Crunch Time

The deadline is approaching. You know, the pre-set deadline Lebron James made last week. He promised that his decision would not come until after his 3-day Nike Basketball Skills Challenge camp ended, and apparently he's a man of his word.
The camp will conclude later this evening, and James has teamed-up with espn for a "special" sportscenter at 9pm tomorrow night solely dedicated to "Decision 2010." It was originally predicted that James would be the first to sign, and that his decision would go far in determining where other notable free agents like Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer and David Lee would end up.  However, this morning espn's Chris Broussard reported that Wade will remain in Miami, and that all-star forward/center Bosh would be joining him. They even already have a dual-press conference set up for this afternoon @ 3pm.
So what does that mean for the Bulls? Well, once again, the guys upstairs did a piss-poor job. It's pathetic and frustrating for the fans. The Bulls were pretty much penciled in to land Bosh, and they even had Dwayne Wade coming back several times for meetings about playing in his hometown. But apparently they didn't do enough. Heck, Wade even said one of the biggest factors for him was the current custody case he's battling with his ex-wife. The funny thing about it is that his kids are in Chicago.  Once again, the Bulls flopped. Horribly. Landing a duo of Bosh and Wade would be epic. They would automatically be contenders and maybe even favorites to win the east. They were supposedly the team that was suppose to come out on top of every other organization with enough dough to land top names, and already, 3 out of the top 4 have either committed or signed (Amare Stoudemire/Knicks, Wade & Bosh/Miami).
For the last decade or so, the Bulls have been experts at this. By this I mean off-season flops. Whether it's draft picks (up until the last 4 years at least), or free agent signings (Jalen Rose in '06, Malik Rose & Ben Wallace in '07), the Bulls front office has been down right awful. Even the coaching decisions have been less than par. Nobody wanted to see Scott Skiles go, and it happened at the most random time possible. Look what he's now done in Milwaukee.
The bottom line is that the Bulls need to get on their grind. They've just gone along with the idea that, "oh, this is Chicago, somebody will pick to come play here," instead of actually pulling up their sleeves and making players like Bosh and Wade feel wanted or desired.
Lebron could still pick Chicago, yes. But he won't. He'll make the smartest decision of his career and stay in Cleveland.  Heck, maybe the Bulls will even help them out and let Carlos Boozer slip away too and go to Cleveland which would surely please the coined king.
Personally I haven't wanted James to go to Chicago the whole time, but I also predicted that he would remain in Cleveland. And now only time will tell. Let the countdown begin I guess. I plan on just sleeping until 5pm so that I don't have to sit throughout the day dreading "Decision 2010."