RealGM

The Houston Rockets will make an all-out push to sign LeBron James, according to sources.

James is expected to opt out and one rival executive gives him a 40 percent chance of leaving the Miami Heat.

If the Rockets are unable to strike a deal with James, they will turn their full attention to Carmelo Anthony, while Chris Bosh is another option.

The Rockets have a promising guard-center tandem in James Harden and Dwight Howard, along with solid role players such as Chandler Parsons, Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones.

Texas also has no state income tax, which gives the Rockets an advantage over some teams in terms of the player's financial package.

Sources say the Rockets are confident they can create cap space by trading away Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin without taking back salary in return.

Let’s assume LeBron opts out and considers some suitors who can contend immediately and offer a reasonable salary without any complex cap machinations. Any fits?

Houston Rockets

The same general principle holds true here: If Houston has a series of transactions lined up that would free it to chase Melo, the identical domino effect would allow it to chase James. The fit here might be a bit more awkward, though Houston, unlike Chicago, has embraced small-ball lineups over the past two seasons.

Dwight Howard is strictly a paint player, and it’s harder for LeBron to find maneuvering room on the block if there’s another behemoth standing (along with his defender) just across the paint. That’s especially so because James loves to turn toward the middle, draw defenders, and kick to open shooters.

Howard soaks up a lot of possessions with his own post-ups, and James Harden loves to jab-step away before and after running high pick-and-rolls. But greatness eventually trumps fit issues. We ranted and raved about the skill overlap between James and Wade in their first season together, but they came within two wins of a championship.

By the way: Note the number of teams that would have to dump salaries to chase the league’s elite free agents. This would seem to present a nice opportunity for teams with cap room to extort the desperate dumpers. But there are so many teams with cap room, the extortion process might not yield more than a second-rounder or two. We’ll see.

1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Miami Heat
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Chicago Bulls

Teams not making the cut

Cleveland Cavaliers: While a homecoming could warm the cockles of even the coldest-hearted LeBron hater, the Cavs' roster has yet to take shape, they have no coach and there's that letter owner Dan Gilbert wrote four years ago.
Houston Rockets: Teaming with an elite big in Dwight Howard and elite wing in James Harden is similar to what he did in 2010. Unfortunately, Harden is similar to Wade defensively, as well, and it doesn't help that the Rockets play in the toughest division in basketball.

Mia won 54 gms w/ LBJ; Hou won 54 w/out. Could growth, LBJ = postseason diff? RT @jelvig1: @Jonathan_Feigen Chances LeBron comes to rockets?

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen)

An Instagram post by James’ wife, Savannah, sparked wild Twitter speculation that James would return to Cleveland.

Savannah commented on her Instagram photo [Akron]:

“Home sweet home!! The countdown is real! #330″
http://instagram.com/p/pkbgUMAiAn/

Cleveland, where James played for his first five years in the league before departing for Miami in 2010, has the Number 1 pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft for the second striaght year.

MaxRider wrote:keep dreaming
lebron bosh wade melo are forming big 4 in miami
after that
veteran like ray allen will join

cat1 wrote:Rox will trade anyone to get Lebron, and Heats will trade everyone except Lebron. Lebron is going nowhere.