According to Adrian Wojnarowksi of Yahoo! Sports: “To listen to World Wide Wes, LeBron will never look back on Cleveland. ‘He’s up out of there,’ is the way he tells it to people, but LeBron’s Akron crew has to tsk-tsk such public talk because they all live in Northeast Ohio, and maybe always will. ‘We’re going to Chicago,’ William Wesley tells people, ‘and Chris Bosh is coming, too.'”
Those are big words from a highly respected and very connected man. If you don’t know anything about William Wesley, then you should read this fascinating post by TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott.
Based on what’s known about him, Wesley’s opinion should not be taken lightly. That said, the only opinion that will matter in the end is LeBron’s. And we still have no idea what he’s really thinking.
Of course, Wesley’s words add just that much more fuel to the “LeBron to the Bulls” rumor fire.
Remember, ESPN TV analyst Jalen Rose recently tweeted: “My sources say that it is almost certain that LeBron James will not be returning to the Cavs! (Bulls/Heat/Clips).”
Although I can’t seem to find it, Rose reportedly added another tweet that said: “as of 2day the Bulls have the best chance of landing LBJ…Miami would need to make more roster moves…Clips have a punchers chance!” And that was before the Bulls traded Kirk Hinrich to clear extra cap space.
Now K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune has tweeted: “As someone who covered Rose during his Bulls days, know this: He doesn’t talk out of school. So his LBJ intel shouldn’t be discounted.”
I don’t know if any of this will mean anything when the contracts are all on the table…
…but it’s pretty exciting.
I can’t wait for the end of all this, to tell you the truth, although the possibilities are mind-boggling. It does seem that one team will come out of this with the name “Death Star”.
Lets see it then! I would rather see Joe Johnson than Bosh, but if we can get any two of the top 5 – I will be satisfied.
This William Wesley guy is stirring up the pot worse than Wade was 2 weeks ago. What happened to Wade’s bad-mouthing. He might have to consider the Bulls now too! Hmmmmm… A core of Noah, Rose, Deng, and Taj OR Beasley?
The Bulls could come out of this wielding a starting 5 of Rose, James, Deng, Bosh, and Noah. That would easily be the best starting 5 in all of basketball…perhaps the best starting 5 of all time. You could easily pencil those names in as the East’s All-Star team.
This is very exciting.
The fact that Rose has positive intel is incouraging. We all know Rose as being a soft spoken humble guy that wouldn’t speak out of turn. He is atleast a professional associate of lebron if not a friend. I would trust Rose’s intel. On top of all that World Wide Wes says the same thing, it’s looking good.
In regards to WWW, I get the feeling it’s all smokescreen. What would be the point of WWW telling the whole world LBJ is going to Chicago while LBJ is trying to keep is cards to himself? The only value in doing this, as far as I can tell, would be to get other GMs to think Chicago is the most likely destination and use that for more leverage somewhere else.
WWW just seems a little too bombastic for a behind-the-scenes-guy.
I don’t know much about William Wesley aside from the ESPN story I recently saw on him but I just can’t see him opening his mouth on where LeBron is going 6 days before FA starts. As for Bosh, this is the same guy that said he wants to be the man wherever he goes.
I just don’t know..I’m gonna reserve my excitement for the day when I read on the bottomline of ESPN saying: James has agreed to terms with the Chicago Bulls..cause all this talk and tweets seem to good to be true right now.
William Wesley go to ur room! lol
Sorry Texasbearsfan but Lebron can play the 2 position ocassionally but he and Deng both are 3’s. Not to mention to get both Bosh and LBJ we will have to sign and trade and dump Deng’s salary. Then we can fill with role players.
But still Noah, Bosh, James, Rose, and Benny the Bull at the two position should put us in good shape to compete every year for awhile. I hope we don’t get greedy and forget that we need a bench as well to build a dynasty. Bosh or LBJ with Joe Johnson and some cap space would be alright as well. But we can all dream about LBJ and Bosh!
Rose, Noah, LBJ and Bosh might make the Bulls regular participants in the post season but won’t win a championship until the rest of the roster is filled with solid role players. The Bulls do not have the role players in place to support a march to the championship. The Bulls could bring in LBJ, Bosh and Joe Johnson and they still would not win a championship next year maybe 2012. Pax and Gar have put themselves in a no win situation. They must now get 2 max FAs and win a championship next year or the press and the fans will be howling for their heads.
Ah BoppinBob. Only on Planet Pessimism can signing the best player in the league and a player who would be one of the best big men that Chicago’s ever had be a bad thing.
I get it though, the Bulls should have just kept fuddling around with the same core of players, winning between 35-50 games each year, making mid-round play-off exits and stick with the mediocrity we’ve had for more than a decade.
What is the real difference between a 2 and a 3? I don’t really know myself but I thought that it was mostly defensive, and Lebron has the quickness to guard most 2 guards in the league right?
Anyway, put a team of Rose, Lebron, Deng, Bosh, and Noah out on the floor, and the backups will take care of themselves.
Ummm actually shane with the trade of hinrich we can now sign them both outright with sign and trades. We can get them plus a mid level exception player (in the scenario of signing james and bosh, prolly an sg who can shoot like mike miller or kyle korver) and then minimum salary players.
with out sign and trades i mean
the bulls should trade deng or taj and a draft pick for Beasley. Sign LBJ and Bosh…holy crap!!!!!!!
“he only value in doing this, as far as I can tell, would be to get other GMs to think Chicago is the most likely destination and use that for more leverage somewhere else.”
Remember, leverage in this situation is useless. There is no need for it really. No one can pay LBJ any more than any one else (yeah, I know, Cavs can)
Point is, LBJ is going to get whatever he wants. Max money, any FA he wants, in any city he wants. And teams are okay with that.
dan, are you kidding me? Get rid of Taj for Beasley? Do you watch the nba?
All this talk needs to stop. We are so close to finding out what is actually going to happen in reality.
I am still depressed about Kirk.
All of the good press that the Bulls are getting has to be good for luring free agents, because all you hear on espn 24/7 is that the Bulls have the best core in place for LeBron to win in the near future. Other free agents have to be watching and thinking to themselves “Yeah thats true, maybe I should consider going to Chicago” It does’nt matter if the Bulls get LeBron, they are going to be a significantly better team this up coming season. Will they be able to compete for a championship, maybe not, but they are without a doubt going in the right direction!
Man! I hope this is true! =]
I agree Luke..wtf are u talkin about Dan?? Trade Deng or Taj and “A” draft pick for Beasley?? F’in Beasley?? U wanna trade not just a player but a draft pick as well, are u smoking crack? I wouldn’t trade a sack of shit for Beasley let alone a draft pick and a player. As much as I don’t like Pargo..I wouldn’t even trade him for Beasley…geez.
Are we totally die-hard true Bulls fans getting closer getting to stealing that King in Cleveland or are we just closer to getting teased by him.I was thinking just a week ago that LBJ won’t even sign with Chicago,he will stay in Cleveland,but it seems we are getting totally close to signing LeBron as of late according to various reports,but it still remains to be seen until he signs a contract with Chicago. GO BULLS.
here’s my deal…i love the Bulls but deng sucks. He’s ALWAYS hurt and is inconsistent from game to game. you cant count on him. Taj, on the other hand, he’s good i would keep him. Beasley could play a 4 and a 3, he’s more versatile. You all might be smoking crack if you think Deng is the man, the one dimensional player. Maybe a trade involving Deng for a 2 guard makes more sense but clearing some more space by getting rid of deng for a player that gets paid less would allow the Bulls tokeep Noah and Rose when their raises are due.
I would rather get players who want to win and win as a unit, be humble about things and don’t complain and act as if they are the ‘king of the world.’ I am still not sold on Lebron, not that I am sold on Bosh, but we’ll see what kind of attitude Lebron and/or Bosh or Johnson or Boozer or Amare or whoever brings to the Bulls next season. Unfortunately sports have become such that unless you are making a ridiculous amount of money and are getting enough air time while dancing on the floor and acting like a clown/fool, you are not good enough. I know a lot of you will disagree, but what happened to playing hard, building a team the right way and enabling some self esteem and just enjoying things in general? It seems to me that every sports team is just trying to buy their way to a championship. Ok, so it works for the Lakers and Yankees, but why have the other teams if they don’t have the resources and are unable to compete? Bunch of bandwagon Lakers and Yankees fans whine so much if they don’t get a superstar every single trade deadline gets really old. I hope the Bulls don’t become this way. It was a lot more fun in the old days, when most players actually cared and played the right way, and did not look at the ref for bailing them out. If you are not sure what I am talking about, take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uvYj9B-dI
Uhh, never said Deng was the man..but christ, Beasley..he is NOT good.
I see your point Dan but, we can always trade Deng for Lebron James or for Chris Bosh, as a favor for Cleveland or Toronto. So one of them does not come home empty handed.
Remember just because the Bulls got rid of Hinrich and their 17th draft pick we are still a lil bit short to go after 2 Max players like: Lebron Jamas and Chris Bosh without doing a sign and trade move.
The only way I can see both of these guys coming here. Without us making any more moves. If one of them takes less money. (which it probably won’t happen!)
After making these moves, then with the short money that the Bulls might have left from Hinrich, we can sign a tall SG that can hit 3 point shots at a high percentage like: Anthony Morrow, Mike Miller or Kyle Korver.
2010-2011 Roster hopefully:
Starters:
PG: D. Rose
SG: Anthony Morrow, Mike Miller or Kyle Korver
SF: L. James
PF: C. Bosh
C: J. Noah
Bench:
Omer Asik
Taj Gibson
James Johnson
and other solid back players for a 1 year contract
Not to mention the fact that the Heat would never in a million years take Deng. They are the real threat in FA but if they took Deng they would be screwed. Trading Deng for Beasley isn’t even worth talking about.
Bill Thomas I swear I swear I am not trying to be a dick……but your last post was inaccurate. The Salary cap will not be set until July 7th. As it looks now the Bulls may be able to give both Lebron and Bosh max contracts. Honestly I don’t really like Bosh all that much but if he signs it does make the team better than it was. I don’t think Deng will be traded so he will make a solid 6th man if Lebron signs
Not one more comment about the bulls getting beasley what is going on have you not seen miami just wants to dump him fast as they can he is a head case and not a solid player. Yes I will miss kirk he took one for the team he will be a bull in my eyes for life.Last but not least 1) LBJ is coming to chicago get yr tickets ready yr money to buy his jersey and all the rest(2) I am not sure if Chris bosh is coming but one thing is for sure with LBJ and lets say maybe a David lee we still have money to get one more player a pure shooter maybe JJ redick for cheap or a barns for cheap also might want to see what the asking price is for ray allen not gonna say bosh aint coming just trying to fill the team with other players along with the money we have to spend cannot spend it all on two players need more players than that least three maybe four more solid players we only got five under contract maybe six either way we need to be at least 7 to 8 deep on the bench to be a true challenger for the title. Peace and no more talk of beasley dammmit got it. GO BULLS
Ok, I just thought of something. Say we strike out in FA or can only sign one player after all and not two. Would the bulls then back out of the wizards trade and keep hinrich since that deal cannot be finalized till june 8 and by that time we will already have a pretty good idea on who is goin where. Would this lose too much credibility for the bulls management? Would management wanna do this and have to pay the last two years to hinrich? I would personally love this cause it is what ive wanted all along. Add one superstar and a shooter and a big. But I know im one of few who thinks this way.
John – I was thinking the same thing! I was wondering since the trade cannot be finalized until then, there is a possibility that Kirk can remain a Bull. I don’t know if it would make the Bulls Management look bad if they rescinded the trade, but I am sure they are willing to take that risk if other options aren’t that good.
Personally, I am so tired of all this Free Agent talk. I can’t wait for it to be done. One thing I will say though…I am proud of the Bulls Organization for not planning a lavish party and going to extremes to woo Lebron James. In the end, he’s just a man. If he comes, great. If not, we will live. The Bulls will do fine without him.