The LeBron James Thread

[Cebby]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Durant isn't an egomaniac like most other stars. Personally I think he'll be spending at least a decade in OKC.

He's coming to DC.

[JerseySuave4]

Re: The Official where is LeBron going thread

New York

[Altimus]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Yeah I think by rule the Knicks have to keep the 2011-2012 pick.

And yes, Bosh has to accept the destination.

I always wondered with sign and trades. What if we just sign him and don't trade him. LOL.

In each contract there is a clause that is added that if the player isn't traded in 48 hours to the desired team then the contract is voided.

Why are Toronto fans so convinced though that they are going to get something of great value in any sign and trade? These trades are rarely done because of the difficulty of them and rarely equal to anything of close or fair value. A solid asset and a pick would be the best that would happen I'd assume. Especially with teams that could just sign him outright and pay even less money in the long run without giving assets up.

[Altimus]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

I'm still waiting for someone to give me a legitimate reason for anyone to take Luol Deng and his horrible contract in a trade.

There is none unless for some reason you're in love with his game.

[Altimus]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Us not taking Jennings was a huge blessing in disguise IMO. I don't know how this summer's FA movement will play out but if we draft Jennings then we never make the Houston trade and don't have enough cap space for two max deals this summer. Plus, if you add Jennings to our current roster it's still no where near attractive enough to lure LBJ in. Jennings is a gunner and dominates the ball, he'd be a horrible PG for LBJ anyway.

Plus, as you said CP3 and Deron are long term targets if 2010 doesn't work out like we hope.

I'd assume the biggest long term target is Carmelo Anthony if 2010 doesn't work out for NY. He's had a lot of bumps in Denver. Especially now with the chance of George Karl stepping away from the game, Billups getting older and Denver having little chance of making any improving roster changes this year. Carmelo has already mentioned he is interested and likes NY. If things don't pan out this year, NY has a good chance to make themselves really attractive for Carmelo next year.

What happens if the Nets end up with the 3rd, 4th or 5th pick? Not saying that's definitely what they'll get, but it is possible. Just cause you have the best chance to get number one doesn't mean you're getting that or number two even. Where do things go from there as far as LeBron. Obviously they'll still push for him, but what are they're chances then?

Any pick that doesn't translate to the picking of John Wall I'd assume would drastically hurt their chances.

[Altimus]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Also Scoop Jackson from BSPN mentions LBJ gave Rose a call and discussed the possibility of playing in Chicago.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/video/clip?id=5187816&categoryid=5187816

[Vince]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

In each contract there is a clause that is added that if the player isn't traded in 48 hours to the desired team then the contract is voided.

Why are Toronto fans so convinced though that they are going to get something of great value in any sign and trade? These trades are rarely done because of the difficulty of them and rarely equal to anything of close or fair value. A solid asset and a pick would be the best that would happen I'd assume. Especially with teams that could just sign him outright and pay even less money in the long run without giving assets up.

It's wishful thinking, but it's also knowing that some teams may not have the cap space to sign him outright, so they have no choice but to deal with a sign and trade.

[ehh]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0517-kcj-on-bulls-chicago--20100516,0,7300558.story

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

To be completely honest, I'd say that the teams with coaching vacancies have the edge. Calipari no matter how much he denies it is the key. With that in mind, if I'm the Cavs, I screw it up for everyone, fire Mike Brown yesterday and hire Calipari. It seems like LeBron wants to play for Coach Cal and you know Cal doesn't want the failure of the NBA level on his resume. If you can land Coach Cal, LeBron is almost a guarantee, provided Phil Jackson doesn't leave LA, he's probably the only coach that would entice LeBron away from the notion of playing for Calipari.

As for the New York business standpoint. This is the year 2010, you don't have to be in New York City to make business deals. If that was the case no company owner would live in LA or Arizona or other places not named New York. That's why most these big companies have company jets, flying across the country/world to take care of deals. Further if Bron's company is a sports management company and it's primary focus is basketball players, wouldn't being based in Chicago make more sense considering the draft combine is held here every year and most players workout here during the offseason. Yet another door that Michael opened up for the city.

[jeebs9]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

It's funny the polls seem to have even out a little bit. Knicks are even with the Cavs now lol

[ehh]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

To be completely honest, I'd say that the teams with coaching vacancies have the edge. Calipari no matter how much he denies it is the key. With that in mind, if I'm the Cavs, I screw it up for everyone, fire Mike Brown yesterday and hire Calipari. It seems like LeBron wants to play for Coach Cal and you know Cal doesn't want the failure of the NBA level on his resume. If you can land Coach Cal, LeBron is almost a guarantee, provided Phil Jackson doesn't leave LA, he's probably the only coach that would entice LeBron away from the notion of playing for Calipari.

The problem with that is that now you're stuck with a below-average NBA coach. Everyone says, "If LeBron wants to win he'll go to Chicago!" If LeBron wants to win, he wouldn't be asking for Calipari as his head coach.

The Cavs apparently will not hire Calipari and have no interest and I don't blame them.

There comes a time when a front office/organization has to put their foot down. For me, this is it. You want the best player in the world on your team but are you going to sign a coach who's buddy-buddy with him and has never won anything, at any level? It's one thing if LeBron is bringing in Phil Jackson, Pat Riley or another proven championship coach. But to bring in John Calipari, man have fun with that.

Again, as I've said a bunch in here, LeBron is a horrible "wannabe GM" and this is another terrible decision on his part. As Wilbon said, MJ in his playing days didn't want Phil Jackson to take over the Bulls job back in the day. He didn't want the Oakley-Cartwright trade. LeBron knows NOTHING about making good personnel/coaching decisions. He wanted Shaq, he wanted Varejao resigned to a long-term deal, he wanted Mike Brown back after 2009. Letting him hand pick a coach, based on his desire for it to be Calipari, is an idiotic decision.

Not to mention that if you let LBJ bring in his own coach, you surrender your authority as a front office right off the bat. You let LBJ do this, you have no say on anything in the future. LeBron runs your organization.

However, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reported Monday on "SportsCenter" that according to his sources, James is not demanding Calipari coach him on whichever team he plays for next season.

Hopefully, for all parties involved, that's true.

[Brankles]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Deng is the least Athletic starting SF in the NBA. He can't create anything for himself.

Maybe I'm being ignorant (like saying Shaq is getting a pass for his career), but Luol Deng averaged 18, 7.3 and 2 this year while shooting 39% from three and 47% from the field, plus a block and a steal per game... not numbers to sneeze at.

I know stats don't make the player, but I don't see why Deng wouldn't start on most NBA teams based off of that alone.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

But is Calipari this terrible coach because of his NBA record or just cause he has no championships? There's a lot of coach's that have committed that "crime." Calipari didn't even do that bad in the NBA, he coached the Nets for three years. It was a piss poor roster when he got there, they won four games less than they did the previous year. His second year there they won 43 games and the following year was the lockout year, with Cassell getting hurt in the first game. They traded him for Marbury and then fired Calipari 20 games in. He was pretty damn successful at Memphis but didn't ever win the big one, but how many coaches haven't won or only have one championship to show for their careers? It's not like Calipari can possibly be worse than Vinny Del Negro or Mike Brown for that matter.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Maybe I'm being ignorant (like saying Shaq is getting a pass for his career), but Luol Deng averaged 18, 7.3 and 2 this year while shooting 39% from three and 47% from the field, plus a block and a steal per game... not numbers to sneeze at.

I know stats don't make the player, but I don't see why Deng wouldn't start on most NBA teams based off of that alone.

People tend to forget that Deng has been playing injured for the majority of this and last year. I also don't see how there are some people calling him horrible on defense and comparing him to Ben Gordon on defense. Deng is average defensively. Granted he still hasn't lived up to the value the Bulls placed on him a few years ago, he's still a pretty good player when healthy. Basically he's not as bad where they should have traded he and Gordon for Gasol like Memphis was demanding and he isn't as good where he should be considered untouchable in a deal for Kobe.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

At this point, I'm willing to let LeBron go and rebuild if it means that we would have to take on Cali for him to stay. I'm sick of one man holding an entire franchise hostage like he is trying to do.

He's already done enough damage with his GM input, I don't want to see "his" coach here too. At some point, the Cavaliers need to do what is best for their franchise.