The LeBron Derby: Is Cleveland Chasing Chicago?
On Sunday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach Mike Brown.
The move saves the Cavs $4.5 million, the bonus Brown was due on Monday morning, and also answers the question "Who will be the scapegoat for Cleveland failing in 2010?"
The move also displays an intriguing lack of confidence from the Cavs, and could point to the Chicago Bulls as the front-runners to land LeBron James this summer in free agency.
Less than a week after being eliminated by the Cavs, the Bulls made the long-expected (and overdue) decision to part ways with Vinny Del Negro as their head coach. It was clear that Del Negro wasn't the right fit in Chicago, both with the players and with management; he reportedly got into multiple altercations with team president John Paxson, and had confrontations with GM Gar Forman as well in the past year.
The rumor mill has fallen in love with the idea of University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari being a package deal with James because the two are friendly and share an agent. And, as much as he denies it, Calipari would have to be intrigued by the opportunity to coach James, and his former pupil at Memphis, Bulls point guard Derrick Rose.
The Bulls were in a position that they needed to make a coaching change, and can now sell James on the potential to hand-pick the head coach of his choice.
This reality has to at least be part of the equation. If Cleveland has any questions about their chances to keep the best player in the history of their franchise, that one of the top contending teams for his services has the ability to let James pick his coach.
