While one writer tries to quantify the value of James' decision, others are conceding that Cleveland may have the inside track.
Dan Gilbert has millions at stake with LeBron James' decision this week ... which isn't exactly breaking news. But on a relatively slow day of speculation, it was the topic of one online writer's observations.(Chasing down rumors about LeBron James' basketball future is my full-time job. Just call me The Rumor Monger. Just remember these are just rumors, not necessarily facts. It's been a long and rough ride, Cavs fans. -- Mary Schmitt Boyer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- OK, this barely counts as either news or a rumor, but John Schuhmann wrote on NBA.com about the 25 NBA players, coaches, executives and owners who have the most to lose or gain by the decisions of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is No. 1 on the most-to-lose list if James leaves, with new general manager Chris Grant No. 5.
Wrote Schuhman, "Of the teams looking to sign James, the Cavs have the most to lose by not getting him. Gilbert has spent a lot of money (player salaries, luxury tax, new practice facility, upgrading Quicken Loans Arena) trying to keep James happy over the last seven years. And if James leaves this summer, the value of the franchise would drop considerably."
Of Grant, he wrote, "Grant has been the man in charge in Cleveland for exactly one month. He hired Byron Scott, but his second act as GM (re-signing James or losing him) will be much more important and have an effect on every move he makes afterward. If James chooses to stay, Grant must find a way to get him more help with a lack of roster flexibility. If James chooses to leave, Grant will be forced to rebuild without many young assets."
• ESPN Insider Chad Ford has done a series on James options, and here's why he thinks James could stay:
"If LeBron picks up and moves to New York or Chicago or Dallas, his new fans and the local media will be more critical than Cavs fans would ever be," writes Ford. "He'd have a huge target on his chest every night. And if he didn't deliver a championship, he'd be seen as a failure.
"In Cleveland, if LeBron agrees to stay, he'll have chosen loyalty. And for that, win or lose, he'll always be loved."
• ESPN's Marc Stein says Cavs fans should not worry about the fact that James hasn't made an announcement yet.
"Many folks around the league connected to the teams chasing LeBron believe, more and more, that staying with the Cavs is a far bigger possibility than many prognosticators believed going into the frenzy," he wrote. "If he's going to leave Ohio now -- and subject himself to untold scorn for the rest of his life when he goes home -- James naturally wants to be sure he's making the right call. It's understandable, at least to me, that he wouldn't want to rush that choice after cramming six visits into three days."
• Bill Madden in the New York Daily News writes about how George Steinbrenner in his prime would have wooed James:
"I understand your feeling of allegiance to Cleveland, LeBron. I started out here too. But look what New York did for me. You know what the song says -- Frank's song, not Jay-Z's -- which I'll get to in a minute. 'If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere?' Well, I'm proof positive of that. I was just another businessman shipbuilder in Cleveland, but when I came to New York after buying the Yankees and restored their greatness, not once but twice, I became one of the most recognizable people in the entire world. That's the difference between winning in Cleveland or Chicago and winning in New York.
"Now I know Jay-Z is your pal and that Prokhorov has kind of adopted him as an adjunct to the Nets. But ask Jay-Z where he got 'Empire State of Mind' its biggest exposure at Yankee Stadium, before the first game of the World Series last year! The last time I looked, that was New York, not New Jersey. You come to the Knicks and Jay-Z will own the Garden. The both of you will."
Noting that Steinbrenner's birthday is July 4, Madden concludes:
"Having you with me, LeBron, will be the greatest birthday present of them all. There's only one thing, though. You're gonna have to lose that beard."
• From Mike McGraw in the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, "According to sources familiar with the presentation made by the Bulls on Saturday in downtown Cleveland, James still is torn by the idea of abandoning fans in northeast Ohio, who have been counting on him to end their 46-year run of misery. Cleveland hasn't won a major professional championship since the Browns in 1964, and James feels the pain more than most of the city's athletes, since he grew up in nearby Akron."
• From Rick Morrissey in the Chicago Sun-Times, on all the media speculation:
"Somebody is wrong. Actually, a lot of somebodys are wrong.
"People who are speaking for James likely are ill-informed or partially informed or in for the shock of their lives. The folks who are in James' small, tight circle surely are taking their lead from him -- and he's not talking with media members, at least publicly.
"We're left to analyze the raw intelligence, and, so far, there hasn't been enough to fill a shot glass.
"What it looks like from here is that Wade, Bosh and most of the others are paralyzed while they wait to see what LeBron does. Wherever James goes, Bosh is likely to follow -- yes, sources have said.
"Wade could join them too. Or not.
"My best guess is that LeBron stays in Cleveland, where Bosh will join him, and that Wade will stay in Miami. That, friends, is based on a hunch, nothing more."
• New odds on where James lands from sbrforum.com. Based on the second Knicks meeting, and the two meetings of Dwyane Wade in Chicago, the Cavs and Heat have been downgraded, while the Bulls and Knicks have been upgraded.