Big announcement from James coming Thursday on live TV

As NBA free agency reached Day 7, the nation turned a weary eye to LeBron James and asked if this finally will be the day when somebody decides something.

Tuesday passed with a few inconsequential rumors, but no real news outside of James opening a Twitter account that had 165,000 followers as of 8 p.m.

According to James, New Orleans guard Chris Paul gassed him up on the practice of sending short news briefs to anyone who wants to read them. James and Paul completed the second day of the LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron, Ohio.

Of course, James did not speak to reporters as he left the gym.

He will, however, speak to ESPN on Thursday at 8 p.m. during a one-hour special in which he will announce the team with which he will be signing.

Down in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dwyane Wade hosted a kids basketball camp and also gave no indication of his plans. The Heat hauled four busloads of employees to the gym for a manufactured show of support for the all-star guard.

Both Wade and James are believed to be torn between joining the Bulls and staying with their current teams.

Much of the day's chatter focused on Chris Bosh and his quest for a suitable sign-and-trade deal.

In the morning, one news report suggested Toronto is willing to send Bosh to Cleveland to play with James. Later in the day, it was suggested Bosh does not want to play for the Cavaliers and is pushing James to join him somewhere else.

Considering Bosh is planning to leave Toronto and has options in Chicago and Miami, maybe it's understandable that he doesn't want to move to Cleveland.

A couple of questions Bosh needs to answer are where does he want to play and is he dead set on getting a sign-and-trade? If Bosh signs with another team outright, he is limited to a five-year deal. If he re-signs with Toronto and is traded, he can get six years.

It's often mentioned that free agents will leave $30 million on the table by jumping to a new team, but that's true only if the player retires in five years. If he signs a new contract, the difference will be much smaller.

The Bulls have just one maximum salary slot available. So to complete a dream pairing of Bosh with James or Wade, the Bulls would need some sort of trade. The Raptors don't want to take Luol Deng's expensive contract, and the Bulls aren't eager to send Joakim Noah to Canada.

Noah's presence at center might be the Bulls' best chance of drawing Bosh, who has stressed that he does not want to play center on a new team.

All the speculation that the Bulls need to trade Noah in order to get Bosh probably is misguided. Toronto could collect Taj Gibson, James Johnson, future draft picks and a hefty trade exception from the Bulls.

The key here is Bosh telling the Raptors he will sign for five years unless they work out a deal that doesn't include Noah.

The Bulls always could send Gibson and Johnson to teams with cap space, such as Sacramento or Minnesota, freeing up enough money to come very close to a five-year maximum deal for Bosh.

Another option the Bulls have considered is forgetting about Bosh and offering their second slot to Utah power forward Carlos Boozer. The advantages are Boozer would likely accept less money, which means the Bulls could keep Gibson as a sixth man. Boozer also has a more impressive playoff history than Bosh.

For now, though, the Bulls appear to be sitting tight and waiting for the unofficial free-agent pecking order to play out. The theory is it all starts with James, followed by Wade, Bosh, Boozer and New York's David Lee.

The Bulls are talking to everyone involved and exploring trade possibilities outside the major free agents. Whether the eventual outcomes turn out to be a surprise remains to be seen.