Is LeBron James Windy City Bound?

LeBron James was held to 3-of-14 shooting in Cleveland’s abysmal 88-120 destruction at the hands of the Boston Celtics.  To make matters worse, it was on the Cavs’ own home floor.  The suffering of the sports’ fans of Cleveland, OH, seems ready to carry on for one more year and embolden.  You would have been hard-pressed to find a face that was not pain-stricken in the Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday night. 

The question that is crossing many Bulls’ fans minds now is this: Will LeBron James jump-ship, so to speak, and join Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and company?  ESPN’s Chris Broussard thinks so. 

Regardless about anything the media speculates over, there are many things hard to deny.  Mike Brown has not been satisfactory in terms of running a fine-tuned offense.  LeBron James does not get the ball in his hands enough when teams go up on Cleveland; instead Brown seems hell-bent on sticking with his regulation rotation of players… going 10-12 deep into his bench, despite when nearly all other post-season coaches have cut their rosters down to 8-10.  The addition of Antawn Jamison was supposed to help their offense, but instead it just seems as though his presence is just creating a defensive hole in the low-block – as we see future Hall-of-Famer Kevin Garnett exploiting, unrelentlessly.  LeBron James is in need of a shot to numb the pain of a torn arm ligament every 10 days.  It seems like running Antawn Jamison as a recipient in a few pick-and-roll situations is definitely a good idea right now if the Cavs want to overcome their 3-2 hole against Boston.

The series is not over yet for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but, win or lose, they are going to have big questions to answer in the next round(s) and beyond into summer.  What will the organization do about Mike Brown and his stubbornness? Will they cut him lose? Can they create a supporting cast for James that is equal or greater than Bryant’s Lakers or Howard’s Magic?

And the big one – Will they even be able to keep their homestate star? LeBron James departure from Cleveland would surely leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Ohio fans.  Especially if last night will end up being LeBron James’ last game as a home player in Cleveland.  Would James really elect to leave that way? Will he go a different route than Jordan and Bryant, and look elseway to fulfill his dreams of a championship – even at the risk of being called a sell-out?

One thing is for sure, if James comes to Chicago, he would have help right away in the form of a different coach and young, star players in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.  It is easy to make the claim, especially after that first round series, that Chicago’s current roster is the better cast of players to win a title with than Cleveland’s other players (Jamison, Williams, O’Neal, West, Varejao, Moon).  Obviously, if James came to the Bulls he would step directly into Jordan’s shadow.  But is James up to the challenge of taking his show to the Windy City – in front of their thousands (if not, millions) of loyal fans - with a legacy of six Championships?

We’re going to find out soon enough.

CCS Thread Topic – Vaccaro on LeBron to the Bulls