James picks Miami; Bulls say they're ready to move on

Every good story needs a villain and LeBron James stepped forward to spice up the next few NBA seasons.

The world's most coveted free agent broke hearts in his hometown, ran from Michael Jordan's shadow, said nyet to the Nets and showed no love for New York.

James announced on his national cable television special that the long-rumored power trio in Miami would become a reality. He'll join fellow stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Heat.

"I feel like it's going to give me the best chance to win," James said. "I want to be able to win championships and I think I can do that. This morning, I woke up, had a great conversation with my mom. Once I had that conversation, I was set."

Now the Bulls can only hope to build a team capable of beating the star-studded Heat. Center Joakim Noah was ready for the challenge late Thursday after James made his announcement.

"To me personally, I think it's perfect," Noah said to ESPN outside the Berto Center. "I think we have pieces over here to compete against anybody. I think the organization did a great job locking in Boozer. I think with Booz, we're going to be able fight and that's a good feeling."

Boozer assessed the situation during an interview on WMVP's "Waddle and Silvy Show" on Thursday morning.

"If we don't get him, then we'll bring it to him," Boozer said.

The Bulls were one of several teams left empty-handed. When they suffered a first-round playoff loss to James and Cleveland in early May, there seemed to be no chance of James moving to Chicago. But when the Cavaliers lost to Boston in the next round, everything changed. James called Bulls guard Derrick Rose shortly after the loss to Boston and expressed interest in joining forces.

In the end, it was a disappointing result for the Bulls, especially after guard Kirk Hinrich and this year's first-round pick were traded to Washington to open more cap room. In the past year, the Bulls also traded John Salmons to Milwaukee and made no effort to re-sign Ben Gordon.

During the television special, James was asked about passing the chance to join the Bulls' young lineup.

"It's great talent," he said. "Derrick Rose is one of the best point guards we have in our league right now at age 21. Joakim Noah is one of those players you can't substitute for. We don't have a lot of those guys. With the addition of Carlos Boozer, they're going to be a really good team.

"They've got some great pieces, they've got a great coach in coach (Tom) Thibodeau. I believed when I had my meeting with him, was a great guy and a great coach. He's going to have those guys prepared and hopefully we'll see them down the line."

The Bulls quickly released a statement from general manager Gar Forman. Forman and Thibodeau will elaborate Friday when Boozer is introduced at the Berto Center.

"I remain convinced that this organization made the strongest of bids to acquire LeBron James during this free agency period," Forman's statement read. "While we're disappointed he chose to go to another franchise, our strategy for the future competitiveness of this organization did not begin or end with James, and we feel today's addition of two-time all-star Carlos Boozer significantly strengthens our team's already talented roster.

"It is our goal to keep exploring every avenue that it may take, whether through trades or free agency, to continue to build this team to compete at a championship level."

James, Wade and Bosh became friends while playing on the United States Olympic team in 2008 and talked about trying to play together someday. No one thought the day would come so soon.

It's a curious choice, because if James wins an NBA championship, he'll do it after joining Wade's team. If he doesn't win after forming an all-star lineup, it will be viewed as a colossal failure.

When free-agency began on July 1, it appeared the Bulls might have the inside track on James and their top competition would be Cleveland. The two-time MVP spent seven seasons with the Cavaliers and has lived in the Akron/Cleveland area his entire life.

Last Saturday in Cleveland, the Bulls sent chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, Forman and Thibodeau to a three-hour meeting with James and his management team. They left with the feeling James might be leaning toward Chicago.

Late in June, however, there were already predictions James, Wade and Bosh had agreed to join forces in Miami even before James listened to recruiting presentations from the Nets, Knicks, Clippers, Heat, Cavs and Bulls.

The Bulls also met with Wade and Bosh twice last week and thought Wade, a Chicago-area native, was also leaning toward joining the Bulls. The hang-up was thought to be Toronto's refusal to do a sign-and-trade sending Bosh to the Bulls without receiving Noah in return.

Here's a possible silver lining for the Bulls: After missing on James, they still have a lineup of Boozer, Rose, Deng, Noah, Gibson and James Johnson, plus roughly $19 million to spend on the rest of the roster.

The Bulls completed three other transactions Thursday. They officially acquired Boozer, turning it into a sign-and-trade deal with Utah where the Bulls will get a second-round draft pick.

They'll also receive a second-round pick from Phoenix for turning Hakim Warrick's departure into a sign-and-trade.

Meanwhile, the deal that was agreed to on draft night doesn't seem such a great idea now. In order to free enough cap room to sign two major free agents, the Bulls sent Hinrich, first-round draft pick Kevin Seraphin and $3 million cash to Washington. The Bulls will receive the draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko, a 6-11 power forward from Belarus. He was a second-round pick of the Wizards in 2006.