The Spurs are the champs of the
official season; now it’s time for teams to vie for the prizes available in the
offseason. July 1st marks the beginning of free agency and big names
such as Lebron and Carmelo may be up for grabs. Only God knows where these wishy-washy
stars will actually choose to go. Where they should go is a question infinitely
much easier to answer. The following is
a list of where these all-stars should go in 2015.
Carmelo Anthony
2014 team: New York Knicks
Best 2015 destination: Chicago Bulls
The Knicks have nothing to offer
Carmelo other than money. The contracts of Amare Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani
and Tyson Chandler eat up the entire salary cap for next year, so they have no
chance of significantly improving the roster until 2016. Even after those
contracts are up, there is no guarantee they will improve. All Phil Jackson can
do is sell Melo on the pipedream that they will sign Lebron or Kevin Durant in
2016. The clock is ticking on Carmelo’s prime, pipedreams two years in the
future do him no good.
The Chicago Bulls have two
all-stars right now in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. They have an excellent
coach in Tom Thibodeau and they have the perfect supporting cast. The Bulls are
filled with great defensive players who aren’t looking to shoot. Carmelo loves
to shoot as much as anyone in the league and he can do it in Chicago all he
wants without disrupting the offense. The talks of Carmelo going to Miami to
join Lebron make no sense. Miami doesn’t need another ball dominant forward;
they need literally everything other than that.
Lebron James
2014 team: Miami Heat
Best 2015 destination: Cleveland
Cavaliers
The most likely scenario is that
Lebron opts to stick with the Miami Heat, but he shouldn’t if Dwyane Wade and
Chris Bosh continue to get paid $20 million a year. Miami’s big three take up
nearly the entire salary cap, preventing the Heat from building a competent
team around them. This worked out fine when Wade was still playing at a
superstar level, but now his skills have decreased while his paychecks haven’t.
If Lebron can’t get Wade and Bosh to take a pay-cut, he should definitely leave.
The problem is where does he go? Rumors
about Lebron going to the Rockets or Clippers have been swirling about, but if Lebron
goes to either of those places, his NBA legacy is cemented as a mercenary. It
wouldn’t be an unfair label either. Think about it: He bails Cleveland to play
with two superstars in Miami (Dywane Wade and Chris Bosh) and as soon as they
lose he bails again to join two younger superstars (Chris Paul and Blake Griffin
in LA, or Dwight Howard and James Harden in Houston).
Lebron wants to be the greatest of all time
and he knows that, fair or not, G.O.A.T. status is never going to be given to a
perceived sell-sword. There’s only one place he can go and not look like a
total sellout, and that’s back home to Cleveland. If he’s simply going back to
finish what he started the mercenary label goes away. And guess what? Cleveland
is a much better situation right now. Kyrie Irving is a way better sidekick
than anyone Miami can give him. Let’s say the Cavs take Andrew Wiggins with the
number one pick Thursday. That gives you a starting lineup of
Irving-Wiggins-Lebron-Tristan Thompson-Anderson Varejao with Dion Waiters
coming off the bench. That’s a better squad than what Miami currently has.
Cleveland gives Lebron the opportunity
to salvage his reputation and they give him a better chance to win than Miami.
The only question is if Lebron can stand to work for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert
again. Gilbert is foolish, and it’s understandable if Lebron doesn’t want to
work for him, but winning in Cleveland would make Lebron a folk hero.
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