This is not good at all. According to Bucher, the Bulls may have just pulled off a deal with the Wizards that would send Hinrich to Washington and give the Bulls the cap space to (almost) sign two max free agents. That means they could trot out Rose/Bosh/LeBron/Noah/Deng (assuming the latter isn’t traded), with Thibodeau coaching.
It hasn’t sunk in yet, but if that team can be made, I can’t really see how that doesn’t happen. A lot could happen between now and July 8th, but the pressure is squarely on Cleveland now. This isn’t just a “market” or “legacy” thing now for LeBron. It’s a chance to go to a major market and head up one of the most talented teams ever assembled. It’s time for the Cavs front office to get cracking. I don’t know what they can do, I don’t know what assets they have to offer, but they’ve gotta do something if this deal is legit. Have fun watching the draft.
No, they don’t have to do anything. Today changed everything, and the Cavs have no answer. Do we really think bringing in Igguodala or Monte Ellis is going to make LeBorn change his mind when it comes to where he plays NOW? I don’t. Not when he can play in Miami or Chicago with TWO other superstar type players. Not now. I mean, the rebuilding process needs to be underway tonight and that means NOT taking on bad contracts for non-allstar players like Ellis and Iggy. Imagine bringing those contracts in and then LeBron leaves anyway. Fantastic setback.
Nah, they need to basically start unloading w/e they can tonight for draft picks and cap space. Time to give up hope people.
I am hoping that bosh is convinced that he is a center piece and doesnt want to be shadowed by lebron or wade. So wont play on the same team. But its only hope……………
Sadly, the real hope is Lebron decides the bulls are not a trustworthy organization, a la the comments from D-Wade. Of course, this is sad, b/c it just means they go to Miami and play with Wade (which, for the record, I’d be tempted to do myself)
cavs need to pull a tonya harding on jamison & then bribe Stern to open up his cap space in the next two weeks, plus they need to stop disintegrating what with departure of ferry & lack of a coach
Have fun writing Bulls: The Blog!
Why would he do that? He’s a Cavs fan.
Anyway, I still think LeBron goes to Miami, but now Cleveland is in a firmly in third place here.
This sorta hurts and nothings really happened yet. I see Amare and Lebron going to Miami then Johnson and Bosh going to Miami. Hopefully if we lose Lebron we’ll make it a sign and trade and get something (I don’t know what) for him.
What is there to get from Miami or Chicago at this point? Sadly, nothing.
That’s the problem they have nothing. Jermain O’neal or E. Beasly and add in a pick or let us dump somebody’s contract in the deal? Time to get creative and make the best of the situation or we get nothing in return.
I know this is not at all what everyone’s thinking about now, but I find it sort of interesting that Hinrich is presumably moving on to play backcourt-mate to yet another Calipari PG phenom.
With Hinrich and Arenas in the backcourt, this could ‘allow’ the Wiz to select a big as the #1 overall pick instead of Wall. Or give them a great trading option with either Gil or Wall. They don’t need three solid pg’s so I smell a surprise draft pick or trade. A Calipari combo I don’t see happening.
I’m still not certain about LeBron to the Bulls. The chance for a super-team is there. But again I don’t think Rose is a great sidekick for LeBron. Bosh may not want to play second-fiddle. Or he might rather play in Miami with Wade. LeBron may not want to play in Jordan’s shadow. He may want to stay in Cleveland, not mess with karma, and Cleveland could make a move or two to boost its attractiveness. Sure the outlook isn’t great, but I do think that there’s a lot left to play out.
Well if Bosh wants to go play in Miami, then LeBron could go with him. either way, you have the real chance now of Wade/LeBron/Bosh or Rose/Noah/LeBron/Bosh. Imo, the first is better, but they are both now easily possible.
The real question is, WTF ARE THE WIZARDS DOING? You are about to select John Walla and you take on that bad Hinrich contract for what? The 18th pick? I do not get that move at all. Someone explain it to me.
Let’s just embrace the moment as a new beggining. He’s leaving, we will hate him, life goes on. On the other hand, let’s also try and begin to rebuild correctly this time, and not trade for some awful contract so we can get an ok player with him. Iggy + the Brand contract is way to much w/ no LeBron on the team. So let’s forget that one before it’s to late.
IF Lebron leaves it will be to Miami. He can control the ball there as Wade already plays off the ball. I agree with Robin that a Lebron/Rose is not a good combo as Rose is more of a pure PG and needs the ball in his hands.
By Bosh’s words, he clearly wouldn’t want to play third fiddle to Lebron and Wad so I don’t think he would choose here and instead Amare will join Miami for a LBJ/Wade/Amare ‘big 3′.
Then I see Bosh going to Chicago to form thier own big 3 of Bosh/Rose/Noah, they may even get Joe Johnson and become a big 4. This revemped Bulls would be a good home for Bosh where he could still consider himself as the ‘featured’ player – although some would give that title to Rose.
Ofcourse there is still a chance that the Cavs do something big like somehow get Chris Paul and give Lebron a reason to stay. Despite what happened this year, JJ, Andy, Lebron and Chris with the remaining supporting cast isn’t as ‘star studded as a Chicago or Miami may be, but they would be so much deeper that would give them a legit chance.
Man I thought the exact same thing when I saw this proposed trade. How does Lebron say no to that team? Even if it’s not Bosh, you can bet another big goes to play in Chitown, whether it be Amare or Boozer. Unfortunately, we mortgaged any future we had a long time ago when we went all in.
It also needs to be said the Cavs have little in the way of assets. Can’t trade next years first, we have Delonte West’s 4.5 club option, and we have JJ. No one else on this team is going to bring much in the way of young assets. If/when Lebron goes, they need to blow it all up and follow the OKC model.
Jim said it – I’d love to root for a smart, disciplined, young, athletic team like Charlotte or OKC…
The Cavs not making insane panic move trades tells me one thing: They know LeBron is leaving and it’s better to not take on more salary to try and impress him.
Rich, if I’m not mistaken, you’re panicking. Keeping your expectations low is one thing, but I think we should at least wait until July 1st and see what happens.
I’m not panicking. LeBron leaving does not send me into a depression. Life goes on. But I think it’s fairly obvious at this point he is leaving. The Bulls and Heat are clearly in better positions and you can’t just ignore that anymore. I just hope that this team knows how to rebuild properly so I’m really hoping I don’t see any trades at this point from the Cavs for a guy like Ellis of Igguodala.
The Cavs have become the Wizards, but without draft choices. They’re in baaaaaad shape.
Wow, I don’t think I would blame him at all for going to Chicago to play with that starting five. I’d like to add my name to the petition for Cavs adopting the OKC model.
Bring in Prtichard from Portland. That is a start.
This trade, I agree, is the writing on the wall. With a week left before July 1st, Cleveland has nothing certain. I still feel LBJ contributed to the Cavs current predicament by holding the team hostage. But I also realize that few will see it that way in the long run. Don’t wanna be a pessimist, but it looks like the writing is on the wall…
I just really don’t get the whole holding the team hostage thing. He did the exact same thing as Wade has done, yet LeBron holds this team hostage. You know the real difference? Pat Riley. Pat Riley wasn’t afraid of Wade and Danny Ferry was afraid of LeBron. They weren’t afraid of pissing Wade off and we were afraid of doing so to LeBron. now, here they are in a better position because of tough love. SHould remember for the next time (whenever that is).
what would lebron be saying if he left? that he’s a punk, and an un-loyal one at that. i know that lebron’s been quoted before as saying cleveland isn’t his home-town, akron is, but people from akron consider the cavaliers their team. so he’d be letting down akron too. check this story out:
http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/96726749.html
Loyalty. Lol. So tired of that one. If you preach loyalty from players, just remember you basically give up your right to demand players get traded.
Last summer off season kept some moves from being made that could’ve prevented this scenario. He cuffed the team by loathing at this summer way before it came. All in all, while I agree that too much power was given to LeBron (a player) the Cavs front office did all they could to fulfill lbj’s requests and holes in the team. I’d be beating a dead horse in talking about the mismanagement of the roster or the culprits that didn’t show up when it mattered this post season. But to say LBJ’s hands are 10% clean, no way.
I think that another main difference in the Riley approach vs the Ferry approach also had to do with the fact that the Heat won a championship already, whereas the Cavs had been close, but could never get over. The Heat were more proactive than reactive. It may prove to be what gets them back into contention after all.
I hope the ride doesn’t end this badly and this abruptly. Life will go on, but the uncertainty and inability to do much of anything is sinking this ship and fast.
man, i am not from cleveland but i feel for them. i wanted lebron to stay in cleveland because it makes for a better story when he finally lifts a trophy for them. and i also value loyalty. but as a basketball fan, i can’t help myself salivating to see him in a bulls uniform with that kind of team suggested. i don’t want him to be in miami because i am already going crazy just imagining the historic playoff battles he’ll have with wade and the heat’s own super team. man, if all these come to fruition, we are entering another great era of basketball. so yeah, we have to sacrifice cleveland for the greater good. sorry.
@rich
a rookie head coach with a defensive background (sound familiar??) with no head coaching experience (unless you consider ONE year at a DIII school “experience”). rose dominating the ball. noah not a real center. reinsdorf not a big spender, traditionally and also known to butt heads with superstars.
shall i go on? there are REAL, honest-to-god questions about the bulls situation and you and krolik’s capitulation to this scenario is kinda sad, to be frank.
too many people are thinking in fantasy basketball terms and not in real “let’s-build-a-NBA-championship-team” terms.
@jcashtro
the heat were “proactive?” you think WASTING one of wade’s PRIME years was “proactive?” really? see, i thought it was stupid and short-sighted. hmmm…
Kj, who the hell cares if Reisndorf is a big spender at this point. There is nothing fantasy about the scenario that Krolik just pointed out, because it can now happen, and quite easily. Noah isn’t a great great player, but my god he’s fantastic if he is your teams FOURTH best player.
And suddenly, the idea of who dominates the ball doesn’t even matter. So what if Rose dominates it to much for LeBrons liking or the other way around? Talent, of that kind, will find a way to win inspite of it.
And a defensive minded coach with no experience is a lot more attractive than a franchise with no coach at all. Either way, I still say he goes to Miami. Wade + LeBron + Bosh will win a title w/o another good player on the team, because suddenly the crappy players will start to look more and more like Derek Fisher. Again, nothing fantasy about it, they have the cap space to now sign all three w/o anyone taking a pay cut. Plus it’s south Beach. Plus it’s the third greatest coach in NBA history. How in the world does Cleveland top that?
If he goes to Chicago it will only make sense that the Bulls cleared the cap space by trading Hinrich to the Wizards. The Wizards opened that room by trading Jamison to the Cavs, so, essentially, its like the Cavs making their own bed… and pooping in it.
Buying up tons of talent and having a good defensive coach… huh, why haven’t we tried that with the Cavs?
Oh, wait.
In other words, I don’t think that just putting a bunch of talent together would be enough. It needs to be the right players. And Lebron, since his knowledge of the game is so good, will probably make a solid judgment about what team would actually offer him the best chance at a championship.
And @Rich: Sorry, I didn’t really mean to say that you were panicking. I agree with you that things will still be fine in Cleveland even if Lebron leaves. What I really meant to say, is that you’re being too pessimistic. (as Cleveland sports fans have good reason to do, but still…)
While I happen to agree that the Rose/LeBron situation isn’t nearly as good as it’s been made out to be, as their play styles are honestly completely contradictory, this is still atrocious news and it’s irritating that nobody seems to realize it. Oftentimes the reality of the situation isn’t as relevant as you’d think. In this case, there are very few people who actually believe that the combination of a possibly over-intense coach, Rose, and LeBron could very well be a doomed proposition. And Bosh is the main piece here, not Rose — Bosh and LeBron would have an incredible two-man game going. That has nothing to do with Rose. And Noah is a great big man for LeBron.
The fact is, this is more about Bosh than it is Rose. The Bulls were always strong contenders for LeBron’s services, but the Rose thing was a legitimate beef. Now, it’s mostly superfluous. If it doesn’t work out, oh well — they still have a star point guard and a star center, to go along with (potentially) the best big man on the market that LeBron could ever hope to play with. It isn’t game over, no, but a Rose-??-James-Bosh-Noah lineup is honestly superb. Not just in a fantasy draft perspective, but in the fact that besides Rose everyone in that lineup is almost certainly going to fit LeBron’s playing style perfectly. That’s the problem. Not Rose.
Imagine if the Bulls signed Allen to that SG spot.
I have to agree with what was said above. Lebron with Bosh and Noah would make a lot of sense. Rose and Lebron not so much. Rose isn’t even that good disregarding his imcompatibility with Lebron – he just looked good against Clevelands winning combination of senior citizens and defensive nappers. And that Chicago team would need someone who can shoot really urgently.
Wade and Lebron actually makes very little sense – you close the paint, force them to shoot mid-long range and you take out the 2 best players with one strategy, or at least make them both a lot less efficient.
Cleveland was actually looking pretty good a year ago – Varejao, Mo, West, JJ, Gibson, Powe is not a bad young team, probably better for Lebron than Chicago now considering that back then there was hope of getting a young center. Of course getting a young capable center is easier said than done but I’m not sure why they thought pissing away all their money for a bunch of geriatric players (Shaq, Jamison, Parker) would convince Lebron to sign on for more years in Cleveland.
So there aren’t any really good options out there for Lebron. I don’t think any of those 3 teams would have a chance against the Lakers for the next 2 years even with Lebron. The Lakers frontcourt is just insane. They were dominating with a Derrick Fisher, Shannon Brown backcourt when Kobe was out.
The Bulls have more than a chance to beat the Lakers. Forget all about Rose, it’s Bosh. So maybe Rose and leBron don’t mesh. Who cares? They still have Bosh and Noah and Deng. I mean, there is so much offensive talent there, even if it’s a little clunky because of the way LeBron and Rose fit together, it won’t matter in the long run.
Juni, the cavs never gave Lebron that kind talent. It will be the best PG, the best PF, and the best C LeBron has played with. You guys are seriously underestimating the overall talent that team would have. It’s more than the Lakers. It should be expected to win a title every single year it walks out on the court.
That said, he goes to Miami. It’s so easy to imagine LeBron + Wade not working by just doing this or that. the fact is you can’t stop either guy by himself by doing just one thing, you have no shot at stopping both at the same time. Closing down the paint against the two best perimiter players in the world at attacking the rim is going to be impossible quite frankly.
I just want to see teams other than L.A. and Boston win championships. I’m sick of watching this garbage every year.
I don’t know about Miami. Maybe they could pull it off as a team, although they would be very one-dimensional with basically Lebron being their best shooter. What would they do if the other team just camps out under the basket? And with usage rates of 34, 35 and 29% for Lebron, Wade and Bosh last season they would have to sacrifice both money and touches. And they would be in a lose-lose situation where if they win they won’t get much credit because everybody will say “well, with 3 superstars ..” and if they don’t win they will get insane amounts of shit for it. And I don’t think they would win when Bosh is up against Gasol, Bynum and Odom basically by himself.
With Chicago I guess you have a point. I still don’t think they would be clearly better than the Lakers. But there would be potential for much better team chemistry than the Lakers have. What could be a big thing for Lebron deciding where to sign for several years is that Lebron, Bosh, Noah, Rose, Deng, Gibson would all be <26 years old and already be contenders. If they have good chemistry, fun and push each other to improve that team has insane potential for the next 7 years. They would really need a shooter though. But maybe they are young enough improve there.
Dear LeBron, We Need You
Who do YOU want LeBron to play for?
Align your vote with a donation supporting a local charity in your city
http://bit.ly/dearlebron
#dearlebronweneedyou