OT: LeBron Opts Out of Contract
Prepare yourselves. Turn off ESPN (except for live sports programming), mute Twitter, and in general expect to be innundated with obscure, ridiculous, over the top media coverage.
LeBron has opted out of his heat contract. This may just be a way to restructure it to get the Heat more cap space, but he's now a free agent. With Carmelo Anthony opting out too this may just break the HOT TAKES engine.
Agree that LeBron would be dumb to move to the Western Conference. The East will have much easier paths to the finals for the forseeable future
Disagree that the Bulls won't be a challenge depending on D Rose. Even without Rose the Bulls have been much better than expected, and if Melo or K Love join... well Rose (100-80% of former Rose), Butler, Melo, Gibson, Noah is a pretty beastly starting 5.
Full disclosure: I am a Bulls fan and relatively irrational about my fandoms. In my mind Michigan will go 14-0 this year, the Cubs are contenders in 2015, the Blackhawks should be favored to win the cup (probably accurate), and Da Bears won't surrender a point over the first 7 weeks of the NFL season.
and Greg Monroe & Rodney Stuckey for Anthony Bennett and Dion Waiters + #1 works.... Just sayin'.
a #1 or the #1. If the latter, even the Cavs ain't that dumb.
Great move by Lebron. It's another chance to engrage the state of Ohio (when he resigns with Miami)
All I know is for the foreseeable future, I am taking my talents AWAY from ESPN. The speculation and non-stories will be unbearable.
Who has the more feminine/smaller chin - Urban Meyer, Carmelo Anthony or P Diddy?
Regardless, chinless wonder Carmelo is poison. He will never win a championship even with Lebron and 3 other stars around him unless he's riding pine. He's the antithesis of say, Kawhi Leonard the finals MVP.
a little rhinoplasty and dude could play Voldemort.
Playing a game that allows expression of that athletism as well as any could. There are no helmets to obstruct the players' faces. The court is small and intimate. And yet I have so little regard for the NBA that I don't care a lick where he ends up.
After all he did say he wasn't going to play next year if Donald sterling still owns the clippers.... And that battle is far from over.
Has anyone (who has actually paid attention to the Heat) actually thought their egos were that bad? I think they do a pretty good job of keeping things in check, at least compared to the actual "big ego" players we see in sports (like the T Os and Ocho Cinco's of the sports world)
The Heat always seemed like a pretty down-to-earth squad if you ignore the Decision and that PR disaster. They almost never complaining publicly, played well on the court, and generally seemed like guys doing a job. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh also seem like pretty decent human beings, or at least as far as their handlers will let them be.
Except when Wade broke Rondo's arm during the 2011 playoffs with a body-slam in the lane.
Obviously.
I think LBJ and Carmelo playing for the Knicks in the triangle offense with a few decent role players around them would be a great chance for another championship run for LBJ and a first run for Melo. They would also make even more endorsement money than they already do.
New York would have to do some crazy cap mechanics to make it work, and I'm not sure there are any teams in the league dumb enough to help them make it happen.
Only for their superior engineering program.
The bagmen have spoken.
Not saying he will, but who in their right mind would leave MIAMI for Cleveland? He'd be much better off buying a house in the West Bloomfield Township and treking to Auburn Hills everyday. lol.
According to the transfer rules, does he have to sit out a year if he leaves for a team that he'd rather play for? That seems only fair.
He should be able to apply for a hardship waiver if he goes to Cleveland, though. Not because of the 100 mile radius thing, but because everyone who plays for Cleveland is granted an automatic hardship waiver.
If he really wants to be a multiple repeat champion... he has to go play for the Spurs.
Can't beat 'em, join 'em.
The Cavs need to do absolutely anything they can to get LeBron back on the team. Trade Dan Gilbert away, I don't care (I wish you could trade owners). Anyway, LeBron is still loved by most of Ohio and I think that he'd win over the remaining haters by going for a triple double his first night back. He's a once in a lifetime player that the Cavs need desperately. Come home, LeBron. PLEASE.
lebron's ego is relatively low. he's obviously not the same no-nonsense of a kd or duncan, but he's way more subdued than kobe. after the media evisceration following the decision, lebron really changed for the better, imo.
He just does a better job of hiding it in front of the cameras. Has perfected a great tough-guy-all-business face.
I presume once you sign a professional contract, you are ineligible to come back to college in any sport. Jeremy Bloom some years ago seems to be the model - guy was a professional skier and tried to remain an amateur in football. NCAA said he could no longer maintain amateur status.
Makes sense. Still thinks he comes back to the Heat, especially if they can sway a big-ish name guy to sign up to help ease the burden, but who knows. I'd be amazed if he winds up in Cleveland, though - despite all of these high draft selections and "assets" they are basically Irving, Thompson, and a bunch of interchangeable bench guys.
Not invested in this, but if LeBron wants to change the narrative surrounding himself and leave an overall positive legacy (The LegacyTM), he needs to go back to Cleveland and win a championship.
Right now he's pre-PED A-Rod in terms of his public image. An absurdly self-absorbed prima donatello who isn't respected or even taken seriously.
He can redeem himself only by going back to his hometown team that needs a savior more than any other sports city in America.
Vader is Vader, but he can still kill the Emperor.
Lebron James isn't respected or taken seriously. Ok, whatever you say.