The LeBron James Thread

[Dice]

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

Noah is not, ever, going to be an all-star. People have been talking about Noah like he's amazing ever since he dominated the corpse of Shaq and the corpse of Z. He's quickly becoming highly overrated.

I don't think he's overrated, I just think that people think highly of him because the center position in the NBA right now is that weak. There is a legit case that Noah might be the 5th best center in the East right now behind Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, Al Horford and Brook Lopez. And the only true centers on this list is Bogut and Lopez with Horford and Howard playing out of position. So with the exception of Howard, the list can be inter-changeable at any point. So it's not far fetched that Noah could sneak into the All-Star game sometime soon.

[Altimus]

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

Stephen A. says James and Bosh going to Miami to team up with Wade.
http://www.stephenasmithshow.com/cc-...rticle=7292814

If it happens, pay back against ESPN.

If it doesn't happen, he's just SAS. This is what he does.

[OSUFan_88]

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

True but we'll see. Either way Bulls control both players destinies until those years.



It's funny how you praise a player that can't crack over 5 minutes in Hickson and say he can be the next big thing but shut down Noah right away. Noah has been having big games before the Cleveland series. He just needs some muscle and a better post game. Either way he's light years ahead of Hickson.

Noah and Hickson are much different players.

Noah is a offensively challenged big guy who will thrive as an energy guy but he's not much more than rebounder/defense/energy guy. Not to mention, Noah is a center whereas Hickson is a power forward. Noah is a role player, Denis Rodman.

Hickson is a scoring PF, with athletic gifts and was doing very good things in the NBA in what was basically his junior year in College. He has more upside than Noah, but he's much more raw and needs to be taught. Hickson is more of a Carlos Boozer.

[Altimus]

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

Noah and Hickson are much different players.

Noah is a offensively challenged big guy who will thrive as an energy guy but he's not much more than rebounder/defense/energy guy. Not to mention, Noah is a center whereas Hickson is a power forward. Noah is a role player, Denis Rodman.

Hickson is a scoring PF, with athletic gifts and was doing very good things in the NBA in what was basically his junior year in College. He has more upside than Noah, but he's much more raw and needs to be taught. Hickson is more of a Carlos Boozer.

A scoring PF? You mean a guy that lives of the pick and role and can't hit a point outside the paint?

Man, if Noah is Dennis Rodman than that is more than enough for the Bulls.

You can say the same about Noah. Teach that man some post moves and he's a pretty complete center. His offensive game has already improved a lot from last year and a lot of it has to go to Miller. Noah can be the next best passing big man in the NBA.

[King_B_Mack]

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

LBJ Free Agency: 5 Questions on Bulls > Knicks premise

By Chris Sheridan

So here we are, inside of 72 hours before the start of free agency, and there are those who are convinced the Chicago Bulls are the leading candidate to land LeBron James.

There is a compelling argument to be made in favor of that supposition (Chicago has the most talent in place with Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah already under contract for 2010-11), but will that argument hold up under further forward-looking scrutiny?

It's an important question, because in my conversations over the weekend with several league sources keyed into the maneuverings surrounding the start of free agency July 1, the dialogue consistently circled back to one pertinent point: When LeBron looks at what will surround him on his future team, especially when weighing Chicago vs. New York, he is going to have questions of his own.

Such as:

* Will the owner (Jerry Reinsdorf) be willing to spend whatever it takes to surround him with the right type of supporting cast?

Let's not forget that Reinsdorf has a well-earned reputation as being one of the more frugal owners in the league (he broke up a dynasty following the 1998 three-peat because in large part because he did not want to commit long-term dollars to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for what would be the downsides of their careers). Noah becomes a restricted free agent in 2011, and Rose in 2012. Is Reinsdorf willing to commit $150 million or more in long-term dollars (plus luxury tax money) to those two players on top of what he'll be paying James and another top-tier free agent? James will have no such qualms when it comes to the wallet-opening tendencies of Jim Dolan, who has shelled out luxury tax payments from Cablevision's deep coffers to pay for horrible teams over the better part of the past decade.

* What do I know about the new coach, Tom Thibodeau?

The answer: Practically nothing when compared to what he knows of Mike D'Antoni. If you count up all the hours LeBron has spent on planes, trains, hotels and buses with D'Antoni since 2006, when the James first started playing under D'Antoni (and Mike Krzyzewski and Nate McMillan) with Team USA, you start running into the high triple-digits. D'Antoni and James have been together for dinners at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas, at U.S. military bases in South Korea, at Morton's in Macau, at Starbucks in Shanghai, and inside the locker room in Beijing when James celebrated the greatest accomplishment of his professional career by winning an Olympic gold medal in 2008.

* Who is my 3-point shooter?

It won't be Kirk Hinrich, since he is heading to the Wizards on July 8. It won't be Rose, because he can't shoot the 3 (27 pct last season). It won't be Jannero Pargo, since he will be an unrestricted free agent and is not guaranteed to return, and it might not be Deng, because he may have to be used as a sign-and-trade chip to acquire that second max free agent (especially if that second player is Chris Bosh, who stands to make $30 million extra if he changes teams through a sign-and-trade deal). With the Knicks, he'd at least have Danilo Gallinari, who can stroke it so well that D'Antoni (in a mouthful of comment last fall) has described him as the best shooter he has ever seen.

* Can Rose play off the ball?

That is one of the great unknowns in this whole equation, because Rose has shown himself (like James) to be a player who is most effective when he has the ball in his hands to run the offense. Can Rose subjugate his game to be the type of spot-up shooter that Mo Williams was in Cleveland? And what about the defensive end? Can Rose defend opposing point guards better than, or as well as, Toney Douglas can? Granted, Douglas is somewhat of an unknown on that level in the pros, and D'Antoni probably hurt himself in that department by limiting Douglas' minutes in favor of Chris Duhon last season. But Douglas was the defensive player of the year in the ACC during his final season at Florida State, and there's no taking that off his resume.

* Can the Bulls improve themselves in the summer of 2011 as much as the Knicks can?

If the Bulls hang onto Deng and sign James and another max free agent, they will be over the cap in the summer of 2011 and will have only the mid-level exception to use (and there is a caveat there, too, since owners want to eliminate the MLE in the next collective bargaining agreement). If Deng is moved in a sign-and-trade, the Bulls will still be committed to at least $51 million in salaries for 2011-12, which would theoretically leave them some $5-6 million under the cap, thereby depriving them of the use of the mid-level exception (The MLE is not available to under-the-cap teams). The Knicks, on the other hand, will have Eddy Curry's $11.3 million salary coming off the books a year from now. If New York has two max players, plus Gallinari, Douglas, Wilson Chandler and Bill Walker on the books for the '11-12 season, that adds up to roughly $45 million in salaries. And if the 2011-12 cap comes in at $56 million again, New York will have $11 million to spend on putting supplemental pieces around their core -- an especially salient point given that the owners are seeking a hard salary cap in the new labor agreement.

Just a little food for thought for y'all to chew on until, and after, 12:01 a.m. arrives Thursday.

Sorry I stopped reading after that part. Money is not the reason that the Bulls team broke up, especially not in large part. Reinsdorf was already paying Jordan 60 million dollars at that point and even paid Scottie an extra 30 million in giving him a sign and trade out of Chicago. The reason the Bulls broke up is because Jerry Krause is a piece of crap and Reinsdorf's loyalty had him choose Krause over Phil, Scottie and Michael. Mike told them he'd walk away if Phil wasn't brought back, they got rid of Phil anyway and Michael walked.

Any Chicago Bulls beat writer who's covered that team then and even now will tell you that Jerry has no problem paying the luxury tax if he's convinced the team can win. He wouldn't pay it with Gasol because he didn't think the Bulls would be a championship team with him and they overvauled Deng.

Noah is not, ever, going to be an all-star. People have been talking about Noah like he's amazing ever since he dominated the corpse of Shaq and the corpse of Z. He's quickly becoming highly overrated.

So you've been to the future? You can determine that Noah will never be an all-star? Ben Wallace has been to about five or six All-Star games at least and you're telling me Noah can't get to one? People have been talking about how amazing Noah is since last season, not just against the Cavs. That's just being silly with that post man. Dude has gotten better every year he's been in the league and averaged about 14 boards in the postseason the last two years. His work ethic is what's been getting him over with people. I can tell you he was not a fan favorite in Chicago when they drafted him, but he's won the city over in the last two seasons.

[Altimus]

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

Good point KBM.

That article has some legit info in it but for the most part it is Chris Sheridan's question of the Bulls and not LBJ's.

[OSUFan_88]

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

A scoring PF? You mean a guy that lives of the pick and role and can't hit a point outside the paint?

Man, if Noah is Dennis Rodman than that is more than enough for the Bulls.

You can say the same about Noah. Teach that man some post moves and he's a pretty complete center. His offensive game has already improved a lot from last year and a lot of it has to go to Miller. Noah can be the next best passing big man in the NBA.

Much as Noah has improved his game, Hickson improved his shot by the end of the year. He was hitting mid range shots with regularity at the end of the year.

I don't know why we are comparing Noah and Hickson anyway. Two totally different players and different positions. Noah and Andy is a much better comparison.

[Starlin4Prez]

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

I think the bottom line is, CLE has very little chance to improve their team from last year.

Bosh on the other hand is either going to pick NY or Miami.

How do you know this when ESPN reported that LeBron and Bosh to Chicago is pretty close to being guaranteed and that Stoudemire would be going to Miami?? Do you work in the Knicks or Heat front office?

[OSUFan_88]

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

How do you know this when ESPN reported that LeBron and Bosh to Chicago is pretty close to being guaranteed and that Stoudemire would be going to Miami?? Do you work in the Knicks or Heat front office?

Since when is LeBron and Bosh "pretty close to being guaranteed"?

Man, Chicago fans are biting hard on ESPN right now.

[ex carrabba fan]

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

How do you know this when ESPN reported that LeBron and Bosh to Chicago is pretty close to being guaranteed and that Stoudemire would be going to Miami?? Do you work in the Knicks or Heat front office?

I just forgot about Chicago, definitely think Bosh will pick one of those 3. Definitely definitely

[Starlin4Prez]

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

Since when is LeBron and Bosh "pretty close to being guaranteed"?

Well if you were on ESPN at all yesterday you would of seen/read it. Not saying that means it is.

I just find it hilarious that there has been no reports of anything saying Bosh to the Knicks but I come on here to all the insiders who can make a bold a statement as that like they work in the front office. Not singling anyone out because alot of people ACT like they kno some kind of inside info.

I'm not biting hard on anything. Just sick of seeing people act like they kno what they are talking about. At the end of the day I'm gonna take Ric Bucher's opinion over someone on here.

[King_B_Mack]

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

i think its kind of corny for Lebron to join up with a league of super friends to win a championship. it makes "King James" look pretty inept. i think it will be more damaging to his legacy as a player than if he never wins a championship.

Barkley never won but his greatness is undeniable. I can't stand Karl Malone but the same holds true for him as well.

I'm sure both of these guys would have done the same thing that lebron and wade are attempting to do if they thought it would result in a championship. but Barkley or Malone never tried to establish themselves as the GOAT as Lebron would like to. If it takes all this collusion for Lebron to win a championship, in my mind he will forever forfeit his rights to any future "GOAT" claims.

1996 and 2004 say hello You can also add 1995 to the list as well for Clyde Drexler.

[Altimus]

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

Since when is LeBron and Bosh "pretty close to being guaranteed"?

Man, Chicago fans are biting hard on ESPN right now.

I don't think he's implying it's close. He's just stating what ESPN said and that every "source" has another opinion.

Bottom line is, no one knows and these are all guesstimates.

[Dice]

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

Since when is LeBron and Bosh "pretty close to being guaranteed"?

Man, Chicago fans are biting hard on ESPN right now.

Which is what scares me as a Bulls fan. I'm not going to believe it until James puts the ink on the contract.

I still got this funny feeling that the Cavs might make a surprise trade to get one of the other max player.

[King_B_Mack]

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

Since when is LeBron and Bosh "pretty close to being guaranteed"?

Man, Chicago fans are biting hard on ESPN right now.

Why say Chicago fans when you're talking about that guy? I'm pretty sure myself, Alt and Dice have stood by not getting our hopes up and pretty much waiting until contracts are signed before buying into anything.