Cleveland Gives LeBron A Better Chance At Winning Than Chicago

The Summer of Lebron has officially started, and I was sick of it before it began.

You’ll be hard pressed to turn on ESPN, open a newspaper, or even walk down the street without some mention of Lebron and what his future plans in the NBA are. The problem is that nobody knows what they are talking about. Nobody outside of Maverick, Gloria and LBJ himself know which way The King is leaning.

With that said, the so called “experts” have Lebron heading to Chicago because they are closest to winning a championship.

Am I missing something?

The Bulls SQUEAKED into the NBA Playoffs this year as the only team without a winning record. Chicago was also the only team in the playoffs to be outscored by their opponents during the regular season.

With the exception of Derrick Rose, the Bulls are a significant downgrade at EVERY position across the board when compared with James’ current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Joakim Noah, the Bulls second best player, has been not-so-favorably compared to Cavalier reserve and NBA All-Defensive Team selection, Anderson Varejao.

Looking at the starters of both teams (excluding small forward, presumably where Lebron would play in Chicago), Rose gets the obvious nod over Mo Williams but the Cavs have an advantage from there. Antawn Jamison, Shaquille O’Neal and Anthony Parker or Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Kirk Heinrich? The depth and talent of the bench tilts the favor to the Cavaliers even more, with Varejeo, JJ Hickson, Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas all skilled enough to start on other teams in the NBA this year.

Furthermore, the Chicago offense was anemic all year, finishing the 2010 season in the bottom 25% of team scoring at 97.5 points per game. If there has been one knock on Lebron’s Cavs, it has been that they have lacked scoring when Lebron was not on his game. Would a team ranked only slightly ahead of the Clippers in scoring really be that much better of a fit?

Cleveland has the edge over Chicago in field goal percentage, 3 point field goal percentage, rebounding percentage, and they also committed less turnovers. (http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/team-comparison-per-game/seasontype/2)

The front office tends to favor Cleveland as well. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf also owns the Chicago White Sox and has a history of frugality when spending money on players. If Lebron comes to the Bulls, Reinsdorf likely will not do much to help the cause any further. Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert is committed to a bringing a title to Cleveland and will spend the money that needs to be spent to get a supporting cast in place to bring home the hardware.

At the end of the day, Lebron is going to make a decision based on what he feels is best for himself and his family. While it is anyone’s guess what that decision will be, Lebron has gone on record as saying that for him, it’s all about winning a title.

His best chance at a ring, as ridiculous as this may sound, is to stay in Cleveland.