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LeBron and his marketing firm have access, through his camps, to high school players. He’s giving them free shoes. He’s meeting them. Is he recruiting them for his marketing company?

It could be a fine line.

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OK, two days after his teammate Zydrunus Ilgauskas took out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer thanking fans in that city for their support, James took out a similar ad in the Akron Beacon Journal.

Talk about a day late and a dollar short. First off, it came off to many as looking as if he didn’t think about doing this until someone else did it, which probably isn’t true. But it was way too late, regardless. And even worse, in the Akron ad, he didn’t even mention Cleveland.

Bad move. Yes, his home has been in Akron, but Cleveland is obviously where he spent the first seven seasons of his pro career. Perhaps it was just too expensive for him to run an ad in both papers.

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For some reason, The Oregonian did not have any interest in reporting on this story this morning. At times, I think they really don’t WANT you to buy their print product and would rather you find your news online somewhere.

Anyway, Wesley Matthews is a Trail Blazer, apparently, and the big question is what does that mean?

Well, as we said before, it portends more moves ahead this summer. Portland will be buying a backup for Brandon Roy at a very high price next season — $9.2 million. Which means Matthews is going to be playing a lot.

And it means there will be little or no playing time for Jerryd Bayless and Rudy Fernandez. Bayless is not a point guard — he’s established that. Fernandez is nothing but an off-guard — and one who has totally played his way out of the rotation here. So both are going to have to be dealt because neither is going to stick around for another season in a role where he doesn’t get significant playing time.

And it only makes sense that if you make any sort of 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 deal it’s got to be the big deal we’ve been waiting for here for a couple of seasons.

That deal has to be for a point guard. All other positions are covered and Andre Miller isn’t expected to be the player who will see this group through its window of opportunity. He’s too old. Plus, it appears the front office has bought into Nate McMillan’s vision that Roy has got to have the ball in his hands all the time and that the point guard has to be a big-time outside shooter. Miller will never qualify for that role.

I also believe there is probably already something in the works in this regard. If there isn’t, Portland will be seeking a deal out of weakness and not strength. I mean, everyone in the league now knows Bayless and Fernandez must be dealt, putting the team in a real position of weakness in any sort of deal.

I keep hearing Mo Williams is the target but I’m not sure how Houston matching the Cavs’ offer for Kyle Lowry affects any potential Portland deal. Everyone expects Cleveland, a real mess with the departure of LeBron James, to be active this summer in a frantic effort to rebuild. And the Cavs need players — a lot of them.

Jason Terry and Devin Harris also seem like possible targets. You may have more. I also don’t think a new GM needs to be on board for this to get done. Obviously, Portland has a structure in place allowing it to function in a workmanlike manner or the Matthews deal would not have gotten done.

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Well, certainly you can depend on Jesse Jackson to step up and call someone a racist. It’s what he does. Sorry, Jesse, there’s a difference between being a racist and just being a fool. Here’s what Jackson said:

Jackson said Gilbert’s comments were “mean, arrogant and presumptuous.”
“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” the reverend said in a release from his Chicago-based civil rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”

I’m not going to defend Dan Gilbert’s idiotic statements about LeBron. He was a rich, spoiled man throwing a temper tantrum. That doesn’t mean he’s a racist.

I don’t feel sorry for LeBron James, either. He was anything but a slave. Slaves don’t earn $20 million a year with an option to retire any time they please (if they do, sign me up). And Gilbert’s remarks didn’t put James any more at risk than his own decision to leave Cleveland did.

I’m amazed people still take Jackson seriously.

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So many reactions to so many things:

– Jim Gray turned himself into a punchline. Once a hotshot reporter, he just about permanently erased that memory with his ridiculous “interview” with James. “Do you still bite your fingernails?” ranks as THE classic question to ask someone before you get to the money question. I mean, would any real journalist ask him anything but “Where are you going and why?” But Gray sold his soul to get that spot so he did what they asked — stall it out for maximum drama. Hope they paid you plenty, Jim, because that thing cost you plenty.

– Surreal. That whole thing. Really, the atmosphere, the location, LeBron’s demeanor. All of it. Never seen anything quite like it.

– James did nothing, really, that would normally create much controversy. He went where the talent was — proving winning is more important to him than money, which is always what we say we want from our star athletes. But LeBron couldn’t sell it. He didn’t pull it off.

– If you don’t feel sorry for the sports fans of Cleveland you don’t have a heart. They already had “The Drive” and “The Fumble” and “The Shot.” Now they have “The Decision.” None of those events bring anything but pain. I believe there’s just something wrong with the whole thing. It’s almost like the natural extension of the AAU mentality. You know, let’s just bring in a bunch of players from all over the state, or the country, and try to create a super team. And the hell with all the guys you grew up with, or the guys in your neighborhood.

– Man, Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert. I don’t even know where to start. What a shame. I totally understand his frustration. And yes, thanks for finally saying it, Dan — LeBron quit on you and your team in the playoffs. But that said, why the hell where you trying to give $130 million to a guy who quit on you. You have to, if you’re David Stern, levy a heavy fine against the guy.

– LeBron James, I believe, is a guy devoid of any personal charisma, charm or personality. His personal “team” should avoid putting him into situations (like just about any one-on-one interview) that reflects this. Man, he’s cold. And man, that phrase, “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach…” sounded so wrong. No mention of Cleveland. No apology and hey — South Beach is where you’ll play AFTER the games. You’re taking your talents to the MIAMI HEAT — not South Beach.

– Miami, whether it likes it or not, will become the immediate favorite to win the East. And it might win five or six titles in a row, if everyone stays healthy. I don’t like that. And I don’t think this thing was good for the NBA. At all. David Stern must hate it. Yeah, the Heat will get great TV ratings. But long term, it sends negative messages to most teams in the league and their fans. You’d hate to see something like this become a fad — with the league’s best players clustered in a few select locales. It just won’t work for a league. Unless it’s a four-team league. Which maybe is what the league has always been, when you think about it.

– Erik Spoelstra is good enough to coach these guys. But it isn’t going to be easy because Pat Riley’s door is just upstairs. And if things don’t go perfectly, one of the Three Stooges on that team is going to knock on Riley’s door to complain. And with the precedent already set there of Riley heading back to the sidelines to coach, it’s going to be tough for Spoelstra.

– Man, Pat Riley. Guy’s special. Amazing what he did. And don’t think he doesn’t know how to fill out the rest of the roster.

– I think LeBron, deep down, is more comfortable as the No. 2 guy on a team than as the lead dog. He’ll defer to Wade, although not to the point of being obvious about it.

– Man, suddenly the Heat are the Yankees of basketball. You’ll love them or hate them. Villains all. I can’t say I will enjoy watching them win — but I better get used to it. And man, they’re going to be on national TV over and over and over and over.

– For hardcore long-term sports fans, this thing feels real bad. The guy just didn’t leave his team, he left his home. I know, who could blame him — it’s Cleveland, right? But it doesn’t feel good. LeBron showed little remorse and no real understanding of what he was doing to that area.

– Minnesota swooped in and stole Michael Beasley late last night. This is a guy who has a world of talent but looks flaky as all get out. But man, if you can get him for virtually free, you just have to take him. A great move if you have the cap space. And by the way, that was the sort of lopsided trade Portland could have done last year at the trade deadline with RLEC. Missed opportunity.

– Glad it’s over. Aren’t you?

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According to Chris Broussard, who has been right about this stuff quite a bit, LeBron James is headed to Miami. That is, “unless he has a change of heart.”

Well, maybe so. But there’s a side of me that says this thing is just a sideshow. That this is all about the glorification of LeBron by LeBron. I can’t imagine he would be so heartless as to have a one-hour show to yank the heart out of the city of Cleveland.

I think you’re going to hear all sorts of rumors today about where he’s headed — most of them coming out of James’ camp. All of them designed to create even bigger drama for tonight’s TV production. And the whole TV thing? An unbelievable exhibit of the ego of James.

Unbelievable. And he has no idea how bad it’s going to make him look. Keep a barf bag handy throughout this show, folks. Your stomach is going to churn. I cannot think of an athlete in my time who is so all about self-glorification. His whole gimmick, from “The Chosen One” to “King James” to the chalk flying in the air before a game smacks of a Grade B professional wrestler.

But my goodness, most of them had better scripts to work with than this misguided and ill-advised young man, who so often seems to be reading his life off a teleprompter.

The guy is going to turn himself into the world’s biggest villain. And before it’s over, James — who seems to seek our love with his every move — will become the most hated man in sports. Maybe even to THIS extent (nsfw, but the best piece of writing on this I’ve found).

In the end, I think he wants us all to love him so much that he’s going to stay with Cleveland. You know, just to show us how loyal he is. What a great guy he is.

But, alas, we’re going to hate him anyway. And we should. It just seems like the right thing to do. Read more »

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I’m hearing a lot of chatter out there from people adamantly opposed to the hiring of Danny Ferry. And to me, it’s for all the wrong reasons. Oh, there are reasons — and I’ll get to them in a moment. But I have to say, the one thing he has that people are using most against him — his track record — is actually the best thing he has going for him.

I’m hearing a lot of stuff like, “Well, he had LeBron James and couldn’t win” and “he couldn’t even figure out how to fill in around LeBron well enough to win even one title.”

Hogwash.

The Cavs made it to an NBA Finals and then for the past two seasons had the best record in the NBA. I think what really happened is that given the parameters of the salary cap, Ferry did a very nice job of filling up a roster the best he could. People were raving about the job he did last season, right up until the Cavs bombed out of the playoffs.

But the reason they were bumped out of the postseason was as much about LeBron as anything else. In the time when “The Chosen One” was supposed to step up and be something special — in the Boston series — he rolled over on them and turned into a big dog. Sorry, but LeBron, as much as anything else, was why Cleveland didn’t win a championship last season.

When he couldn’t perform, the rest of them couldn’t, either. And trust me, James all but quit on the Cavs in a couple of those games.

I don’t think you can blame Ferry for that.

My concerns about Ferry have more to do with his management style. From what I understand, he’s as abrasive as a GM as he was as a player. (And make no mistake about it, he made no friends as a player — including Marcus Camby, who once punched Jeff Van Gundy by mistake trying to hit Ferry. This is not great video, but it’s a look at that incident.)

Ferry was not real popular among a lot of the people working for him. Now while that’s not a deal breaker, I’m not sure he’s exactly what this team needs right now.

Meanwhile, as of one day ago, Randy Pfund had not even been contacted or interviewed by the Blazers — and he’s arguably carrying a better resume than Ferry. Not sure how that happened.

But Ferry certainly is a dealmaker and hasn’t been out of the league like Pfund for the last couple of seasons. And it appears that Ferry so far has the inside track.

And while there may be some concerns about his style, I’m not sure his track record is anything but solid.

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I have totally pooh-poohed this kind of thing for weeks now. But Sam Smith makes a decent case this week about the Trail Blazers really having the very best sign-and-trade package for LeBron James.

Now, do I think it could happen? Seriously doubt it. The hardest part would be getting James to agree to come here. Well, the money — he could get more in a sign-and-trade — would do some of the convincing. But I was also pondering the possibility that a guy with James’ visions of becoming a billionaire might somehow be influenced by Paul Allen’s massive wealth.

Could the Blazers romance him with Allen’s yachts or other toys?

But the other advantage, should the Blazers be looking for it, would be that it would be a great opportunity to get out from under the Greg Oden draft pick. If you could trade Oden for LeBron, it would not matter if Oden someday becomes a great player or not — hey, you got LeBron for him.

Just a thought, you know.

And no, I’m not as big a LeBron James fan as most people. The guy has some problems as a player. But come on, you’ve got a chance to win with the guy every year. And it’s instant media attention world-wide for the franchise.

And as far as the Trail Blazers are concerned, who on this team WOULDN’T you trade for LeBron? And for Cleveland, Portland offers by far the best package.

Now don’t go all crazy on me, here, I’m not saying it’s going to happen. But what I am saying is that if you’re doing your job as the general manager of this team, you really do have to visit this possibility.

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You could say, if you want, that it’s not LeBron’s fault that Mike Brown was fired, but I’d counter by saying he certainly could have stopped it. Really, if he wanted Brown, don’t think for a minute Brown wouldn’t still be there.

And man, James is in the name-your-own-coach mode now, pretty much wherever he lands next season. I’m not sure that’s a healthy place but whether it’s Cleveland, Chicago, New York or New Jersey — those teams are in a position to give him what he wants, or who he wants.

Of course, superstars are always in that spot. Phil Jackson serves only as long as Kobe Bryant allows him to serve as the Lakers coach. Just as Nate McMillan would probably last only as long as Brandon Roy wants him here.

It’s the way it is.

And the real question is, what kind of coach will James want? And keep in mind, coaches are people who are supposed to push you. I always think they’re people who can make you — or help you — do things you don’t necessarily want to do. Like work harder, or play defense.

I think the best thing for James would be an iron hand. A guy totally unintimidated by him. And I’m not certain he’s going to go for that. We will learn a little bit about James by watching the kind of coach he chooses — and make no mistake, he’s probably going to have a say in it.

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All parties have denied it, of course. But what good is the Internet if not to spread junk like this?

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