LeBron for Rose? Hey, who knows?

A few of us sat around the table eating dinner before the Cubs-White Sox game the other night in Wrigley Field.

We were waiting for a baseball game to start, plus the local hockey team was about to take the field and make a spectacle of the Stanley Cup.

So naturally the conversation turned to basketball, which these days doesn't mean the current NBA Finals or upcoming college draft.

What basketball is right now is LeBron James, what he's thinking and where he's going. The game is rumors, speculation and manufactured scenarios.

So let's manufacture one: If all the financial machinations of a sign-and-trade could be worked out, should the Bulls include Derrick Rose in a package going to the Cavaliers?

The bidding for James would be intense. The billionaire who bought the New Jersey Nets could offer the Cavs all the mineral rights in Russia. The New York Knicks could invade, occupy and offer the entire State of New Jersey. The Heat could offer South Beach, of course. The Clippers could offer Blake Griffin, their only natural resource.

Sam Smith writes on Bulls.com that the Blazers might squeeze into the fray by offering from their vast reservoir of centers.

The Bulls? Rose? They should surrender him if necessary. A dummy at the table disagreed with me as most dummies do. A genius at the table agreed with me as most geniuses do.

The issue probably is moot, and not just because LeBron is expected to accept an invitation to become the Big Ten's 13th member.

More moot than that, the Bulls likely would be a destination for James only if Rose is at the core of their core.

In other words: No Rose, no LeBron.

Derrick Rose has become a magical figure around Chicago. He's the only Bull precious enough to fit in with the precious Blackhawks.

The Bulls might calculate that winning without Rose would be too difficult even with James.

The rationale concerning James could include that he recently showed his flaws during the playoffs, that his silly in-game dancing is disturbing and that he's more about image than winning.

That's crazy talk, of course.

The Bulls should offer James anything and everything to come here - his head coach of choice, input on roster moves, re-branding the team the Chicago LBJs and renaming the arena the James Center.

After that, sacrificing Rose would be painful but easy.

Oh, and another thing: A respected NBA television analyst observed a couple of weeks ago that Rose is on the way to developing into the second-best player on a championship team.

That was meant as a compliment. The second-best player on a championship team is, say, Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal or Pau Gasol to Kobe Bryant.

He's somebody like Rose, while James is a No. 1 guy.

Another suggestion at our round-table was that the Cavaliers probably would be desperate and have to accept less than fair value for James. Sorry, uh-uh, they would get what they want, like a Rose.

So, for conversation's sake, it comes down to whether the Bulls would be willing to send Derrick Rose to Cleveland.

Wouldn't they be goofy not to for LeBron James?

mimrem@dailyherald.com