Countdown to the LeBronocalypse

[Real Deal]

Careful; this column will self-destruct at 9 p.m. on Thursday night. I can't remember writing a column that had a shorter shelf life. Twelve hours and it turns bad like leftover sushi. Let's call this "Twenty-Three Random Thoughts Before Tonight's LeBronocalypse."

 

1. A few weeks after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Someone Who Knows Things told me the following rumor: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul became such good friends during the 2007 Olympic trials, and then during their 2008 Olympics excursion in Beijing, that they actually made a pact in China to play together. You know, like one of those pacts in a chick flick where two friends agree to get married if both of them are single when they turn 40.

 

As the rumor went, the 2010 free agents (LeBron, Wade and Bosh) would sign with the same team (at that point the Knicks if they created enough cap room), then Paul would join them in 2012 (or sooner). I thought this was the craziest thing I had ever heard -- so crazy, I only mentioned it once (in a November '08 column). It reminded me of being in my mid-20s in Las Vegas, gambling in the wee hours with my single high school buddies, then all of us drunkenly saying, "We should all pick one city and live there, we'd just go out and kill it every night!" Then you wake up the next morning and forget it was ever discussed. So even if the China rumor was true, that didn't mean it was actually going to happen. Or so I thought.

 

2. Fast-forward two summers: If LeBron says the word "Miami" tonight, does that mean the rumor was true? Or at least discussed by those guys? Because how could anyone make up something that loony? In 2008, you and I could have sat in a room for 10 hours trying to make up the craziest possible sports rumor and never come up with "Bosh, LeBron, Wade and/or Paul all made a pact in China to play together" without throwing in some improbably bizarre addendum like, "And they did so right after covering up the shooting of Jayson Williams' chauffeur." Was the rumor accurate? Did they stick to their guns? Will we ever find out the truth? Because if they did make a pact, that means …

Keep reading...it's a VERY good article.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100708

[bigdog17k]

Fantastic article, I really do like Simmons' point of view on all of this. Like he said, even if Miami lands LeBron good luck winning.

 

Love these two points:

 

10. Let's say LeBron signs with Miami. Can you even make the Finals with LeBron, Bosh, Wade and nine minimum-salary guys? Because that might be next year's team … and if that's what happens, the answer is "no effing way." You don't win titles just because of your top three. That belittles the meaning of guys like Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, Steve Kerr, John Paxson, Brian Shaw … you could go on for hours naming role players who swung a title. The 2008 Celts lucked out by getting James Posey, Eddie House and P.J. Brown for practically nothing; Miami wouldn't have that luxury this summer, not with so many role players jockeying for contracts one year before the possible lockout. Nobody is taking less money to showcase themselves for a summer that might not happen. Even if Miami could spin Michael Beasley for a fourth guy (say, Trevor Ariza), that's still not enough. They'd need one more rebounder, point guard, a 3-point shooter and a center. Good luck.

 

11. Another problem: You realize how many minutes these guys would log on a three-man team? 42-44 minutes for 100 games … and if anyone missed an extended stretch of games, then that would put even more pressure on the other two. Crazy. No way they win more than 50, especially with teams gunning for them every night. We've also never seen two perimeter superstar alpha dogs coexist for an NBA title -- not even when Jerry West and Elgin Baylor teamed up with Wilt Chamberlain against the aging Celtics in 1969. LeBron would have to accept becoming Mega-Pippen to Wade's Jordan. (Yeah, right.) Even during the final quarter of the 2008 gold-medal game, when everyone on the American team was staring at each other wondering who was going to step up against a red-hot Spain team, there were a few minutes of tentative, "I don't want to step on anyone's toes here" basketball before Kobe said "Screw it, get out of my way" and took over the key portion of the game.

[EastCoastNiner]

Keep reading...it's a VERY good article.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100708

 

I thought you didn't like Bill Simmons.

[fish7718]

Good read, few points to add myself

 

Wade Bosh and Bron can win in their first year, Miami already has good role players in Chalmers and Beasley, we all know Shaq loves south beach and god knows he don't need money. You never know they could created the AI-T-mac-Shaq | Wade-LeBron-Bosh super team, and it could be like a passing of the torch type of act.

 

However I do agree going to Miami would be a cop out, just because it simply wouldn't be fair, in a few years, you are supposed to want to WIN, championships and not have them handed to you.

 

Here's my take - he's going to NY

 

He's not going to go to Chicago because there was a falling out there previously and I don't think he has interest of playing with Boozer after what he did with Cavs. He's not going back to Cleveland because I agree that I think that he would have announced already. He's not going to go to Miami because it wouldn't be his show, and the self absorbed LeBron has to run his own show. In NY it's going to be all him if they win and like Simmons states LeBron can be immortal if he puts NY back on the map. Simply going there this year theres no pressure to win a championship, just get the team to the playoffs and look promising. You are the hero just getting to the playoffs. In Chicago if you don't win it year 1 it only adds pressure.

 

So LeBron to NY IMO.

 

BTW - LMAO @ no mention of NJ in this entire article.