Apparently LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Joe Johnson will have a chat before deciding where they want to play next season.
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•The Heat's Dwyane Wade tells Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune that he, LeBron James and the Hawks' Joe Johnson will sit down and discuss their futures before making any moves. ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reports Chris Bosh also will be part of those discussions.
"[Free agency] has been three years coming," Wade said. "We've discussed it prematurely, at different times. [But] you don't know what guys are thinking and where they're going. I think we'll all sit down, and before one of us makes a decision, all of us will have spoken to each other and [listened to the] thinking. A lot of decisions [will be based on] what other players are willing to do and what other guys want to do. So it's not just a 'me' situation here. We all have to look and see what each other is thinking."
Wade said he was impressed with the loyalty of the Heat organization, but wasn't so sure about the loyalty of the Bulls. He said that would impact his decision more than who is coaching for the organization.
Wade also said he'd love to play with another great player.
"I understand that you have to have a great team, a great supporting cast around you," Wade told the Tribune. "That's all I want. My ego is not that big. . . . I just want to win."
•As if James isn't busy enough trying to hire his next coach, apparently now he's got to worry about his next general manager, too.
The Knicks have a coach in Mike D'Antoni, but according to the New York Post, Knicks team President Donnie Walsh is compiling a list of GM candidates, and the Post headline says, "LeBron could play a role in Knicks' hunt for GM."
The story by Marc Berman says possible candidates include former Warriors GM Chris Mullin and Knicks assistant to the president Allan Houston, who is pals with James associate William Wesley.
•Nets free agent Jarvis Hayes thinks LeBron James is most likely headed for New York and that Chris Bosh might follow him, he tells the netsdaily.com website. He also thinks Shaquille O'Neal could end up with New Jersey.
•In his blog on hoopshype.com, Roland Lazenby reminds potential suitors that Phil Jackson elected to leave the Bulls in 1998 after a messy ending with then-GM Jerry Krause, who tried to force him out and then asked him to stay.
"Jackson has let it be known that he wants to coach next year, that he might consider another team. In so doing, he has spread hope across the NBA for those who crave what he has to offer. But that 1998 disappointment serves as fair warning for James, for Bryant, for the fans, for Jeanie Buss, for anyone who places their hopes in Phil Jackson," Lazenby wrote.
"Be very, very careful. He just might walk away with your heart in his pocket."
To see the whole story, tinyurl.com/2vw75xb
•Sorry, Cavs fans. Here's a note involving two guys you could do without. But Utah's Carlos Boozer thinks following in Michael Jordan's footsteps in Chicago would be a positive for free agents such as James.
"A lot of people in my era, in my age group, we watched MJ do what he did: Win championships, be the face of the NBA and continue to dominate the game," Boozer said Wednesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN radio. "I think most of the free agents this summer [think it's] probably an attractive thing to have that history, where MJ played, where [Scottie] Pippen played for those six championships. I can remember being a kid and watching that. I think everybody, whoever it is this summer, can remember watching MJ do his thing in Chicago, so I think that will be more of a positive thing than a negative thing."
-- Mary Schmitt Boyer