Mike Krzyzewski says he's out, but could Byron Scott be in?
(Chasing down rumors about LeBron James' basketball future could be a full-time job. Now it's my full-time job. Just call me The Rumor Monger. Every day we'll compile a list of the rumors we're hearing about James and his next contract. Just remember these are just rumors, not necessarily facts.
It's going to be a long and rough ride, Cavs fans. Buckle up. -- Mary Schmitt Boyer)
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski has made it clear that he doesn't envision coaching LeBron James in any scenario other than with the U.S. national team.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is on the Cavaliers' wish list, owner Dan Gilbert is going to have to pull out all the stops if he's going to persuade the coach to leave the college ranks.
Speaking at his annual fantasy camp in Durham, N.C., Krzyzewski said it was flattering to hear his name mentioned in connection with several openings in the NBA, but he's not planning on going anywhere.
"My position hasn't changed," he told reporters. "I hope Duke's position hasn't changed."
Meanwhile, ESPN and the New Orleans Times Picayune reported the Cavs have done background research on former Hornets coach Byron Scott, who took the New Jersey Nets to The Finals twice.
If LeBron stays, Michael Symon says he'll be happy to be engaged in Bath putting together some impressive menus for the James family.• Iron Chef Michael Symon wrote an open letter to James on his Facebook page, thanking him for what he has done for the city and asking him to stay.
"You have created a energy downtown that has not been seen in years and have allowed businesses to thrive beyond their wildest dreams," said Symon, whose Lola restaurant is located two blocks from The Q. "I know the decisions you have to make in the upcoming weeks will be difficult and I hope you follow your heart. I truly believe regardless of where you go championships will follow because you are just that damn good and that each city will embrace you (although not as much as Ctown ... lol)."
Symon notes that legends Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Derek Jeter have all played with just one team, but he says he'll remain a fan no matter what James decides.
"That being said I hope you choose to stay in Ctown with the Cavs so I can watch you finish what you started which is something not many people get to do."
Symon also offers James another incentive.
"If you do choose to stay I'll come over once a month to cook up a Iron Chef-style dinner for your family and friends!!"
• Boy, Adrian Wojnarowski doesn't care for LeBron James.
The Yahoo Sports columnist who blistered James earlier this season wrote on Wednesday, "Free agency was forever LeBron James' chase, the Championship of Me, and how fitting that he uses the most vacuous vehicle of our time -- the 'Larry King Show' -- to upstage an NBA Finals rich with such history and substance. As the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers gather for a championship series to remind us of what built the league, what made it great, here's LeBron James with a public ode on LeBron James.
"'I'm the ringleader,' he told King.
"Only, he has no rings.
"No judgment.
"No shame.
"He was talking about the free-agent crop of stars, because that's mostly what James has cared about for two years now. He tried to win a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has surrounded himself with a collection of sycophants and incompetents, sneaker reps and childhood buddies and middlemen whom he calls his team. Somehow, they couldn't let him stay quiet until the playoffs were over, until everyone had pushed past the way he disappeared in the conference semifinals. He did a vapid sit-down with King to air on Friday night, and they made sure to leak out a transcript that drones out the start of the NBA Finals.
"In so many ways, he's a young Alex Rodriguez, so insecure with himself and his MVP awards, so desperate to find validation in the courtship of free agency.
"He seems more enthusiastic about this than he did trying to beat the Celtics," said one Western Conference GM. "I mean, who goes on Larry King to talk about 'When I become a free agent?'"
• Michael Jordan's agent, David Falk, told the Chicago Sun-Times James shouldn't go to Chicago or Los Angeles.
"He should not play in Chicago," Falk said. "He will always compete with Michael Jordan. He should not play in L.A. He will always compete with Kobe Bryant. LeBron needs his own identity."
• Former Celtic Kevin McHale disagrees.
"You make new history all the time," McHale said during an NBA TV conference call with the media on Tuesday. "I don't think it matters what Michael did. We looked up to Bill Russell. But you were excited to make your own history. I think there's something to be said to adding on to a legendary franchise."
• Chris Webber said he thought if the Cavs won a championship this year, James would leave. Now he's not sure what James will do.
But he did offer this unusual take on James going to the Knicks.
"I do think it would take more than one superstar to agree [to go] there," Webber said in the NBA TV conference call. "I don't know if I could see one superstar free agent going there by himself and taking it on. ... The worst thing as a free agent is to go to a team and just start over. Most free agents have had to earn their spot as far as being sought after ... just to have that go right back down the drain and lose ... losing is so exhausting in the NBA.
"New York is a great place, but it's going to take more than two stars going there. I think they're going to have to do a great PR job, a great selling job that they can win. That's really all, I believe, these guys want to hear now is about winning because the money is pretty much even unless you want to stay in the same place or (do a) sign-and-trade. I think it will be difficult with all the suitors out there, but you never know what can happen."
Webber also doesn't think James should go to Chicago, but for a different reason than Falk.
"I think great players need a point guard that can shoot, i.e. Michael Jordan/Steve Kerr/B.J. Armstrong/John Paxson," Webber said. "There should not have to be a decision made whose hands the ball is in late in the game. To me, Derrick Rose is such a great player, like, say, Isiah Thomas, that he needs the ball in his hands in the fourth quarter. You saw what he did to LeBron in the playoffs. You saw how he got to the hole and how he made some aggressive moves. I just feel for a player like that who had the ball in his hands all the time, it's a waste to have a point guard who needs the ball in his hands. You need other shooters."
• Although it may be foolhardy to try and put a price on what James means to any given community, New York is going to try anyway. The New York Daily News reports that a secret study by the city's Economic Development Corporation concludes that James would be worth $57.8 million to the city if the Knicks got to the NBA Finals with the homecourt advantage and won the championship in Game 7.
Is that all?
The story by Adam Lisberg and Jose Martinez takes a couple shots at Cleveland, calling it an '"off-Broadway outpost." They refer to James interview with Larry King, which will be shown Friday night on CNN, saying that James told King that Cleveland "of all places" is his kind of kingdom.
• Free agent Carlos Boozer admits he's waiting to see what James will do.
"Now, obviously, LeBron is a stud," Boozer on WQAM in Miami with Sid Rosenberg. "He is either the best basketball player right or behind Kobe Bryant and obviously where he goes and that will determine where everybody else goes and what happens next with the rest of our free agent class this summer, but it is going to be interesting to see what happens.
"Just like you, I am looking forward to seeing what is going to happen as well."
• Michael Abramowitz, a former Washington Post reporter and editor known for his commentary on politics and policy, recently gave up his Wizards season tickets but is willing to reconsider ... if James signs with Washington. In Sunday's Outlook section, he offered these reasons why he thinks it's a good idea -- forgetting, of course, that until now Wizards fans hated James in all those previous playoff matchups.
Writes Abramowitz, "The most talented player on the planet should come to the most powerful city in the world. Washington, the town named for our first president, is ready for its first King...
"Washington is clearly the place to be for any global icon, which is what LeBron aspires to become. Bono, Bill Gates and Angelina Jolie have all trekked to the capital to make their mark as truly international figures."
Abramowitz admits there's a strong pull for James to stay home. But if he decides to leave, Abramowitz says James will never live up to Michael Jordan's legacy in Chicago and would be just one star among many in New York. But in Washington he could hang with chief executive basketball fan President Obama and play hoops at the White House.
• Even if it doesn't take place, for an absolutely hilarious take on the rumored free-agent summit by Bruce Arthur in the National Post, check out this column.