The LeBron-A-Thon

With the recent, unceremonious, removal of Lebron James from this year's playoffs, the speculation of his next move has reached a fevered pitch. Its to the point where its either going to completely overshadow the rest of the playoffs, or at least be on par with it. A lot of punditry has been given, and consumed, in regards to just what "The King" should do this off-season. From what I've been hearing, there seems to be 4 teams that are really in the running: Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, and New York. There has been a little bit of discussion about Miami but it doesn’t seem like most consider that a serious option.

Chicago

The windy city. One of my FAVORITE cities...as long as its spring/summer. I keep hearing about how Chicago would be an excellent destination for LBJ. The Bulls boast of having Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah as centerpieces, followed by other quality players like Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, & Brad Miller. The prevailing theory is that if you add LBJ to that mix, you can start counting up rings.

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree. When I look at that team, with Lebron, I see a SLIGHTLY better version of the current Cavs squad. You can most likely get more from Derrick Rose than you can from #Month Williams. Otherwise, it looks like a wash to me. Noah, Deng, Miller, etc aren’t doing more for you than Shaq, Jamison, Varajao, etc. did this year. Add to that, the mystique of the MJ-led Bulls of the 90s, the fact that MJ's statue sits in front of the arena, and the expectations of him being "Like Mike" and you have a mountain of pressure that is AT LEAST equal to his carrying of the entire city of Cleveland. But the difference is that if he brings a title to Cleveland, he's a made man. Bring one to Chicago and they will say, "Now just 5 more!" Did I mention that Chicago doesn’t even have a coach right now? So add a new system for the entire team, as opposed to just Lebron, to that mix. How many '1st year with the team' coaches have won championships? It’s a no-win as far as I'm concerned and I sincerely hope LBJ does not make the mistake of going to Chicago.

Cleveland

A few people believe that Lebron will stay in Cleveland, even though the prevailing idea is that he's outta there. Cleveland has tried for the last few years to surround LBJ with the players he would need to bring them a title. When they brought in Antawn Jamison, MOST people figured the championship was all but gift-wrapped. Apparently NOT. Jamison's game all but disappeared in the Boston series with the exception of a game or 2...and he didn’t have a PRAYER of guarding KG. Month was KILLED by Rondo all series. They didn’t have anyone that could do anything with Ray Allen. In hindsight, Celtics probably should've swept Cleveland. But no one thought the C's had this much fight left in the tank.

IF Lebron were to stay in Cleveland, what changes would there be? They'd have essentially the same nucleus. Not sure if they'd bring Shaq back but I can only assume they would since he didn’t necessarily HURT them. But so what? I didn’t think they'd beat the Magic as constructed and I wouldn’t think it next year either. Their main problem isn’t Lebron and it isn’t their now much maligned personnel. Its that their coach has almost no clue on offense. Their lack of offensive strategy is astounding and their rotations are virtually unexplainable. Why would you have Jamison keep starting on KG knowing he cant guard KG? Varajao at least had a chance. Why not keep Jamison, who CAN shoot the 3ball, outside and either get him open shots or at least draw KG away from the rim? I mean...I have no idea what Cleveland is thinking on offense. Lebron shouldn’t waste his career carrying them like KG almost wasted his carrying Minnesota. Beyond loyalty and pride, I cant think of a good reason for Lebron to stay in Cleveland.

New York

New York City. "The Mecca of Basketball." Madison Square Garden. It seems like all of the great players love playing at the Garden...as a visitor. New York again failed to make the playoffs this year. The only thing that makes this team anywhere NEAR relevant is the fact that they disassembled their team in order to have cap space for LBJ and possibly another max deal "star" player. Currently, they have David Lee, a recovering Tracy McGrady, and some other players that I would describe as "scraps." It should be noted that McGrady & Lee might both be unrestricted free agents this summer.

Lebron has maintained a flirty relationship with the city of New York for pretty much his entire career. From his relationships with Jay-Z to his love of the Yankees, the guy's been heavy-petting with the Knick fan base for years now. Isnt it time they consummated and got it over with? A lot of people dismiss NYC because of their lack of good players but I'm not convinced they have A LOT LESS talent than the other alternatives. PLUS, you get to add another max deal player. This could be huge. NYC could bring in any of the following players:

Yao Ming, Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudamire, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or Dirk Nowitzki. There, of course, are other players but they don’t move the meter like these 5. Adding LBJ, to any of these guys, on ANY team, would be a blockbuster deal. For this reason, moreso than the whole building an empire thing, I think NYC could be a great destination for LBJ. Not to mention, a relevant Knicks team is good for basketball in general. Another wild card...what if the Knicks get the #1 draft from the lottery? Add John Wall, who I think is gonna be a PLAYER in this league, and you've got a HELL of a basketball team.

New Jersey

New Jersey is another destination that comes up as a possibility in the Lebron sweepstakes of 2010. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, Jersey has a decent nucleus as a team and a decent coach. They just played TERRIBLE basketball this year. No excuse for that. The problem is, they don’t have any take-over-a-game stars. Their best players seem to be Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, and Yi Jianlian. This team plans on moving to a new state of the art arena in Brooklyn in the next few years and recently welcomed a new billionaire owner, Mikhail Prohkorov. The New Jersey Nets also has ties to Jay-Z and Lebron's friendship with Jay-Z have people speculating that this is also a likely destination. They are also most likely to get the #1 pick in the lottery, John Wall.

In my opinion, the jury's kinda out on this one. I don’t believe this to be a better option than New York and would rank it on par with staying in Cleveland. Even with John Wall, this team isn’t very good and Lebron would be carrying them. I'm also not sure that they intend to keep Kiki Vandegwhe as their coach, which could again mean more upheaval...to a team that's faced a LOT of upheaval. Stability is a NECESSARY component to winning championships and the Nets look a long way off to me.

I think part of Lebron's problem in Cleveland is the burden of carrying a team and he seems to have the most POTENTIAL for getting help doing so in New York or at least Chicago. I don’t see the point in sticking around the hometown in some misguided sense of loyalty, nor do I see the point of making what is essentially a crab dribble lateral move. I think NYC is the destination that makes the most sense. Its where I hope Lebron ends up...and I think its where the NBA hopes Lebron ends up. Only time will tell.