From David Aldridge (NBA.com):

A league source says the Charlotte Bobcats wanted to get involved as well, using the non-guaranteed contract of center Erick Dampier to try and get a point guard. Under one scenario, Dampier would have gone to Indiana, the team that originally drafted him in 1996, with T.J. Ford going to Toronto and the Raptors sending guard Jose Calderon to Charlotte. (The Raptors had agreed to send Calderon to the Bobcats earlier this summer in a deal that would have sent center Tyson Chandler to Toronto, but the deal was scotched at the last minute by Charlotte owner Michael Jordan.)

chadfordinsider

Chad Ford

@chadfordinsider: Breaking: Hornets, Rockets, Pacers & Nets working on 4 team deal. Ariza to NO. C. Lee to HOU. Collison & Posey to IND. Murphy to NJ.

Aug 11, 2010 @ 04:59 PM from web

Uh oh …

Update

More insight on the deal from ESPN’s Chad Ford

FisolaNYDN

Frank Isola

@FisolaNYDN: Knicks to sign Roger Mason for one-year, $1.4 million contract. Knicks refused to give up future No. 1 pick to land Rudy Fernandez

Aug 5, 2010 @ 08:29 PM from web

Update 6:55pm:

You can follow Roger on Twitter @MoneyMase 

You can follow me on Twitter @mostafakhalifa

From ESPN.com:

First, Michael Jordan –

So what does Jordan, one of the best-ever in the NBA, think of LeBron James joining with All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form a super team in Miami?

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team,’” Jordan said after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. “But that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

Then, Charles Barkley –

“He’ll never be Jordan,” Barkley told 790 the Ticket in Miami earlier in the week. “This clearly takes him out of the conversation. He can win as much as he wants to.

“There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as ‘The Man’ … LeBron, if he would’ve in Cleveland, and if he could’ve got a championship there, it would have been over the top for his legacy, just one in Cleveland. No matter how many he wins in Miami, it clearly is Dwyane Wade’s team.”

Not surprising, coming from Barkley.  Jordan, however, doesn’t usually speak up about much of anything in the press.  So it’s worth noting that he said something on the topic. He tried to come off as non-judgmental, but still closed out his quote sounding like an elder shaking his head at how the times have changed.

I could never imagine Magic, Larry or Michael in any other jerseys … let alone all in the same jersey.  How the times have changed …

Via zagsblog

“We’ve got Amar’e and that enables us to get possibly LeBron or Carmelo [Anthony] next year, a sign-and-trade with Chris Paul, or Tony Parker,” Lee said. “Amar’e’s not the only thing we’re gonna do. They’re not even done yet.”

Asked if Knicks’ fans would feel the two years of pursuing James were wasted, Lee said no.

“They’re not gonna blame the Knicks for not getting LeBron,” he said. “They just know LeBron didn’t want to come here.”

Via SI

The rule of reality TV is to advertise a surprising “twist” without letting viewers know what it may be. If people who really do know what James is thinking have been spreading word that he’ll sign with Miami, then I view that as another way of creating suspense and surprise for the actual announcement to have maximum impact.

If we all believe he’s going to Miami, and he goes on TV to say he’s going to Miami, then what was the point of the live TV show? If his own camp is leaking out the final result then there is ultimately going to be little drama to “The Decision,” as the ESPN show has been titled.

NY, Cleveland, or Miami…it’s always been simple for me. No one had a clue where Brett Favre or Johan Santana were going….

Via SNY.tv

It’s hard to overstate the significance of this. Assume he will be surrounded by local boys and girls and that there’s a very high likelihood that they are Knicks fans given the club’s location in Knicks territory. The optics of James’ announcing that he’s going to Miami and announce another destination while surrounded by local kids who may reasonably cry in grief is what people in the business call a public-relations nightmare. Consider also that an enterprising reporter is sure to find a heartbroken child to be the poster boy or girl for what will be portrayed as heartless flirtation with total innocents.

If it’s not New York, why make the announcement here when he dragged everyone to Akron for the pitches? He could have stayed there and maintained an illusion of neutrality at least as far as the pitches were believed to have been received in a neutral manner.

Word I’m getting doesn’t look good from a Knicks fans perspective. I’ve heard “done deal” a few times. But that can be tricky. Apparently the Knicks have been told by Lebron’s people that they will be calling him 5 minutes before the show goes live…



WojYahooNBA

Adrian Wojnarowski

@WojYahooNBA: Y! Sports Free Agency Buzz: Kleiza agrees to $20 million offer sheet with Raps, JO'Neal leaning toward Celtics: http://tinyurl.com/27hwr25

Jul 8, 2010 @ 02:43 PM from web



PDcavsinsider

Brian Windhorst

@PDcavsinsider: I still have no direct confirmation from LeBron's inner circle on Miami. Maybe they're trying to save suspense in some way.

Jul 8, 2010 @ 11:47 AM from TweetDeck

Let’s get this out of the way. We’ve said since day one that playing in Miami makes little sense for a few reasons and they’ve all been documented. And since day one of reports, the same thing rings true. Nothing is done until an announcement is made. It’s pretty much where everyone is at…

Dan Lebatard just went on ESPN discussing how this has been arranged for a long time, that Lebron fancies himself like A-Rod and that Rodriguez had little problem going to the Yankees who had Derek Jeter.  Lebron just wants to be a part of a team that wins ring after ring.

Even if it’s by default.

This is about the league as a whole though. Two of the game’s top 3 players joining a player who is widely considered top 15. And it’s funny, even though it hasn’t been announced yet, there’s this sense of satisfaction that I’m gathering around the country that Lebron seems to be ditching New York. I find that funny because the real satisfaction, as a pure basketball fan, should have come from Lebron staying home if he were to spurn the world’s biggest market.  Not creating massive unbalance in the league.

 Loading ...

RicBucher

Ric Bucher

@RicBucher: Never tweeted LeBron was in Mia. A source said he was. Passed it on to the mothership. Made a 2nd call, told he was in Akron. Killed report.

Jul 8, 2010 @ 05:03 AM from web

Now let’s sit back and wait for 9:00pm, when we’ll hear it directly from LeBron …

A source with knowledge confirms that both Randy Mims and Maverick Carter are in fact in New York. No word about scheduled meetings however…

Via Yahoo:

Team LeBron has known all along it was going to do this, and the cushy, protective relationship with that television network culminates with a basketball player commandeering his own coverage on his own terms. Now James and his buddies spoon out misdirection plays on his possible destination – feeding everyone for days and weeks that the Knicks were dead, only to say now, “Well…who knows?” – to build back drama for the infomercial.

You can look at it that way, or look at it the way we have since the beginning. And this has nothing to do with where he signs. This has to do with the simple fact that BUSINESS has TRUMPED journalism once again. And to think that the world’s largest sports entity didn’t sell everything out for this stage is completely missing the point.

I just spoke to a source who said that the “decision” doesn’t appear to be happening at Allan Houston’s house. It sounds as if it will be at the Boys and Girls Club in Greenwich. But you’d have to figure after some planning that there may be alternate locations as backup.