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LeBron headed to Chicago?

Adrian Wojnarowski writes that William “World Wide Wes” Wesley may be tipping LeBron’s hand.

To listen to World Wide Wes, LeBron will never look back on Cleveland. “He’s up out of there,” is the way he tells it to people, but LeBron’s Akron crew has to tsk-tsk such public talk because they all live in Northeast Ohio, and maybe always will. “We’re going to Chicago,” William Wesley tells people, “and Chris Bosh is coming, too.”

The Bulls believe they’re going to get James, and that’s why they so confidently cleared the cap room needed to sign James and Bosh. The Bulls think they’re getting James and Toronto’s Chris Bosh, that the supporting cast of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah make them the most attractive destination. Nevertheless, the biggest myth of free agency, some executives pursuing James say, is that recruiting Bosh is telltale to the cause. “Bosh is attaching himself more to LeBron, than LeBron is to him,” one official said.

Of course, that’s not a direct quote from Wesley. Wojnarowski is paraphrasing what Wesley has apparently been telling people. But this flies in the face of what Wesley told a radio show just nine days ago that he hadn’t “even conversated” with LeBron about his future. So unless Wesley has had a strategy session with LeBron in the last nine days and came to the conclusion that Chicago is the place to be, someone isn’t telling the truth.

If LeBron does indeed land in the Windy City, it will put his decision to change jersey numbers into a new light. If he had been planning a move to MJ’s team the whole time, it makes sense to announce the number change early, so it seems like he’s choosing to make the change (out of respect for His Airness) instead of being forced to make the change.

Don’t laugh — this is perfectly plausible. This is LeBron we’re talking about.

As for Bosh, the notion that he’s “attaching himself to LeBron” contradicts just about everything he has said over the past few weeks. He has publicly stated at least twice that he doesn’t want to be a sidekick.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

What the Bulls’ trade means

Yesterday, we discussed the nuts and bolts of the Hinrich-to-Washington trade, but ESPNChicago speculates more about what superstars the Bulls will be able to sign.

But that hardly matters as moving Hinrich and his $9 million contract, and dumping their draft pick, would fatten the Bulls’ free-agent budget from $20 million to $30 million, nearly enough to pay two max-salary free agents.

In Chicago, this news is met with unabashed glee because now we get LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

Too bad because it’s a no-lose for the Bulls. And yes, that’s even if, horrors, James stays in Cleveland or goes somewhere other than Chicago. Even if he takes Bosh with him.

After Bosh, and assuming Dwyane Wade stays put, Joe Johnson is reportedly frothing to come to the Bulls, so much so, according to the Tribune, that he would be willing to sign early. At off guard, Johnson would form a dream backcourt with Derrick Rose. Carlos Boozer would complete that picture nicely. The Bulls don’t appear especially interested in Amare Stoudemire. But the next-tier David Lee, a restricted free agent and a 20-12 guy, is out there. Ray Allen is too, even at nearly 35.

Things are set up nicely for Chicago, who are set at point guard (Derrick Rose) and center (Joakim Noah), which are two positions where this free agency class is most certainly lacking. Moreover, they are still on their rookie contracts which means that the Bulls can sign LeBron/Bosh or Johnson/Boozer and then pay Rose and Noah in a few years.

Unless the Bulls completely strike out in free agency, they’ll have a core group of talented players that should be together for the next five years.

Jeremiah Masoli and the NFL supplemental draft

If I were a NFL GM (and God willing someday I will be, thanks to my extensive sports blogging experience) there isn’t enough booze in an Irish pub to get me drunk enough to select former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli in July’s supplemental draft.

Despite having one year of eligibility remaining, The Oregonian reported earlier this week that Masoli is expected to enter the supplemental draft. This news comes three weeks after the University of Oregon football program booted him off the team following his second legal incident in six months.

In March, Masoli and fellow genius Garrett Embry pled guilty to second-degree burglary after they robbed a campus frat house for two laptop computers and a guitar in late January. Oregon suspended Masoli for the entire 2010 season, although stated that if stayed out of trouble, he could return to the football team for his final year of eligibility in 2011.

But in early June, Masoli was charged with possession of marijuana, driving with a suspended license and failure to stop at a driveway or a sidewalk. Head coach Chip Kelly had no choice but to kick him off the team entirely following that incident, which brings us to our current situation.

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Report: Marlins to offer manager job to Bobby Valentine

The Marlins have apparently already found their replacement for Fredi Gonzalez.

From the Miami Herald:

Bobby Valentine is expected to be offered the job as the Florida Marlins’ next manager.

Valentine, an analyst for ESPN, confirmed through an e-mail he was flying to South Florida to meet with close friend and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and several team executives.

That’s when Loria is expected to offer the 60-year-old former Rangers and Mets skipper a four-year contract to become the organization’s 11th manager, ESPN reported Thursday night.

Team president David Samson confirmed he called Valentine moments after the team fired its winningest manager, Fredi Gonzalez, Wednesday morning. Samson said Thursday that Valentine’s interview Friday would be the first in a series with “several” candidates.

It was a little strange that the Marlins decided to fire Gonzalez after winning two straight games. (Usually owners wait until the team is on a downslide to fire the manager.) But if they already had Valentine lined up as a candidate and felt good that he would agree to come aboard, then their timing with Gonzalez makes more sense.

Valentine last managed in the big leagues from 1996 to 2002 with the Mets. He was with the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2004 until he was fired in 2009 and has spent the last year with ESPN.

I’m dying to see how he and Hanley Ramirez will get along.

LenDale White sounds off about Pete Carroll

While appearing on Clay Travis’ radio show on 104-5 The Zone in Nashville, former Titans and Seahawks’ running back LenDale White had some unflattering things to say about Pete Carroll and his former coach’s involvement in the USC scandal surrounding Reggie Bush.

On USC (from Larry Brown Sports):

“I don’t want to bad mouth nobody, but as big as this scale is and as much as they (the NCAA) saying somebody took, for you not to know anything is kind of unbelievable to me. I don’t know. If you’re the athletic director I’m pretty sure you get wind of something, that somebody’s put something in your ear. When I was going to school there, and we were partying too much on campus, coaches could show up at our dorm room and tell us to calm the partying down. But you can’t tell if somebody took a $750,000 home? I don’t know. It’s weird to me.”

On his release from the Seahawks:

“I was shocked. I’m still shocked. I would figure if there was a problem or anything needed to be said or done, that my old coach would grab me to the side and whisper something in my ear and tell me step it up or do something different. I would figure that.”

“Thursday (the day before the release) when I was leaving practice, Pete Carroll hugged me and told me everything was going well. I thought everything was fine. I went to Vegas, just having fun for Memorial Day weekend and then I get a call Friday morning telling me they’re going in another (direction). I never really got an explanation.”

“I actually called Pete and asked Pete what was going on. Pete never knows why anything, right? Pete, he beat around the bush. He just said it wasn’t going to work out. He didn’t really give me an answer. He didn’t give me a clear explanation.”

When he showed up to the NFL scouting combine in 2006, White was so out of shape that one GM was actually quoted as saying that he “needed a bra.”

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