My understanding is he's lost money every year owning the Cavs. And while Gilbert manages the Cavs arena doesn't own it outright. which would be the case if he built the Pistons an arena in downtown Detroit. And thus he'd make a lot more money than he does owning the cavs but not their arena.

Yeah, Gilbert doesn't own the arena it's owned by the City and County via the Gateway Economic Development Corp. I think this is the same sort of deal the Bears have with Solider Field.

He signed a $71M deal. There are no incentives in NBA contracts. Either you get the money or you don't. Another team would owe Deng $51M over the next 4 seasons. That's probably about $2M a year too much. Players don't get paid during a lockout. If the NBA locked out the whole season Deng would lose $12M in 2011.

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They do make money off of the arena. You're saying it would be smart to leave Cleveland for the right to build an arena in Detroit for a fan base that is broke? I can see where that makes sense.

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Right, but then you'd still have to pay Deng 2 more seasons after that. Not worth it.

Did you miss the part where Gilbert has already started to move his company's operations to Detroit? Detroit's a much larger market than Cleveland. And despite what you see on COPS, not everyone in Detroit is a broke-ass crack dealer--(some of those crack dealer's stack mad cash! )
Pistons still sell out and they actually make more money (thanks to owning the Palace) and the franchise is worth more than the Cavs. Gilbert would do better just buying the Pistons and Palace from the Davidson family than trying to make a LeBron-less Cavs team work in Cleveland.

Cleveland has the right to get nothing in return. Cleveland wouldn't even have the cap space to sign a replacement for LeBron and couldn't pick up a free agent that came close to Deng's talent. They would be helping their team. Trading for Jamison hurt their team in the long run. Trading for Deng wouldn't do that.

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The problem, of course, is they'd then have Luol Deng on their roster.

What player on the Cavs roster is better than Deng? Jamison at 33? Mo Williams? No. He would be their best player.

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You do realize they were already in Michigan? Moving to Detroit where you can buy a house on Ebay for $1k or less isn't a bad move. It's cheaper.

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I think a lot of these "that's it, LeBron's leaving Cleveland" rumors flying around are knee-jerk reactions to what happened in the Celts series.

Gilbert seems to have a good relationship with LeBron and it's probably going to take some other franchise a lot more than D.Rose and Joakim Bonghit and the keystone cops front office to woo LeBron away.

If LeBron is really upset over things, I'd think Miami would be the place he'd end up. Stable franchise, a legitimate on the court partner at his level and he gets away from a lot of the BS up here. For someone who spent their life in the Midwest, being in Miami is like being on another planet. Things that seemed important in Chicago or Cleveland can seem downright silly when you're sipping margaritas with your toes in the sand on South Beach. And it probably helps Miami somewhat that Shaq was LeBron's teammate this season and could give him a lot of insight into the Heat franchise.

But I think at the end of the day, he stays in Cleveland.

Then why this big announcement that they are moving their headquarters and 1,700 employees to downtown Detroit?

https://www.quickenloans.com/about/pres ... ters-1-700

Miami is stable? All they have is Wade and absolutely nothing else. LeBron would be going to a team that wouldn't be his team either. Miami would still be Wade's team. Wade and LeBron aren't going to win a championship with no other help. Beasley and Deaquan Cook and fillers just doesn't scream NBA title.

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Livonia, Mich. Just in case you missed it.

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Couldn't Miami do your sign and trade with Cleveland?

And no one in Cleveland gives a shit about the Heat the way they do Chicago teams.

Livonia's close but it's not Detroit, that's like building a new Wrigley Field out in Schaumburg (instead, they are going to bring Schaumburg to Wrigley)
Gilbert's not only moving his employees to downtown Detroit. He wants to build a new HQ building downtown and, for whatever reason, a new downtown Detroit sports arena. Dude's invested in investing in the city of Detroit. Probably getting a lot of government cheese out of it all.

They could do a sign and trade with ANY team LEBRON wants to play for. It's his choice though. They don't get to decide where they want to trade him. In the end they may decide that they would rather let him go for nothing.

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OMG! His company has been based in Livonia, Michigan (the same state Detroit is in) and he decided nearly 4 years ago to move his company to Detroit. Maybe this will help you.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/section/c? ... ersonaDest

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Well, I haven't heard of Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra getting into any slap fights in the locker room over playing time. So there's that.

you got like a geography exam coming up? I can help with that:

Elgin and Chicago are in the same state. Oh, and Racine and Milwaukee get drunk and eat cheese together in Wisconsin. And Gary and South Bend somehow both manage to co-exist in the exact same cheap smokes State? And Minneapolis and St Paul? Yep, you got it: same frozen land-o-lakes State.

Imagine being Luol Deng and you're the guy Cleveland gets back in a trade for LeBron. An entire city and state would likely focus it's pissed-offness on goofy-ass Deng.

Trust me I got it covered. Hopefully you now realize that they aren't leaving Cleveland for Detroit. Hopefully you now realize they are moving from one city to another in the same state.

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You're right they aren't fighting as far as I know. Riley just likes to talk about replacing his coach again.

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Yep, who the heck is this Heat coach anyhow? His CV makes it sound like he should be in the front office, not on the sidelines getting bounced from the playoffs in the first round.

Isn't Gilbert also highly involved in a massive casino complex being built in downtown Cleveland?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Really Hussra?

You really dont understand?

LeBron chooses his team

THEN, The team he chooses, whover it is, can offer a sign and trade becasue at that point it would benefit all involved.

The Cavs COULD say no. But that makes no sense. Why get nothing? He's already gone.

Shortly after Cleveland was eliminated by Boston in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, LeBron James placed a call to Bulls guard Derrick Rose.

What did they talk about?

Word is, James said he likes Rose's game, likes his team and would welcome the chance to play together.

Before putting LeBron's No. 6 Bulls jersey up for sale, keep in mind that it's possible James made similar calls to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Maybe even Nets center Brook Lopez. But it has been made clear through various channels that James is very interested in joining the Bulls when he becomes a free agent on July 1.

New York, New Jersey and Miami figure to be James' top options, along with re-signing in Cleveland. Staying with the Cavaliers is starting to seem less likely after the early playoff exit exposed flaws in the team's winning formula.

The James phone call to Rose was mentioned by ESPN reporter Scoop Jackson and confirmed by a league source. Rose has been taking things slowly since the Bulls season ended with a first-round loss to Cleveland, but he visits the Berto Center on occasion. The source said the James-Rose conversation did not last very long.

The Bulls will have roughly $20 million in cap room this summer, enough to sign the two-time MVP outright. They're often mentioned as James' best chance to win right away, since he could step into a lineup with Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng.

James will have other attractive options. New York has enough cap room to pair him with another big-time free agent such as Bosh. Miami could offer a unique pairing with all-star Dwyane Wade.

New Jersey probably can't be counted out, either, despite posting the league's worst record last season. The Nets have some good young players and money to spend now that Russian kazillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov owns the team. Plus, one of the Nets co-owners is James' good buddy Jay-Z and the team is supposed to relocate to Brooklyn in two years.

In the meantime, the Bulls' coaching search has slowed down as the team contemplates whether a big-name coach would give them a better chance of landing James.

The biggest prize in coaching is obviously Phil Jackson, whose contract with the Lakers is about to expire. He also figures to stay busy through the end of the NBA Finals.

There is no evidence the Bulls have any interest in Kentucky coach John Calipari or that playing for Calipari would even appeal to James. If the Bulls can't bring back Jackson for a second stint on the bench, former Portland and Philadelphia coach Maurice Cheeks appears to have the best chance at the job.

None of other NBA teams in search of a head coach - Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta and the Clippers - has made a hire.

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If it's a choice between nothing and Luol Deng ( )
Nothing > Luol Deng ( ) and his crap contract, any and every day of the week.

No team wants any part of Deng and his contract.

And let's say somehow Deng goes to Cleveland in a trade for LeBron? He'd be the town pariah! Deng wouldn't be able to go to the grocery store without getting harassed.

Ok. That doesnt change the fact that a sign and trade wouldnt be facillitating LeBrons move.

It would be a reaction to LeBron's leaving.

What if the sign and trade were for Rose? Some of you think he's not as good as Steve Nash and I'm sure anyone in his right mind would trade Nash for LeBron in an instant.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don