Cleveland Sports Chatter

[Unchainme]

what happens if it's D-Wade and Bosh to the bulls?

does that mean we can pretty much kiss cleveland playoff basketball good bye or do the Cavs still have a fighting chance to keep LBJ?

[Unchainme]

Sorry, I just think the Bosh+Wade+Rose combo just doesn't seem very good for basketball, perhaps thats just me

Neither does the Bosh+Wade+James combo in Miami, just seems really new york yankee like, and just douchey

The NFL has it best, you get one superstar per team, plus a couple of role players.

[POJO_Risin]

Well...a trio of superstars isn't out of the norm...

Remember...the Lakers of Yor had about 100 hall of famers and/or all stars...IE...Kareem, Magic, Worthy...

and the Celts...the same...

Bird, McHale, DJ, Parrish...etc...

But did they win every year? Nope? You'd always have those years like the Sixers...and Rockets...

I still say if you give LeBron ONE other star...so they can't focus their attention on 'Bron, they almost can't be beat.

[POJO_Risin]

As far as signing the King...it's going to be hard for him to leave...he's going to be driving through Cleveland...and the streets will be lined like a fourth of july parade...

It's home...and I don't care what anyone says...this team is CLOSE to winning a title without any changes...

[POJO_Risin]

Cleveland Cavaliers ready for meeting with LeBron James
Published: Friday, July 02, 2010, 11:19 PM Updated: Friday, July 02, 2010, 11:45 PM
Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer


Now it is the Cavaliers' turn.

When the Cavaliers meet with LeBron James on Saturday, the theme of their pitch will center on this being his hometown and how well the team and the fans know and appreciate him.

After two days of meetings with the New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers, the hometown Cavs are up next to make their sales pitch to mega free agent LeBron James.

Their strategy, according to sources, will be somewhat different from the other teams' and focus on just how well they know their superstar. The meeting is expected to be relatively short, nowhere near the length of the Knicks' and Heat's, who met with James for more than two hours.

Owner Dan Gilbert, General Manager Chris Grant and new coach Byron Scott are expected to be the principles in the meeting, but other members of the organization that James is close with could be present as well.

The Cavs also plan on playing toward James' sense of humor and playfulness, something with which the team is very familiar. The plan is to keep it loose and informal because of their long-term relationship with James, who has been attending the meetings in T-shirts and sweats while his suitors arrive in $2,000 suits.

Although the Cavs have met with James in person several times since the end of the season, they have been preparing for this moment for several months. While their presentation will not be as flashy as some of the others, sources said the Cavs spent significant money and time in creating their show.

The Cavs have displayed the theme of their pitch with the billboards reading "Home" that are across the city. The feeling of home and the comfort with the team is part of the selling point.

There will, of course, be serious business to discuss. The Cavs have two visions to explain. One is how Scott sees James within his systems and what changes he plans to make.

Scott and James already know each other. They have spent time together at events set up by mutual ally Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. But James doesn't know Scott as a coach. Scott hopes to change that today.

Speaking as if he were addressing James directly, Scott said at his introductory news conference on Friday in Independence that he wants the Cavs to be a running offensive team. That is something James has privately, and sometimes publicly, wanted to do more over the last several seasons.

"You could almost look at LeBron as a Magic Johnson type," Scott said, comparing James to his former teammate with the Lakers and close friend. "He has that type of ability, that type of skill."

The second piece of serious business is the roster upgrades that can be executed if James re-signs. That is where Grant and Gilbert come in. The other teams trying to sign James are working toward bringing in other top free agents. The Cavs aren't out of that game.

According to a source, the Toronto Raptors like some of the pieces the Cavs could use in a sign-and-trade for Chris Bosh. The Cavs, unlike rivals trying to get Bosh such as the Bulls and Heat, can offer a package of prospects, quality veterans, expiring contracts and instant savings.

Because of the depth of the roster, the Cavs can absorb a bad contract or two from the Raptors, which could save Toronto millions of dollars this season and years into the future and help with a rebuilding process after Bosh's departure.

It would all be predicated on Bosh wanting to come to Cleveland, and that would depend on James recruiting him after re-signing. So would all the other major moves the Cavs would look into and show James.

Which is why re-signing him is the first priority, and the plan is to show that to him today.

I really wonder...if James announces tomorrow or Sunday...that he's staying...could they get Bosh too? I'm still pissed at all this. If that fucker signs, and hems and haws until the beginning or the middle of the week, all the names will sign, and he'll hand-cuff the cavs...

[Unchainme]

Monday, he'll likely want to have a party with the family announcing his intentions that sunday I would think, give him a day to rest, mull things over.

[Unchainme]

either way, the day he announces it, I'm going to do something involving alcohol.

[POJO_Risin]

Monday, his basketball camp starts. Sources say Monday isn't his deadline...but I don't think he wants to roll into a camp not knowing...

[POJO_Risin]

Click here you whores--LeBron James Skills Academy

[Unchainme]

It's in akron

odds say, that there will be players from akron at said event, odds are If given any lee-way they'll ask him

add to the fact that he has a scheduled event in Cleveland on July 8th as well, and that makes it's even more intriguing

does he wait until July 8th, allowing FA moves to be made with him just standing still? or does he annouce it earlier in hopes of improving the roster of his new/current team?

[POJO_Risin]

Well...if he fucking announces he's going to another team...I can't imagine him going to functions in Cleveland with the fucking backlash...and there better be fucking backlash...

[Unchainme]

Well...if he fucking announces he's going to another team...I can't imagine him going to functions in Cleveland with the fucking backlash...and there better be fucking backlash...

This is a city that chucked bottles at referees because they got the call wrong in a game crucial to the playoffs, this is a city that is well known for all eternity for "ten cent beer night", this is a city that has scared modell off so bad, he's never stepped foot in the state of ohio since '95.

I recall Jim Rome had someone call in, saying Cleveland is "likes to fight guy", pretty much says it all.

[redblkwht]

Wade meeting with the Bulls for the second time tonight...then meeting with the Heat for a second time tomorrow...

I think wade is a smokescreen if you really wanna call it..he's all HEAT, he is going no where. Bosh is Chi or Miami's prize, period.

[Unchainme]

Scenarios that keep running through my head are:

1).
Bosh+D-Wade in Miami,

2.)
Bosh to Chi-town, D-Wade+Boozer in Miami

3.)
D-Wade to Chi-town, Bosh and Chris Paul to the Nets.

4.)
Bosh+D-Wade+Rose in Chicago.

I can't say what will happen with LeBron and the Cavs, and as I am a firm believer in the Cleveland Curse, don't really want to predict what is to happen with them, due to my own personal superstitions.

[redblkwht]

Im thinking #2 plus boozer, hope im wrong.