Lebron's Future

Let's get this straight...loyalty is NOT going to keep LeBron in Cleveland. Let's use this as an analogy...you go to college with the intention of working for a consulting firm when you graduate. After 4 years, you've got a group of guys that you are extremely close with...you guys lived together in college, ate your meals together, chased girls together...and now the time has come for recruiting. While the other guys got by with 3.0's and got offers at the same local, privately owned consulting firm, you have an offer to go work with ivy leaguers at McKinsey. Sure, you can stay in bumf****, USA and have a great time living out your 20's, make decent money, and have a very nice and ordinary life. Or you can go for your dream job, work with people on your intellectual level, ultimately make a TON more money, and realize your potential. Which path seems more logical?

In 15 years, is LeBron going to say: "DAMN, I can't believe that I deserted Mo and Delonte for 6 championships rings!" while he's sitting on the 200ft yacht that he and Wade share off the gulf coast? Doubt it. He's not in this business to keep a couple friends who are fringe starters in the NBA. He's here to win championships and brand himself as a next global icon. You don't do that as the "Akron Hammer". You do that as "The King", and there are only a few cities fit for a king.

CB4's best destination: Chicago

This is the best place for Chris Bosh for a number of reasons.
Here’s the first:

The lineup. Rose and Bosh would be the best PG/PF combo since Stockton – Malone, (Okay maybe not quite but potentially better than Duncan – Parker). Luol Deng holds down the 3 for the next 5 years. And what Bosh has always needed, a Parrish to his McHale, an Oakley to his Ewing, a bodyguard, Joakim Noah. He’s fiery, he’ll have Bosh’s back, and he compliments his game perfectly. Noah blocks shots, rebounds, and doesn’t need to operate in the high post like Andrea Banana. If I was Bosh, I would be looking for another post guy that can guard the other team’s best big guy every night.

Furthermore, the bulls have enough cap room to add a good wing guy, a 1st round draft pick, and the best alien since Sam Cassell, Taj Gibson. Imagine this roster:

C – Noah
PF – Bosh
SF – Deng
SG – Free Agent wing (let’s say Ray Allen, who could hold down the spot for a 1st round pick)
PG – Rose

Bench: Gibson PF, Brad Miller C, Hinrich PG, Draft Pick (Xavier Henry SG?), James Johnson at SF

Not a bad young team at all. They would be the 3rd best team in the East automatically, and in a year, with some good moves involving Hinrich’s expiring (in 2012) in the summer of 2011, they could challenge the Cavs with their patented feistiness and the Bosh/Rose combo.

Let’s explore this hypothetical:

The Bulls keep the starting 5 above, and have Gibson, Johnson, and X Henry on the bench. They sign FA Sam Dalembert (who will probably be overpaid by a team that thinks he can start), Shane Battier, and Keep Hinrich’s expiring contract for a random impact player on an imploding team during the 2011-12 season.
Here’s the depth chart for that roster

C – Noah - Dalembert
PF – Bosh - Gibson
SF – Deng – Battier - Johnson
SG – Ray Allen - X Henry
PG – Rose - Hinrich

That’s a sick lineup that can play any style, and would actually work financially because Henry, Gibson, Rose and Noah would still be operating on their rookie deals for that season.

They could go small against the Cavs with Bosh, Deng, Battier, Allen, Rose lineup, and they could go huge with Dalembert, Noah, Bosh, Deng and Rose. They have shooters, stoppers, and crunch time guys. They have the right blend of youth and experience. They could throw out a great shooting lineup of Bosh, Battier, Allen, Henry, and Rose/Hinrich. And, if Lebron signs elsewhere, this is the best team in the East.

CB4 and The Russian Mark Cuban - Bosh Speculation pt. 3

Huge market potential if they move, billionaire owner willing to maim and mangle the luxury tax, and Brook Lopez. Imagine twin towers of Bosh and Lopez complimenting eachother’s games perfectly? They could sign and trade Yi and Devin Harris because they would be better than nothing and clear almost as much cap room as everybody else. Plus, if they get John Wall or Evan Turner, they’re the best young team in the east, hands down.

Just because we’ve been doing it with the other teams, potential lineup:

C – Lopez
PF – Bosh
SF – Terrence Williams
SG – Courtney Lee/Turner
PG – Wall/FA PG (say, Ray Felton)

Sick, right? Sign one more guy, like a Travis Outlaw at SF and it’s downright mouthwatering in terms of potential.

CB4 and BR...oy. Shit.

He could conceivably go to Portland in sign and trade for LaMarcus Aldridge, which the Raps would do in a nano-milli-American-attention-span. He knows Roy from AAU, they’re a gutsy team (sorta) on the rise, and have a good combo of complimentary guys around him. They could pick and roll the hell out of any team with Bosh and the three main guards.

Say they trade Aldridge for Bosh, and then re-up Camby and sign Roger Mason.

Lineup
C – Oden and his penis
PF – Bosh
SF – Batum
SG – Roy
PG – Miller
Bench – Bayless PG, Mason SG, Fernandez SF, Camby C/PF, Jeff Pendergraph, who knows.

That’s a deep team with clutch players and makes a nice run, possibly to the Finals.
(Even better, what if they sign and trade for Matt Barnes too? How is he still so underappreciated? He hits threes, plays tough D, has huge balls (metaphorically) and is the only (sort of) sane person in America with a neck tattoo. I would sign him as soon as he hit the market this summer if I’m ANY team.)

CB4 and CP3? Analyzing Bosh's future pt. 1

Toronto PF and third biggest FA prize this summer Chris Bosh tweeted last night that he was pretty jealous of the guys playing in the playoffs and wondered how heavy that MVP trophy was. There’s no way Bosh remains in Toronto, which has a bungled cap, crappy euro-floppers as 2nd and 3rd guys (Hedo Turkoglu, Italian Model Andrea Banana) and no chance at playoff contention for at least a decade or three. So let’s analyze where he could be headed;
New York Knicks:
This only works if another guy, like Joe Johnson or even better DWade, join him. But he could have an Amare-like scoring/rebounding rage running under D’Antoni. A good point guard to get him the ball, and a team of 3 point shooters, and theyre a poor man’s Suns. Hypothetically,m say they sign Steve Blake at PG to a 1 yr deal with a team option for a 2nd, Joe Johnson at SG, and some random big guy, lets say Tyson Chandler at C for the same deal as Blake. That gives them a lineup of
C – Chandler
PF- Bosh
SF - Galinari
SG -Johnson
PG – Blake

Bench
Toney Douglas SG
Wilson Chandler SF
Spanish White Chocolate Rodriguez PG
Random Big Guys C/PF

How attractive is NY for CP3 in a couple of years? They sign or trade for him, (take a bunch of crap contracts or whatever) and draft like one or 2 filler guys, they’d be a very rich man’s Suns then.

Side note: I actually think Wade could conceivably end up a Knick, because he’s already won a title in Miami and the Beasley pick may have ruined his confidence in the Heat front office. Wade has shown he’s a savvy marketer of his own mystique.

Myron Rolle cont.

To echo the Doctor's point, say there's a worst case scenario, and he does leave the game early and pulls a Robert Smith. YOU STILL GET 6 PRODUCTIVE YEARS. What if you get 4? What are the odds you find a better backup for that period of time, let alone a starter? A four year contract being seen all the way through for a productive backup is pretty rare in the NFL. Titans got a steal. There's a reason teams like they and the Ravens are good every year, it's because of picks like this one.

Myron Rolle

In the spirit of post-draft discussion, I want to talk about everyone's favorite scholar athlete, one Mr. Myron Rolle. This saga is boggling my mind and every NFL expert seems to have a different take on his precipitous fall in the draft this past month.

First, everyone has a different take on WHY Rolle fell in the draft. I think there is only one answer...NFL teams deemed he lacked a commitment to the game. Coming out of high school, this guy was ranked as the number 1 safety in the country, with some scouting services even naming him the best player regardless of position. Throughout his career at FSU, he gathered all-american/conference awards while starting on a high-division I team for 3 full years. While he might not be an elite talent, there is no question that he has the physical tools to compete in the NFL. Thus, his drop was not because he was suddenly perceived to be an inferior athlete. A year away from the game is also does not affect players' as much as is commonly assumed. Mike Williams sat out a year, came to the combine and ran a 4.56, and was still selected 10th overall. Bradford was injured for a full year and still managed to get picked 1st overall. Not only was Rolle not injured, and thus still able to continue conditioning, he even followed a workout plan given to him by his college team's trainer.

With regards to this so-called "lack of commitment", I say bullshit. While some argue that most players in the NFL remain completely committed because they have no other options, they aren't actually giving up anything by playing the game. Myron is risking his entire future to play football. There is no doubt that long term brain damage is a prevalent issue in the NFL, one that would obviously hinder Rolle's success in the future. So the fact that Rolle is still choosing to devote the next decade of his life to the sport should carry more weight...other athletes might have more to gain, but no one has more to lose than this man by playing the game.

Furthermore, on a day-to-day basis, I think that Rolle's commitment should actually be viewed as a plus. Football games in the NFL are won in the film room much more so than it is on the field. Obviously, Rolle has demonstrated the ability to devote his concentration to certain tasks for long periods of time as well as resist other temptations (partying/drinking too much, gambling, or any other athlete kryptonite). So yeah, he may fill up his free time volunteering at the local hospital or reading the NYT, but isn't that better than hot-boxing with Pacman on the freeway at 3am with 2 hookers in the backseat? Plus, it could be argued (albeit weakly) that Rolle mental capacity will allow him to pick things up quicker than the average NFL player.

Many people have also argued that Rolle is only playing the game to earn a few bucks, which he can in turn use to fund his future goals of attending medical school and starting a clinic in his native Bahamas. Even if this were true, his rookie contract will be far from enough to cover those expenses. The most comparable salary, that of the contract signed by last year's 209th pick (last of the 6th round), Bernard Scott, was 1.75 million over 4 years. Even if he had been picked in the 3rd round, his salary would only be in the range of 4-5 million over 4 years, nothing close to what he likely needs to fund his future goals. Along that logic, Rolle should be even MORE motivated to outperform his rookie contract in order to secure himself a more lucrative veterans deal. Upon receiving this contract, he would have to continue performing, as the NFL's CBA does not guarantee contracts on a year to year basis.

Finally, the question I think all NFL front offices should ask themselves is...what is the relative risk in drafting a player like Myron Rolle? A recent ESPN study showed that of all starters in the NFL, the highest percentage of these players were first rounders and the second highest group was undrafted free agents, so it's not like a team's 3rd or 4th rounder is ever a slam dunk. True, drafting Rolle is not a "sexy" pick, as he won't have the upside of a player like Anthony McCoy or Carlos Dunlap, whose athletic abilities precede their productivity or character. However, at worst, you get a model citizen who instantly increases the credibility of your team, a leader by example with regards to weekly preparation, and a locker room favorite (it's not like he's a stuck-up ivy leaguer, his teammates at FSU fully supported his decision to leave early for the Rhodes even though many didn't even know what it was). I'd rather have a few more of those players on my team than players like Andre Smith, who end up just eating all the ice cream during mini-camp. At a 3-5 million dollar price tag over 4 years, how is drafting Myron a bigger risk than throwing ONE HUNDRED million dollars at a defensive tackle with a propensity for eating everything?

I think this whole situation points to a couple of things. First, the entire institution of the NFL draft is out of whack, where teams are entirely risk averse in the first round, since those picks come with such an exorbitant price tag, but then spend the next 6 rounds swinging for the fences and are happy when they hit on 2 or 3 players in any given draft class. Second, teams still struggle to understand the concept of team chemistry. You absolutely need talent to win championships...but you also need the leadership to allow that talent to become fulfilled. You can't win with a team filled with players of Myron Rolle's talent, but you also aren't winning anything if you have a team of Randy Moss's. Neither is more or less important to long term success, even though only one shows up on Sunday.

Give me your thoughts on this.