LeBron's future

Like living wills and pre-nuptial agreements, the possibility of LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers when he is able is a subject most Cleveland basketball fans don't want to broach.
But like living wills and pre-nups, it is a prudent thing to examine.
Let's face facts: if the Cavaliers do not drastically improve the talent and organization surrounding their young prodigy with in the next year and have much better results next season (read: make the playoffs with relative ease in 2006 and win at least one series), LeBron will probably start seriously questioning whether this team will ever have the front-office ammo to become a serious contender.
I think LeBron, in his heart of hearts, wants to stay in Cleveland. He's from around here, his lifelong friends are residents of this area, and being a native of Akron, he is quite cognizant of the misery that has been heaped on Northeast Ohio sports fans in his lifetime, even if he'd rather cheer for the Yankees and Cowboys than the Indians and Browns.
I think it would be the thrill of a lifetime for LeBron to hoist a championship trophy for this area. But at some point, pragmatism is going to take over. Either the Cavaliers are going to be able to utilize LeBron's talents to contend for a title, or they are going to keep tripping over themselves, blowing draft picks, coach hirings and free agent signings.
If LeBron thinks playing for the Cavaliers is going to be a waste of his time, he's leaving. Sorry to be so blunt.
New owner Dan Gilbert has not gotten off to a rollicking start in his first two months at the helm of the organization. He fired Paul Silas, a coach whose stock was rapidly dropping, and replaced him with Brendan Malone, a coach who is flying by the seat of his pants. Probably a no-win situation, given the personnel available.
Malone's presence in the head coach's seat has not had the settling effect Gilbert had hoped for, and as the losses have mounted, the buzzards have begun flocking to the nearby trees. Thursday, with the Knicks in town and the predictable throng of New York media in tow, rumors were let loose in Cleveland that LeBron was going to demand a trade to the Knicks this off-season.
LeBron has a clause in his $90 million Nike contract that allows him to be paid more in endorsement money should he ever play in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, the three largest markets in the country. It is fairly standard practice for a big-money player to have such a clause, one would think, since a player's profile is magnified where the market exposure is the greatest. But in Cleveland, always aware of the other shoe hurtling toward Earth, it sounds like LeBron's road out of town being paved in gold.
LeBron and agent Aaron Goodwin were quick to shoot down the rumors. LeBron reportedly said, "The fans of the city of Cleveland have nothing to worry about at this time. I'm here."
If you're a Clevelander, three words ring out in that quote: "at this time."
So when will "at this time" end? Tomorrow? A month from now? Next year? A lot of it rides on Gilbert, who he brings in as the new general manager, who the general manager hires as coach, and what players the general manager and coach bring in to surround LeBron with for the 2005-06 season.
This is deeper than finding a couple shooters or rebounders. This is deeper than whether or not to re-sign Zydrunas Ilgauskas. This is a philosophical question about the direction of this organization, about what type of team the new brain trust is going to build. Plucking a bunch of this-n-that from other rosters and the draft and winding up with a mish-mash of players isn't going to work anymore, a big reason why Jim Paxson's time as the Cavs GM is short. Next year's team has to be built along a theme, be it defense, shooting or open-court floor-running.
July 1, 2006 is the day the Cavaliers can offer LeBron a maximum contract. If LeBron turns it down, Gilbert's boys had better start weighing their post-LeBron options. They'll have him for at least two ensuing years, but if the Cavs continue their long parade of front-office and coaching ineptitude to the point where LeBron has made up his mind he wants out, a blockbuster trade needs to be examined, and that trade had better yield a slew of draft picks and young players from some team.
Hopefully it won't get to that point. If it gets to the point where Cavaliers management is so clueless we are talking about what we need to get in return for LeBron so he doesn't bolt with nothing recouped, that just might challenge the Browns leaving in 1995 for the saddest, most pathetic moment in Cleveland sports.