Can Cavaliers Bring in Both LeBron James and Chris Bosh?
Apr 23, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (center) celebrates with center Chris Bosh (right) and guard Dwyane Wade (left) against the Charlotte Bobcats in game two during the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The Factory has been pumping out loads of LeBron James updates over the past few days, and you the reader have responded in record numbers. We covered the possibility of Kevin Love joining LeBron in Cleveland. We saw that James’ agent was happy with the plan the Cavs laid out moving forward. We compared the Cavs roster to the Heats in age, shooting and size/athleticism. And just a little bit ago we informed you that Dan Gilbert was flying to South Florida, possibly to meet with James. If all goes right the Sadness Cleveland will be producing will only be for others.
Now we take another look at a possible partner to join James in Cleveland. This time it is his old running mate Chris Bosh. Bosh is currently a free agent. He is currently looking for a big contract yet he also is reportedly okay with a smaller contract to continue to play with James in Miami. Is is possible that he would take a similar contract to come to Cleveland to play with James, Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins? We will take a look at his motivations as well as the Cavs motivations on this page and on the next page take a look at the salary cap maneuvers needed to make it all work.
For the Cavs
For the Cavs this move seems like a no brainer. Getting James and Bosh to come to Cleveland to join Irving, Wiggins and whatever else is left on the roster would be great. Bosh’s improved outside game would fit perfectly with David Blatt and his 4 years of playing with James would quicken the learning process. Bosh would take pressure of Wiggins to play the 3rd star with the Cavs and let him develop more naturally.
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The Cavs should have a bit of hesitance with Bosh though. He isn’t the strongest player, and tends to get bullied around in the paint on defense. James and Bosh, along with Dwayne Wade and an aging roster, were not able to win a ring this year together. The bigger concern for the Cavs would be how much of their roster they would have to purge to make room for Bosh. Those are all not big enough concerns to keep Bosh off the Cavs radar.
For Bosh
For Bosh the idea of coming to Cleveland is much more complicated but still has a ton of potential. With James, Irving and Wiggins, Bosh would continue to get to work with high level players that make him look all the more better. He would have two ball handlers, in James and Irving, that could set him up during pick and roll/pop situations and can also break down defenses and kick it out to Bosh at the 3 point line. He still gets a big contract and a chance to compete for championships and be the Pippen to James’ Jordan.
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On the other hand, Bosh reportedly chose not to come to Cleveland when James tried to recruit him there 4 years ago. Has anything changed? He has also spent the last 4 years as the third fiddle with the Heat and may want to prove once again he can be the best player on a team. He would also have to sacrifice money to come to Cleveland which is much more then doing so in Miami where he has been for 4 years, less state taxes and, well, it is Miami. Bosh also may have some concern that he would be looked at as James’ puppet moving around with him twice.
Possible?
For the sake of argument lets assume that the Cavs decide Bosh is someone they want (Check) and that Bosh decides to join James after he agrees to come back to Cleveland (Far, far, far less certain). We will look on the next page at how the Cavs could make this happen from a cap standpoint.