2014 Official FA Thread 3: The Hunt For LeBron Continues...

[sunsbum]

Take this with a grain of salt, Ive said before I used to work at Majerles and a couple of the managers are really close to the the world famous trainers. I just messaged my dude and he said he doesn't think lebron will leave. One thing he did say that was pretty Interesting that I never heard is that last year bledsoe said he was going to "do his best to recruit him". That certainly makes sense why the suns would be so adament to keep EB no matter what if this is something that was hatched much earlier than we previously thought.

[Cutter]

Another article from Woj.

LeBron James' agent tells teams James might meet with them if Heat don't improve roster soon
By Adrian Wojnarowski
20 minutes ago
Yahoo Sports

.
Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) gestures to the bench during the first half in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, June 15, 2014, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
After conducting meetings with three NBA teams interested in pursuing free-agent star LeBron James, his agent suggested to owners and executives present that a failure of Miami president Pat Riley to rapidly recruit a strong supporting cast could bring finalists back to meet with James himself next week, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Rich Paul, the agent for James, invited three teams – Cleveland, Dallas and Phoenix – to the offices of his Klutch Sports headquarters to listen to pitches.

The meetings took place on Wednesday and Thursday, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Phoenix met on Wednesday and Cavaliers officials met on Thursday with Paul. Houston Rockets officials spoke with Paul by phone, but were not granted a meeting and have moved on with their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Some executives believe there's an opportunity because of a disconnect between James and his teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Another executive attending the meeting flatly said, "I think it's a smokescreen."


.
Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade all opted out of their contracts. (AP)
Across the country in Los Angeles on Thursday, Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra came to meet with free agents about joining the Heat, sources told Yahoo Sports. They met with Los Angeles Lakers free-agent forward Pau Gasol on Thursday, sources said. Miami is still unsure how much it has to offer free agents because Bosh and Wade have yet to fully agree to lowered salaries upon opting out of their contracts.
James has maintained a desire to take a full max contract with a starting salary of $20.7 million, sources said. Wade and Bosh are still reluctant to take severe cuts in their contracts, sources told Yahoo Sports, creating a financial disconnect among the three.

"There's clearly a breakdown in communication between LeBron and [Wade and Bosh]," one executive who participated in the meetings over the past two days told Yahoo Sports. "[James is] giving Riley time to go get players for them but if that doesn't happen in the next few days … LeBron seems ready to explore the market."

For James, the hard part remains: Where would he go? That still makes teams dubious of this exercise as anything but a leverage power play out of James and a marketing exercise out of Paul's fledgling agency. The Suns are offering a chance to sign James and his friend Anthony together, but James would have to move rapidly to recruit the New York Knicks' star. Paul represents the Suns' talented point guard Eric Bledsoe, a restricted free agent. All of it remains, for now, a long shot.

Anthony is spending the weekend choosing between the Chicago Bulls, Rockets and a five-year, $129 million maximum extension with the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers sold Paul in the meeting on a core of Kyrie Irving, Andrew Wiggins, Paul's client, Tristan Thompson, three first-round picks in 2015 and significant salary-cap space. For James, Cleveland would be a homecoming, the reversal of his infamous decision four years go.

For now, James remains overseas on vacation with his family and Riley and Spoelstra remains in hot pursuit of a supporting cast through free agency and trades.
Load more stories

[Barkley6]

NVM. I just saw WT reporting that Lakers did extend a max offer to Melo.


Melo and Kobe on the same team equals a hot mess!

That's fantastic news. Ensures mediocrity and lowers their chance of bringing in Durant. Please let him go NY!

Melo has made the playoffs 10 of the 11 years he'd been in the league and was a freak Ron Artest shot away from going to the finals. He has more wins than losses in the playoffs. He's not some cancer. The Knicks sucked this year. Blame management. Not Melo.

WHY DOES RON ARTEST KEEP DOING THAT TO PEOPLE?!?!

[TheLoon]

Does anyone have a photoshopped photo of LeBron in a Suns uni?

wait thats not it

ugh...that makes it a little too real...must...not...get...hopes...up.....too late! dammit!

[nevetsov]

Uhh....you do realize Bosh was one of their most important players besides LeBron, right. He took the backseat and never complained.

Guys who take a backseat are worth $17m per now? Where do I sign up?

He defended, he rebounded and although his game went more outside than it should have, he was a huge reason for their success. You'd be crazy to take Frye over Bosh.

Bosh is an adequate defender and rebounder, no more, no less. His game went outside because that's what Bron and Wades games require - perimeter shooting. With PHX as currently constructed, you'd be foolish to take Bosh over Frye+ $10m in capspace.

Just cause Bosh didn't drop 22/12 every night doesn't mean he's not worth the money. Put him on a crappy team again like in Toronto back in the day, and he'd still put up the numbers.

But he's not on a crappy team, and this isn't "back in the day". The only reason we'd want to bring Bosh in with Bron at that price tag is if it came at LeBron's request, and it was a deal breaker. Which I doubt it is.

You don't just pay a player to score the ball. You pay a player who does everything on the court. Defend, rebound, shoot, etc.

None of which Bosh does enough of to warrant $17m per.

Frye over Bosh? WTF is wrong with people these days.

Shortsightedness, apparently.

[King4Day]

Does anyone have a photoshopped photo of LeBron in a Suns uni?

wait thats not it

How did that actually happen? Seems like maybe they went to hug but both went in the same direction. But that doesn't explain the lip puckering smh

[Jdiddy701]

Lakers arent a team we need to worry about.

[TheLoon]

Take this with a grain of salt, Ive said before I used to work at Majerles and a couple of the managers are really close to the the world famous trainers. I just messaged my dude and he said he doesn't think lebron will leave. One thing he did say that was pretty Interesting that I never heard is that last year bledsoe said he was going to "do his best to recruit him". That certainly makes sense why the suns would be so adament to keep EB no matter what if this is something that was hatched much earlier than we previously thought.

I agree huge grain of salt...as great as the training staff is I don't think McD is supplying them with any inside info into the current negotiations

[Barkley6]

Another article from Woj.

LeBron James' agent tells teams James might meet with them if Heat don't improve roster soon
By Adrian Wojnarowski
20 minutes ago
Yahoo Sports

.
Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) gestures to the bench during the first half in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, June 15, 2014, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
After conducting meetings with three NBA teams interested in pursuing free-agent star LeBron James, his agent suggested to owners and executives present that a failure of Miami president Pat Riley to rapidly recruit a strong supporting cast could bring finalists back to meet with James himself next week, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Rich Paul, the agent for James, invited three teams – Cleveland, Dallas and Phoenix – to the offices of his Klutch Sports headquarters to listen to pitches.

The meetings took place on Wednesday and Thursday, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Phoenix met on Wednesday and Cavaliers officials met on Thursday with Paul. Houston Rockets officials spoke with Paul by phone, but were not granted a meeting and have moved on with their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Some executives believe there's an opportunity because of a disconnect between James and his teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Another executive attending the meeting flatly said, "I think it's a smokescreen."


.
Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade all opted out of their contracts. (AP)
Across the country in Los Angeles on Thursday, Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra came to meet with free agents about joining the Heat, sources told Yahoo Sports. They met with Los Angeles Lakers free-agent forward Pau Gasol on Thursday, sources said. Miami is still unsure how much it has to offer free agents because Bosh and Wade have yet to fully agree to lowered salaries upon opting out of their contracts.
James has maintained a desire to take a full max contract with a starting salary of $20.7 million, sources said. Wade and Bosh are still reluctant to take severe cuts in their contracts, sources told Yahoo Sports, creating a financial disconnect among the three.

"There's clearly a breakdown in communication between LeBron and [Wade and Bosh]," one executive who participated in the meetings over the past two days told Yahoo Sports. "[James is] giving Riley time to go get players for them but if that doesn't happen in the next few days … LeBron seems ready to explore the market."

For James, the hard part remains: Where would he go? That still makes teams dubious of this exercise as anything but a leverage power play out of James and a marketing exercise out of Paul's fledgling agency. The Suns are offering a chance to sign James and his friend Anthony together, but James would have to move rapidly to recruit the New York Knicks' star. Paul represents the Suns' talented point guard Eric Bledsoe, a restricted free agent. All of it remains, for now, a long shot.

Anthony is spending the weekend choosing between the Chicago Bulls, Rockets and a five-year, $129 million maximum extension with the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers sold Paul in the meeting on a core of Kyrie Irving, Andrew Wiggins, Paul's client, Tristan Thompson, three first-round picks in 2015 and significant salary-cap space. For James, Cleveland would be a homecoming, the reversal of his infamous decision four years go.

For now, James remains overseas on vacation with his family and Riley and Spoelstra remains in hot pursuit of a supporting cast through free agency and trades.
Load more stories

If only another team in the LeBron sweepstakes had 3 first round picks in 2015...

[aIvin adams]

Does anyone have a photoshopped photo of LeBron in a Suns uni?

wait thats not it

How did that actually happen? Seems like maybe they went to hug but both went in the same direction. But that doesn't explain the lip puckering smh

that's just chemistry

[Cutter]

Lakers arent a team we need to worry about.

Agree. Kobe, Melo , James plus 8 little dwarves would be a hot mess. LeBron stays far away from that scenario.

[King4Day]

It's the cover story on ESPN now

[TheLoon]

Another article from Woj.

LeBron James' agent tells teams James might meet with them if Heat don't improve roster soon
By Adrian Wojnarowski
20 minutes ago
Yahoo Sports

.
Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) gestures to the bench during the first half in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, June 15, 2014, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
After conducting meetings with three NBA teams interested in pursuing free-agent star LeBron James, his agent suggested to owners and executives present that a failure of Miami president Pat Riley to rapidly recruit a strong supporting cast could bring finalists back to meet with James himself next week, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Rich Paul, the agent for James, invited three teams – Cleveland, Dallas and Phoenix – to the offices of his Klutch Sports headquarters to listen to pitches.

The meetings took place on Wednesday and Thursday, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Phoenix met on Wednesday and Cavaliers officials met on Thursday with Paul. Houston Rockets officials spoke with Paul by phone, but were not granted a meeting and have moved on with their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Some executives believe there's an opportunity because of a disconnect between James and his teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Another executive attending the meeting flatly said, "I think it's a smokescreen."


.
Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade all opted out of their contracts. (AP)
Across the country in Los Angeles on Thursday, Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra came to meet with free agents about joining the Heat, sources told Yahoo Sports. They met with Los Angeles Lakers free-agent forward Pau Gasol on Thursday, sources said. Miami is still unsure how much it has to offer free agents because Bosh and Wade have yet to fully agree to lowered salaries upon opting out of their contracts.
James has maintained a desire to take a full max contract with a starting salary of $20.7 million, sources said. Wade and Bosh are still reluctant to take severe cuts in their contracts, sources told Yahoo Sports, creating a financial disconnect among the three.

"There's clearly a breakdown in communication between LeBron and [Wade and Bosh]," one executive who participated in the meetings over the past two days told Yahoo Sports. "[James is] giving Riley time to go get players for them but if that doesn't happen in the next few days … LeBron seems ready to explore the market."

For James, the hard part remains: Where would he go? That still makes teams dubious of this exercise as anything but a leverage power play out of James and a marketing exercise out of Paul's fledgling agency. The Suns are offering a chance to sign James and his friend Anthony together, but James would have to move rapidly to recruit the New York Knicks' star. Paul represents the Suns' talented point guard Eric Bledsoe, a restricted free agent. All of it remains, for now, a long shot.

Anthony is spending the weekend choosing between the Chicago Bulls, Rockets and a five-year, $129 million maximum extension with the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers sold Paul in the meeting on a core of Kyrie Irving, Andrew Wiggins, Paul's client, Tristan Thompson, three first-round picks in 2015 and significant salary-cap space. For James, Cleveland would be a homecoming, the reversal of his infamous decision four years go.

For now, James remains overseas on vacation with his family and Riley and Spoelstra remains in hot pursuit of a supporting cast through free agency and trades.
Load more stories

If only another team in the LeBron sweepstakes had 3 first round picks in 2015...

and I doubt Lebron wants to spend the next 2 years training up the youngins

[Barkley6]

Take this with a grain of salt, Ive said before I used to work at Majerles and a couple of the managers are really close to the the world famous trainers. I just messaged my dude and he said he doesn't think lebron will leave. One thing he did say that was pretty Interesting that I never heard is that last year bledsoe said he was going to "do his best to recruit him". That certainly makes sense why the suns would be so adament to keep EB no matter what if this is something that was hatched much earlier than we previously thought.

I agree huge grain of salt...as great as the training staff is I don't think McD is supplying them with any inside info into the current negotiations

Good to know Bledsoe is going to try to recruit for the Suns though. HOPEFULLY puts to rest any thoughts on him being unhappy in Phoenix and hopefully means EBled2 is blowing up LeBron's phone right now.

[King4Day]

Go to ESPN an watch the video. Marc Stein discusses everything and talks a lot about Phoenix in the end.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11174 ... oenix-suns

[sunsbum]

Take this with a grain of salt, Ive said before I used to work at Majerles and a couple of the managers are really close to the the world famous trainers. I just messaged my dude and he said he doesn't think lebron will leave. One thing he did say that was pretty Interesting that I never heard is that last year bledsoe said he was going to "do his best to recruit him". That certainly makes sense why the suns would be so adament to keep EB no matter what if this is something that was hatched much earlier than we previously thought.

I agree huge grain of salt...as great as the training staff is I don't think McD is supplying them with any inside info into the current negotiations

I think its pretty silly to assume they dont hear things, I also think they are questioned about medical related issues as well. Anyways, just sharing some info. Take it or leave it.

[Barkley6]

Had a thought from a marketing point of view on the whole LeBron thing...

At this point the Miami market is pretty much saturated, and as much as he is a national media darling, LeBron in Miami and the Big 3 is a four year old story. People are getting bored. Especially since they didnt win another Championship.

Now....if LeBron goes somewhere new, you get A TON of national attention about how this changes the balance of power in the NBA, where does LBJ's new team stack up, what with the LeBron effect be. Meanwhile, a whole new fanbase starts buying LeBron merchandise (Whereas I imagine sales are reasonably stagnant in Miami). Then once the season starts, the major story is LeBron and his new team. It's basically a PR jump start.

Not saying this favors the Suns in anyway (Though we certainly have a larger market than Cleveland and will also have 98% adoring fans as opposed to 50% adoring 30% hating 20% moving out of Cleveland), but it's worth considering.

[lilfishi22]

Melo has made the playoffs 10 of the 11 years he'd been in the league and was a freak Ron Artest shot away from going to the finals. He has more wins than losses in the playoffs. He's not some cancer. The Knicks sucked this year. Blame management. Not Melo.

Making the playoffs is one thing, having playoff success is another. Each time he's made playoffs, except once, he's been ousted in the first round. He's not a cancer but he's certainly not a winner either. Also let's not forget, most of Melo's teams have been fairly deep and solid defensively and if you think LA can put together a fairly deep and solid defensive team in any time soon than all the power to you. But until he makes it out the 1st round again, please.

hey hit 9k posts!

[Barkley6]

Melo has made the playoffs 10 of the 11 years he'd been in the league and was a freak Ron Artest shot away from going to the finals. He has more wins than losses in the playoffs. He's not some cancer. The Knicks sucked this year. Blame management. Not Melo.

Making the playoffs is one thing, having playoff success is another. Each time he's made playoffs, except once, he's been ousted in the first round. He's not a cancer but he's certainly not a winner either. Also let's not forget, most of Melo's teams have been fairly deep and solid defensively and if you think LA can put together a fairly deep and solid defensive team in any time soon than all the power to you. But until he makes it out the 1st round again, please.

Melo=T-Mac.

VERY good player, but not one who can take you to the promised land.

[Barkley6]

Woj reporting the Blazers have signed Kaman $9.8m/2 years. Cross off another Frye suitor. Cross off another decent, low priced Free Agent that could help the Heat.