The Finger Wag – Athletes using Twitter and Social Media to their Disadvantage

Last night the Cleveland Cavilers had their asses handed to them. In the third quarter of the game Boston just flat out took it to the Cavs who looked like they were playing more to not lose than they were to win.

All the NBA talk for the next few days will center on where LeBron will be playing ball next year. This is partially because the next NBA game isn’t until sometime in July I believe and partially because this is LeBron Freakin’ James we are talking about here.

This is an exciting topic for me, my favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, have the cap space to sign LeBron or another great free agent. Let’s start this discussion with a list of free agents heading into this summer:

Here are the players that are 100% going to be free agents:

Joe Johnson
Carlos Boozer
David Lee
Ray Allen
Marcus Camby
Raymond Felton

Here are the players who can opt out of their contract this year:

LeBron James
Dwyane Wade
Chris Bosh
Amar’e Stoudemire
Dirk Nowitzki
Paul Pierce
Yao Ming
Mike Redd

For the sake of this post I am only listing the premium free agents, so I did not list Shaq and T-Mac.

This is quite a list, with James, Wade, Bosh, and Nowitzki alone you have 4 of the top 10 players in the NBA that could all wind up in different places next year.

Now who are the teams with the most cap space who could actually sign some of these guys:

New York Knicks
Miami Heat
New Jersey Nets
L.A. Clippers
Chicago Bulls
Sacramento Kings
Washington Wizards
Minnesota Timberwolves

The interesting thing here is that the Knicks and Heat can most likely sign two players at a max contract this summer while the others can only sign one. I say it’s interesting because all that can change depending on where the cap ends up. The cap was recently projected to grow to a number where the other teams may be able to sign two max players also. However, this was based on 2010 playoff revenue estimates. As I am sure you know, there were three sweeps in the second round this year so revenue will definitely be down from Stern’s projections.

So now let’s take a look at the available cities and try to rate them (These are my own totally biased opinions):

* These are ranked 1-3 with 1 being the best

Current Team: I ranked these based on who the team is made up of now. You will notice I gave the Nets a 1 rating even though they stunk on ice last year. However, the Nets have a good young core and a very good chance at landing a major John Wall-type rookie in the draft. I also gave the Heat a 3 because as of now, they don’t have Dwayne Wade.

Major City: I ranked these based on the best cities to be a basketball star in. So some cities you may want to live in (Miami) but they don’t give a shit about the NBA.

Cap Room: Should be self explanatory

So based on my rankings the best cities to go to if you are an NBA free agent are as follows:

Chicago Bulls (4)
New Jersey Nets (4)
New York Knicks (4)
L.A. Clippers (5)
Washington Wizards (7)
Miami Heat (8)
Minnesota Timberwolves (8)

I would tend to move the Nets down the list because they won’t be in Brooklyn for another two years, spending the next two in Newark of all places.

Here is what I wonder, who is going to sign first? Will LeBron, the obvious cream of this free agency crop, wait it out to see who goes where and determine if he wants to shack up with another top tier free agent?

Another LeBron question is this, will the Cavs let him go in a
sign-and-trade? The Cavs can offer LeBron about 30 million more than any other team thanks to the Larry Bird rule. In essence, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. (from wikipedia)

If the Cavs determine LeBron is going somewhere else it may be in their best interest to sign LeBron for the max then deal him to
another team for some pieces as opposed to getting nothing in return. The latest rumor of this happening is in a trade with the Bulls to get Loul Deng in return.

It’s going to be a fun offseason in the NBA and thanks to no games until Monday, we can start it now. Thanks NBA for sticking it to the fans.