According to Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA middleman World Wide Wes is telling those around him that LeBron is leaning towards Chicago. Wojnarowski also notes that the Bulls never had much interest in their new coach Tom Thibodeau until he signed with Wesley’s CAA. You know who else is signed to CAA? LeBron James. Wojnarowski finds it interesting that within 48 hours the Bulls went to having no contact with Thibodeau to flying out to Los Angeles to interview and hire him. It all went down extremely quick.
Ultimately, its probably the best stop for LeBron. Miami would be an interesting destination if Wade, LeBron, and Bosh decided to take less money in order to have those three together as a trio. But, we all know that scenario is a bit of a dream. Its just not likely to happen. The Cavaliers are currently a disaster. They have no coach and recently agreed to part with Danny Ferry as their general manager. On top of that, LeBron’s supposed wingman in Cleveland is on the trading block (also fun to note that Delonte West is on the trading block. Just saying.) Returning to Cleveland at this point would be kind of stupid. That team has reached its potential. He’s not winning a title there. As for New York, there’s just no reason to even consider the Knicks. LeBron should just settle for putting up ridiculous games at Madison Square twice a year.
That leaves Chicago and New Jersey are reasonable suitors. The Nets have a a good amount of young talent. Brook Lopez is going to a very good player as he progresses. Devin Harris is another good player, on top of young talent like Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and Yi Jianlian. Plus, the Nets could potentially add a good young player in Evan Turner or DeMarcus Cousins. Ultimately, the Nets have a nice team building up and will be moving to Brooklyn soon. It wouldn’t be a bad place for LeBron to end up. However, Chicago is ready now. They’ve already built up their young talent and have two legitimate wingmen in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Beyond that, role players like Loul Deng, Brad Miller, Taj Gibson, and Kirk Hinrich are already in place. The Bulls are a team primed to be a contender. Signing LeBron instantly makes them one, and possibly the favorite to win titles for the next 5 years.
Certainly the connections that World Wide West has built up has created a strong enough argument for LeBron to end up in Chicago. The whole situation with Tom Thibodeau happened too quickly for it to be done based just on Thibodeau’s qualities himself (though he is deserving of the job.) On top of that, Chicago just makes sense for LeBron. They have the wingmen and role players necessary to take the next step. The only question is whether or not LeBron actually does make the move.
Negative VORP 