Primetime Special Will Cap LeBron James Free Agency

Well, LeBron, here is something to think about if you happen to be a little undecided before your prime-time special in about three hours.

Now obviously you have thought out what you are going to think out, but it never hurts to think something out, and then to analyze one more time and think it out one more time.

Just sayin'

Even US Weekly is getting in on all the LeBron James fun. The entertainment magazine is reporting that James is planning a huge bash on South Beach this weekend welcoming himself to his new team and city.

LeBron James has rented six cabanas at the W Hotel South Beach this weekend to celebrate his team decision, two sources confirm to UsMagazine.com.

That adds more fuel to the fire that James, 25, will announce he’s joining the Miami Heat Thursday night, as several insiders told ESPN this morning.

Who knows if it is the truth, but add it to the list of bad signs that LeBron’s days in Cleveland are done.

Multiple sources are now reporting that LeBron James has decided that he will be signing with the Miami Heat, including Chris Broussard.

This can’t get over fast enough.

The NBA released it’s salary cap figures for 2010-11, and surprisingly it came in at $58 million, about $2 million higher than expected. That gives everyone a little more to play with, but still means LeBron would leave a significant amount of money on the table if he decides to leave Cleveland.

According to Fear The Sword, the one-hour, live ESPN show tomorrow night will take place from Greenwich, CT – some 40 miles outside New York City, and relatively close to the Knicks practice facility.

How that fits in to LeBron’s decision is anyone’s guess -

This has to be especially concerning since LeBron has gone out of his way in the past to make Akron, his hometown, the focal point of huge events in his life – specifically his two MVP Award press conferences. LeBron also held his free agent meetings in Cleveland – in the offices of his marketing firm LRMR. It goes without saying that LeBron leaving his element to make such a big announcement is a bit of a surprise.

Stay tuned….

According to an Exec from a team that made a formal presentation to LeBron James last week, the free agent’s decision is now down to Miami and Cleveland. James has something to think about now that Chris Bosh and D-Wade have committed to the Miami Heat.

LeBron will make his announcement on ESPN tomorrow night at 9PM et.

Yes, LeBron James migth be an attention grabber, but he is also generous and knows how to take a situation and make something positive out of it.

According to the site Fear The Sword, ESPN had to agree to certain restrictions in order to seal the deal with LeBron -

First, ESPN does not know what the decision will be and won’t know before hand. The location also has not been released, but something tells me it will be in Bristol, CT where ESPN is located.

Secondly, ESPN is NOT allowed to sell advertising for the 1-hour Primetime event. Instead, LeBron’s marketing company – LRMR I suppose – can sell sponsorships with all proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Now, the question becomes, will LeBron break the hearts of Northeast Ohio in front of millions of viewers on live TV?

ESPN is reporting on twitter that Cleveland Cavaliers free agent forward LeBron James will make his announcement on the sports network at 9PM this Thursday.

The network doesn't offer any details as to which team James is leaning towards.

According to this tweet, Lebron is going to be staying in Cleveland regardless of whether or not Chris Bosh comes with him. This is awesome news for Clevelanders around the country.

LeBron James wants to come back to the Cavaliers, and he is hoping one of his friends comes with him – Chris Bosh. That, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard this morning on Mike and Mike. Broussard said that part of James’ delay in making an announcement is his attempt to lure Bosh to the Cavaliers with him.

That, of course, would require a sign-and-trade agreement with the Toronto Raptor:

Bosh had reportedly stated that, while he did want to play with James, it had to be in Chicago or Miami. Bosh wants to grow is brand, and feels that can only happen in a bigger market. Perhaps, but Bosh should look no further than LeBron himself to see that big cities are no longer necessary when it comes to global icon status.

“It can happen, it’s just a matter of convincing Chris Bosh to agree to it,” Broussard said on the show, referring to the Cavaliers ability to strike a deal with the Raptors.

Hypothetically, any deal the Cavaliers make with Toronto would likely include multiple picks and players such as Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson and Delonte West.

Stay tuned….

The meetings are done. In what was surely three days of the strangest free agency wooing, perhaps in the history of sports, LeBron James can now sit back, relax, and decide where he will spend the next 3-6 years.

In presentations that included a mock-Sopranos episode as well as a ‘Family Guy’-themed cartoon that included LeBron and his friends as characters, six teams let it be known – or tried at least – that LeBron would be best suited to play in a uniform colored other than Wine and Gold.

After seven years, it has almost been anti-climatic. Maybe I was preparing myself for the worst, but now that all the meetings are seemingly done, I feel great about Cleveland’s chances to retain LeBron. Of course, that feeling could change in an instant.

I have signed up for the new LeBronJames.com, however, where the promise is made the “You’ll be the first to know”. What he means by that, who knows, but the next 48 hours or so could tell the tale.

The Cavaliers get their shot at LeBron James this morning and according to Brian Windhorst, via Fear The Sword, the plan is to keep thing light-hearted and fun.

The Cavs also plan on playing toward James’ sense of humor and playfulness, something with which the team is very familiar. The plan is to keep it loose and informal because of their long-term relationship with James, who has been attending the meetings in T-shirts and sweats while his suitors arrive in $2,000 suits.

Although the Cavs have met with James in person several times since the end of the season, they have been preparing for this moment for several months. While their presentation will not be as flashy as some of the others, sources said the Cavs spent significant money and time in creating their show.

The Cavs have displayed the theme of their pitch with the billboards reading “Home” that are across the city. The feeling of home and the comfort with the team is part of the selling point.

There will be, of course, serious business to discuss, like how new coach Byron Scoot plans to use James and just what Chris Grant and Dan Gilbert plan to do to improve the roster. It all goes down this morning.

Brian Windhorst reports, via his twitter account, that the Cavs are looking like great trading partners for the Raptors. The Cavs would obviously be interested in Chris Bosh and the Raptors would be interested in riding themselves of bad contracts and acquiring young talent.

Windhorst goes on to mention that the Cavs would be willing to eat some bad contracts of the Raptors in order to make a deal happen. The Bulls and the Heat do not have this luxury, due to those teams needing cap space to sign other players.

I don’t pretend to be smart enough to figure out what players and contracts would be headed out, but I assume that Hickson would be included.

After visits yesterday from representatives of the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Miami Heat come to town today to make their presentations, no doubt detailing why their situations would be so much more beneficial to LeBron than Cleveland’s is.

In the South after the Civil War they had a name for this kind of thing – carpetbagging.

Anyhow, Day Two of the LeBron Circus has arrived, and we will see if, perhaps, the Peruvian National Team or the Washington Generals, the long-time foils for the Harlem Globetrotters, might be next.

The New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks will likely be the first teams to get a crack at wooing LeBron James, with both reportedly on the schedule for later today.

James will likely hold meetings for much of the next two or three days before making a decision. The Cavaliers are thought to be one of the last teams James will meet with.

How long this could take is anyone’s guess, but it is likely that James will take his time.