The Akron Hammer destined to the Windy City?

On May 13, 2010, the world felt a huge tremor shake the entire globe as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The world watched as LeBron James walked up the tunnel at TD Garden pulling off his Cavs jersey for possibly the last time. Immediately, the basketball world reacted by producing some of the most ridiculous scenarios as James enters free agency July 1st.

The James free agency has sent the basketball world into complete frenzy. Even Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, is willing to sacrifice $100K to get his team’s name in the mix for the six-time All-Star. He’s not alone as Phoenix Suns president of basketball operations, Steve Kerr, took a $10K fine for comments he made regarding salary he’d offer James. Just as Sunny goes “Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs”, owners have gone “Loopy for LeBron.” On the other hand, he has given the world something else to talk salivate over aside from Brett Favre's ongoing “retiring, not retiring” soap opera.

LeBron James may be home in Cleveland, but the only thing he’ll be bringing home is dinner. There is no way that James will ever win an NBA Championship in Cleveland. Even surrounding “King James” with superstars and veterans like Shaq O’Neal, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Mo Williams, and Antawn Jamison has led to utter disbelief within the organization, its fans and the league, as they’ve failed to win a championship in LeBron’s first seven years in the league. Like Billy Buckner and the ball going through his legs, or Donavan McNabb not winning a title in Philly, James winning a championship in Cleveland was just not meant to be. LeBron James can closely be considered the stock market of Cleveland. With his stay in Cleveland the past seven years he has brought life to the area surrounding Quicken Loans Arena.

One area the Cavs do have an advantage is in resigning James; they can offer him more money than any other team. If he resigns with the Cavs he can sign a contract up to six years and for more than $120 million; whereas, any other team can only sign him for up to five years and $20-$25 million less. Only Cleveland knows just how important LBJ is to them. Without LeBron, the Cleveland Cavs would suffer greatly in all areas of promotion from jersey sales, to TV revenue, and most importantly season ticket sales.

If LeBron makes the move to join his ‘boi’ Jay-Z, also part owner of the New Jersey Nets, the only thing they may be building over the next few years is another city to call “The City of Brotherly Love.” Yes, new Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov may have all the riches in the land, but going from the team with the best record last year (61-21), to the team with the worst record (12-70), would be one of the most mind-blowing decisions ever made in sports. If Prokhorov bought James a completely new team, it would make the Nets the Yankees of basketball. Currently, New Jersey is the farthest team away from ultimately being able to compete for a title. The Nets heavily waged their argument for James with the hopes of receiving the overall number one pick in the 2010 draft and drafting college star John Wall of Kentucky. The Nets, unfortunately, couldn’t win there either, as they will pick number three overall on June 24 at MSG. Still, maybe Prokhorov will throw James a bone and take him out for dinner aboard the Russian cruiser Avrora to sway his thoughts towards New Jersey.

His second option would be to make the move to play in on one of the world’s most famous stages at Madison Square Garden. The catch: the New York Knicks have been the butt of jokes for the last several years, boasting their own link on DailyComedy.com and being comedy bits on Sportscenter. Hmmmm, perfect, let’s turn “King James” into “Jester James”, it has a nice ring to it! Not! The Knicks are a far cry for being James’ next kingdom. Although, if LeBron James goes to the Kicks, they would more than likely release two players to open up cap space to have the ability to sign another superstar free agent such as Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, or Amare Stoudemire. The Knicks can only make a case in giving him a “global iconic” status, yet they find themselves in the LeBron conversation because of their ability to go to the free agent market to bring in another All-Star caliber player, and Mike D’Antoni’s connection to James’ as he served under head coach Mike Krzyzewski on the 2008 Redeem Team, which won gold in Beijing.

King James’ final option is to sign with the Chicago Bulls. Stop. Pause. Freeze. If James went to Chicago he would, without question, be in the shadow of Michael Jordan. Would James be willing to do so? That would be the biggest question he’d have to answer. He’s already honored Air Jordan by voluntarily changing his current number 23 to number 6, (his first son’s birthday, October 6th after the 2009-2010 season). If James wants to be considered one of the greatest to ever play the game, why not prove it in the city that He himself, Air Jordan did it in. Even Joakim Noah would have to put his dislike of Cleveland’s nightlife aside if LeBron entered the same locker room as him.

The Bulls have many pieces already in place that a superstar like James would love to see. To their credit they have Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Dang, and Kirk Hinrich already making names in the league. To make a scenario even crazier, what if Phil Jackson returned to the Chicago Bulls to coach them again? According to ESPN reports, if Phil Jackson were to stay in LA, he would have to take a pay cut of almost seven million dollars. The Bulls have already made the offseason move to fire head coach Vinny Del Negro leaving the position vacant. Chris Broussard of ESPN makes a strong point that Jackson has already coached Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, why not add another legend to the list? He is the only coach to bring championships to these two players. If James went to Chicago, the next move would be to go pester Phil Jackson in returning to Chicago, and be willing to give him any sum of money to do so.

LeBron James has only two serious options. He finds his way to Chicago to live under the shadow of Michael Jordan or stays put in Cleveland and demands the pieces to create a NBA Championship team, beginning with his choice of head coach. Also the idea of being loyal to a team for an entire career runs into the minds of many who believe he needs to stay put. Legitimately, LeBron James will ultimately find himself wearing a number 6 on his new Chicago Bulls uniform. The fit is perfect, almost like the slipper on Cinderella’s foot. Commander in Chief, President Obama and former Illinois Senator agrees with the many who favor James to the Bulls. Obama has been quoted on ESPN Chicago by White House advisor David Axelrod saying, “[Obama] doesn’t want to tamper, but as a Chicago fan, the President thinks LeBron would look great in a Bulls uniform.”