up later.”

Still, Bosh maintains that there wasn’t any doubt that he would return.

“I think it’s just symbolic of our season, everything,” Bosh said. “You just have to keep overcoming. If you lose Game 2 at home, blow a 15-point lead and you’re out on the road and everything is against you, you have to get it done. I thought it was quite fitting that I got poked in the eye early.”

For Bosh, there were more ups than downs in this game. He’s now shooting just 31 percent from the floor in his first NBA Finals appearance and has missed more layups than he’s made. For the majority of the series, Chandler has tied Bosh in a straitjacket, but the Heat All-Star keeps battling back.

Considering the series-long shooting slump, combined with the eye injury, Bosh was perhaps the unlikeliest of players to hit the game-winner.

All season long, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has emphasized the importance of trusting teammates. That final possession -- the scorching Wade feeding the lukewarm James, then feeding the frigid Bosh for the critical points of the game -- demonstrated that trust.

“It’s the trust we have in each other’s ability,” James said. “No matter what the point of the game is at.”

Bosh added, “We trust each other. Our guys have been doing a fantastic job of showing that trust, especially in crunch-time situations. This is as big as it gets.”

Life after prison for Plaxico Burress

Plaxico Burress will re-enter society when he is released from prison Monday after serving 21 months for illegal gun possession, but the template for rehabilitation and redemption of athletes of his profile has already been established -- by Michael Vick and, to a lesser extent, Ben Roethlisberger.

On the football field, Vick is a superstar anew, a one-man show who, in the course of a calendar year, made both Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb -- the quarterbacks who before Vick's arrival were the past, present and future of the Philadelphia Eagles -- expendable. For the Eagles, Vick was electric (ask the New York Giants or Washington Redskins), and for his peers he was inspiring, turning a one-year contract that at the time might have seemed charitable even for a third-string quarterback into a showcase for his immense ability.

AP Photo/Charlie RiedelHe made this winning TD catch in Super Bowl XLII. Plaxico Burress will have to prove he still has those skills.

Off the field -- regardless of the questions of fairness and forgiveness and flaws in the justice system -- Vick provided a rare example of how the rehabilitative portion of "the system" is supposed to work. For his crimes, he was the equivalent of kryptonite in the eyes of many fans and even some of his the National Football League employers, yet he was still given an opportunity. He worked hard with no guarantees. He was humbled and accepted his social penance, speaking at schools, to children and to adults about the consequences of what he'd been and done. Whatever inner thoughts he harbored about his situation, he accepted the criticism and the reality that some might never forgive him -- which is their right -- and to date, he's done nothing new to embarrass himself or his community. He has, as they say, paid much, if not all, of his debt to society.

Roethlisberger was never convicted -- or criminally charged, for that matter -- but his encounters with women did significant damage to both his public image and professional prospects, and at least one of the women filed a civil lawsuit. In response to the crises, Roethlisberger took his team to the Super Bowl for the third time, and announced that he was engaged to be married. And then he offered a piece of news germane only to his particular circumstances: He and his fiancée won't be living together before marriage.

In both cases, the narrative of their second chances ended with positive outcomes. Neither Vick nor Roethlisberger was permanently undone by his transgressions, and quite possibly -- if their recent public images are authentic -- they both seem to have emerged as better, more responsible people. Both responded to the threats to their careers with focus and professionalism, at least publicly. Perhaps just as importantly, both were at a critical point in their NFL lives: The league could have deemed them too toxic to be worthy of redemption.

Burress, however, is not Vick; nor is he Roethlisberger, both of whom were saved at least in part by the talent trap: Their ability to perform feats on a football field that very few people in the world can match gives them value to their industry. They are quarterbacks, the most glamorous position in the sport, possibly in all of professional sports. As much as Burress was a star -- four 1,000-yard seasons, the winning touchdown catch for the Giants to undo the Patriots' undefeated 2007 regular season -- the question for NFL teams will be whether a wide receiver such as Burress has enough ability to justify the kind of risk the league took with Vick and Roethlisberger.

AP Photo/Matt RourkeMichael Vick is still making public amends, as he did at this speaking engagement at a Philadelphia high school last week. Will Burress follow that lead?

If it had been clear that Vick, following his release from federal prison after 23 months, could no longer play football at a high level, would any team have given him the chance to rehabilitate his life? The question seems too cynical in tone, but the two concepts, which should be unrelated, might nevertheless be linked. During a time of public fatigue with the flamboyant excesses of professional sports figures, Burress appeared so gilded, so cavalier and so unaccountable that he could hold a glass of red wine while he carried a loaded handgun stuck in his pants. Even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got involved in wanting Burress behind bars. He was bad for the brand.

Two years later, it's possible that the football world has moved on in a way that makes Burress just another name, and generally unimportant to the success of the league. If that's the case, he will become another symbol of just how fungible and disposable -- and temporary -- the glamorous life truly is. To have a second opportunity to reclaim a life with which he was so careless the first time around, Burress might first have to prove he can still play.

Vick and Roethlisberger were both public relations disasters. Burress was criminally reckless, carrying a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol into a crowded nightclub in the elastic of his waistband and accidentally shooting himself in the leg in the process. Due to New York's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines of 3½ years for a conviction, Burress pleaded guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.

Vick, according to authorities, bankrolled an entire criminal operation that led to the grisly killing of animals. Roethlisberger appeared to be engaged in a pattern of offensive behavior -- especially to the female demographic that, statistics suggest, buys a large portion of merchandise. Both cases frightened a corporate machine like the NFL. Burress, however, served just two months fewer than Vick, and he clearly does not require the same level of image-cleansing Vick needed on re-entry.

So the question is whether Burress, who will be 34 in August, has the skills now in the eyes of football talent evaluators to save himself the way the other two did. The upside of Vick's post-prison talent was tremendous, allowing him time to heal. Even in loyal Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger said he wasn't sure whether the Steelers would keep him or whether the fans would want him -- doubts that are now long gone as he comes off a Super Bowl appearance.

AP Photo/ Steven HirschThe first step is rebuilding his home life. At his sentencing in September 2009, Burress kissed his wife, Tiffany.

Burress doesn't appear to have that kind of football upside. He'll likely need to find someone (Andy Reid, perhaps?) who will take a personal interest in him and allow him time to re-develop, a rarity in an often impersonal game.

Even the case of Donte Stallworth is less murky than that of Burress. Stallworth was sentenced to 30 days for DUI manslaughter after killing a pedestrian in a Miami traffic accident two years ago. Stallworth was out of the game during 2009 and resurfaced with the Baltimore Ravens for an injury-plagued, mixed-results season last year. He was never the elite receiver Burress was, and is now a role player; nonetheless, his case requires nuance. Investigators appeared to have concluded that the Stallworth incident -- though he was behind the wheel and over the legal alcohol limit -- was more an unfortunate accident (the victim, Mario Reyes, apparently was not in a crosswalk when Stallworth's vehicle hit him) than a heinous or reckless criminal act. That sets Stallworth's post-sentence football re-entry apart from that of both Vick and Burress.

Still, Burress likely will not be a pariah. He will have job opportunities if there is professional football to be played this year. Vick has already offered support for him. If Burress has any skills remaining in his 6-foot-5 frame, he too will benefit from the talent trap.

The next step, naturally, is for Burress to go home to his family, to see the daughter who was born while he was behind bars, to rebuild and repair the lives of the people around him. Meanwhile, his professional reconstruction likely depends less on whether teams want him to have another chance at life, and more on whether they believe he can do for them what he did for the Giants.