So, Chicago, do you want him or not?
UPDATED: 8:47 p.m.
(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)
Sure, Chicago fans (and media) would love to have a reason to someday erect a LeBron statue next to Michael Jordan's, but on Wednesday a couple of writers were trying to tamp down the expectations.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- So, Chicago, do you want him or not?
Supposedly LeBron James' arrival in the Windy City is a foregone conclusion. Unless it's not.
Writing in the Chicago Tribune's In the Wake of the News feature, David Haugh says the city will survive a snub by James.
"But unlike losing the Olympics to Rio De Janeiro last October crushed people at Daley Plaza, losing James to New York or Cleveland wouldn't have the same devastating impact at the Berto Center," Haugh writes. "The 2016 Olympics were an all-or-nothing proposition for Chicago. Despite the nights of sleep already lost locally over the future of James, the 2010 summer of LeBron is not. ... He may want things other teams can offer in the way of home comforts (Cleveland) or famous rapper friends who are part-owners (New Jersey). But James needs the Bulls if he wants to, I don't know, actually win something one day."
Then, in spite of warning Bulls fans not to get too caught up in waiting for James, Haugh suggests exactly how the Bulls should woo him -- and what others are doing wrong.
"The point is, Chicago doesn't have to seem so needy whenever the idea of James coming to town comes up," Haugh writes. "We don't want another LeBron-themed Web site, theme song or prayer chain. We don't need to be, say, Cleveland. ... We don't have to be New York either, where they're rumored to be lining up Donald Trump, Mayor Bloomberg and the Yankees for a glitzy presentation.
"The Bulls' best counter to all this silliness would be to leave Oprah or Vince Vaughn or even the well-intentioned but over-the-top Bulls fan living at the White House out of it. (Can an NBA commissioner fine a sitting President for tampering?)
"Keep any pitch simple and direct. ... At 12:01 a.m. July 1, hand-deliver James a roster of Bulls players under contract, a videotape of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah highlights and an invitation to 1901 W. Madison to make history where his idol, Michael Jordan, once soared.
"If James RSVPs, it will be for the right reasons and not because of some silly PR pitch that wastes time and money. If he declines, then the Bulls will have maintained their dignity as well as a realistic shot at another superstar motivated by the chance to be the guy who put a franchise back on top.
"It will be groundbreaking if that guy is LeBron James. But it doesn't have to be earth-shattering for the Bulls if it isn't."
In a similar vein, from Dan Cahill of the Chicago Sun-Times, "As exciting as it would be for LBJ to ply his trade on the West Side, we all need to curb our enthusiasm and not set our expectations so high. History tells us the Bulls will not get LeBron."
Cahill points out that superstars rarely change teams and that in order to attract James, the Bulls also are going to have to pay to get other players around him and, historically, the Bulls have avoided going over the salary cap and paying the luxury tax.
Like Haugh in the Chicago Tribune, Cahill urges caution.
"Let's not forget about giving away Elton Brand," he wrote. "Let's not forget about when we wined and dined Tracy McGrady and returned home with Ron Mercer in our doggy bag. Let's not set ourselves up for a huge letdown."
• A weird take from TNT's Chris Webber: "The one job I'm not intrigued about is the Cleveland Cavaliers job. When a team climbs a certain ladder and they try to reach that certain point you have to have people there you trust and that have experienced the same hardships with. If LeBron comes back, I don't know who you could get unless you could get a Hall of Fame player that has won a bunch of championships or a Hall of Fame coach. Who do you get to instill trust?
"I think owners have to remember the city that they are in. I really don't look at those jobs as being as attractive as the owners or fans express. I think it will be a different kind of year this year."
• 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 Chicago's ESPN 1000. "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."