Boston Celtics fans were chanting "New York Knicks" during Thursday's Game 6 every time that LeBron James went to the foul line. Maybe they should've been chanting "Chicago Bulls."
Within minutes of the Cleveland Cavaliers' elimination at the hands of the Celtics, the speculation about LeBron James' next destination resumed in full force.
In the space of five minutes I heard from three NBA GMs via text, e-mail and phone. All three said that based on the information they have, they believe LeBron will leave the Cavs.
More surprisingly, all of them said they believe the destination will be the Chicago Bulls. Two said they believe that John Calipari will be the Bulls' new head coach.
One GM went a bit further in a phone call a few minutes later. "I think the Bulls are really going to go for it. Look for them to offer the Cavs Luol Deng in a sign-and-trade for LeBron. That will allow them to retain most of their cap space. Then they'll go after Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh as well."
I'm sure we'll hear various scenarios involving the Knicks, Nets and Heat over the course of the next month. But it's hard to come up with any other scenario that would be quite as appealing for LeBron.
So the Bulls could trot out a lineup of Rose, Noah, Taj, LeBron and either Wade/Bosh? Sounds unrealistic. And it is, but not by as much as you'd think. Larry Coon has written some great things to make NBA salary caps and the CBA understandable
He was asked on twitter last night if the Bulls could S&T Deng for LeBron, then have enough cap space to sign Wade/Bosh:
"No -- looks like they're about $1.1M short. ... But they can sell/trade/renounce their draft pick, and they'll be just $300K short. ... And technically they could decide to split it."
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