Re: The Official LeBron thread

[gyso]

gyso,

Are you going to start a Game On thread for LeBron tonight?

LOL!!!

[swedeinestonia]

Miami it is..

How much more money do they have left to spend then?

[jeb]

man the next season just got turned into a reality tv freakshow. I cant wait to beat this guy yet again. Going to be a CIRCUS all year.

Espn has material forever.

[gyso]

Actually, there is a LeBron James Hype Machine Open Thread over at CelticsBlog.

Here is a sample:

Just goes to show how much like NBA is like professional wrestling. Reminds me of the hyped up specials leading up to Wrestlemania. Will Lebron wearing a feather boa, shades, rubber bands in his beard and a neon bengal striped skull cap?

BREAKING NEWS: ESPN picks up “The Decision” for a full season, orders LeBron to sign nothing but 10-day contracts in perpetuity.

With that opening, I thought they were going to compare his signing with VJ day or something.

gyso

[Brandon$$]

LEBRON JAMES
DWYANE WADE
CHRIS BOSH










Thoughts?

[cowens/oldschool]

they don't have a Perk or Rondo

[bobc33]

Wow! Those three together, at probably the peak of their careers?

My thoughts?
* Who else is on the Heat roster? I'm tempted to say it doesn't matter, but on second thought having the right type of players 4 through 10 will still be important.
* There is only one basketball.
* This will be fascinating to see if/how they work together to play team ball.

Pat Riley, when he is not coaching the Lakers, is good.

[Brandon$$]

Now at first this seems like one heck of a team. I mean you do these kind of teams in video games, 2 young superstars capable of carrying a team and a solid secondary all star big man in Chris Bosh.

This Big3 is drawing comparisons to Boston in "Can they co-exist to win a title? After the Big 3 the team is paper thin!"

I honestly don't think they can co-exist for 82 games. Were not talking about older vets who have gotten their money already, seen the individual accomplishments, but can see the light at the end of the tunnel and are willing to do 'whatever it takes' (Thanks Sam that quote is catchy). These are young men in their 20s and I would be astonished if all 3 of them were able to take a lesser role.

The 2010-2011 Miami Heat will definitely be an offensive beast, but it also remains to be seen how they do on the defensive side of things. It's hard not to get caught up in the hype of these 3 stars getting together but I sure as hell can understand why.

Just 1 more team for the Celtics to upset in the playoffs!

[Brandon$$]

Cleveland must feel devastated... where do you go from here if your Chris Grant their new GM? I doubt any free agents are looking at the Cavs as a good destination

[mrkleen09]

My thoughts.

-this is Wade's team, and I cant see Lebron enjoying the role of second fiddle for long.
-they have no PG, no Center, and only one ball.
-Eric Sprolstra is NOT a strong enough personality to control these kind of egos. Look for Pat Riley to step in by mid season at the latest.

They will be much better, but the rest of their line up is WEAK at best. They better average 120 ppg if they want to have a chance.

[jeb]

Cleveland is in the lottery forever. Howd you like to be Byron Scott right now?

I am in all seriousness speechless. I dont think it will work. Bosh and Bron are very young and Wade' needs to dominate the ball. There is only one basketball.

Espn will turn this into an oj freakshow.

What a creep.

[cowens/oldschool]

Agree kleen,Bosh can't play 5,too soft,they got no center,whos left Shaq?won't they be over cap?

[steve3344]

Miami it is..

How much more money do they have left to spend then?

I heard four dollars.

[NYCelt]

James, Wade and Bosh...In Their Prime.

I was a crummy 5' 9" 2-guard in high school and I could play center on that team and they would still win.

Like Boston after signing our Big 3 there will be free agents ready to sign. I would think the talent they'll get will be deeper than we picked up in '07 because these three have the potential to go on an extended run. There are no age or injury issues.

No comparison to our signing Allen and KG. No comparison to LA brining in Malone and The Glove. This is way bigger.

This is going to be something to see.

When do we play them? This is our new target.

[Brandon$$]

[Brandon$$]

So is the first regular season game in Miami or LA??

[gyso]

I am hearing many of the same things that were said of the Celtics back in the summer of '07.

I would wait until I saw how the rest of the team comes together and then actually plays before putting them down too much. They have their work cut out for them with only the vet minimum to work with.

One rumor has S&T Jared Jeffries with Beasley to Charlotte for Tyson Chandler.

PG: Chalmers
SG: Wade
SF: LeBron
PF: Bosh
C: Chandler

Sad day for Cleveland fans.

gyso

[jeb]

nyc

I think their youth will hurt them not help them...there will be a lotta dickswinging goin on. I honestly dont think it will work ...specially in year one.

The boston 3 had made their bones and had nothing to prove.

Only one ball.

jeb

[steve3344]

First of many anti-James pieces out of Cleveland:

http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2010/07/whatever_his_voiced_reasons_it.html

Published: Thursday, July 08, 2010, 10:12 PM Updated: Thursday, July 08, 2010, 10:20 PM
Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Chosen One left the money and ran.

Until 9:28 Thursday night, there was still the thought in Cleveland that reports LeBron James would go to Miami as a free agent were a vast smoke screen, like the volcano in Iceland. But they were not.

Defecting players usually say sports are a business. But while James' decision certainly crushes businesses around The Q, for Cleveland, this was personal. How could it possibly be business when the Cavaliers could pay $30 million more over a long-term contract than any of his suitors?

James is the local legend who severed his ties with the area and now becomes as reviled as any sports figure other than Art Modell. He is the great player who left unfinished business after quitting on his team on the court and left unanswered questions by quitting on his city off it.

The medium for the bad news was ESPN, which figured. The network represents much of what is loud, obnoxious and empty in sports today.

The smiley face that Miami will put on this will be that James placed a chance to solidify one of the NBA's potentially great teams ahead of his ego. But as the dog-and-pony show of James' free agency shows, it was always all about him.

There is no doubt, however, that Cleveland enabled him with the huge billboard-sized banner across from The Q; with the "Witness" signs, as if he were able to perform miracles; with the sing-along by city and state officials, pleading for him to stay. There was a clear indication from the moment he wore a Yankees cap to a New York-Indians playoff game in what was then called Jacobs Field that he felt he could do anything he pleased. No one in the Cavaliers' organization would ever tell him no.

What a surprise that he became monstrously self-centered.

In the end, he proved not good enough to win it all, even with a good supporting cast.

By waiting to leave until after his high-profile basketball camp in his hometown of Akron, by surrounding himself there with current and former Cavs teammates, and by scheduling a one-hour national cable "event" just to exploit this city's suffering, he hit the trifecta in deplorable behavior.

He had before invoked all the connotations of home, only to leave it. He had before summoned an image of family, only to reject it. He had before cherished loyalty, only to betray it. He wears "Family" and "Loyalty" tattoos on his torso. Dermabrasion, please. The sooner, the better.

By contrast, Tim Duncan could have left the Spurs for Orlando, almost did, then stayed and won three of his four championships afterward. Kobe Bryant almost forced his way out of Los Angeles, then stayed and won two championships among his five overall, in just the last two years.

With James, there was always a childish, self-aggrandizing aspect to his game and a divided focus on the importance of winning. He was caught up in hosting the ESPYs and "Saturday Night Live" or making a proposed movie. Such perks once followed winning, but in his case, they preceded it.

He always wanted everyone to look at him. He valued trick shots, attempting looping, underhanded efforts from halfcourt before the game. He indulged in showy, copycat gestures like the pre-game powder throw. (Kevin Garnett did it first). He was not the winner we thought, not by a long shot in the Boston series. He was the fabulous curiosity, the bearded lady, the dancing bear.

He rubbed it in, dancing and preening, when the Cavs won and, at least twice, against Boston in 2008 and Orlando in 2009, he left without shaking hands after they lost. By joining the stocked-with-superstars Miami Heat, he becomes on the court what his rooting interests in the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys made him off it -- a front-runner.

As far as the "multiple" championships go that the abdicated "King" thinks will ratify greatness, is that really so? Until the rise of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in the 1980s and '90s, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson were commonly considered the best guards in NBA history. They won two championships between them. Years of excellence established their reputations, despite the obstacles the Bill Russell dynasty presented.

James will be compared to Modell, although NBA basketball, of sorts, will continue here, and NFL football, the biggest thing in town by far, did not for three years. Of course Modell should have sold to a local buyer, but he was down to his last resort in order to stay in the game when he moved the Browns to ease his financial burdens. James had plenty of time, at age 25, to redeem his feeble efforts against Boston. Garnett, for example, stayed a decade in a less competitive situation in Minnesota and left more honorably.

Modell's move meant he sacrificed his chance for his sport's Hall of Fame.

James -- despite the problems he and Dwyane Wade will have in sharing the ball, despite the need to keep the third mercenary, Chris Bosh, happy too -- probably thinks he has won the world.

Everywhere but home, although he said he will still live in Akron.

Because home is gone. Because it's personal here too.

[NYCelt]

jeb,

Dickswinging? Really man, you've got to write a book! If you can't sell a couple million copies of something with the stuff you come up with I would be shocked.

Regards

[tjmakz]

I am hearing many of the same things that were said of the Celtics back in the summer of '07.

I would wait until I saw how the rest of the team comes together and then actually plays before putting them down too much. They have their work cut out for them with only the vet minimum to work with.

One rumor has S&T Jared Jeffries with Beasley to Charlotte for Tyson Chandler.

PG: Chalmers
SG: Wade
SF: LeBron
PF: Bosh
C: Chandler

Sad day for Cleveland fans.

gyso

gyso,

How would Miami give up less then $5m and take back Chandler at $12.75m?

[gyso]

Miami it is..

How much more money do they have left to spend then?

I heard four dollars.

Miami only had two players under contract (Beasley and Chalmers) for just under 5mil. The sal-cap is 58mil. That means Miami had about 53mil left. Max contracts for Wade, Bosh and LeBron are 16.6mil., x3 = 49.8mil. Miami probably still has 2-3 mil left over with these numbers in mind.

Wade's contract may be more because he has Bird rights and Bosh's may be less since he is, well, less. We won't know until the contract details are published. Who knows, they may all take a discount so they can add more to the mix.

gyso

[gyso]

I am hearing many of the same things that were said of the Celtics back in the summer of '07.

I would wait until I saw how the rest of the team comes together and then actually plays before putting them down too much. They have their work cut out for them with only the vet minimum to work with.

One rumor has S&T Jared Jeffries with Beasley to Charlotte for Tyson Chandler.

PG: Chalmers
SG: Wade
SF: LeBron
PF: Bosh
C: Chandler

Sad day for Cleveland fans.

gyso

gyso,

How would Miami give up less then $5m and take back Chandler at $12.75m?

S&T Jared Jeffries

[tjmakz]

Jeffries is not a free agent.

[jeb]

Wade and James will have to change their styles of play almost totally. If they are willing to do that then they may win 70 games. If they are not they are going to be a freakscene.

Should be fun to watch. I like what the Celts are doin and if Danny can bring a couple a more guys in I like our chances. I think KG will be much better next year.

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