We’re in Chicago right now, and we can assure you that they’re paying as close attention to this LeBron Watch business as everybody there in New York. The Blackhawks are in the freaking Stanley Cup Finals, and the top stories on the news are Ozzie Guillen and Joe West, and the fact that Dwyane Wade’s claim that the Bulls are an organization without loyalty. LeBron James and the Free Agent Four are all everyone is talking about in the four cultural metropoleis of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. Oh, and Cleveland. There too.
Wade, who seems to be doing a lot of talking (hope the NBA doesn’t fine him for tampering!), said yesterday that the Free Agent Four (James, Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson) will meet and discuss their options in the off-season. This has a Justice League, Fortress of Solitude vibe to it, though Johnson’s surely the lamest superhero — Aquaman, maybe, or Green Hornet. (We are not saying Hawkman.)
Some think this summit is ideal for the Knicks:
The Knicks’ only shot at James is if he can convince Bosh — or Wade or Johnson — to come along for the ride. The Knicks are the only club that has cap room to sign two maximum contracts — with $34M in space.
Even if James stays in Cleveland or heads to Chicago, the Knicks would take any pair — Wade and Bosh, Johnson and Bosh, even Johnson and Wade.
Well, yes, we suppose, though we are far from convinced that: (a) this summit will ever take place (Wade does love to talk) or (b) that if it were to take place, two guys would hit it off so well that they couldn’t help but couple up, like a sitcom in which two members of the group of pals realize just in time for sweeps that they were in love with each other the whole time. (Oh, and we’re pretty sure that a team with Johnson, Wade, Danilo Gallinari, Bill Walker, and Wilson Chandler would be the most perimeter-oriented team in NBA history. Anyone over six-foot-ten and weighing more than 220 pounds would score 60 points a night on those guys.) Each of these men are multimillionaires who will make the decision about what’s best for them on their own, for themselves. We think the idea of a summit means little at this point, but no one can do anything until July 1, so everyone’s antsy.
Also worth noting: None of those guys are currently in the playoffs. So why wait, guys? Have that meeting today, if you’re gonna have it. You don’t seem to have anything else to do.