Sheridan: Lebron is returning to Cleveland.

[Jonny CC]

I think the funniest possible subplot of this is LeBron going to Cleveland, Bosh to Houston, and Wade to Chicago, leaving Miami defending their 4 straight conference title streak with a new Big 3 of Shabazz Napier, Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger. 

After Lebron and Bosh leave, ESPN can change the Heat Index to the Rectal Thermometer.   

[LarBrd33]

I think the funniest possible subplot of this is LeBron going to Cleveland, Bosh to Houston, and Wade to Chicago, leaving Miami defending their 4 straight conference title streak with a new Big 3 of Shabazz Napier, Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger. 

Something interesting to think about...

If LeBron leaves and Bosh leaves...

Does Wade just bail on his long-time franchise to sign with the Bulls... or does he probably work in cooperation with them to secure a sign-and-trade that doesn't leave his old buddy empty handed?  And at that point, what's the chances Boston comes up as one of the teams willing to throw out some expendable young assets to secure wade's services?  I know Wade is old, but he'd still probably be the best player on the Celtics.

Or you know... more realistically a team like the Knicks gives up some assets to Miami (Hardaway Jr, Cleanthony Early, etc) to pair Melo with Wade.

[saltlover]

I think the funniest possible subplot of this is LeBron going to Cleveland, Bosh to Houston, and Wade to Chicago, leaving Miami defending their 4 straight conference title streak with a new Big 3 of Shabazz Napier, Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger. 

Something interesting to think about...

If LeBron leaves and Bosh leaves...

Does Wade just bail on his long-time franchise to sign with the Bulls... or does he probably work in cooperation with them to secure a sign-and-trade that doesn't leave his old buddy empty handed?  And at that point, what's the chances Boston comes up as one of the teams willing to throw out some expendable young assets to secure wade's services?  I know Wade is old, but he'd still probably be the best player on the Celtics.

I don't think I could handle DWade on this team.  LeBron, fine.  Bosh, sure.  But Wade -- he's such a dirty player, and has no regard for the health of his opponents.  Just don't like it.

[D.o.s.]

I'd take Wade circa 2006 over LeBron or Bosh at the same time.

Not particularly relevant, of course.

[PaulPierce34G]

I think the funniest possible subplot of this is LeBron going to Cleveland, Bosh to Houston, and Wade to Chicago, leaving Miami defending their 4 straight conference title streak with a new Big 3 of Shabazz Napier, Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger. 

Something interesting to think about...

If LeBron leaves and Bosh leaves...

Does Wade just bail on his long-time franchise to sign with the Bulls... or does he probably work in cooperation with them to secure a sign-and-trade that doesn't leave his old buddy empty handed?  And at that point, what's the chances Boston comes up as one of the teams willing to throw out some expendable young assets to secure wade's services?  I know Wade is old, but he'd still probably be the best player on the Celtics.

I don't think I could handle DWade on this team.  LeBron, fine.  Bosh, sure.  But Wade -- he's such a dirty player, and has no regard for the health of his opponents.  Just don't like it.

I agree.  Bron may be cocky, a prima donna, etc, but he isn't a punk like D Wade.  I hope Flash stays in Miami and just rides out the rest of his career on not nearly as competitive squads. 

[Moranis]

With Irving and Love playing terrible defense, i don't think the Cavs title chances would be much higher than the Heat's chances if the trio of Bosh Wade and James return.

Bosh is a really good fit for James. If you need low post offense for a quarter, Bosh can do that. If you need 3 point shooting to space the floor, Bosh can do that. If you need defense played on the opponent's best big, Bosh can do that. If you need a player that can float between power forward and center depending on if you are playing big or small, Bosh can do that.

Love can rebound, and i will be curious to know if he can still be a monster rebounder when he has to exert energy on defense.

No matter where James goes, his team will be favored to make the finals. He is just that good.

In the end all this mulling about leaving is because James thinks Wade is not good enough to be Robin. Wade is more like Aquaman or something.

"Go talk to the fish wade, i am taking my talents to Cleveland."

I do get the idea that James wants to build a business empire for himself in Cleveland. That's cool.

Not to be a jerk, but there are quite a number of teams that would not be favorites to go to the finals with Lebron. If he signed with the Jazz, Orlando, Philly, Denver, Celtics (unfortunately) or the Bucks for example they would probably be 5 seeds at best. The whole point proven by his career so far has been that he isn't good enough to win on his own...

I partly disagree. LeBron took a bunch of schlubs to the Finals in '07, and he's a better player now, so I really believe he could take any team to contender status by himself.

Yeah honestly LeBron took those terrible Cav teams as far as any individual player could. No one won the entire thing on their own. I get the general distaste for LeBron on this blog, hes good and hes not on our team. However, when we make these kinds of statements it makes us look like uneducated scrubs spewing the latest nonsense from ESPN. He's the undisputed best player of his generation, time to move on from the "LeBron can't get it done" talk, he has won 1 more than we have recently.

I am pretty sure what I said is a fact rather than an opinion. If Lebron signed with the Bucks or Jazz right now (some of the others are more debatable) they would not be favored to finish any more than about 4th in their conference. That would be based on statistical predictor models, linesmakers etc.

Jazz are in the west so you are probably correct, but if Lebron signed with the Bucks they would be the clear favorites in the East unless Anthony signed in Chicago.

With Milwaukee's current cast of characters? 

I mean I have high hopes for Parker and all but no way would that team be "clear favorites" in the East.

Yeah, who you putting ahead of them.  The Pacers without Stephenson.  The Knicks. The Wizards. The Raptors.  The Hawks.  I mean come on.  The only team I could really see in the conversation is Chicago, but until Rose actually shows he can stay healthy I would have little confidence against the Bucks with Lebron, Parker, Mayo, Henson, Illaysova, Pachulia, Giannis, Sanders, etc.

Lebron James is that good and the East is that bad.

Pacers without Stephenson are still a very good basketball team.  I expect the Bulls to be up there again with or without Melo and look what they did without Rose last year.  What if Wade & Bosh end up back in Miami?   

I think you're putting some of those Bucks on a higher pedestal then where they belong. Certainly some "ifs" with those guys.  There's nothing "clear" to make them a favorite in the East.  Contender?  Sure but I don't think they're steamrolling their way to the final.

Bucks are in the conversation but no way are they "clear" favorites.   In fact, I don't think there is a clear favorite in the East unless Lebron and Love find themselves on the Cavs along with Kyrie when the dust settles on everything.

No it is all about Lebron and how crappy the East is.  That Bucks supporting cast is better than the 06-07 Cavs supporting cast, Lebron is a much better player now, and the East is even weaker now than it was then (at least 06-07 had a very strong Detroit team).  The Cavs didn't make it back to the Finals during the remainder of Lebron's tenure, because the East got a lot better on the whole (mostly in Boston, but Orlando and Chicago both came of age as well) and Lebron's teammates just didn't get appreciably better (if at all).

I don't see Indiana as a threat to that Bucks team at all, especially without Lance.  James would brutalize George and Indiana has no one else that can do much of anything aside from West (who at his age shouldn't really be anything more than 3rd/4th option type player).  And let's not kid ourselves, the Bucks would sign other veterans to supplement the youth.  If you start sprinkling in Ray Allen, Chris Anderson, etc. that team gets a lot better depth and much needed experience.

Chicago would be the only real threat (even if Wade and Bosh both go back to Miami) to that Bucks team in the East.  That Bucks team would get killed by a team like the Spurs in the finals though, but the East is so bad and Lebron James is so good, the Bucks would be the clear betting line favorites to make the finals.  Now if Anthony went to Chicago, they would be the clear clear favorites.

[boscel33]

Guess it's redemption time for Sheridan, at least on this board.  Maybe he can now be valued as a source and a reliable one at that.  Probably with most here though, they'll still poo-poo his reports and rumors because that's just the way they are!  Can't wait until Love winds up with Cleveland so more people will eat their words!

[LooseCannon]

This is what I wrote in another thread about Sheridan:

I wonder why he no longer works for ESPN, because he was one of their top NBA guys for quite awhile.

There's some belief out there that ESPN didn't like that Sheridan filed a libel lawsuit (later settled out of court) against Peter Vecsey.  Sheridan took umbrage about Vecsey writing the following in December 2010, about two months before Carmelo Anthony was traded:

No doubt the same fountains of misinformation that frequently play make-believe with ESPN’s Chris Sheridan, whose latest fairy tale had Carmelo Anthony notifying the Nuggets he won’t accept a trade to any team but the Knicks.

While I thoroughly accept the presupposition ‘Melo will want to play in New York until the moment he understands that’s an impossibility unless he opts to become a free agent this summer, Sheridan’s account is such a fake he needs to be called out.

Neither Anthony nor representative Leon Rose has demanded anything of the sort from the Nuggets, or anything at all, for that matter. It never happened!

And that’s not the only part of Sheridan’s yarn that never happened. For months he has claimed the Knicks and Nuggets have discussed various trades, recklessly throwing out the names of Danilo Gallinari, Landry Fields, Wilson Chandler and Anthony Randolph, while pretending Denver may be interested in Eddy Curry’s expiring contract and that New York owns the extraneous wherewithal to acquire a No. 1 pick from a third team to include it in the package.

Sheer nonsense! Every last word!

Here is Sheridan's side of the story:

Several top editors at ESPN knew who my primary source was, and they, too, were displeased with the tone of Mr. Vecsey’s column. But they told me they were on the other side of libel law, they were busy defending themselves against several time-consuming and costly libel suits, and they could not be on both sides of the fence.

Here’s what I wrote to the managing editor of ESPN.com in an e-mail: “As you understand from our conversations, I feel I must protect my reputation as a journalist. I have spent 24 years building it, and if I am to maintain my professional integrity, I must defend myself.”

So I rocked the boat at ESPN, my contract subsequently ended, and I no longer work there.

My guess is that Sheridan has a legitimate source, but his source is in a position where the source could be wrong or Lebron changes his mind so that the source was right that James was strongly inclined towards going back to Cleveland at one point.

[footey]

Someone can confirm this, but I seem to recall now that Chris Sheridan is from the Cleveland area originally, or used to work there, and he could very well have gotten his information from someone inside the team's office.   

He was the first to guaranty that LeBron was going to Cleveland.  Either he has blind squirrel luck, or a very good source in the LBJ or Cleveland camp.  Neither would surprise me.

[Moranis]

Someone can confirm this, but I seem to recall now that Chris Sheridan is from the Cleveland area originally, or used to work there, and he could very well have gotten his information from someone inside the team's office.   

He was the first to guaranty that LeBron was going to Cleveland.  Either he has blind squirrel luck, or a very good source in the LBJ or Cleveland camp.  Neither would surprise me.

supposedly James did not tell the Cavs or Heat of his decision until the cnnsi piece.

[LooseCannon]

He was the first to guaranty that LeBron was going to Cleveland.  Either he has blind squirrel luck, or a very good source in the LBJ or Cleveland camp.  Neither would surprise me.

He didn't guarantee that LeBron was going to Cleveland.  He said a source that he trusted said it was 90% that LBJ was going to Cleveland.  I wouldn't be shocked if his source came from SI.  It would make some sense that someone within SI would feed a crumb to a guy who ESPN is treating like the enemy.

On the other hand, Peter May looks like a complete idiot.