The Other Fifteen

It could happen. Seriously.

The Bulls season is over.  I could spend a lot of time recapping the ‘09-’10 season, but, truthfully, you’ve all seen the games and know what happened already.  And I’m not much for waxing nostalgic.  I’d rather focus on our bright future than our plucky past.  I’d rather gawk at our young playoff team and it’s piles of cash as we make rain on the most talent-rich free agency pool I’ve ever seen. There’s been lots of speculation as to who the Bulls should sign, from Dwyane Wade, to Chris Bosh, to Amar’e Stoudemire, to Joe Johnson, and others.  And while any of these players would be great additions, there seems to be a name missing from that list: LeBron James.  That’s right, the King.

All talk of LeBron’s free agency has centered around two possibilities: 1) he stays with Cleveland; and 2) he signs for a pile of cash with a shitty team in NY or NJ.  Now, I have a problem with that second one: if the reason he would leave Cleveland is that they can’t build a winner around him, why would he go to one of two completely dysfunctional teams for less money than the Cavs can offer him under the Larry Bird rule (meaning they can exceed the cap to retain their own player, whereas all free agents count against cap space)?  One reason would be the rumored clause in his Nike contract that includes a $100 million bonus for playing in one of the big 3 markets (NY, LA, and Chicago).  That’s right, Chicago.

The Heat can offer him more up front, he would get more to play in Chicago regardless.  Plus, the Heat’s priority is to keep Dwyane Wade, and if they do that they can’t afford James.  Wade has been hinting that he’s staying in Miami, including this quote from yesterday:

As Chicago learned the hard way last year, THIS IS HIS HOUSE! Also, check out the sweet mullet on that guy on the left. Way to stick it to the man, buddy.

“I’m looking forward to a good team to build, and being with some great players next year, and to continue to beef up our roster… I’ve said where my heart is, and I think any player that’s thinking about wanting to come to Miami, they know where my heart is. You just have to see things being done and accomplished.”

Sounds to me like he’s staying in Miami and just making sure that the Heat sign another top-tier free agent before he re-signs, which is pretty likely given the chance to play with Wade and contend.  In fact, many believe that Bosh has already decided to sign with them to move back to his home state of Florida.

So Miami is out.  Now, LeBron would still get that bonus clause money playing for the Knicks, who have more money than the Bulls as well, but he would be on a losing team.  But he’s not going to the Knicks.  Not even for $100 mil.  That team is only one season removed from Isiah’s attempted suicide and having to ban Starbury from the arena as a spectator despite still paying his salary as a player.  That team has only avoided Jail Blazer-like scrutiny because New York media members still want to like their team.  LeBrin could still go to New Jersey to be with his friend Jay Z, but the team isn’t set to move to Brooklyn until 2012 at the earliest, so he wouldn’t get the bonus clause money right away, and, again, he would be on a losing team when the chance to win a title is the only reason he would leave Cleveland. But he could win a title with the Bulls for sure.

After eliminating Chicago from the playoffs, LeBron said a few curious things.  One, he heaped praise on his division rivals Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, someone who he’s had confrontations with this year, making trash-talking more likely than praise.  But what he said was:

“I know talent, and those are two talented guys. They’re going to be really good for this league for years to come… Derrick Rose is an awesome talent… He’s probably one of the best point guards that we have in our league. He’s a tremendous competitor. He played hard. With guys like Derrick you love guys like that. The sky’s the limit for him… He’s going to continue to get better. There’s no point guard in the league that has the type of athleticism that he has. The speed and quickness that he has. Chicago — they definitely have a good one.”

Aw, shucks, Lebron.  You’re gonna make Rose blush.  James then went on to praise the Bulls coach, Vinny Del Negro, and lobbied for him to keep his job, which is a very odd thing for an opponent to do unless he was considering going there himself.

“Vinny and that coaching staff had those guys ready… They have a group of young talent that loves to play the game of basketball and they play hard. There was not one point where they kind of laid down. I’m not trying to make a pitch for Vinny because I know what’s going on — ‘Is Vinny in or is Vinny out?’ That’s not my job, but this team that we played in this series played hard.”

I can’t remember an instance of an opponent and division rival sincerely lobby for the other team to keep their coach.  It genuinely seems curious to me.  What was Rose’s response to LeBron gushing about him, his teammates, and his coach?

“I am going to meet with them, the people in the front office, and just talk and see who we are going to get. But it is going to be fun. We can get any one of [the free agents]… We’ve just got to get the right one to fit the team. I’m going to have a say-so, but everything is going to be left up to the people in the front office … Chicago is a great place, a great team, a great organization, the fans are great, so why not come there?”

“Why not,” indeed.

Oh, shit!  Ahh… Derrick Rose.  Moving on: other than Miami’s weather and lack of income tax, Chicago is the best destination… Ok wait, one more, just for fun:

As I was saying, Chicago is the best destination for a free agent given New York’s level of media scrutiny and losing ways. Also, Miami can’t afford to sign both Wade and LeBron, so that’s out anyway.

Then there’s the sudden number change.  In February, LeBron filed for a number change, switching to his US Olympic team number 6.  He said he did it partially out of respect for Michael Jordan, the inspiration for his number 23, saying that he thinks that is should be retired league-wide.  Now, this could be exactly as he says, just a way to pay homage to Jordan while carving out his own niche, or it could be a way to raise the Cavs’ revenue through jersey sales and give them more flexibility to build around him, or it could be due to the fact that #23 is already retired in Chicago.

The only trouble with LeBron coming to Chicago, other than the city of Cleveland losing their collective minds and 90% 0f their city’s economy, is that the Bulls have Luol Deng.  But that’s not so much an obstacle as it is another opportunity to bring in a better player through a trade.  Deng is due $11.35 million next year, well more than he’s worth.  But he is young, and a capable secondary scorer and defender.  There’s no reason why we couldn’t swap him either for an equivalent player at shooting guard or power forward, or swap him for an expiring deal and go get someone else in 2011.  Or we could execute a sign-and-trade with Boston and swap Deng for Ray Allen, or with Utah for Carlos Boozer who is set to leave, or a straight swap for Monta Ellis so Golden State can make way for Stephen Curry.

And as long as we’ve come this far, there’s no reason we can’t also speculate on throwing in Kirk Hinrich’s contract into the mix to try to fill whichever position is still left open after our Deng swap.  That’s not even a leap considering how close we were last summer to swapping Hinrich in a three team deal that would have sent him to Portland and given us Boozer (but then the Blazers sign Andre Miller and it was off).  But realistically, given our cap space and trade assets, we could end up with a lineup that looks like this:

Center: Noah,  Power Forward: Boozer, Small Forward: LeBron, Shooting Guard: Ray Ray or Monta Ellis, Point Guard: Derrick Rose

Not bad, right?  Now, I’m not saying that’s how it will end up, I’m just saying it is an actual possibility.  We have a chance at signing LeBron.  We have a chance to trade one or two other assets for another top-tier player.

Yes, it’s a stretch.  But LeBron’s statements do seem a little leading. And the Bulls are definitely going to be a major contender for his services.  And we still have the ability to add other pieces around whoever we add, especially if we find a suitor for Hinrich (and Deng if we sign LeBron to his position).  Call me crazy, but it looks like Chicago is the only destination for LeBron other than Cleveland.  So basically it comes down to this: if the Cavs win this year, LeBron stays in Cleveland; if not then he’s a Bull.

Imagine this in red and black:

Ok, one more Rose dunk.