Lots of people going out on a limb here. Looking more and more likely that he's going to Cleveland. Seems like a big mistake to me, but I don't know the man.
Curious why you think it's a mistake. Seems like it's clearly a better destination basketball-wise for the next 4-5 years, and it's probably the only place he could go that would help him from a PR and legacy standpoint.
I gave a couple of reasons yesterday. First because I doubt he will win a ring right away there
(whereas he has a very good chance with Miami this year), and second because I'm skeptical that even his presence in Cleveland will attract other big name free agents in the future: even with LeBron, it's still Cleveland.
I think the Wade factor looms large, here.
It's hard to imagine a scenario where the Heat/Spoelstra could manage him with even daintier kid gloves than they did this year, without rendering him completely useless. But even that wasn't enough to keep him from looking worn out and zombie-like by the end of the playoffs.
He doesn't seem to be injured so much as chronically disabled at this point. It's clearly manageable for him (his numbers looked good for the year, after all), but it's looking increasingly like his body is going to make it impossible to manage him in such a way that you can consider him a title run asset.
I'll take a healthy Kyrie over a dilapidated Wade if I'm hoping for a legit title chance, even though Kyrie hasn't proven it in the postseason yet. He may be the 20th-25th best alpha in the league, but he instantly jumps a lot higher than that up the scale of second bananas leaguewide.
I like the shape and potential of that Cavs squad if it happens, whether they keep Wiggins and let Bron mentor him or change him into a max-level asset. And I don't think there's anything any team in the east can do to make them a smarter bet to get to the finals than that team. Melo to CHI probably makes them the betting favorite, but I take LeBron and any four over Rose and Melo in an everything-at-stake situation, until they show me otherwise, and that's without taking into account the very real chance that Rose is just done as an impact player.
If Bron goes to Cleveland and they make no other moves, they're not on cruise control like he was with two other in-their-prime HOF'ers, knowing that they can just rest on their laurels until the postseason. That's a motivated Lebron looking for hometown redemption, being a leader to a young squad (as a guy who clearly has the respect of his fellow players), and fighting to prove something.
If it happens, even with Wiggins instead of Love, I'm confident the Cavs win 60+ and cruise to the finals next year. (ETA: though I'm not at all confident yet that such a team would be a favorite over whoever came out of the West.)
So many articles about how they are agonizing over these decisions as if it's going to come down to Melo, Lala, their son, and a slice of Lindy's cheesecake late one night as they make this decision. These guys have been preparing for this, well, pretty much since they signed their deals 4 years ago. They've been weighing options and sketching out what the next four years of their lives will look like from all angles; on the court, marketing, brand, family, travel, taxes, etc. The meetings and woo'ing is certainly important, but Carmelo Anthony isn't going to Houston because he enjoying the quesadillas at lunch last week.
