The King's Court

While Kobe is busy setting himself up for a 5-Th ring and potential parity with his Airness MJ, King James is having an interesting month or two to say the least. He first lost some goodwill with that horrible game 5 against the Celtics and the loss in the Eastern semis - couple of rounds before his projected exit. Then there was the ugly rumor about an affair between Delonte West and his mom. He then started his free agency period. He has always enjoyed the chase and all the attention, but he has done some weird things this spring. While Kobe is still hitting fade-away jumpers, the King is sitting by a pool and chatting with the other king - Larry King. I don't think anybody should be on Larry King's show except 50 year-old cougars. He did say Cleveland has an edge in that interview, but why is he even talking to Larry King during the NBA finals?

Then there is the supposed stupid free agent summit involving him, Joe Johnson, Wade, Bosh and may be Nowitzki. Of course Amare wants to join that too. But what are these guys going to decide? All of these guys want max contracts and no team has the money to pay 2 of these guys. Nets and Knicks theoretically have it, but it's really not practical. If you pay 2 max contracts, you got no money for good role players and no flexibility for trades for years. While a team with LeBron and Wade or Wade and Bosh sounds great, you need more than that to win. Look at the Lakers and the Celtics. Both teams have 4 or 5 guys making decent salary with a max or 2 thrown in. So getting 2 max contracts off the street is not a viable strategy. Extending one of your own and picking one off the street is more viable. Secondly, the way NBA salaries are structured, these guys will be giving up about 30 million dollars over 6 years if they choose to sign with another team and not their own. And nobody is going to do that. So I am pretty sure Bosh, LeBron and Wade are going to sign with their own team. The only question is, are they going to play there next year or force a sign and trade to another team. If it's sign and trade, then the Knicjs and Nets don't have the pieces for one, let alone 2.

So the summit is pretty stupid and useless. The only thing it achieves is for these guys to structure their contracts very similarly. Specifically, they can talk about when is their next opt-out. That way they can create another "biggest summer of NBA free agency ever" again in 3 or 4 years like they did this year. These guys coordinated their opt-outs the last time they signed their contract. Thats why Carmelo Anthony is not in the field this year. He signed the same contract the same year, but he didn't put in the opt-out like LeBron or D-Wade. They can do it again and enjoy the attention, but other than that this summit is worthless. Bron and Wade can never be in the same team. The only option is for one of the bigs - Amare, Bosh, Nowitzki or Boozer to team up with either Bron or Wade. This can still happen, but this summit won't make it happen. It is going to take some create deal-making by a GM or 3 to make it happen.

Then there are the wholesale changes in the Cleveland management. Coach Brown is fired, GM Ferry is gone. They are now talking to Tom Izzo after the John Calipari rumors died down. Seems like Tom Izzo is even considering taking the job. The most interesting part of this is, I have no idea why Izzo would want this job if there is no guarantee LeBron will be back. I would assume LeBron will stay in Cleveland if Izzo signs on the dotted line. Either way, I never understand this infatuation with top college coaches. It's really a different game and success in college rarely translates to success in the NBA. I would rather go with known big names among the ex-NBA coaches who are unemployed right now. But the point is, the Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is doing all this to please the King. Of course he is saying thats not the case, but the King is right now getting whatever he wants from Gilbert and understandably so. Gil is desperate and is letting the inmates - actually one inmate, run the asylum. All of this is adding to some bad press for the King. He should just lie low and wait for July 1-St. He needs to manage this better. We all like to be pursued and courted, but the King might just be taking this too far.