LEBRON'S DECISION: "THE DECISION" LIVE THREAD

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all posts about "the decision" itt

i just want to keep this thread bumped so everyone remembers that we have a separate ile thread for this -- moments like this will not get buried in a rolling thread!

fair enough. cross-referencing:

not possible imo

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, July 7, 2010 3:08 PM

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miami is nowhere near getting 3 doodz stop dreaming

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, July 7, 2010

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theres just not enough money, those three guys no matter what they say are just not gonna take a haircut like that

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, July 7, 2010

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daniel dood, its not miami

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, July 7, 2010

yeah, i'm too lazy right now to find all of joe's posts saying that the pats were gonna murder the giants

altho tbf i thought there was no way that lebron would ever do this either

.... if he does

a separate ilh thread i mean!

otoh,

wallacesports For those who didn't know, LeBron flying to MIA to meet Riles was more BS. And its a lot of it out there. So step carefully.

but that was about 5 hours ago, and there have been a flood of reports since that lebron was (maybe is) here.

Imma start a website called What little do they know.com..l2ms

strange. miami herald heat writer's last tweet says lebron wasn't in miami last night. sun-sentinel heat writer's last tweet implies lebron was in miami last night. so again, who knows? maybe espn is trying to generate drama by falsely-hyping miami's chances?

you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to locate the whereabouts of LEBRON JAMES but what do i know

well, there now are reports of lebron being here last night from a lot of sources. and i get the feeling that much of what you've seen over the past week has been misdirection on the part of players hoping/expecting to play together.

but, obv., i could be wrong. something could come out of left-field:

Then a reporter asked (Doc) Rivers if he knew what James would do.

Rivers smiled.

"Oh, yeah, I already know that, too," Rivers said, chuckling. "When he announces 'Boston' tomorrow you guys are going to be blown away by it! For the minimum!"

To be fair to Joe, I had my share of incredulous "the dream is dead, let go bro" posts over the past few weeks.

i think we all have

we all have

also, while i kid, i don't want to presume too much. i'm guessing we'll see a lot of wild-swings in speculation all day about where lebron james will sign. so . . . we'll see.

everyone is treating this as a done deal, weirdly -- wonder who the sources are right now and why this is being treated as much more solid

both from broussard's sources & the newsday reporters

not a done deal,lebron can change his mind

but broussard say it's miami on his mind right now

tbh probably only 3 people know what lebron is thinking

yeah, all these "sources" might be wrong. but there seems to be a trend in the narrative and stories. not long now for THE ANSWER.

still expect him to choose the clippers tbh

more now:

LeBron James’(notes) inner circle told multiple NBA officials and players Wednesday night that the two-time MVP is leaning toward joining Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) with the Miami Heat, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

James’ representatives spent part of Wednesday calling free agents to assess their interest in helping strengthen the Heat roster. James’ camp, sources said, went so far as to propose scenarios where the Heat would trade forward Michael Beasley(notes) to create additional salary-cap space to sign a complementary player. In those conversations, the representatives spoke only of Miami as the destination for James.

Suspicion lingered in the league whether this was a clear affirmation of James’ intent or a misdirection play designed to generate suspense for his primetime TV announcement. James will announce at 9 p.m. ET Thursday whether he will play for the Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks or New Jersey Nets.

Bosh and Wade decided early Wednesday to sign with the Heat and invited James to join them in forming an All-Star triumvirate that could alter the NBA’s power structure. Sources said Bosh and Wade felt optimistic about their odds of landing the sport’s most celebrated free agent after their conference call with James.

“They think they’ve got a real chance to pull this off with LeBron,” a source with knowledge of the call told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday morning.

One executive whose franchise was among James’ initial suitors said Wednesday morning the Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers were the only teams still being seriously considered by James. James’ representatives did little to quash the Miami speculation when they began helping search for players to fill out the Heat’s roster.

The Heat’s efforts to sign all three players received a boost Wednesday evening when the league announced it had set next season’s salary cap at $58 million, a $2 million increase from what most teams had projected. The Heat can now give James, Wade and Bosh a more modest cut from the maximum salary to fit all three players under the cap. All three are also represented by the same agency, CAA.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Wade said he told the Heat they would have to get a commitment from either Bosh or James to convince him to re-sign.

“It had to be one or the other,” Wade told the AP. “Of course, there’s a lot of talented players in this league. But you want to look at players that complement my game, and Chris and LeBron are two of those guys.”

Even if James decides to sign, the Heat still have significant work to fill out the remainder of their roster. Beasley and point guard Mario Chalmers(notes) are the only two players currently under contract, which, sources said, has been a concern of James.

The Bulls reached agreement with forward Carlos Boozer(notes) on a five-year, $80 million contract later Wednesday in hopes of improving their standing with James. The Knicks previously gave Amar’e Stoudemire(notes) a five-year, $100 million deal while also hoping his presence would help sway James.

Still, the Cavaliers loom as the biggest threat to keeping James from playing alongside Wade and Bosh in Miami. Cleveland is limited to pursuing trades and using its midlevel exception on free agents as ways to improve its roster, but has one significant advantage over James’ other suitors: The Cavs can offer James a six-year, $125 million contract, more than $30 million more than what he stands to receive from the Heat in a five-year deal.

James’ strong ties to Cleveland and Akron have also continued to pull at him, which is why only a few people have characterized his intent to play for the Heat as set in stone. One former confidant said James is often indecisive, and with the announcement not scheduled until late Thursday evening it’s possible James could continue to waver.

“LeBron always waits until the last minute to make a decision,” said Chris Dennis, who used to run James’ foundation. “He always does.”

isn't this adrian wojnarowski a fairly trustworthy, levelheaded, credible nba reporter?

o wait i thought he was def going to the bulls no staying in cleveland no going to mia mi pfftht- bron playing the media

you are right he is a sly fellow

he's going to be a clippers.

btw daniel u a lil bitch

daniel much love as always but bron to miami is a terrible outcome for the league and i hope it doesn't happen.

not sure if you're joking or not, ice. if you're not, fwiw, i wasn't trying to offend; apologies if it had that effect.

yeah, i get that a Big Three might be bad for the league. miami would still have some glaring holes, tho. not sure what we'll do for center (the rookie from texas might develop, but we won't know for a while) or point guard (carlos arroyo, i guess) in the short term.

i know its prob tough thinking clearly after a week of constant masturbation a crying but the classic front runner move wouldve waited til the decision was final before posting that c&p twice, s'alright im sure youll get the hang of it

if lebron does go to miami the appropriate karmic outcome would be for bosh to be chronically injured while lebron and wade play 45mins a night trying to pull along a roster of d leaguers

so sad i will not get to watch "the decision" live--i have essentially 1 irl friend who's way into the nba, and we coincidentally chose tonight to do a nice double date with our girls.

i just emailed him to see if we should dvr the decision and turn off our phones until after dinner.

u will still hear daniel esq's shrieks of joy/disgust from florida

lol. Nah. I'm happy with what we've already got.

i have it on pretty good authority that Lebron will be playing in Greece next year

my wife just asked me who lebron james is

i'm from northeast ohio and i will assure you -- there are bars playing THE DECISION, after which everyone will hug each other and sob for their loss

from what my mom tells me, you can't even stop at cvs for a few things without talking with someone about what lebron will do

'hes a guy who is more famous than he was one week ago' xp

specifically akron, i might add. he may have played for cleveland, but he's from akron and wow is akron proud of that

no one cares about chrissie hynde's vegan restaurant anymore
it's lebron 24/7

regardless where he goes, as far as working toward 'global icon' status, well played lebron

all this "leaning" chat is weird - like, presumably the guy knows by now? He's going on TV in a few hours?

also every above otm that LeBron is suddenly much more famous - think I am gonna stay up and watch this

(100% fine with any of: Cleveland (morally right option), NY (30/10/12 every night), Bulls (Rose/Bron/Booze/Noah wow) and Clips (lol) - don't mind Miami, really really don't want Nets.)

Maybe he wants to be an unselfish creator like Magic or a do-it-all wingman like Pippen. Maybe he has too much Doctor J in him, as I theorized after Game 6. Maybe he believes that if Wade carries the crunch-time load, it will free LeBron to do LeBron things and average a triple-double every game without having that burden of "I've gotta create every shot for us in the final four minutes." Maybe he thinks it's his best chance to win. And if so …

I think it's a cop-out. Any super-competitive person would rather beat Dwyane Wade than play with him. Don't you want to find the Ali to your Frazier and have that rival pull the greatness out of you? That's why I'm holding out hope that LeBron signs with New York or Chicago (or stays in Cleveland), because he'd be saying, "Fine. Kobe, Dwight and Melo all have their teams. Wade and Bosh have their teams. The Celtics are still there. Durant's team is coming. I'm gonna go out and build MY team, and I'm kicking all their asses." That's what Jordan would have done. Hell, that's what Kobe would have done.

In May, after the Cavs were ousted in the conference semifinals, I wrote that LeBron was facing one of the greatest sports decisions ever: "winning (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland) or a chance at immortality (New York)."

I never thought he would pick "HELP!"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100708

whole thing pretty otm imo

The whole thing about Cleveland totally and completely otm and depressing.

PDcavsinsider LeBron, as is plain now, has told people he's going to MIA. But as I've said until he or Maverick Carter go on the record it is what it is.

who knows? i'd be happy, of course, to have him in miami, but i kind of think he should resign with cleveland. i suppose him leaving cleveland would be as strange as dan marino or tom brady, in their primes, leaving miami or new england, respectively.

It's like college signing day crossed with JFK's assassination.

^^^nice

only shame is that simmons can't call out his current employer for playing along

doesn't this just guarantee that every nba fan will be rooting against the heat?

It's like college signing day crossed with JFK's assassination.

^^^nice

― call all destroyer, Thursday, July 8, 2010 11:04 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark

love this

p sure now that lebron will commit suicide on live tv

ndkllmn Mitch Albom writes a two-page LeBron article containing the sentence "I'm sick of the whole story."

^_^

what a thread. ilh is the best gd board.

bron bron's shoe

http://sneakermestupid.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/LBJ8-PreHeat-M-6m.jpg

in a previous life, coulda been spurs shoes

http://www.sportslogos.net/images/logos/6/233/full/e04ylwkfdofkr2ctlerjov26s.gif

I'm really proud that a country facing decades of financial ruin can focus on this

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Thursday, July 8, 2010 12:10 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark

morbs i'm really proud that as a fan of a baseball team in financial ruin, you can actually focus on the baseball

― altered scones (J0rdan S.), Thursday, July 8, 2010 12:11 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark

zing

he's being sarcastic, but he's right thinkaboutit

xp

that shoe is fugly tbh

that's the "miami" version btw

RicBucher FWIW: disparate opinions among gms, agents, league HQ officials today about where LeBron is going, but consensus on 1 thing: it's not Mia.

icBucher Unofficial Bucher poll results of those I've spoken to today: 4 for Cle, 3 for NY.

u need new sources

these sources: espn trade machine, isiah thomas, ohio gov ted strickland, mo williams, ric bucher (credited as 'league official'), whoopi, and knicks73 from the espn's comment sections

hahah

miami is nowhere near getting 3 doodz stop dreaming

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, July 7, 2010

u will still hear daniel esq's shrieks of joy/disgust from florida

― johnny crunch, Thursday, July 8, 2010

still shrieking tbh

haha yes yes

what a lame shoe

yeah. why does every product marketed as being "from miami" has to be neon?

not true, ive seen lots of non-neon cocaine

not that this needs to be said, but: not all cocaine comes from miami.

also, we have lovely weather.

so ive heard, is it neon?

nothing but blue skies.

and hurricanes.

and huge cockroaches

and ▄█▀ █▄ █▄█ ▀█▀ ▄█▀

kobe an asshole like jordan or bird, lebron will never that type of guy. kobe didn't tremble and stammer as much as lebron announcing why he's signing w/ the heat when he had his post-rape press conference w/ his hot as fuck/still angry wife sitting beside him. eye of the tiger.

― balls, Thursday, July 8, 2010 9:52 PM

Mike W3nsyel I just hope Lebron James dies in a gutter pennieless and I am there to pee on him before the coroner gets there to scrape him up. Piece of crap

― ••• ▄█▀ █▄ █▄█ ▀█▀ ▄█▀ ••• (m bison), Thursday, July 8, 2010 10:21 PM

^ boomin posts

This made me laugh:

South Park - What Should I Do?

Sorry I didn't bother to try to embed it here.

just in case anyone was wondering why lebron might've left cleveland, here's the view from his back porch

http://miasportsguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/pool.jpg

heres the number of cool things about miami:

0

*accepts daps*

aw not even

http://passionweiss.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/1247519186-scarface-photo-xl-scarface-6235696.jpg

^ that'll be lebron soon @ the scorer's table pre-game

hahahahahaha amon

miami's alright, i'd rather live there than any city in the northeast or midwest

*this may not be true

miami is pretty alright

miami's alright in the same way san diego is... you're not gonna go gaga over it but the weather's great and there's tacos, which makes it better than any place in the country where it snows ever

isdg why south beach is a 'thing'

women

blow

women on blow who blow

heres the number of cool things about miami:

0

smgdh

uh oh, now the angry clevelanders gonna know where bron lives.

a friend of ours was at an ocean-drive restaurant a few nights ago. lebron was there, and so were some cleveland fans, down for the dolphins/browns game, i guess. they actually heckled lebron -- loudly -- in the restaurant, and were escorted out.

so they waited for lebron to finish dinner and leave, then they heckled him some more.

dedication

depressing

now their lives have a focus it lacked before

san diego is "okay"....some really good food and beer down there, awesome zoo, antonio gates limping around in a daze at the supermarket, little else to get excited about. the closest i want to get to miami is when i watch 'burn notice'.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/Former-translator-for-terror-leader-Osama-bin-Laden-wants-LeBron-James-to-apologize-to-Cleveland

WASHINGTON - Apparently “The Decision” sits worse with one man than working for the terror leader behind the 9/11 attacks.

The former translator for vile and now-dead Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden seemingly has little regard for former Cavalier LeBron James.

In a declassified letter to the Washington Times, Muhammad Rahim wrote, “Lebron James is a very bad man. He should apologize to the city of Cleveland.”

Rahim, an Afghan translator who worked for bin Laden, is referring to James’ highly criticized 2010 televised decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

Rahim is currently in Guantanamo Bay.

For the record, in May 2011, James did say, "I apologize for the way it happened."

The Post got the letter from Rahim's lawyer, Carlos Warner, who is from Akron, the same hometown as James. According to the paper’s column, Warner said Rahim’s sentiments made about James leaving the Cavs are because of his client’s tribal values, in which loyalty is most important and “betrayals are not tolerated or forgiven.”

Warner also revealed that one of Rahim’s demands in exchange for information is a cat. Rahim told his lawyer that a fellow Gitmo inmate has a cat and he wants one too. The Department of Defense reportedly could not confirm or deny if it gave a cat to an inmate for good behavior in exchange for information.

The lesson to take away from all this: even though Al Qaeda members may hate America, they think LeBron's the bad guy -- and they have a soft spot for kittens.

put lebron in guantanamo

lebronamo

this is an incredible unearthed artifact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72kT7h08EA

starts about 9 minutes in