This LeBron Thing Is Getting Old

It's getting old, isn't it?

There's not much left to contemplate.

The money is going to be similar regardless of where he goes, and according to LeBron James, he's not making this next decision for the money.

If the finalists are truly Cleveland, Miami and Philadelphia, James knows the lay of the land in two of those three organizations and cities.

There is likely no one in the world better qualified to evaluate the basketball side of all this than he is. If this charade is meant to leverage prospective teams into making roster changes that appease James, well, we're waiting.

And if it's not meant to extract that power, the teams are what they are. James knows them, their skills and their warts.

It's been said over and over again—James is in pursuit of basketball happiness, whatever that means.

And if he's serious about that, when this publicity campaign concludes, James will join his friend Tyrese Maxey and the remade Sixers in Philadelphia.

Why wouldn't he go to Cleveland?

You could argue that the Cavaliers have the tools to protect the 41-year-old on defense, giving him the margin to be a 41-year-old on that end of the court in spurts so that he can allocate most of his fuel to the offensive end of the floor.

Can't slide the feet as quickly to stay in front of your man? Don't worry, Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen are behind you to deter the dribble penetration. Dean Wade isn't on the perimeter to take the tougher assigments, though. Oh, that's right, he's in Philadelphia now. He followed good pal Mike Gansey, who just so happens to be a peer to James in Ohio basketball lore and a coworker on the 2016 champion Cleveland Cavaliers, to the City of Brotherly Love.

The Mobley-Allen pairing beats whatever Philadelphia can offer to smooth over James' rough moments on defense. But what happens when one of them takes a seat? Do Naeqwan Tomlin or Thomas Bryant do anything for you? Mind you, neither was in Kenny Atkinson's rotation by the first round of the playoffs.

We can go a step further. With Wade gone, 6-foot-6 Jaylon Tyson is next in line to take more responsibilities on the perimeter. He is not the 6-foot-9 Wade, though. Next in the pecking order are 6-foot-4 Sam Merrill and 6-foot-5 Max Strus, who missed 30 and 70 games last season, respectively.

Let's not forget that James Harden and Donovan Mitchell are in the backcourt. Neither can be characterized as dynamic defenders, and that's putting it gratuitously. Do the trio of guards 6-foot-4 and shorter behind Harden put a chill down your stine?

Harden and Mitchell will help James take a supporting role on offense rather than a focal point job in the twilight of his career. Harden prefers the slow pace that may prove desirable to James at this juncture. But his playoff résumé doesn't inspire confidence. And not all paces are created equal. There's the slow, methodical pace that James has mastered. Then there's the slow, clock-eating, dribble-the-ball-through-the-floor pace that Harden prefers.

Even when the ball is in James' hands, Harden isn't the most inspired off-ball threat. Sure, Mitchell can attack closeouts off a James swing pass. Harden isn't attacking closeouts at 37 years old. He shot below 30% on catch-and-shoot 3s in the playoffs last season, and attempted just 2.1 catch-and-shoot 3s per game in the reguar season, per NBA.com. Mitchell fared similarly in these past playoffs, and only 3.6 of his 20 shots per game in the regular season came off the catch. James shot the worst of the three off the catch in the playoffs and attempted the fewest catch-and-shoot 3s per game in the regular season.

There is no doubting the abundance of on-ball talent between Harden, Mitchell and James. There are real reasons to doubt the fit when you put one basketball on the court.

If the most unquestionable selling point is the two-man combination on Cleveland's interior, that gets real cloudy as soon as Atkinson starts making lineup rotations.

If it's Cleveland, it's because it's home. No one can hold a grudge over that. But that's not what I think of when I think of basketball happiness for someone in James' shoes.

Why wouldn't he go to Miami?

Let's just take a look at the depth chart.

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Davion Mitchell	Tim Hardaway Jr.	Andrew Wiggins	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Bam Adebayo
Dru Smith	Ryan Conwell	Pelle Larsson	Simone Fontecchio	Bobby Portis
	Tre Donaldson		Nikola Jovic	Vlad Goldin
			Myron Gardner

You see a pretty darn strong starting frontcourt and Wiggins. And then you see the price you pay to add Antetokounmpo.

No state income taxes on the mid-level or bi-annual exception? Sweet. Golf weather all year round? Terrific.

And a canyon-sized gulf between your third best teammate and you.

No, seriously, both Cleveland and Philadelphia can offer far better than Andrew Wiggins as the guy directly below James in the pecking order. It doesn't get more appealing after that, either. Mitchell, Hardaway and Portis are having a tug-of-war for fifth best player on the team.

The Heat do stand to improve their roster after James' decision is made. They'll have some exception money left, and veterans will flock to Miami on minimum deals to have a chance at a playoff run in good weather in a fun city.

Take a look around. One or two additional free agents from the remaining pool isn't changing the team's upside post James' commitment should he decide to go there.

Miami's best case at contention is that they'll win a ton of regular-season games, ostensibly setting themselves up for a very kind bracket through the playoffs in the east. And make no mistake about it, they will win an absolute ton of games in the regular season, clunky fits be damned. Miami's defense will likely be very good. They'll be good enough on offense to string together wins on any given night over an 82-game calendar.

How are they going to do it when they're seeing one team for up to seven games in the playoffs. It won't be rocket science. Defenses will pack the paint, daring Adebayo and Antetokounmpo to shoot. Antetokounmpo's lack of credibility as a shooter will take away some of the forcefulness he can leverage to get to the rim, turning James into a primary ballhandler. Some would argue that putting the ball in James' hands more is exactly the type of fit he needs. Maybe, if his options to space the floor were more plentiful than Hardaway and more consistent than Wiggins is.

Unless Miami lands DeMar DeRozan, too, and morphs into enough of a mid-range maestro as a team to flip modern analytics, this team's ticket to the Finals is going to be running through people on the way to the basket. Not a slowed offense. And while James can fit into a high-paced style, is it feasible to expect him to run deep into June?

If it's Miami, it's about mending the fences damaged as James departed the Heat in 2014 and enjoying a very hospitable location.

But if we're to conflate whatever "basketball happiness" is with "chance to win a title", there is a greener pasture.

Why wouldn't he go to Philadelphia?

It's cold in the winter.

The Sixers can't offer as much money as the Cavaliers or Heat can.

The back line of defensive support is a significant question mark. And if Joel Embiid isn't available, Philadelphia has very little rebounding credibility on either end of the floor. Rim protection is perhaps as big a concern. If the Sixers have to trend smaller as a product of Embiid's questionable availability, that suggests they'll have to run to help ensure their offense can make up for what their defense allows. Do they have enough catch-and-shoot equity between Tyrese Maxey, V.J. Edgecombe, Anfernee Simons and Wade to support James' possessions as a ballhandler?

Oh, and it's anyone's guess as to how James feels about Nick Nurse, but Nurse isn't Erik Spoelstra. And Gansey isn't Pat Riley—yet.

But that's about it.

Speaking of Embiid...

It seems the biggest reason the Golden State Warriors have dropped out of the running is that the Washington Wizards aren't interested in dealing Anthony Davis, James' beloved running mate with the Los Angeles Lakers.

That has opened some level of discourse about whether the Sixers should consider trading Embiid to Washington to get Davis and further entice James.

Davis is older. It has been at least five years since the last time he was better than Embiid. Assuming all things are equal with their respective health and availabilities, it would be cruel to deal Embiid before he has a chance to play with the best roster Philadelphia has assembled in his career. He has practiced immense patience with this franchise through a monsoon of thorny situations over last 10 years.

Far more than what they've had to endure waiting for him over the last two-and-a-half seasons.

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