Report: Bulls Will Not Give LeBron James’ Friends Special Privileges
July 5, 2010Indians 9 Rangers 3: The Power Stroke
July 6, 2010While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
“A shake of the head and smile is all the waiting world got from LeBron James Monday when he was asked about his future as he left his Nike camp at the University of Akron. James made a bit of a surprise appearance for a workout on the first day of the LeBron James Skills Academy at Rhodes Arena. If he’s stressing at all about his free agency decision with six teams attempting to sign him and much of the NBA hanging on his move, it didn’t show. He looked relaxed during the two-hour workout and after an another hour of stretching and icing he left without directly answering reporters’ questions about his decision or his timetable.” [Brian Windhorst]
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Shaquille O’Neal could be heading to the Atlanta Hawks… Or not? “FanHouse reports Shaq’s arrival would allow Al Horford to move from center to his natural power forward position and help facilitate a trade of current power forward Josh Smith. Aldridge, however, reports Horford won’t be moved to the 4 under any circumstances.” Hmmm…Weird.
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About Browns’ box office struggles: “That’s not good, but it’s also not surprising. For much of the past decade, it seemed like all the team had to do was hang a sign that read “Game Today” outside Cleveland Browns Stadium and the game would sell out. But fans of a certain generation can easily remember a time when the only home game that sold out was the annual tilt with Pittsburgh.
Now, after a decade of despair on the field, the team is feeling the bite at the box office. Certainly, last year’s dismal effort, which included coach Eric Mangini’s inability to pick a quarterback, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s amateur playcalling, a 1-11 start and the most over-rated victory in franchise history, have taken its toll on the paying public.” [Red Right 88]
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Forget the Cavs and Cleveland for a second, but how much is LeBron James worth to Quicken Loans? [Darren Rovell]
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And finally, a glimpse of hope in NY: “Amar’e Stoudemire and his big-time agreement to play with the New York Knicks should give Knicks fans hope that things will turn around for the franchise. Of course, the drought of playoff appearances and periods of respectability, was self-inflicted with horrible trades to clear cap space (Tracy McGrady for one) and bad draft picks (Jordan Hill who was eventually traded for McGrady, instead of Brandon Jennings or Ty Lawson in a point guard-rich draft). All of this was done with the promise of a plan that would bring LeBron James to New York City in the summer of 2010. Now that we’re here and the Knicks acquired one of the top three free agent power forwards depending on who you talk to, will LeBron James indeed come to the Knicks now?” [Dennis Velasco/Fanway]
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(AP Photo/Jason Miller)
28 Comments
Was really hoping the Knicks wouldn’t land a big time FA. Oh well…they will still suck..
The Atlanta Hawks enrage me to no end. Sign Joe Johnson to a contract they can’t afford (they plan on selling the team before the contract is up). Pick a coach that will treat the team exactly as Woodson did. Trade Josh Smith, who had a breakout year this year. Pick up Shaq, so the team can lose athleticism, the only thing it had going for it. Just do everyone in the NBA (and the fans) a favor: blow it up and contract the team.
/end non-Cleveland-related rant
Listened to M&M this morning and they had Ian O’Connor from ESPN New York saying it’s a race against time for both Wade and Lebron as to who will sign with the Knicks first….he also added the cavs can’t win with their roster….maybe he failed to notice that adding STAT is basically just polishing a turd. Laughable.
@3 A NY reporter talking about NY, shocking. Until the day the Knicks don’t get Wade or LeBron they’ll always think they have a chance. For me I’d think Wade would prefer to go home and play for the Bulls but what do I know. I wasn’t surprised the Knicks got Stoudemire. They kind of deserve each other. I’m just hoping the next best player they can land is Mike Miller.
I’m surprised it’s hasn’t been blown up that he was wearing a Yankees hat yesterday.
agreed stin4u
read a nauseating article in the ny post that popped up on my feed this morning about how cleveland doesn’t DESERVE lebron because “there lacks a sports passion found in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Detroit.”
…really? really? wednesday night/thursday can’t come soon enough. (i’m not even gonna link to the article… believe me its not worth it).
Stoudemire’s in a perfect situation. He makes tons of money on a team where he won’t have to worry about playing defense, rebounding, or going far in the playoffs every year, so he can have a ton of fun both on and off the court.
Stoudemire is so very overrated. That is a typical Knicks move. “Let’s sign an injury-prone big man that doesn’t post up, won’t play defense, can’t rebound particularly well, and complains and asks for a trade when things don’t go well. Done and done.”
But those dunks sure are flashy aren’t they? I guess it just goes to show you that style trumps substance in NY. Just look at the presentation they threw at LeBron.
Go to Chicago and play with Rose
Go to Miami and play with Wade
Go to NY and play with Amare
Go to CLE and play with… Mo Williams???
If I’m Lebron and I’ve already spent 7 years in the NBA and haven’t had a Pippen to my Jordan, I can tell you where I’m NOT signing.
That was me taking my Cavs Fan hat off and taking an objective look at who I would get to play with if I’m LBJ.
the most over-rated victory in franchise history
Yes x1000
FTA:
The Browns want to hear from fans about what they can do better on game days, with tickets, etc. Please, don’t write, “Win more games.”
How about discounting tickets until you start winning games? Why is that never even an option?
New Yorkers are soooo ignorant about basketball. I know they aren’t supposed to be, but they are.
They just signed Amare Stoudemire to a 100 million dollar deal. Is that in anyway better than siging David Lee to an 80 million dollar deal? Not really. The team hasn’t improved, AT ALL. But don’t worry, you will keep hearing New Yorkers completely ignore things like the salary cap to convince themselves that if they can get LBJ/Wade then they can get Melo next year. Idiots.
CLE might not be able to win a title next year…but I’m not even sure New York can make the playoffs next year.
JPS3…if the game of basketball was 2v2, you’d have a point. Unfortunately for the Knicks, it’s a game of 5v5..and then there are bench players that come into the mix as well.
“Trade Josh Smith, who had a breakout year this year.”
Smith has averaged over 16 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal per-game since 2006-07… If anything, his “breakout” year was 2007-08.
Rovell thinks the Cavs only lose 1k/game in attendance? Pre LeBron was 5k less per game, which would account for another $11 million lost.
This is where I stop analyzing his article because it’s a joke.
@2 – your rant is very Cleveland related. we need to start a Josh Smith to the Cavs trade rumor ASAP. That would be fantastic. he doesn’t have the offense of Bosh, but his defense is phenomenal and he plays in the fastbreak offense beautifully (when he isn’t trying to go between his legs on a breakaway dunk in the playoffs of course)
@JPS3 – I see your point but this is how I see it:
Go to NY and play with STAT and some borderline talent and a completely weak bench in a system where you’d have to outscore every team you play. No.
Go to Chi and play with legit NBA talent in Rose and Noah but with no inside presence (as of now) to bang with Howard, and suspect perimeter shooting to go along with it. Not Really.
Go to Miami and play second fiddle to another guy on a roster that would have to be filled in with some no name guys on the cheap. Only if I feel like playing with Damon Jones again.
Stay in Cle on a team that wins like crazy in the regular season but hasn’t played well in the playoffs with a new coach that fits my criteria and has solid roll players and an owner willing to spend gobs of money. Maybe.
So, Broussard is now saying Toronto/Cleveland may have a deal for Bosh, but can’t get Bosh to agree to come to Cavs?
Same Broussard that said just a few days ago that LeBron was sealed up to be a Bull. So take that for what it’s worth (can’t figure out anything these days until everything is done)
@JPS3 – He’s obviously trying to work a s-n-t. If Bosh wanted to come to CLE it might happen. But he wants glam.
Besides, it’s not like the Cavs are stuck like this forever. They’d have to play it cool one more season and then they’d have opportunities to make a lot of moves.
And Rose and LBJ just doesn’t work that well. It just doesn’t. (Maybe).
Rich – NY fans aren’t ignorant about basketball. Those are blanket statements that make us like them. And that’s never good. Don’t stoop. Some of them are. Many are not.
@ mgbode – I only saw a tweet on this from Broussard that said TOR would do a S&T with CLE and LeBron and the Cavs were trying to convince Bosh to come to CLE, not that there was necessarily a deal in place or that Bosh wouldn’t agree.
If Broussard’s tweet is true, this is the best news we’ve had in a while. Shows that LeBron is trying to bring people to play with him in CLEVELAND not somewhere else. If Bosh wants the full max with a S&T, I think he has to come to CLE or go to HOU. Those are probably the only palatable deals that TOR would take. There’s basically no benefit for TOR to trade Bosh to CHI or MIA…
Sam Amico also confirming, via Toronto sources apparently, Bosh S&T talks to Cavs.
@AMC – Totally correct, if Bosh want’s a max deal he’s at the mercy of whomever has the best trade assets and that isn’t going to be MIA or CHI. Looks like he’ll have to look long and hard at cleveland or leave that money on the table.
“There’s basically no benefit for TOR to trade Bosh to CHI or MIA…”
not exactly true for the same reasons we hashed out here for LeBron sign-n-trade (if it had to come to that). trade exemptions, draft picks, a couple young players, and keeping your cap space are all benefits. better than getting nothing, while not hurting your team.
but, this is the Raptors. the organization that overpays for Turkoglu, Amir Johnson, and Calderon (looked better before last year, but still was too high then). fiscal responsibility isn’t in the cards for them.
just for fun, let’s rehash everyone’s favorite Bosh sign-n-trade for the Cavs.
My pie-in-the-sky sign-n-trade:
Calderon
Bosh
for
Mo
JJ
Jamison
Delonte (to be cut)
1st round pick
Calderon is a better 3pt shooter than most realize (around 40%), finishes at the rim better than Mo, shoots FTs just as well, and (until last year when he dropped off) was great at initiating the offense and creating opportunities for others.
Now, that’s probably why we get Turk and not Calderon, but we can dream.
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Then, sign Mike Miller to the MLE, sign-n-trade Shaq to Dallas for Haywood. And we are set:
PG: Calderon, Gibson, Telfair
SG: Miller, Parker
SF: LeBron, Moon, Green
PF: Bosh, Powe, Jawad Williams
C: AV, Haywood
More likely is Toronto gets both AV and JJ. And, Mike Miller gets more $$$ from a team desperate to use it’s cap space (Clippers). I do think the Shaq for Haywood thing can happen
@mgbode – I don’t see a scenario where TOR takes Jamison’s contract, unless we take by Turkgolu.
Why dosen’t Bosh want to come to CLE?
@AMC – I agree. Which is why I put it as pie-in-the-sky. Like Knick fans, until it doesn’t happen, I can dream 🙂
@JK – I’ll repost the explanation from Bosh’s side here in a couple minutes.
JK – here you go (my take from Bosh’s side):
From Bosh’s perspective, his marketability is much better as 2nd fiddle if he is in a bigger market because there are more scraps to grab. Which, teaming with Wade or LeBron is what he will have to go get (aside: unlike Gasol to Kobe because Gasol has the European market to go after).
So, while LeBron can command Nike/Coca Cola/et cetera from Cleveland, it would be harder for a ‘Robin’ to do it. He would need the titles first, which as we are well aware, are never guaranteed. So, it would be a leap of faith to come here, whereas NYC, Chicago, Houston (his hometown btw) all would have immediate opportunities.
This is why our Chinese partnership is extremely important. If we can convince FA’s that we will be growing their profile in China (quickest expanding market), then we will likely have a better chance at convincing them.
Hope that helps.
Oh, had an incorrect thing in there….Bosh’s hometown is just outside Dallas, not Houston.
Thank you mgbode.