Day 2 of Hell Week - shit, maybe Hell Month - continues for Cavaliers fans on Tuesday.
I came into Monday evening with two separate ideas for columns. The first was about how LeBron James is a difficult player to build around. The second was … pathetically, I can’t even remember what the second was.
Apparently, I’ve already given up the fight against Hell.
It doesn’t much matter though, really, because what I finally decided was that everything I write about the Cavs before July 8th, at the very earliest, could all be irrelevant by, well, July 8th.
As a result, I’m really beginning to wonder if it’s worth writing anything about the Cavs until we know LeBron is gone, or until we know he is staying. It’s not even July 1st, and the daily reports on the subject add up to white noise. On Sunday, the New York Times was willing to quote an anonymous NBA executive as saying Chicago was “a done deal.” Then I woke up today to see that Stephen A. Smith was reporting that James and Chris Bosh were definitely going to Miami to play with Wade. Tomorrow could very well supply a “James and Johnson to New York” headline.
Meanwhile, Miami doesn’t have the cap space to add Bosh and LeBron to Wade - and probably can’t get there - and Chicago is still under the threshold needed for two max slots … and may not be able to get there either.
In truth, nobody knows until LeBron signs the contract. I remember two summers ago when the airwaves were flooded with reports that Elton Brand had verbally agreed to sign with the Clippers. Okay, well, we all know what actually happened there - just ask Philadelphia 76ers fans. They’ll tell you. Loudly.
In the meantime, people can only report what they hear - but that’s all they can do. And report they will. Yes, LeBron has used free agency for marketing purposes. He has used free agency to use the media, more precisely. But now the media is also using LeBron to drive hits to its websites and eyes to its television networks. I haven’t chekced any kinds of listing, but I would bet that the NBA has some kind of pre-free agency show on NBA TV on Wednesday night. So count the NBA amidst the users, as well. Hell, count Mesa while you’re at it. We’re not generating money, but we are using LeBron to generate thinking and ideas.
One final note for today. If you have ESPN Insider access, I highly recommend the free agency writings of Tom Haberstroh. Just today, he posted a piece on “The Bargain Bin,” which got me thinking that a few of the players listed - like Mike Miller, JJ Redick, and Anthony Morrow - could certainly be targeted by the Cavs as additions to a LeBron James-led squad.
I would even argue that Mike Miller - who is the same age as Joe Johnson - would be a very meaningful upgrade at the shooting guard position. It made me start to think about just how the addition of players in the mid-level exception range could change the outlook of the Cavaliers lineup around LeBron enough to influence his decision.
Derrick Rose, for example, may be young, and he may have made the All-Star team, but he’s still an upside player that doesn’t fit well alongside James. Young, we have to remember, does not always mean better (Glitch, I’m looking at you).
I could go on. But come July 8th, I may have gone on for no reason. So I think I’ll wait.
Tune out the noise. Wait for the ink.
