It Seems Like LeBron's Choosing Between Miami, Cleveland and New York, Possibly in That Order
By Jason McIntyre
ESPN’s Chris Broussard and Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, seem to think Miami is the favorite. (This would make Stephen A. Smith’s prediction late last month look impressive.)
1) Cleveland
LeBron knows he doesn’t have a wingman in Cleveland, and assuming the Cavs don’t want Carlos Boozer after the way he dicked them over a few years back, there’s no cavalry coming. Clearly, Cleveland is not a free agent landing spot. What if he stays in Ohio and … nobody ever comes to help? The problem, of course, is potentially leaving $30 million on the table.
2) Miami
The Heat have the cap room to add LeBron, forming the best trio in the league … but what about after that? The rest of the roster is garbage. Will they have to sign 4-5 players at the league minimum? Worse yet, how bad of a look is it for LeBron to follow Bosh to D Wade’s team? Can an alpha-dog such as LeBron play 2nd fiddle to D Wade? He’ll have to defer to him in the clutch, that’s for sure. Then again, LeBron has never really been a leader, so maybe that’s his calling – he’ll play 2nd banana to Wade for a couple years, win a couple titles, and be content being a Top 25 player of all-time – instead of Top 5, which he has the talent to be.
3) New York
The darkhorse, probably only because the Knicks are our favorite team. They have proved they can get free agents (Amare). They have cap room. They have one shooter on the perimeter (Gallinari), and who knows if they can pull off a star point guard (Parker? CP3?). Until Carmelo Anthony re-signs with Denver, there’s still a glimmer of hope the Knicks could get him. We’re spare you the New York factor.
Lastly, the twitter/website/ESPN announcement factor. Is this the new LeBron? Using that logic, then LeBron is going to Miami or New York. Would he really call this much attention to himself to tell everyone he’s staying in Cleveland? No way! Or, you could flip it – he’s going to stay in Cleveland, and doesn’t need a major market to reach the masses, because they can just go to his website and follow him on twitter! And the show will reinforce that with lots of hometown love.
Our guess is still Cleveland.