https://youtu.be/m8dAUKtA4no
Cedi Osman’s 25/7/7 statline from this game is somewhat reminiscent of the statlines of another great forward from Cleveland’s past. I’ll give you a minute to think about who I could be talking about here.
Hint: it’s not Craig Ehlo.
Hint 2: it’s not Alonzo Gee.
Hint 3: It’s Bingo Smith.
Bingo Smith played most of the 70’s with the Cavaliers, etching his name definitively into the sacred stone lore-tablets which reside underneath the arena. When drawing the comparison between Smith and Cedi “Osmic Tentacles” Osman, I’m thinking particularly of Smith’s breathtaking 25-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist game against the Supersonics on February 3, 1971. While the Cavs would go on to lose the game 95-98, Bingo Smith’s heroic efforts to carry his team to victory will be forever cherished in the minds of Cavs fans both old and young. The image of Bingo sucker-punching a young Larry Mikan (George Mikan’s son, who only played one season in the NBA) while the two argued on the bench is still, to this day, widely-regarded as an iconic example of sports photojournalism.
If you thought that Osman’s statline was in any way reminiscent of LeBron James, you are wrong and you should be punished for your wrongness. 25/7/7 is not LeBronian at all. It’s the opposite of LeBronian. 25/7/7 is way more Bingoian than LeBronian, and I’m sure Osman himself would much rather be compared to Bingo, who brought three winning seasons to Cleveland (and also a 15-win season, but obviously that wasn’t Bingo’s fault) than to LeBron James, who, as far as I can remember, never brought anything to Cleveland other than sadness.