The speculation that started two years ago could come to an end in two days — what jersey will LeBron James sport when the 2010-11 NBA season tips off?
That question has been asked constantly after the Cleveland Cavaliers failed to win a championship in James’ first seven seasons. They have made trades for better players, fired their head coach and asked their general manager to resign in their pursuit of a championship because they understand no one will even know Cleveland has an NBA team without James.
The moves came immediately after this year’s early exit in the post-season. Head coach Mike James was fired, general manager Danny Ferry resigned and owner Dan Gilbert said the moves had nothing to do with an effort to appease James — yeah right.
Everyone in the NBA world, including Gilbert, knows the Cavaliers would have one of the worst records during the regular season and would never see the playoffs without James. It is the reason why Gilbert has tried to pull out all the stops to keep James.
The only reason James would stay in Cleveland is if they could land a trade in which they would receive a couple all-star caliber players, but the Cavs do not have the cap space to resign James and another max-contract all-star.
This means the two-time Most Valuable Player will be in search of a new home and there is no better place to build a legacy than in Chicago.
The Bulls have a young, talented nucleus with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Luol Deng. They also made a draft-day trade sending Kirk Hinrich and the 17th overall pick, Kevin Seraphin from France, to the Washington Wizards for a future second-round pick. The Bulls dumped Hinrich’s $9 million contract so they would have somewhere around $33 million to shop with in the free agent market. Chicago can now afford two maximum salary players.
It is a dream situation for James. He would have a pure point guard in Rose who is going to create open looks for James and be able to score himself when needed. He also has an opportunity to play with another elite talent as the Bulls are expected to sign another top free agent.
The Bulls need a scoring presence in the frontcourt to help Rose and hopefully James, which means the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh is the main target. Rose needs the ball in his hand to create and so does James. But if James can get used to playing with a pure point guard for the first time in his career, then the terrific trio of James, Rose and Bosh could be unstoppable.
The Bulls also seem like the best option because his other choices are equivalent to staying in Cleveland. The New York Knicks are arguably in one of the best NBA markets, but their roster is below mediocre. They have two above-average players in David Lee and Wilson Chandler, but Lee is also a free agent with an option to leave and they would need way more than James and Chandler to win a championship. The only hope for the Knicks is they also have money to spend on two max contract players.
The Los Angeles Clippers could appeal to James as they have a solid roster with veterans Baron Davis and Chris Kaman, plus young athletic talent in Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin. But James would have to share Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant and James’ ego is as big as his game so that will not happen.
The New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, Minnesota Timberwolves and any other team with money to spend on one big contract player have no chance of signing James. Their lineups are just as bad or worse than the Knicks. The Nets have Devin Harris and Brook Lopez, but not enough to lure him there.
In the end, James will probably do one of two things. He could make his championship dreams come true by signing with the Chicago Bulls, where Bosh or another good player would follow him; or he will stay loyal to his family, friends and home state by resigning with the Cavaliers.
There is an 85 percent chance he goes to Chicago and 15 percent chance he stays in Ohio.
The other teams do not have a chance.