NBA Free Agency: LeBron James’ waiting & signing roundup
By Bryce Olin
As of 24 hours ago (maybe a little more depending on when you’re reading), the NBA’s signing day officially began. Teams can now put pen to paper and sign these free agents for real. We’re through one full day and it’s been fairly uneventful because of one man: the man, the myth, the legend, LeBron James.
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Only four years ago, James made a giant mistake in his first run of NBA free agency with “The Decision,” taking his talents to South Beach, and raising $2 million for the Boys & Girls Clubs. He’s been mocked and crucified by fans and media members alike for four straight seasons. And now, I just have to ask all the people who thought “The Decision” was a bad idea:
Is this better?
How can this possibly be any better than announcing his choice on national TV? There’s a rumor firestorm surrounding James. There’s been numerous deadlines for his next decision that have come and gone. LeBron, himself, is avoiding the media at all cost. ESPN has turned into “LeBronCenter” with 24/7 coverage on LeBron, LeBron, LeBron. I feel like Jan from the Brady Bunch complaining this much about James. Whatever is happening right now cannot be better than a guy raising money for charity and announcing it to the world for everyone to watch at the same time. We’re so crazy to find out what James will do that we’re like two more days from The Purge actually becoming real. Was “The Decision” self-centered a tad? Of course, but how is this any better? It’s not, and it’s driving us all bat shit crazy!
No one knows where James is going. Chris Sheridan is standing by his story that James will choose Cleveland, but it’s easy to stand by a story when nothing has happened yet. It’s like a 50/50 shot he goes to Cleveland. If Sheridan rolls the dice and James DOES go to Cleveland, he looks like a genius. If LeBron stays in Miami, he can cover his bases by saying James changed his mind. That’s the state of journalism in free agency right now, and it’s bad for everyone involved… except LeBron James.
James is sticking it to everyone right now, and he doesn’t care what we think or what we want. It’s LeBron’s world and we’re living in it, especially Cleveland. The opportunity to sign James, apparently, has the whole city of Cleveland and Cavs’ organization frothing at the mouth. In order to clear cap space, the Cavs traded Jarrett Jack and Tyler Zeller in a three-team deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, which sent Jack to Brooklyn and Zeller to Boston along with Nets’ guard Marcus Thornton. It’s all blasphemous, if you ask me.
Although James is the main story and roadblock of free agency so far, there is plenty of other stuff to talk about.
The next biggest story, other than James’ and Carmelo Anthony’s indecision, was Chandler Parsons signing an offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks. There were talks of a possible sign-and-trade with the Houston Rockets for Parsons, but those talks fell through and the Mavs presented the Rockets with the offer sheet. To retain Parsons, Darryl Morey and the Rockets would need to match the three-year/$46 million offer the Mavs gave Parsons within the next three days.
As far as I know, matching the offer sheet for Parsons doesn’t eliminate the possibility of Chris Bosh or Anthony in Houston. However, the Rockets would need to rid themselves of Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. There has been contradicting reports of Lin to Philadelphia and Asik to New Orleans. Right now, those trades haven’t happened, and they need to in order to get Bosh or keep Parsons. Without trading Lin and Asik, basically, the Rockets cannot obtain Bosh and Parsons. They’d have to choose one or the other. The next three days are going to be cray.
Offering a contract for Parsons was a huge move by the Mavs. One, it makes Houston sweat and puts the pressure on Morey to make a monumental decision. That’s exactly what a rival team should do when teams have restricted free agents available. When you can steal a good young player as a RFA or help in the process of debilitating one of your rival teams, YOU DO THAT EVERY TIME! Way to go, Mark Cuban! On the plus side, Parsons is also a great fit for the Mavericks. He fits their style of play, as a three-point shooter and good young player to add some youth to the Mavs’ frontline. It just makes sense.
Staying in the Western Conference, Portland made a splash today by inking two former Lakers, Chris Kaman and Steve Blake. It was reported over the Fourth of July weekend that Kaman was coming to Portland, but the Blake signing wasn’t announced until this morning. As a fan of the Blazers and native of the Pacific Northwest, I’m especially excited for these two signings. Blake and Kaman provide veteran stability to a young Blazers’ bench.
Blake isn’t exactly the player Mo Williams was last year, but it’s still possible the Blazers bring him back. Blake acts as a backup plan, and a little leverage. The Blazers don’t NEED Williams to come back now, although everyone, including me, would love to see Williams in that Rip City jersey for another year. As for Kaman, he can add some post scoring to a team who needs that inside offensive punch. He’s a below average defender, but Kaman competes, and those are the type of players who can make a good team better.
It was a slightly uneventful day in NBA free agency, especially for a signing day. Everyone is waiting on the LeBron signing. It’s an NBA free agency stalemate out there right now, and guess where James is? Brazil! He took off to Brazil for the World Cup Final, and we’re left to wait, wait, and wait some more. We probably deserve it, though, for how mean we were to him last time this whole situation went down.