The Foolishness of Wooing

The featured performance in the center ring of this year's National Basketball Association three-ring, free-agent circus is done. We are now left with lesser performances in the other rings, large clowns squeezing into small cars for bigger money. LeBron James' decision Thursday to move from the shores of Lake Erie to the shores of Biscayne Bay brought an end to the most enticingly hyped free agent summer in recent history. Not since 2000 -- when Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan became unencumbered players -- has the off season stirred so much excitement and specualtion.

While Hill and McGrady (free agents again this year) joined the Orlando Magic in hopes of building an NBA dynasty, Duncan chose to return to San Antonio. Hill barely played in Orlando because of injuries, and McGrady was left to carry the team alone. A decade later, James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh decided to pull off what the class of 2000 could not. They have joined forces, hoping to find in each other what they couldn't find in lesser teammates.

Things should work out better in Miami. James, Wade and Bosh are healthy, three young stars seeking to be just average Joes. Team players. The question becomes when will they win their first championship together? Who will be the master of this three-headed animal? Unlike other situations in which high scoring, dominant players have joined forces, Miami's triumvirate has unselfish players. James and Bosh apparently had tired of carrying the load for their respective teams, of being leaders charged with making their teammates better. So they joined Wade's team in hopes that he will make them champions. Wade, the ring master, now has what he wanted -- a strong supporting cast. Pat Riley also has what he wanted. One must now wonder how long will it be before Riley leaves the front office and sends his coach, Erik Spoelstra, packing.

The Heat have already changed the roster on their Web site. So have the Cleveland Cavaliers. But questions still remain. Who will be paid the most in Miami -- Wade, James or Bosh? Will Udonis Haslem return and for how little? Cleveland, which lost the biggest prize of the summer, only has a few free agents. But can the team that couldn't win with James win without him? Will Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas come back? Does Cleveland want them back?

Meanwhile, the New York Knicks and the other teams that chucked big contracts in an effort to grab James have left themselves with little with which to compete. Two years of basketball down the drain. At least the free-agency hype has ended, though it will now be replaced by idiocy.

Just look at Minnesota, Milwaukee, Memphis, Atlanta, Toronto and the Knicks. Minnesota has offered Darko Milicic about $6 million a year. Milwaukee has promised roughly the same amount to Drew Gooden. Memphis offered Rudy Gay a maximum contract, and Atlanta did the same with Joe Johnson. Toronto gave Amir Johnson about $6 million a year. And the Knicks, who spent years getting out from under bad contracts, signed Amare Stoudemire to a 5-year, nearly $100 million deal.

Basketball power has shifted. New York, once the preeminent location, is a joke to many in the league. Los Angeles and Miami have the star power now. Hollywood East and Hollywood West. While many, most notably NBA commissioner David Stern, see this week's developments as good for NBA coffers and television ratings, teams in smaller markets have to wonder. Can Minnesota, Detroit, Memphis, Oaklahoma City or Portland counteract the glamour of LA and South Beach?

I doubt it. Luckily for most NBA teams, not every player wants to be a sidekick, to ride someone else's coattails. Some want to lead their own teams. Something James and Bosh couldn't or wouldn't do.