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Cleveland Cavaliers (current) off-season rumors

  • BR1986FB
    hoops23;410173 wrote:Yep, the entire slide leaked to Forbes and that website, which is ran by Fox Sports got a hold of it.. I found the post on RCF and decided to bring it over here for the lulz!!

    Seriously, you had 3 years to prep for this, and that's the BEST you could do?

    As soon as I saw "1- It is much more about the “Lebron Brand” than actually winning basketball games" I would have been like GTFO. Granted, he wants to be wealthy, but that statement looks like "we don't care if we win as long as you make money." Winning is obviously important to him.
  • hoops23
    BR1986FB;410179 wrote:As soon as I saw "1- It is much more about the “Lebron Brand” than actually winning basketball games" I would have been like GTFO. Granted, he wants to be wealthy, but that statement looks like "we don't care if we win as long as you make money." Winning is obviously important to him.

    LOL, Exactly...

    Sounds like the Cavs presentation was the best, right along with New Jersey.

    James liked how straight to the point the Cavs were and also how they kept it humorous throughout.
  • like_that
    Apparently Wade and Bosh are filming their whole free agency process for a documentary. Heard it on ESPN.
  • BR1986FB
    hoops23;410183 wrote:LOL, Exactly...

    Sounds like the Cavs presentation was the best, right along with New Jersey.

    James liked how straight to the point the Cavs were and also how they kept it humorous throughout.

    Heard the Cavs put together a "Family Guy" type video (one of LBJ's favorite shows) depicting Lebron and his friends. Bet Delonte was Quagmire. ;)
  • hoops23
    BR1986FB;410186 wrote:Heard the Cavs put together a "Family Guy" type video (one of LBJ's favorite shows) depicting Lebron and his friends. Bet Delonte was Quagmire. ;)

    That's cold.

    lol
  • like_that
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPJG7r_hCKM
  • BR1986FB
    Broussard just said on ESPN that Bosh wants to play with LBJ but not in Cleveland.
  • hoops23
    BR1986FB;410190 wrote:Broussard just said on ESPN that Bosh wants to play with LBJ but not in Cleveland.

    LOL, Broussard has been wrong EVERYTIME so far.

    Like I said to my boss today, I'm not listening to ANYTHING ESPN says until it actually happens.
  • KR1245
    Lets assume that Amare, Lee and Bosh are out of the picture..........at any point do the Cavs look at Benedict Boozer?
  • hoops23

    That's almost too perfect.
  • IggyPride00


    This is pretty cool. The Bulls sent these to Lebron yesterday apparently as part of their recruiting effort. They also ran what could considered a pretty gutsy pitch in the Akron Beacon Journal.
    n the annals of wooing top athletes, this is a novel approach.

    You don't ask LeBron James to come to Chicago and play for the Bulls. You don't plead with him to come to Chicago.

    You dare him.
    Advertisement

    "LeBron, the fans of Chicago have a question for you," reads the two-page ad that ran in Thursday's Akron Beacon Journal, James' hometown paper. "Can you cast a shadow this big?"

    The image is of an outline that looks a lot like Michael Jordan's, in the iconic, ball-in-one-hand pose, spread out over the Chicago cityscape. Dreamed up by sports-loving ad guys at the city's Leo Burnett agency and paid for by Burnett, it was the culmination of a four-day campaign featuring a fresh challenge each day.

    Existing civic LeBron campaigns, account executives Dave Kuta and Michael Girts realized over lunch last week, violated advertising theory. They were about the product — the advantages and needs of suitor cities New York, Cleveland and Chicago — "instead of the role the product could play in (James') life," Girts said.

    Figuring the biggest hurdle — and potential advantage — to winning him for Chicago was the legacy of Bulls' superstar Jordan, they got together with a creative team from the agency and decided to appeal directly to James' competitive spirit: Challenge him to outdo even Jordan, who always loved a good challenge himself.

    "You've got to play against the memory of a legend in Chicago," Girts said. "Do you dare do that?"

    So Monday, they sent to his house the classic red, white and black Air Jordans and asked if he could fill those shoes. Tuesday it was a case featuring seven empty ring boxes, representing one more championship than Jordan won here, and the question, "Can you fill these boxes?"

    Wednesday was a mock-up of a Chicago Tribune 10 years hence — still going strong, by the way — and the headline "Sweet Throne, Chicago: With Title No. 7, It's Officially King James' Court."

    There's a risk in so direct an approach, creative director Patrick Rynell acknowledged.

    "It was a gutsy idea," he said. "But we also figured he's a guy who's got a sense of humor. A good challenge, a good in-your-face dare would kind of lighten the mood, show what Chicago's personality is about."
  • hoops23
    The New York Knicks hired Interbrand to run through 50,000 computer models of a potential LeBron career, using more than 200 variables like individual performance, fan demographics and championships.

    The Knicks tried to show Lebron that the potential value to him if he wins a championship in NY is greater than Cleveland, Chicago, and Miami. What they ended up showing him was that he could make more money winning a title in Cleveland than he can winning one in Chicago or Miami.
    Since most people with any inside info believe Lebron will pick between Cleveland and Chicago...

    THANK YOU NEW YORK!!!!!!!
  • BR1986FB
    KR1245;410195 wrote:Lets assume that Amare, Lee and Bosh are out of the picture..........at any point do the Cavs look at Benedict Boozer?

    Problem with Boozer is that he's all about "me", NOT about winning.
  • hoops23
    KR1245;410195 wrote:Lets assume that Amare, Lee and Bosh are out of the picture..........at any point do the Cavs look at Benedict Boozer?

    Depends on the price. Boozer isn't that young now and he's been known to disappear in the playoffs, especially as the games get bigger.

    With that said, at the right price, yes. Dan Gilbert had nothing to do with Boozer.
  • BR1986FB
    hoops23;410193 wrote:LOL, Broussard has been wrong EVERYTIME so far.

    Like I said to my boss today, I'm not listening to ANYTHING ESPN says until it actually happens.

    I'm taking it with a grain of salt because Bosh said he would come to Cleveland on Mike & Mike less than a week ago.
  • BR1986FB
    Why LeBron is delaying his decision and more free-agency questions
    Updated: Saturday July 3, 2010 5:31PM
    Ian Thomsen

    LeBron James is expected to decide on his team around mid-week, according to a league source who has been provided the timetable by James' camp. With that in mind, here are five questions still on the table this holiday weekend.

    1. Why does James need so much time? Original reports suggested that James would announce his decision Monday. That is unlikely, according to the source, and it's easy to understand why. James has been provided with a lot of information by the six teams who made presentations over the past three days, and there is no sense in rushing along his decision until he has made sense of the different proposals.

    Another reason for him to take a few days before committing is to negotiate with one or more fellow free agents and decide whether they can work out a complicated deal to play together. Will James go to Chicago or Miami to play with Dwyane Wade? Will he stay in Cleveland and try to convince Chris Bosh to join him there in a potential sign-and-trade? No doubt he'll investigate a number of options.

    James is the No. 1 free agent and he holds the most power, but he doesn't control everything. The attraction of Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, New Jersey, New York and the Clippers depends in part on the quality of players who will join him there. At the moment no one can say for sure how the market will shake out.

    Just as the top high school basketball and football recruits are often forced to postpone their decisions until the last moment of NCAA signing day, so too may James be forced to put his decision on hold as the market around him continues to take shape.

    James is expected to make his decision by Thursday, which is the first day free agents can sign new contracts. The source has been told that James could decide as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. But Monday now looks like an unreasonable target date to resolve his future.

    2. Wade to Chicago? I don't doubt that Wade is intrigued by moving home to Chicago, and that the Bulls are a highly attractive franchise. But there are all kinds of other reasons for him to have taken a second meeting with the Bulls, including the possibility that he's trying to distract them from pursuing Joe Johnson or another player that Wade is hoping to recruit to Miami. I'm told he is also facing an extremely hard sell from his hometown friends to move back to Chicago.

    Perhaps Wade will shock the market and declare he is signing with the Bulls. But that would mean Heat president Pat Riley has misread his own player, which would be a huge surprise. My hunch is that Wade will remain with Miami.

    3. A Wade-and-Bosh pairing? When Bosh happened to sit in on the Friday meeting of Wade and the Bulls, it provided the sharpest image of the new market the players envisioned years ago when they agreed to become free agents this summer. Their intention was to control the market as no group of players has ever done before.

    That's exactly what is happening as the players share information with each other and dictate the terms of their employment. In previous years players viewed each other as competitors for the best offers, and of course that still happens. But this year they are working together and pooling their resources as never before, and for the first time they appear to have better information than the clubs. Another example of this involves free agents Johnson and Amar'e Stoudemire, who were teammates with the Suns and who would like to reunite on the same team this summer, according to a league source who knows both players. One reason why Johnson has been slow to commit to the six-year max deal offered by the Hawks, the source insists, is because he is interested in finding a way to play with Stoudemire. But will he take less money to team-up with his friend? That would be unexpected.

    4. Stoudemire to the Knicks? He is arriving in New York Saturday night with plans to meet Sunday with coach Mike D'Antoni, his former coach in Phoenix. Stoudemire hasn't been a top priority for other teams with cap space, but if the Knicks can convince him to commit to their five-year max offer then he'll provide relief to a team that was in danger of coming away empty from the elite free-agent market. Once they have Stoudemire, they can work to add another player to join him.

    5. Does the process work? Here's the irony of this circus: The one player who isn't contributing to the media frenzy is James, who is responsible for creating it.

    While other players are making visits and giving interviews, James has proceeded on a sober and highly private course of meetings with the six franchises he chose as finalists. James has said over the last year that he'll join the team that gives him the best opportunity to win, and his behind-the-scenes recruitment this week is another example of that approach. He doesn't need to seek out attention, because he knows it will come to him. The off-court monies will come to him too, so long as he goes to a organization that helps him win championships.
  • BR1986FB
    LeBron James' meetings with the Cavaliers and Bulls: Update
    Updated: Saturday, July 03, 2010, 6:35 PM
    Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer

    Cleveland, Ohio -- The LeBron James free agency tension has been building for 18 months. Saturday may just have been the climax.

    The two teams James is believed to be most seriously considering, the Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls, got the final two sitdowns with the star at his downtown Cleveland offices. The ideas exchanged and messages received in the eighth-floor conference room during the sunny summer day may help sway James' complex decision.

    The Cavs met with James first and did so for around 90 minutes. According to sources, the team wanted to keep the meeting rather short and focus on the team's familiarity with him and his comfort level with the franchise.

    New coach Byron Scott, general manager Chris Grant, assistant general manager Lance Blanks and owner Dan Gilbert were the principals in the meeting. In addition to presentations from Scott and Grant about their plans, sources said the Cavs showed James a cartoon featuring him and his friends as characters.

    It was made in a Family Guy style, which is one of James' favorite shows, that featured some inside jokes related to the team. The team is believed to have been working on the cartoon for around six months.

    Those who know James personally know that he loves cartoons, inside jokes and cheap laughs. The central part of the Cavs pitch is that they know him the best.

    "We had a very good meeting with LeBron and his group," Grant said after the sit down. "It went well, it was fun. It was very interactive. Obviously we know LeBron well. I would characterize it as positive."

    To set the scene, the Cavs organized a "fan tunnel" down East 9th Street that eventually drew hundreds who were provided black "Home" signs by the team. A large group of fans gathered around the garage entrance to James' office building.

    When the Cavs' group arrived in two vehicles, fans tossed powder over the cars to mimic James' pregame ritual. James arrived a few moments later in a third different car he's used this week.

    "We think it is pretty incredible that LeBron chose to have these meetings here in Cleveland, his home," Grant said. "We want to thank the fans for the turnout and support."

    The Bulls were the last of the six teams to see James. They were represented by owner Jerry Reinsdorf, general manager Gar Forman, president John Paxson and coach Tom Thibodeau. Unlike most of the teams before them, they did not appear to have a great deal of presentation equipment.

    The final meeting with James lasted just under three hours. Chicago has also met with top free agents Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, twice in fact, this week. Chicago has about $27 million in salary cap space, room for one maximum-level free agent but not yet enough room for another.

    James is believed to be intrigued with signing with the Bulls, largely because he likes the city of Chicago and because of the talent on the roster. Ironically in losing to the Cavs in five games in the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls were able to showcase the development of young players Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

    However, the Bulls would have some work to do to convince either Bosh or Wade to pair up with James because they don't have enough cap space for two max contracts. Free agent forward David Lee and Carlos Boozer have also met with the Bulls, which would be fall-back options.

    According to sources, James has been highly involved in all of the meetings and has asked direct questions and challenged each team. However, despite pressing for his feelings, James has remained non-committal to any team in the process.

    There is not expected to be a timetable for James' decision, but with a great deal of NBA business waiting on it, the pressure to decide will likely build over the next week.
  • BR1986FB
    Recent Ric Bucher tweet saying he feels the Bulls may get completely shut out on these big names. Says the feeling around the league is that LBJ is staying.
  • ytownfootball
    The Bulls have legacy issues for sure, those that might keep big names from stepping in "those shoes"
  • ytownfootball
    BR i sent you a pm...did you get it?
  • BR1986FB
    ytownfootball;410258 wrote:BR i sent you a pm...did you get it?

    I replied
  • ytownfootball
    BR1986FB;410260 wrote:I replied

    Got it, new system woes at my end
  • BR1986FB
    RicBucher But if and when LeBron does re-up in Cle, know that it'll be w/3-yr out. We'll be doing all this again in 2013 + Nets could be formidable.
  • IggyPride00
    ytownfootball;410253 wrote:The Bulls have legacy issues for sure, those that might keep big names from stepping in "those shoes"

    I agree. It has always been kind of the elephant in the room, and I am just kind of surprised they would essentially question his manhood by asking whether he could handle stepping up to challenge or not.

    It's a pretty bad ass ad, but if you're looking to have a guy come to your team reminding him that essentially nothing short of 7 championships is failure may not be the best sails pitch.
  • IggyPride00
    BR1986FB;410263 wrote:RicBucher But if and when LeBron does re-up in Cle, know that it'll be w/3-yr out. We'll be doing all this again in 2013 + Nets could be formidable.

    I've been saying that for a while now. If they don't win a title between now and then he is for sure gone, and avoids ending up like KG while being able to get a full 6 year max while still in his prime at 28.

    It will be the same tension and hair pulling around here though as the pressure ratchets up that much more each season that passes without a title about how to blow up the roster in time for the next season again. It is a tough way to operate to say the least, but makes the most sense for Lebron.