Max 6-year from Toronto = $125M
Max 5-year from [any team besides Toronto] = $96M
Oh Riley will be back, if he gets to coach Bosh/Wade, never mind LeBron. Wonder if Spolestra will resign for “personal reasons” too?
Bosh gives up ~$30 million in guaranteed money by foregoing a S&T. This blog breaks down the salary difference year by year very well: the last year is worth ~$25 million. No way he gets $25M in any year in a new deal, post impending lock-out/players union beatdown. And unlike LeBron, I don’t see Bosh making up the difference with endorsements he wouldn’t be getting anyway.
Texas has no state income tax either, and even though the Rockets play in the West, I think the Rockets’s record will be better than the Heat’s, assuming LeBron doesn’t join them in South Beach.
I understand the difference between what Toronto and anyone else can offer Bosh. I’m saying that since Florida has no income tax and there are other monetary issues, that should offset at least some of the difference. I don’t see how Miami can make a sign-and-trade happen and I don’t think Toronto wants to help Bosh get the extra money even if they can get a player or two in return. And as far as the nine munchkins goes… it’s possible the team will be more attractive to role-player veterans with two stars, but as this summer is proving once again, most guys prefer to sign with whoever offers the most money. So far, Bosh appears to be the only guy who might be taking less money to play with a contending team. Stoudemire wasn’t going to get more money from Phoenix as he did from New York.
Well, it’s abundantly clear that it indeed is “all about the money”. With Wade and Bosh going to Miami it’s obvious that neither player cared about the roster of the team they wee joining. They cared about the size of the contract they were getting, the nightlife where they were going and the lack of state taxes. Miami has crap fans and poor attendance and basically no one other than Beasley who can play a lick, and he’s no great shakes either.
It’s a similar story with Amare in New York, chasing marketing money and nightlife over taking a hometown discount in Phoenix. Joe Johnson is Atlanta is one of the most obvious examples sticking with a team going nowhere and made worse by the giant contract that will be an albatross for them in the one city with worse fans and attendance than Miami.
LeBron will stay home and take the hometown max contract and get bounced in the Eastern playoffs for the rest of his career.
What’s left for the Bulls? Well, I suppose it’s going to be either David Lee or Carlos Boozer. Both play a position of need for the Bulls and Boozer’s offensive game is a little more polished than Lee’s while Lee is younger and is a little less likely to fade at the end of that deal. I’m not sure who’s a better fit, but my guess is that Boozer is probably a bit of a safer move and will match nicely with Noah down low. Hopefully the Bulls can avoid maxing out his deal since he’s simply not worth a max contract.
This sucks and the Bulls got played all along. Though we’re still better off than the Knicks and Nets.
Bitter much?
Johnson is selfish for staying with his home team, but Amare is selfish for leaving? Bosh proved it is all about the money by taking less money to play in Miami? I’m sure if I were in a position to choose where I wanted to live and work for the first time in my life, quality of potential teammates would be pretty low on my priority list. I don’t find it more noble to join a ready made champion than to go try to build one from nothing.
I almost never react to your hyperbole anymore, but I will bet you infinity dollars at infinity to one odds on the above proposition.
Maybe I’ve been listening to too much ESPN radio, but Mike Golic brings up what sounds like a good point to me – apparently Lebron is going to have an ESPN-produced ONE HOUR SHOW tomorrow night to announce his decision.
The question: why would he do this just to tell everyone he’s staying with Cleveland? It does seem hard to believe, to me.
Also, breaking rumor: he’s going to be doing the show from Greenwich, CT, the Knicks’ backyard.
Having said that, why wouldn’t he go to Chicago and take Boozer with him to join Derrick Rose?
Finally, I don’t really think he goes to Miami. That’d be crazy.
Or just couldn’t make their case. It sucks but there’s not much you can do about it - it’s true Wade and Bosh would have a better chance to win in Chicago and it’s not like there’s no night life, but they’re allowed to choose where they want to work. Miami now needs a lot of help and can’t spend too much to get it.
The word right now, like arseNal said, is that The LeBron Show will be broadcast from Connecticut. It’s at 9 tonight, not tomorrow. My guess is that’s because if he made his announcement from Ohio (or the home city of any of the teams), it would be a tipoff as to what he was doing. A studio is neutral ground and it’s near ESPN. And he’s not going to the Knicks. The Knicks are talking about Luke Ridnour as a starting point guard, and they still have Eddy Curry for another season or part of one. Does that sound like a contending team, even with James and Stoudemire? The Knicks are already starting to make noise about going after Carmelo Anthony or Tony Parker next year. You wouldn’t be hearing that if they had a real shot at LeBron.
I guess I’ll end up watching a little of this show. It’s completely ridiculous and at the same time it’s a totally fitting conclusion to the two years of hype built up into this whole thing. I hope next year there’s more NBA talk about what’s happening and less about what will happen in the offseason- although if there’s a labor dispute on the horizon it probably won’t happen.
I feel quite the opposite, i don’t think he would hold a press conference to say he was leaving.
Not that I think he’s going to come (er, I mean go 
) to NY, but two points:
- So, you think he’ll get everyone to tune in to ESPN and then spend an hour talking about how he decided to do nothing?
- If he wanted neutral, wouldn’t his hometown Akron make more sense, being in Ohio-but-not-actually-Cleveland?
Also, is the announcement really tonight? I could have sworn I read tomorrow. Going to check now …
Everything I’m seeing says 9pm Thurday.
Yup, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
Insiders can read this Hollinger article that spells out what a colossal disaster the Johnson contract is. Atlanta is utterly and completely screwed now unless Johnson turns into Sleepy Floyd circa May 10th, 1987. Amare got more money from New York than Phoenix was offering and will definitely make bank in NYC while playing on a turd of a team.
I’m not saying I blame the players and I’m not saying they shouldn’t be able to choose whatever they want. I’m just saying that any lip service about “it being all about winning” is again proven to be utter and complete bullshit. There’s virtually no case that can be made that Johnson or Amare didn’t lessen their chances to win a title by making the choices they made.
You’re throwing out infinities and I’m the one with hyperbole? You’re really absolutely positive that LeBron will win a title in Cleveland after the way things have played out for the last 3 seasons? You really think his chances are improving with Bosh and Wade teaming up in Miami and big money FAs all coming to the Eastern Conference? Has he ever proven himself to be a guy who can will a team to win on his own? Thus far his career has been a total disappointment and assuming he stays in Cleveland there’s little reason to think that team will lure better talent in the future than they have the past. LeBron is what he is right now, and that’s a ball hog and a poor shooter who collapses in crunch time. Tremendous athlete for sure who is good enough to beat average teams over and over again, but not good enough and not enough of a leader to get over the hump unless something truly bizarre happens.
I’m not sure there was ever any case to be made in Wade’s decision. Most experts assume that Wade was just running interference by interviewing with the Bulls. The way things played out that looks to be true. Bosh was always going to where Wade or LeBron went so long as that place wasn’t Cleveland. Essentially the Bulls had no shot at Bosh so long as Wade and LeBron had their minds made up, which it appears they have had all along. Sure, there’s a chance they could have done something totally off the reservation to entice them but most of that stuff would be a violation of the CBA. With the tax rate in Chicago being what it is they are at a steep competitive disadvantage.
The Bulls made their case: Come play with Rose and Noah and Thibedeau. Come play in front of sold out crowds every game. Come win. No one is interested in that argument apparently. At least no player under the age of 30 is. I suppose the Karl Malones, Ray Allens and Gary Paytons of the world will give a little up to try and get a ring before their legs fall off.
I think this is right. The broadcast in Connecticut is simply a concession to ESPN. Has nothing to do with the Nyets or Knicks. There’s basically zero chance that LeBron will have a hour-long special dedicated to turning into the Hollywood Hogan of the NBA.
:rolleyes:
Total disappointment? Ball hog? Sorry, but I do not see LBJ as fitting either of those descriptions, he averages more assists than most point guards; and his team had the most wins in the league this past season. I think that his injured elbow and his own mother’s antics did more to derail the post season than his perceived (tho not by me) lack of leadership.
I don’t understand why Chicago is out of the running. Can’t he still get Boozer to go with him? That seems like it’d be a pretty good team (not to mention Thibodeau).
By the same token I wonder why he’d bother doing an hour long show in some random place just to say he’s staying put in Cleveland. He’s doing it at some Boys and Girls club – the ESPN studios are way up in Bristol, not Greenwich. In my mind Akron would still be the most neutral place, and it wouldn’t tip his hand. He’s made his big announcements from there in the past (at his alma mater, I believe).
Didn’t he receive his league MVP award (truly the mark of a terrible career, btw, that trophy) at his high school?
I am kind of at a loss to understand how having an hour long special to announce his decision is a good PR move for him regardless of what that decision is. If he stays in CLE its 2 mins of announcement and 58 mins of filler for nothing, if he leaves it is a 60 min slap in the face to his hometown team and fans.
Other then his ego and ESPN, who benefits from this?
Yep, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. Back-to-back. That’s also where he announced that he was turning pro.
I have to agree with this.
Well, it is a charity event, but I don’t know that that’s a good enough reason really …
Of course I’m not. Luckily for me, I don’t have to be to win that bet.
I’m not even going to get into this, but nobody besides you thinks this way about Lebron. The guy is by pretty much any measure the best player in the league night to night for three years running.
Some thoughts:
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The Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, and Darko Milicic contracts have to be about the worst goddamned things I’ve ever seen. For teams to give those guys the type of contracts they got when all we’ve heard for the last year is that revenues are declining and there’s going to be a lockout…I just don’t get it at all.
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How funny will Omniscient’s backtracking be if LeBron ends up with the Bulls after all?
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Milwaukee Buck(eye)s
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If LeBron does leave Cleveland, I’ve been mentally prepared to turn on him and the NBA for a couple of months now. If he stays with Cleveland, he’s the best player in the league and fuck you for suggesting otherwise.
How about this: the hour long special is intended to kick off some vanity project of his that’s mostly unrelated to his basketball skill? Something like he’s endowing some charity to help schoolkids in Cleveland or whatnot—call it TravelKing—and is using the hour to publicize TravelKing and “encourage” other NBA players and owners to contribute? That way, he gets to move to another city—Miami—to play with Bosh/Wade/Riley and get his rings, while softening the blow a tiny bit for Cleveland. It also helps if he does something like donate his entire salary to this hypothetical foundation. Lord knows he can afford it. This also explains why he’s holding the conference at a Boys/Girls club of all places; perhaps that org will be one of the big recipients…?
Nah, it’s probably just a salve for his massive ego. And one more damn thing for ESPN to overpromote. I now think he’s staying in Cleveland. Do the Cavs have the assets to get him any help (Boozer, Mike Miller, etc…)?
EDIT: Scratch Boozer. He just agreed to go to the Bulls for $80M.
Oh, and as much as I hate that he travels all over the court at will, and has an ego that Caesar would envy, the guy averaged 30/7/8.5 for all of last year, shooting 50% from the field and 75% from the line (yeah, he could improve from the line and 3-pt range: 33%). Granted, it’s the East, but what more does he have to do to be considered a great player?