7/9: One Crazy Night

Forgive me for lack of non-NBA content today... but it may have been the craziest night in NBA history that didn't involve a basketball game of any sort... let's get to it.. there are layers upon layers...

Lebron is headed to South Beach... by now, you clearly know that... First off, I'm very surprised by this move for a number of reasons..

1. The shear testicular fortitude it takes to have an hour-long ESPN special to announce you are headed elsewhere and rip the hearts out of everyone in Cleveland is something I wasn't sure Lebron was capable of...
2. Stars never take less money... and we always KILL them for this... how many times has sports radio guy called and said "if he really wanted to win, he'd take less money and go to city X"... well, here's the test case, he's definitely taking less money (we don't know exactly how much less, but it's at least 27 million dollars), to go after rings... can't kill him for that if you have been that guy yelling from the rooftops about taking less to win
3. After all the mountains of hype, he heads to a team with an established superstar (and I don't use that term loosely) in Dwyane Wade who has already won a ring as the team's best player... for this to work basketball-wise? I think Lebron has to be the main distributor... it's in his DNA.. like evolutionary Magic, he's fantastic at seeing the floor and passing... Wade? He's a scorer through-and-through
4. One reason that this is a TAD less surprising? Lebron is from Akron... repeat, Lebron is from Akron... for those of you that don't know that area... Akron is 40+ miles from Cleveland, isn't considered to be a suburb of Cleveland, and is the 5th largest city in Ohio, and 81st largest city in the US... why does any of this matter? Lebron's only ties to CLEVELAND are the last 7 years of playing there... and even then, it's not as if he had a choice for the first 3 years... just something to keep in mind...

The fallout...

• The single funniest/craziest subplot of this whole thing is an open letter to the fans written by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert... just lambasting Lebron at every turn... you can read it here: http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html - and you must read it to give it justice... even more fuel was added to the fire... and I still can't stop laughing...
• Basketball wise, this is a challenge... Miami has exactly one person under contract as of now (I'll explain that more in a minute), and even when adding the Big 3, they still need to sign 9 guys at least... most (or all) of which have to be minimum salaries depending on how much below the max Wade/Bosh/LBJ take...
• Michael Beasley... the #2 overall pick in the 2008 draft... was GIVEN away last night by Miami to make more cap room... I can't stress how crazy that in itself is... he was dealt to Minnesota (the calamity that is David Kahn) for a 2011 2nd-rounder... that's the #2 overall pick a short time ago for a 2nd-rounder... keeps getting weirder and weirder...
• And now, reportedly Mike Miller will sign with Miami for 5 years and 30 million... where are they getting that money from? Your guess is as good as mine... but that's roughly the equivalent of what Beasley had coming (in year 1) so the stars will be taking less than the max if this deal is actually going down...

What happens to the other cities?

• Cleveland - I'm sorry, Cleveland... I really am... the hour-long special was "an unprecedented eff you" (to quote Bill Simmons), and you didn't deserve to be strung along like that... but you are now completely irrelevant basketball-wise... the bright side? You have 12-13 million under the cap if you get rid of Delonte West (which should be easy as his contract is only partially guaranteed)... the not-so-bright side?... there's no impact guys left to spend that money on... and your current 1-2 scoring punch is an aging Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams... welcome to the 8-seed competition...
• Chicago - This team is still very, very good... they've added the post scorer they never had (Boozer) and have a very nice core of 4 guys (Rose, Boozer, Noah, Deng) to build on... also, they still have around 17 million in cap space to spread around to make that team better... if they spend it wisely, they could be a contender depending on the development of Rose as a #1 guy... but this doesn't kill them
• New York - Well... this didn't turn out so great for James Dolan and Donnie Walsh... they've peddled the Summer of 2010 for 2+ years... and they end up with Amare, Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, and Eddy Curry's corpse... that's bad... they still have money (i.e. Ray Felton or something), but when you add in that ridiculous trade with Houston at the 2010 trade deadline where they mortgaged even MORE future (Jordan Hill, 2 no. 1's) just to get farther under the cap... and they didn't use that extra money? Shockingly terrible...
• New Jersey - They knew they were out of this fairly early... but they are in better shape than the Knicks... they've left a significant amount of cap room open to play with in trades, etc., and still hold the rights to Brook Lopez (a legit center who will give you 19 and 10), Derrick Favors, and Devin Harris, while signing (and overpaying) for Travis Outlaw at 5 years, 35 million... Outlaw can play, it's just the overpayment that's an issue... but there's a corps in place...

What does it mean for 2011 and beyond?

• Most are anointing the 2010-11 Miami Heat as NBA champions... I'd be quick to go against that... realizing that minimum-contract guys who can be functional don't exactly grow on trees... and realizing they need to sign 8 or 9 of them? Wow... I'd say pencil in Jason Williams at the point (he's average, but a vet who's capable), and that helps them... but even if you expect Mike Miller to be there, you still only have 6 guys, none of which are a physical big man, and one of those is Mario Chalmers (who I don't trust at all)... Basketball is a team game, and they'll need rotation guys who fill roles (I love the Miller signing if it's true, perfect guy to play with them) to win titles... I believe these 3 guys could roll out of bed with 9 rookies and win 50 games, but they aren't beating LA or Boston with no supporting cast... and they aren't winning a title without unearthing some veteran minimum gems...

And finally... a comment on the whole spectacle that was... the hype machine was in absurd effect here, and ESPN can take some blame for that (and they have already)... but at some point, especially when considering the 1-hour special, that's on Lebron and his people... because there isn't a network anywhere that wouldn't have picked up that for the ratings bonanza that it was... Did I lose a little favor for Lebron as a person through this? Yea, maybe a little... he clearly loves the attention and he's told us so (global icon, etc.) so the "surprise" factor in him trotting this out wasn't really there for me... but in the end, he shouldn't have done the massive spectacle if he wasn't going back to Cleveland, there was just no need for it... I have no issue with going elsewhere... none... but a little tact wouldn't have hurt...

Will I root for the Heat? Nope.. It's not in my natures to root for the "favorites" unless they are a team I previously have ties to... the Heat are in the same division as my beloved Atlanta Hawks (sigh), and I can't bring myself to do it... I hope they fail epicly, simply because it will be a fantastic story... but at any rate, it's going to be a wild season... and that's all we can ask for