King of Chicago?

Last night, a veteran Celtics team who clearly has one last run for a title left knocked off the presumptive favorite in the East, the Cavaliers, out of the playoffs, kicking off the Summer of LeBron.  Nobody, save for Celtics fans, truly expected the Cavs to be done before late May at the earliest.  Perhaps the most scrutinized right elbow in recent history was injured worse than we all thought, but regardless, this year was supposed to be different, this was supposed to be the year that LeBron had enough pieces in place around him to finally take his rightful place atop the NBA throne.  But you need 16 wins to win the Larry O'Brien trophy - the Cavs got 6, and that's not even close.  To me, Cleveland has done a poor job in trying to find LBJ his Scottie Pippen/Horace Grant sidekicks, instead taking on past-their-prime stars (Shaq, Antawn Jamison, Ben Wallace last year) in the hopes of them recapturing past success.  Unsurprisingly, it hasn't worked - at all.  So Cleveland's sports misery continues, unfortunately with the prospect of it deepening come July, when the LeBron derby commences.


side note: Hey SportsCenter, I understand it's a big game and potentially has far-reaching ramifications, but I don't see the need to commit the entire hour-plus runtime of your program completely to LeBron and his upcoming choice.  Yes, it might restructure the NBA landscape, but there are six weeks or so until free agency opens, leaving the talking heads plenty of time to discuss every possible scenario.  


It's going to be interesting, sure, to watch how this all unfolds, especially because if he decides to leave, the Chicago Bulls are sure to be on his short list of destinations.  It's a top-3 market in the country, with a superb young core already in place with playoff experience under its belt (including an elite, playmaking point guard in the incomparable Derrick Rose), and the program is steeped in tradition.  I honestly believe it's the best choice for him IF all he wants is to win a title - add him top this roster, with Rose, a healthy Noah, Gibson, Hinrich, Deng, etc, and they become contenders in the East overnight. Let me take this moment to completely discredit Jamal Mashburn - on SC last night, he spewed some BS about the NJ Nets being the best place for LeBron if he wants to win, saying that they have a talented core there.  Yeah, and all that talent added up to twelve whole wins.  12.  As in, a 20-game improvement might make put them in the 8-seed come playoff time.  Our core has been able to overcome a lot in these last two years to win 82 games and earn two playoff berths, and Rose especially has proven himself to be a warrior come postseason time.  You're telling me LeBron didn't watch Rose in the first round and say, Damn, I wish I had someone like that on my team?  The thought has to have crossed his mind.  Also, he'd most likely have some input in the coaching search, something he probably wouldn't mind after watching the botch job Mike Brown's done in Cleveland the past couple years.  Ultimately, do I think he'll be a Bull? No, I see him staying home in Cleveland, and trying to bring a championship to that poor city.  But it sure as hell is fun to think about.  

As for that coaching search, John Calipari tweeted earlier that he will most definitely be back coaching at Kentucky next year, so we can probably cross that name off the wishlist.  Predictably, the Bulls are moving methodically, taking the wait-and-see approach.  Phil Jackson's name has been tossed about, but there's no way in hell he comes back here.  Simply no way.  LA is the last stop for him in his ridiculously successful coaching career.  So we will wait and see, as well.  With the shocking developments at the TD Garden last night, the Chicago offseason just got a whole lot more interesting.  

By the way, Game 1 for the Hawks is Sunday afternoon; of course, my TV will be in a Public Storage space at that time.  Sweet.  

PS: Boston Bruins, you definitely DO NOT want to be one of the three teams mentioned the next time a team falls in a 3-0 hole in Lord Stanley's tournament, so do yourselves and your fans a favor and find a way to win tonight.