Jay-Z expected to be among first to visit LeBron
Adrian Wojnarowski

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports 25 minutes ago

LeBron James(notes) is planning to invite six teams to meet him over the first three days of free agency, and rap mogul Jay-Z and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov will be part of a New Jersey Nets contingent that is expected make one of the first presentations on July 1 in the Akron, Ohio, area, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
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James and his advisors plan to have the Nets, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers make presentations. Yahoo! Sports first reported on Thursday morning that James would be taking appointments with teams on July 1 to begin his free-agency process.

The Bulls have emerged as the favorites for James, and the Heat and Nets are making a strong push, too. The Knicks and Clippers appear to be longer shots to sign James. The Cavaliers remain a viable choice because of James’ seven seasons there and the opportunity for him to make as much as $30 million more re-signing with his hometown team.

The Nets are hoping the global might of Jay-Z – an idol and mentor to James – and Prokhorov can appeal to James’ desire to be a billionaire athlete with an international platform and profile.

Nets general manager Rod Thorn and coach Avery Johnson will also make the trip, but Thorn has decided to leave his job and retire in July. He hasn’t been happy with the pay cut the new owner has offered, and he also feels that at 69 years old his appetite for the job’s grind has diminished.

Nets ownership will try to move quickly on a replacement, and sources say potential targets will include Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti, New Orleans GM Jeff Bower and San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford. Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks, who has drawn interest in the Portland Trail Blazers’ search, is a strong candidate, too.

The Nets are planning to move into a new Brooklyn arena after playing the next two seasons at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

IMO, you can eliminate 2 teams off the top -

1. the Clippers, one of the worst teams, wost management, worst luck, and they play second fiddle to the Lakers in LA.

2. The Nets - they will play the next 2 years in Newark, then Brooklyn, had the worst record last year, and just had one of the best GM's(Rod Thorn) quit. They play 2nd fiddle to the Knicks in NY. They have to get a GM before LeBron even considers them. Interesting International owner/billionaire though, who will pour millions into the team. But so did the Knicks, and look where that got us.

The Knicks are right in it. The Big question , IMO,is what LeBron thinks of Dolan, whose reputation is very poor. Dolan needs to assure LBJ's people that he will stay out of the BBall operations. Also, there needs to be a successor in waiting for Donnie. He signed a 4 year contract - Donnie will probably retire then, if not before. LeBron will want to see what the next 5 years offers him.

The NY Knicks also offers LBJ the ability to partially own the team as MSG is traded publically. That might also be enticing and a smart business move. With LeBron playing for the Knicks, the Knicks and MSG will sell out every game, and have many more viewers around the world. He and his people can buy MSG stock and prosper.

Chicago - I don't see LeBron signing in Chicago. He will always be in the shadow of MJ, and in reality, LeBron isn't as good as MJ. I think they are a longshot.

Miami - it's possible. To play with Wade, no income tax. Nice weather....but more hurricanes and oil spills.

Cleveland - I think LeBron needs to step out and see the world. He tried Cleveland and it hasn't worked. More salary for LeBron, but not necessarily more total income. He will move on.

IMO, we were, and still are the frontrunners to sign LeBron, and we'll let him decide who the second max player will be.

Getting Bosh helps their chances of getting Lebron, but it also helps their chances of fielding a decent team.

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:The Knicks need to focus on Chris Bosh first.

Getting Bosh helps their chances of getting Lebron, but it also helps their chances of fielding a decent team.

You do realize Bosh is Miami's first target right? Plus we still need to see if Toronto and LA rekindle that Bosh for Bynum swap.

Yes, I think Bosh is either going to Miami or NY. If that stuff about him wanting to have his own team is true, the Knicks might stand a chance.

I think it's a better bet than LeBron at this point.

The LA/Bynum talks are irrelevant if Bosh opts out. Toronto can't do anything without Bosh being on board. And it really doesn't make sense to me that the Lakers would want Pau Gasol and Bosh in the same front court.

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

crzymdups wrote:The Knicks need to focus on Chris Bosh first.

Getting Bosh helps their chances of getting Lebron, but it also helps their chances of fielding a decent team.

You do realize Bosh is Miami's first target right? Plus we still need to see if Toronto and LA rekindle that Bosh for Bynum swap.

Yes, I think Bosh is either going to Miami or NY. If that stuff about him wanting to have his own team is true, the Knicks might stand a chance.

I think it's a better bet than LeBron at this point.

The LA/Bynum talks are irrelevant if Bosh opts out. Toronto can't do anything without Bosh being on board. And it really doesn't make sense to me that the Lakers would want Pau Gasol and Bosh in the same front court.

Well Bynum cannot stay healthy EVER is probably a good reason. Plus Gasol and the rest of that team aren't getting younger. Plus I think Bosh wants that 6th year in a S&T.

Bynum and Bargnani up front would be an upgrade for Toronto.

who can say what the lakers will do? they're waiting to hear for sure on phil jackson. then their first move will have to be to find a new coach.

there are barely enough shots for gasol as it is. you put bosh and gasol down low... they're both score like 15ppg. it's a waste. i don't think the lakers will chase bosh. i think toronto would obviously make that trade, but they don't really get to choose, now do they?

if the lakers really wanted to make that trade, their best shot would have been at the draft when the raptors could have traded bosh's rights to the lakers. but that didn't happen, did it?

i think bosh goes to miami in a sign and trade for beasley or new york in a sign and trade for david lee.

From RealGM:
Several sources told Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that they believe LeBron James still prefers to sign in New York.

"Although the Bulls and Heat are clearing cap space, several people familiar with James' thinking believe that the Knicks are still his desired destination if he elects to leave Cleveland in his rearview mirror," wrote Isola.

"He told me after the Olympics he wanted to live in New York," one of the sources said. "And as far as I know nothing has changed."

When the Knicks meet with James, they will tell him: "Come here and there is no pressure to win a title the first year. We'll win 50 games, make the playoffs and you'll be the conquering hero. The next year we'll reload and we'll make a run at it."

Part of the Knicks' pitch will be that not only can James bring a second maximum-salary free agent with him to New York this summer, the team is also set up to have significant salary-cap room again next summer when Eddy Curry's contract comes off the books. Some have speculated that Curry's expiring contract could be traded this off-season to help strengthen New York's roster.

An executive whose team is in the hunt for James said the superstar free agent could take three weeks to make a decision. During that time, James might stop in New York and visit other teams in each of their respective cities.

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67462/20100626/sources_lebron_still_prefers_new_york/#ixzz0ry5BdHWJ

This whole Lebron sweepstakes is such a clusterf*(k. One guy says this, multiple sources say that. He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. Why are we stuck in this situation of pulling petals off a flower?

I want to have the King, but if we don't land him I just want Donnie to make smart choices that improve our team. Thankfully, this nonsense will be over soon. And I don't think Lebron is endearing himself to anyone with all of this hoohah. I realize he isn't actually controlling the media, but it's really getting to be too much for everyone.

crzymdups wrote:

martin wrote:

crzymdups wrote:
who can say what the lakers will do? they're waiting to hear for sure on phil jackson. then their first move will have to be to find a new coach.

there are barely enough shots for gasol as it is. you put bosh and gasol down low... they're both score like 15ppg. it's a waste. i don't think the lakers will chase bosh. i think toronto would obviously make that trade, but they don't really get to choose, now do they?

if the lakers really wanted to make that trade, their best shot would have been at the draft when the raptors could have traded bosh's rights to the lakers. but that didn't happen, did it?

i think bosh goes to miami in a sign and trade for beasley or new york in a sign and trade for david lee.

with Bynum's history of injuries, not sure TOR would do that trade. Perhaps if they could dump Hedo in the process...

Yeah, it's no lock Toronto accepts Bynum - but how many young centers are there like that in the league? 4? 3?

If Bynum stays healthy, the Raptors might win that trade. Which is why I don't think the Lakers do it. Bynum is too valuable defensively.

I think Toronto would accept David Lee... but not sure David would accept going to Toronto just to get his 6th year.

i hear ya. that toronto team's known for attracting some creepy sycophantic fans and i think most players are trying to steer clear of that.

The Knicks are right in it. The Big question , IMO,is what LeBron thinks of Dolan, whose reputation is very poor. Dolan needs to assure LBJ's people that he will stay out of the BBall operations. Also, there needs to be a successor in waiting for Donnie. He signed a 4 year contract - Donnie will probably retire then, if not before. LeBron will want to see what the next 5 years offers him.

For ex, We gave both Nate and Lee much more than their qualifying offer when we only really needed to give them the QO salary. In Lee's case, that was approx $5 mil extra. That is a lot of money but David was considered worth it. Nate got a couple of million $ extra also. Plus Nate and Lee had the incentive bonuses if we made the playoffs.

Compare this to Chicago. They only offered the QO to Ben Gordon. He didn't get any extra money. So he played the last year for peanuts and then walked. Our reputation with handling players fairly is better than Chicago's.