Coverage of Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James leaves fans unsure what to ...
Deciphering the true meaning of life itself is much easier than finding deeper implications in those two canary yellow 'Exotic Car Transport' vans parked in front of LeBron James' house Wednesday.
Or why Heat owner Micky Arison was not 'invited' along with Pat Riley to meet with His Highness in Vegas the same afternoon.
Or if Derrick Rose really snubbed Carmelo Anthony during his Chicago visit. And if so, what does it mean?
And is it really true Anthony, Chris Bosh (with a four-year, $88 million Houston offer on the table) and Kevin Love were waiting for James to make a move before they could make theirs?
Hell if we know. NBA commissioner Adam Silver seems like an aware cat but he forgot to get a corporation to sponsor 'James Gang Holds NBA Hostage,' the league's answer to summer programming such as ABC's 'Wipeout.' A lie-detector manufacturer would have worked, if only as a symbolic gesture.
Processing the barrage of non-stop information isn't easy. Figuring out what to believe, what is true, false, important or bullspit is challenging, too. There is a chaotic quality to what is going down. Media mayhem.
From the Valley of the Stupid to parts unknown, where every Le-Bron-related tweet must have a subliminal message, and throughout all information precincts, the esteemed messengers have delivered their scenarios (usually featuring the words 'domino' and 'narrative') on this mysterious, entertaining money game.
This is not about casting aspersions on multi-millionaire players waiting patiently to cash in - again. Nor is it a shot at NBA reporters who are charged with not only gathering information but offering their opinions, too.
When the dust settles, the NBA landscape is going to change, leading to even more hours of analysis. These Info Men are the tour guides. When the subject is James, and the constellation of NBA stars surrounding him, the most visible reporters are afforded maximum exposure and become personalities, too.
So on LeBronVision, aka ESPN, there are reporters/commentators such as Brian Windhorst, Chris Broussard, Marc Stein and Tom Penn, a former NBA executive, whose mind-numbing salary cap machinations are a fabulous reason to click on Fox Sports 1 and wait for Adrian Wojnarowski's exclusive reports.
Anthony's involvement has set off a mad scramble locally, adding even more stuff to sift through and another layer of competition. On Wednesday afternoon, Daily News Knicks beat man Frank Isola reported Anthony had decided to re-sign with the Knicks, attributing his report to a friend of Anthony's who said Melo 'wants to get it done in New York.'
Shortly after that story broke, ESPN elected not to pay credence to it (or even mention it). Instead, ESPN reported in a bottom screen crawl that Anthony's agent said there was no deal yet, adding 'another source' said Anthony hopes to choose a team 'by the end of the week.'
This wasn't the first time the Anthony story left us all with choices. Early in the saga there were reports that Anthony's concern about having to move his young son to a new town and new school could play a major role in him staying with the Knicks.
Very heartwarming. Yet it stands to reason that James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan's ability to give Anthony $129 million over five years would supply greater motivation to stay put, right?
While we are only left to guess, as has been the case throughout this story, the $129 mil just might have played more a role in Anthony's decision than the Little Red School House.
What percentage? Don't know. But this whole percentage thing has basically turned this story into a game show minus Vanna White and a roulette wheel. On ESPN, questions such as 'What percentage chance do you give of LeBron winding up back in Cleveland?' are common.
This has resulted in some negativity, even from some of ESPN's own personalities. On ESPN-98.7, Ryan Ruocco mentioned how some ESPN NBA reporters have used the percentage thing. 'They have their own methods,' an indignant Stephen A. Smith replied. '. . . I don't trust anybody on this (story).'
Ruocco said he has been 'listening' to a lot of people working the story. Smith basically told his partner he was wasting his time.
'You are not listening to your boy,' Smith said. 'There are a lot of Indians out there. You are not listening to the chief.'
Remember, Smith was the leader of the pack back in the summer of 2010, before James' own show, 'The Decision,' hit the airwaves. While The King was trashed for partaking in a self-aggrandizing spectacular, we loved the program. And we were hoping James would do it again.
If only to clear up the van situation.
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