PER also shows that Manu Ginobli, David Lee, and Greg Oden were better players than Kobe Bryant.

Is it your opinion that those players are better than Kobe?

LeBron should do this like the draft lottery. Have a number of envelopes with cards for the teams in the running, then start opening them until he has two left.

Baseball can be easily measured in statistics, but I don't think basketball is the same way. You can get general trends about a player, but it isn't even close to as accurate as baseball.

I'm really curious as to what the first 59 minutes of this 'special' will be. Will it basically be a LeBron slobberfest?

Hollinger's NBA Player Stats - ESPN Insider - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Hollinger's NBA Player Stats - ESPN Insider - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Nazr Mohammed > any Boston Celtic

This game is fun.

Jared Dudley tweeted that Lebron's signing with the Knicks tomorrow.

Carl Landry > Derrick Rose

This would be funny..
Cavs work out a sign and trade for Carlos Boozer. LeBron agrees to stay at the special. Boozer's deal gets signed, LeBron can't find a pen. Speeds off in his Bentley. Signs with the Knicks.

The Knicks are basically like the worst place I can see signing. Whatever. I'd think the Nets would be a better place to win if I was going to the NY market anyways.

But Lebron is all about winning, right?

What if LeBron joins with CP3? They seem to be friends according to Twitter.

What could New York possibly give up in a trade?

They need to get the octopus to pick where LeBron's going

Is this really happening?

09-10 regular season PER:

RK PLAYER PER
1 LeBron James, CLE 31.19
2 Dwyane Wade, MIA 28.1
3 Kevin Durant, OKC 26.23
4 Chris Bosh, TOR 25.11
5 Tim Duncan, SAS 24.79
6 Dwight Howard, ORL 24.07
7 Chris Paul, NOR 23.74
8 Greg Oden, POR 23.14
9 Dirk Nowitzki, DAL 23.01
10 Pau Gasol, LAL 22.97
11 Amare Stoudemire, PHO 22.69
12 Manu Ginobili, SAS 22.54
13 Carmelo Anthony, DEN 22.29
14 David Lee, NYK 22.28
15 Kobe Bryant, LAL 21.95
16 Steve Nash, PHO 21.67
17 Carlos Boozer, UTH 21.42
18 Brandon Roy, POR 21.36
19 Zach Randolph, MEM 21.21
20 Josh Smith, ATL 21.04
21 Andrew Bogut, MIL 20.81
22 Kevin Love, MIN 20.72
23 Deron Williams, UTH 20.62
24 Corey Maggette, MIL 20.4
25 Andrew Bynum, LAL 20.26
26 Chauncey Billups, DEN 20.25
27 Brook Lopez, NJN 20.11
28 Danny Granger, IND 19.85
29 Nazr Mohammed, CHA 19.64
30 Kevin Garnett, BOS 19.51
31 Al Horford, ATL 19.43
32 Joe Johnson, ATL 19.33
33 Marc Gasol, MEM 19.3
34 Rajon Rondo, BOS 19.18
35 Al Jefferson, MIN 19.03
36 Carl Landry, SAC 19.02
37 David West, NOR 18.99
38 Nene, DEN 18.95
39 Gilbert Arenas, WAS 18.76
40 Anthony Randolph, GSW 18.71
41 Derrick Rose, CHI 18.69
42 Rodrigue Beaubois, DAL 18.59
43 Jamal Crawford, ATL 18.5
44 Gerald Wallace, CHA 18.39
45 LaMarcus Aldridge, POR 18.3
46 Tyreke Evans, SAC 18.28
47 Lou Williams, PHI 18.25
Andrei Kirilenko, UTH 18.25
49 Paul Pierce, BOS 18.24
50 Andre Miller, POR 18.18

A decent PF/SF is always going to do better than a very good guard in his system. It's why guys like Nash, Kobe, Williams, Rose and others fall well behind the David Lee's and Amare's.

Hollinger is the guy who created PER, so I'll go by his ratings. The rest are just adjusted knockoffs.

Lebron infomercial being shot in Greenwich, CT. New York suburb. The plot thickens.

As long as they keep all this FA mess in the East and let the Lakers keep the West crown, it's all good. :)

Is it okay that while I used to generally like Lebron, I think he is finding his way into my "root against" column?

I've always thought the Knicks were going to be the team. He wants the big city lights, he loves the Garden, he's made plenty of cryptic quotes about NY. I still think he ends up there and I'd think it if the infomercial was being shot in downtown Cleveland in front of 30,000 fans.

The Super Team concept in South Beach could cause him to change. But I still think it's the Knicks.

WTF, Knicks beat writer says it might be at Allan Houston's house.

He's staying. He wouldn't have an hour long special to disgrace Cleveland like that. His selfishness in the past couple months has been surprising, but I truly do not believe he would do that to his hometown.

Please be right.

Just my opinion, but... if Lebron signs in Cleveland, New Jersey or New York, the Lakers may very well be the biggest winner of free agency as I don't think a combo of Wade and Bosh is enough to challenge the Lakers and Lebron on the teams above doesn't make them an instant contender. If he signs with the Heat or the Bulls they become the favorite at that point.

It'll be interesting to see if the ESPN guys slow down the LeBron rumor reporting...gotta make sure that exclusive announcement tomorrow night really means something.

Then Bucher chimes in and says this may all be a stunt to build up more anticipation and draw in the New York audience.

Even being a Clevelander - I've felt this way for a few years now towards "The King". :rolleyes:

LeBron is going to retire for a season to play for the Birmingham Barons with the goal being as long as he can bat .205 just so he can lay claim that he was better then Jordan at least in one sport.

I think LeBron is just on the cutting edge of this stuff, and in 5-10 years we'll have free agent TV specials that everyone takes part in. Some kind of reality TV format.

It will be one of those things in the future that we won't get, and will make us all look old.

On the Dan Patrick show this morning, he alluded to a documentary Dwayne Wade was making about his free agency. There was some speculation that the second trip to Chicago was as much about getting content for the film as anything else. Seems like we're definitely sliding in the reality tv direction with this kind of stuff.

I'm not sure what motivates this kind of thing beyond money. Surely it can't be for the artistry of documentary film-making. And D Wade, do you not have enough money yet? Maybe I'm getting old, but the way Lebron and Wade have used the media in this whole thing is nauseatingly self-serving. 'Course you never know if they are the ones truly pulling the strings in all this.

Kobe
Wade
LeBron
Chris Paul
Carmelo
Deron Williams
Dwight Howard
Kevin Durant
Dirk
Amare
Steve Nash
Brandon Roy
Tim Duncan


You get to pick one guy to add to your team for next year. Are you saying you would take:

Bosh over Dirk?
Bosh over Nash?
Bosh over Carmelo?
Bosh over Williams?
etc...

Are you thinking he has a longer career ahead of him, so he is worth more? I can't believe you are saying you would rather have Bosh than Carmelo or Nash or Dirk (and the others) for next year. Leave future potential and his age out of it. Bosh is a better player than these guys?

Duncan is getting old, but you would rather have Bosh than Duncan on your team next season? Really? If that is your opinion, then fine, but it seems crazy to me to think he is top 10. Top 20? OK, I'll listen and probably even agree with you (if you are in the 15-20 range).

Bosh over Howard? Like I said I am not a big NBA fan (I do like to discuss the players a ton though), but Howard picked apart Bosh in the 2008 playoffs.

Thought I read somewhere that Wade just got divorced.

ESPN is reporting Bulls have signed Carlos Boozer, 5 year deal

More: Bosh has won 3 playoff games. He cannot be Top 10. A basketball team is only 5 guys, so 1 guy makes a huge difference and if you can't carry a shitty team of scrubs out of the first round, ever, you are not top 10.

Yeah, he'd rather play with his boy Bosh in Miami, than play with his kids in Chicago.

Chicago Bulls sign PF Carlos Boozer for 5 Yrs/$80mill.

I think it was the right move to make. He fits with Rose well, and we still have the max available to lure Lebron with (however feeble that might be.)

Kobe, Wade, Lebron, Paul, Howard, Durant, and Duncan are better than Bosh.

Amare isn't a better player than Bosh by any imaginable measurement. Roy, Melo, Nash, Dirk, and Williams are more or less his equal at this point. If Roy can prove his his '08-'09 season wasn't a fluke then he jumps into the list above, but he's had one outstanding season that is considerably better than his other 3. I could see some people preferring Williams over Bosh with the current rules in place.

I think this is the fulfillment of David Stern's vision for the NBA. Remember when he used to compare the NBA to Disney, saying the games were like "theme parks", and Magic and Jordan were their "characters".

Interesting group of forwards/centers now for the Bulls, with Boozer, Noah, Gibson, and Deng.

Preferred Boozer over Bosh to begin with, but now we badly need a shooting guard.

Ray Allen or Mike Miller at about 7m would be a good move for Chicago.

I'm all for bringing Miller into down if Lebron doesn't work out. Korver could be a solid option off the bench too.

Ray Allen is too long in the tooth, in my opinion. I see him declining rapidly this year.

Real happy with the signing. Think we got a fair price too considering the market. Just hope Boozer stays healthy.

If you add a couple free agent shooters, the Bulls are pretty tough 7 deep. Could easily see this team winning over 50 games next year. Maybe going deep if Rose gets better.

Miller is intriguing. I like Anthony Morrow off the bench and maybe giving JJ Reddick a chance to start. Wouldn't mind Ronnie Brewer as a 6th man either.

I like Miller quite a bit. He's a guy who's skills should age well. I wouldn't go more than 1 year with Ray. If Reddick can match what he did this year he'll be a steal for someone.