The executive, who did not want to be identified discussing a player who is not yet a free agent, said he had gathered from discussions with his fellow N.B.A. executives that James was strongly leaning toward joining the Bulls in tandem with another free agent, Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors.
“I think it’s a done deal,” the executive said.
He said he thought James was going ahead with the meetings in Ohio “to be respectful to all these teams who jumped through these hoops,” a reference to the clubs, like the Knicks, who traded reasonably talented players like Jamal Crawford the last two seasons in an effort to open up as much salary-cap space as possible. But if James and Bosh are indeed going to Chicago, moves like the ones the Knicks made will have been done at least partly in vain.
This jibes with what LeBron confidant World Wide Wes has been telling people, and intuitively, it makes sense. Only Miami (with Dwyane Wade) could offer the kind of supporting cast that the Bulls can, and LeBron may not want people to think that he joined ‘Wade’s team.’
The surprising thing about a potential move to Chicago is that it would indicate that LeBron does not care all that much about how his legacy will compare to Michael Jordan’s. James would have to go on an unprecedented run to even get into the same conversation as Jordan, and barring five or six championships, it’s likely that he’ll always be regarded as the second-best Chicago Bull.
The move would be especially painful for Cavs fans, who would have to watch LeBron play for a division rival. Instead of seeing LeBron in Cleveland once a season, he’d visit Ohio two or three times, maybe more if the two teams meet in the playoffs.
The other thing about this LeBron/Bosh line of thinking is that Bosh has said all along that he doesn’t want to play sidekick and that he wants to be ‘the man.’ Following LeBron to Chicago doesn’t accomplish that goal and says something about Bosh, since he is the one who keeps saying that a franchise should build around him.
If the duo does indeed head to Chicago, the Bulls can start a lineup of Derrick Rose at the one, LeBron at the three, Bosh at the four and Joakim Noah at the five. One worrisome thing about a Rose/LeBron combo is that both players are at their best when they have the ball in their hands, so unless LeBron (finally) develops a post game or Rose becomes a great shooter, it won’t be an ideal fit.
As for Luol Deng, he would likely come off the bench or be moved for a quality shooting guard who can space the floor (Kyle Korver, Mike Miller, Ray Allen?) LeBron will benefit most from playing with a knockdown shooter at the two, especially since Rose and Noah are not known for their outside touch. Deng’s contract (four years, $51 million) will be tough to move, but he essentially plays the same position as LeBron and the Bulls won’t want to tie up that much cap space in LeBron’s backup.
Ric Bucher’s take on the rumor. (YouTube)
