The predictions are coming in fast and furious -- although a consensus is not exactly at hand.
Will LeBron James and Dwyane Wade embrace as teammates in Miami? The predictions are ... not exactly surprisingly ... mixed.(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)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sorry, Chicago Bulls. It appears you are no longer the front-runner to sign James.
Fox Sports Radio host Stephen A. Smith insists James is heading to Miami.
"You're only as good as your sources, as a journalist, and from what I'm being told, after hearing what everybody has to say, LeBron James will agree to team with Dwyane Wade, he's going to South Beach," Smith said Monday. "LeBron James and Chris Bosh are going to South Beach. They are going to play for the Miami Heat."
• Just in case that doesn't happen, The New York Post is reporting that Knicks owner James Dolan has decided to join the recruiting team in northeast Ohio on Thursday as the club makes its pitch. Writes Marc Berman, "The King of Cablevision apparently wants to look King James in the eye to assure him of the financial commitment he has always made to the franchise, and that he has never spared any expense in trying to restore the Knicks back to greatness."
• Meanwhile, in an interview on the Fox Business Network, former Knick Allan Houston, now an assistant to team president Donnie Walsh, said, "There is playing in New York -- and winning in New York. And when you win in New York it's like nothing you can ever compare in your career. All these wonderful guys that have built themselves at this point -- they want to win. Whoever it is, you're stepping into a tremendous opportunity for the next 5-10 years. Anybody that comes into the Garden, they know how special it is. They know what it would be like."
• ESPN.com's Marc Stein on the fact that the owners and organizations may have a greater impact on James' decision than his potential teammates.
Writes Stein, "Does LeBron have faith [Dan] Gilbert can quickly manufacture an extraordinary No. 2 when so many LeBron suitors can do that so easily this summer? Or has he lost faith in Gilbert, as was routinely whispered during Cleveland's unsuccessful bid to pry Tom Izzo away from Michigan State?
"The reality is that he's not going to win anything that gets him to the Global Icon zip code unless he's flanked by the right teammates, so all of the above is only one clue to help us forecast the outcome of this Summer of LeBron. But know this: It's a biggie.
"The prediction here is that ownership will be cited as one of the major reasons James cites when he has that historic news conference to explain why he chose what he chose.
"The O factor.
"The Big O, if you will."
• More from Stein, and ESPN.com colleague Chris Sheridan, on the fact that Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf always has been -- shall we say -- frugal in running his team, although Bulls beat writer K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune tweeted on Monday: "Bulls' Reinsdorf in July 2009: 'I wouldn't mind paying the tax if it's an intelligent expenditure.'"
Says Stein, "The O factor is also what the Bulls presumably can blame if the impressive complementary core they've assembled (Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah) and all the cap space they've cleared (to go after Bosh or Joe Johnson in addition to James) ultimately fail -- amid all this 'done deal' talk -- to lure James to the Cavs' most hated rival.
"The Bulls were routinely bashed from an organizational standpoint even when they were winning championships, thanks to Michael Jordan's openly dim view of then-GM Jerry Krause. This season, though, criticism of Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and his front-office tag team of John Paxson and Gar Forman reached new levels, prompted by Chicago's mistreatment of since-fired coach Vinny Del Negro and most recently disseminated in a well-publicized critique from Wade about how Chicago treats ex-Bulls.
"Even if Wade's criticism was a thinly veiled attempt to enhance the Heat's case in free agency, Chicago knows it has some image issues. Reinsdorf's reputation as a reluctant spender? Another issue. Maybe none of that will matter in the end, because the Bulls are otherwise set up so well. It's also true that Wesley has maintained a good working relationship with Reinsdorf for years and is believed to be lobbying hardest for the Bulls, which is where much of LeBron-and-Bosh-to-Chicago chatter originates.
"Yet you still hear well-connected folks around the league asking -- louder than the many questions Jordan's longtime agent David Falk has raised about James going to the Bulls in recent interviews with Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports -- whether LeBron is indeed prepared to commit to Reinsdorf."
Adds Sheridan, "Let's not forget that Reinsdorf has a well-earned reputation as being one of the more frugal owners in the league (he broke up a dynasty following the 1998 three-peat because in large part because he did not want to commit long-term dollars to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for what would be the downsides of their careers). Noah becomes a restricted free agent in 2011, and Rose in 2012. Is Reinsdorf willing to commit $150 million or more in long-term dollars (plus luxury tax money) to those two players on top of what he'll be paying James and another top-tier free agent?
"James will have no such qualms when it comes to the wallet-opening tendencies of Jim Dolan, who has shelled out luxury tax payments from Cablevision's deep coffers to pay for horrible teams over the better part of the past decade."