Anthony Tolliver's one-minute video on YouTube has been a huge hit. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

If his basketball career doesn’t work out, Anthony Tolliver could have a future as a Hollywood actor.

Tolliver reenacted LeBron James’ over-the-top ESPN special and titled it “The Decision: Part Deux!!” The video has been viewed by more than 250,000 times on YouTube since he posted it Friday. Tolliver, a third-year forward from Creighton, posted the one-minute video to announce that he chose the Minnesota Timberwolves over the Golden State Warriors, spoofing LeBron’s made-for-TV event earlier this summer when he announced that was going to “take his talents to South Beach.”

Tolliver was the director, producer, screenwriter and star, with some help from his sister, who ran the camera, and his girlfriend, who played the reporter. “I like to have fun with a lot of things and decided to have a little fun with this,” Tolliver told the Associated Press. “I didn’t expect it to do what it did. I’m a fun-loving guy. I like to have fun so that’s why I did it.”

Tolliver said he didn’t intend to make fun of LeBron, and that he was trying to poke fun at himself.

“A lot of people didn’t like ‘The Decision.’ They didn’t really like the whole hour special on ESPN and stuff like that,” said the 6-foot-9 forward, who played 44 games for Golden State last season. “They were like, ‘Good job making fun of LeBron.’ They have no idea. I wasn’t making fun of LeBron. I was just having fun with the situation.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Cavs fans Josh Hall (left), Rob Hose (center) and Mike Adams burn LeBron James No. 23 jerseys. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

What is the best and most interesting matchup of the 2010-11 NBA season?

The opening-night matchup between the Miami Heat and their Three Kings against the Boston Celtics’ Big Four is nice, but it lacks drama. The Christmas Day showdown between the Heat and defending NBA champion Lakers in Los Angeles has plenty star power on and off the court, but the subdued and spoiled fans at Staples Center probably won’t be throwing their mocha lattes and cappuccinos at the opposition during the holiday season.

The best regular-season matchup for the 2010-11 season is….drum roll, please…..the Dec. 2 contest between the Heat and Cavaliers in Cleveland, also known as The Return of LeBron.

When LeBron James announced on nationally TV that he’ll be “taking his talents to South Beach,” seething Cavaliers fans began spitting venom and started breathing fire. They were burning No. 23 jerseys and tearing down LBJ posters just minutes after The Decision. The anger was comparable to the day Clevelanders eliminated “Art” and “Modell” from their vocabulary.

Even Cavs owner Dan Gilbert lost his cool, calling LeBron’s decision “cowardly” and slapped The Curse of White Man from Town on the two-time league MVP.

“The fanbase is still in shock,” Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Brian Windhorst said on NBATV’s Game Time. “Everything that happens to the Cavaliers for the foreseeable future is going to be attached to after LeBron.”

When LeBron walks back into Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night, it would be like walking into a vampire’s lair with blood dripping from his arms and a piece of meat hanging from his shoulders. Cavaliers fans will have their fangs out, all dying to take a bite out of their former hometown hero.

TNT will televise the game and the hype will be absolutely bananas. It will be like Terrell Owens returning to Philly….times 10! The boos Pat Riley heard the night he returned to Madison Square Garden as the head coach of the Heat are nothing compared to the boos LeBron will hear on Dec. 2.

LeBron better have added security that day because Cavs fans will be out in full force ready to eat him alive.

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All-Star point guard Chris Paul should reconsider his trade demands and try to bring a championship to New Orleans. (GETTY IMAGES)

There are now several published reports that point guard Chris Paul wants out of New Orleans and lists the Orlando Magic as his No. destination.

This has LeBron James’ fingerprints all over this sudden trade demand from the NBA’s best point guard. James and Paul are very good friends. In fact, the week of LeBron’s “Decision” Paul was at his basketball camp in Akron, Ohio. James probably told Paul what his intentions were and planted the seed on this whole “super team” idea.

Paul dropped hints last month during Carmelo Anthony’s wedding that he would love to play with other superstars. He mentioned playing in New York with Amare Stoudemire and possibly Anthony (if he decides to leave Denver), and he also mentioned Dallas, Portland and Orlando. 

Forming super teams are becoming the latest trend in the NBA, much like the headbands and arm sleeves. What every happened to being an original instead of a copycat? Michael Jordan certainly disagreed with LeBron’s decision to leave Cleveland to be with two other All-Stars in South Beach. Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley couldn’t understand why a reigning MVP would smudge his star like that and hop on someone else’s bandwagon. That was complete foreign to super studs in the 1980s.

With James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh joining forces in Miami, Paul looked at his own situation in New Orleans and got star envy. I guess David West and Emeka Okafor won’t suffice at this point.

That’s where the Orlando Magic comes in. Paul sees Dwight Howard and his mouth begins to salivate just thinking about all those alley-oop passes he can serve up to Blankman. But Orlando already has a point guard, Jameer Nelson, and he just happens to be Blankman’s best friend. Would Blankman toss his good friend under the bus so he could team up with a better PG? Not likely to happen.

The second team on Paul’s wish list is the New York Knicks. Again, Paul would love to run pick-and-rolls all day with Stoudemire, but at some point you have to play defense which is something head coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t have in his playbook. If D’Antoni, hypothetically, had 100 pages on his playbook, 99 of them would be devoted to offense.

Even if the Knicks somehow convince Paul and Anthony to come to the Big Apple it still wouldn’t guarantee the Knicks a spot in the NBA Finals. Championships are not built overnight (unless you’re the Boston Celtics in 2008, which is somewhat of an anomaly).

Which leads us back to New Orleans.

Paul, who has two years left on his Hornets deal, has been the face of the New Orleans Hornets the day he was drafted into the league. He’s more than just a starting point guard to the people of New Orleans. He’s the ray of hope that lifts spirits of a ravaged community that is still recovering from a devastating hurricane. Losing CP3 would be like losing the Superdome or the French Quarters on Bourbon Street. It would pretty much signal the end of basketball in New Orleans.

The Hornets brass, which includes GM Dell Demps and head head coach Monty Williams, are scheduled to meet with Paul and convince their superstar that the team is doing everything they can to piece together a contender. If the talk goes well, Paul will likely stay in New Orleans. If not, the Hornets better have a Plan B.

I’m hoping CP3 would come to his senses and think better of leaving the franchise that worships him. Bringing a championship to New Orleans would easily trump three or four titles with the Magic.

Paul should call Drew Brees and ask him how great it feels to lift a downtrodden football team all the way to the Super Bowl. Brees won’t have to win another championship in his lifetime. Bringing ONE championship to New Orleans is worth a thousand mardi gras.

Memo to CP3: Stop listening to LBJ.

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Michael Jordan says he wanted to beat Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, not join them. (AFP)

Michael Jordan understood why LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland and team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. However, in hindsight, Jordan likely would not have done the same if given the same choice.

Call it an old-school mentality, call it ego, call it what you want. Jordan didn’t take shortcuts. What made him such a great player was his incredible drive and extremely competitive nature. He wanted to be the best and refused to play second fiddle to anyone. Sure, he got cozy with lot of his peers during his playing days, but when it came time to compete on the basketball court MJ wanted to destroy all of them.

So, when Jordan, who retired in 2003, was asked what he thought about James’ decision to join forces with his All-Star friends in Miami, the six-time NBA champion who built his entire legacy with the Chicago Bulls said he simply couldn’t see himself teaming with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird just so he could win a championship. He wanted to do it on his own, as the No. 1 alpha dog.

“I would have never called up Larry and called up Magic and say ‘Hey, let’s get together and play on one team.’ But things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. That’s an opportunity those kids have today,” Jordan recently told NBC Sports in between rounds at the 2010 American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

“In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys [Larry and Magic],” Jordan continued. “I don’t know if they would have been on my team, if we would have been on one team.”

The idea of “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach was never an option for Jordan. Magic and Bird would never subscribe to that either. All three MVPs had too much pride to hitch on someone else’s championship wagon. It would have been real easy for Jordan to join either Magic’s team in L.A. or Bird’s team in Boston while he was chasing his first NBA title. But he didn’t.

Jordan suffered through miserable playoff defeats to the Celtics and the Detroit Pistons during the first six seasons of his career before finally getting over the hump in his seventh year when his Bulls defeated Magic’s Lakers in 1991.

The only exception to the rule was the 1992 Olympics when Jordan, Magic and Bird wore the same uniform for Team USA, and they were joined by fellow All-Stars Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen and Clyde Drexler.

“When you look at the Dream Team, obviously, we were all on that team,” Jordan said. “But it wasn’t too much of a competitive thing.”

LeBron James says he keeps tabs of all the nay-sayers and will probably post some of them in his Heat locker for motivation. Though James holds Jordan in high regard, MJ’s latest comment could be bulletin-board material and the Charlotte Bobcats (Jordan’s team) could be in a heap of trouble.

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The Miami Heat unveil their 'Three Kings' at American Airlines Arena: Chris Bosh (1), Dwyane Wade (3) and LeBron James (6). (GETTY IMAGES)

They danced, pranced, giggled and screamed on stage like a bunch of schoolgirls during a screening of “The Twilight Saga.”

Team LeBron. Team Wade. Team Bosh.

Miami’s American Airlines Arena was officially christened Friday, July 9, 2010, as D-Wade’s House, LeBron’s Kingdom and Bosh’s Pit.

There was LeBron James, wearing No. 6 in a Miami Heat uniform and strutting on stage, smiling from ear to ear. Yes, Cleveland. Your worst nightmare has been realized. The former pride and joy of Akron seems to have already assimilated to the splendor and spectacle of South Beach less than 48 hours after he dumped on the Cavaliers on national TV.

There was Chris Bosh, wearing No. 1 in a Miami Heat uniform, wiping his brow with his fingers and posing for the cameras. Of all the free-agent studs this offseason, Bosh is the one who has clearly enjoyed all the attention. Can you blame him? He has been incarcerated in Toronto for seven years! Now, he looks like a guy who just won the lottery and can’t wait to spend his money.

There was Dwyane Wade, wearing his familiar No. 3 Heat jersey, laughing, joking and absolutely giddy like a 10-year-old who just received a brand new Wii console on Christmas. Did anyone really thought Wade was going to leave South Beach? He probably went through with the whole free-agent process just so that he could spy for Pat Riley. The end result was he brought along his super friends with him to Miami – as promised.

Heat play-by-play announcer Eric Reid introduced the trio as “The Three Kings” of Miami. More than 10,000 fans flooded American Airlines Arena flooded the stadium – also known as D-Wade’s House – and couldn’t contain their joy, holding up “Yes. We. Did.” signs and flashing their cameras, hoping to get a picture of the newest rock stars of South Beach.

Wade proclaimed The Three Kings as “arguably, the best trio to ever play the game of basketball.” James followed that bodacious statement by saying the Heat are more than capable of winning “NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE … NOT FOUR … NOT FIVE … NOT SIX … NOT SEVEN” NBA championships.

“And when I say that I really believe it. I’m not just blowing smoke at these fans because that’s not what I’m about. I’m about business,” James boasted. “We believe we can win multiple championships if we take care of business and do it the right way.”

LeBron says it doesn’t matter how the rest of the roster will shape up because as long as The Three Kings are on the court, the heat will be on the opponents. “When me and D-Wade are running the wing, I mean, Pat [Riley] can come back and play like was back in his Kentucky days. Just throw it up there and we’re gonna go get it.”

Wade is confident egos and individual accolades won’t get in the way of the 2.0 version of the Miami Heat because the team will be built around one word: sacrifice. “That’s not just from a money standpoint, that’s not just from a shot standpoint. It’s everything. When we step on the court, it’s going to be business. Whoever is going to be a part of this organization is gonna have to make that sacrifice.”

He continued: “Oh, we’re going to have fun. It’s going to be Hollywood down here.”

Wade knows a thing about winning a title. He experienced it 2006 with the help of Shaquille O’Neal and a roster surrounded by veterans such as Gary Payton, James Posey, Antoine Walker and Alonzo Mourning. But this time it’s different. Wade, James and Bosh are all in the primes and none of them are older than 28.

James is the reigning NBA most valuable player and, at 25 years old, he’s barely entering the height of his basketball career. Bosh is 26 and hungry for attention, so he’ll be motivated to soak in some of the spotlight in Miami.

“That’s the only reason why I’m here,” James said of his decision to sign with the Heat because, in his mind, it affords him the best opportunity to win a title. “I’m here to bring another championship, to bring that feeling that you all had a few years ago when y’all was able to win that championship. Me and CB, we’re here to make that feeling come back.”

Bosh gave a glimpse of what to expect when the regular season starts in October. “When I get a rebound, I got LeBron on my left I can outlet to. And I have D-Wade on my right. I’m lucky.”

Somewhere out in L.A., where the Larry O’Brien Trophy sits, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are in the gym working on their shots and dying to get a shot at The Three Kings. The Celtics’ Big Four of Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are probably watching tape right now and formulating game plans on how to defend The Three Kings. Ssomewhere out in Orlando, Dwight Howard is doing extra reps on the shoulder-press machine, physically prepping for his upcoming battles with The Three Kings in the Southeast Division. And Joakim Noah, the Chicago Bulls’ outspoken and highly emotional forward/center, recently branded the Miami Heat as “Team Hollywood.”

Without a doubt, Miami’s Three Kings will have huge targets on their backs this season, but they seem to be up for the challenge.

“We’re competitors. We accept it with open arms. Bring it on!” said Wade.

“That’s why we play this game. We play this game to have those competitive juices,” Wade continued. “We expect those teams to say that. We don’t expect them to say ‘OK, Miami has won it.’ No, we don’t want that. We don’t play so people can just lay down. We want to come out here and give this Miami crowd a show every night, and even on the road because every place will be a sell-out when we come to town. So, they can thank us now.”

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Dwyane Wade will always have a leg up on LeBron James in Miami. (GETTY IMAGES)

LeBron James has never looked so small.

When James ditched his homestate team of Cleveland, Ohio, for a chance to play with not one but two of his All-Star buddies in Miami, Fla., it was loud and clear admission that the self-proclaimed King James can’t rule a kingdom on his own. Sadly, it was almost a cry for help. This is The Chosen One? The guy who is supposed to be the biggest and the baddest player in the Association and heir to Michael Jordan’s throne as the greatest player of all time? What a royal disappointment.

In James’ quest to conquer his first NBA championship, the 25-year-old two-time league MVP raised his right arm and waved for more troops. He needed Chris Bosh. He needed Dwyane Wade. He didn’t want to be in the frontline nor the backline. He just wanted to jump on someone else’s troop and win the battle playing as the second or third fiddle.

To put it in a New York Yankees perspective, LeBron is Alex Rodriguez and Wade is Derek Jeter. That leaves Bosh as Mark Teixeira. Much like A-Rod, James went lead role to a supporting actor, and didn’t mind it one bit.

Can you imagine Jordan teaming up with Isiah Thomas with the Detroit Pistons? Or, how about Larry Bird leaving Boston to play with Magic Johnson in L.A.? Can you see Kobe Bryant opting out of his contract with the Lakers and teaming with Wade and Bosh in Miami?

No way! Heck no! And hell no!

Miami is Wade County and American Airlines Arena is D-Wade’s house. Wade owns a championship ring and a Finals MVP trophy. Because he was The Guy who led the Heat to a championship in 2006, he will always be toast of the parties on Ocean Boulevard in South Beach.

During the Heat’s news conference at American Airlines Arena Friday night, James was introduced first, then Bosh and then Wade. Wade also got the loudest ovation from the more than 10,000 Heat fans in attendance. Then, during the session with the media, Wade sat in the middle of the table and was flanked by James and Bosh. That’s going to be the pecking order with the Miami Heat. Wade will always drive the Heat bus, with James and Bosh as his passengers.

Charles Barkley, one of only six regular-season MVPs to not win an NBA championship, said that  during his prime years in the league, it never even crossed his mind that he needed help from other All-Star players to win a title. In fact, Barkley thought he could do it on his own every year because he wanted to be The Guy.

Barkley wanted to be The Guy who took the last shot, grabbed the key rebound, made the crucial pass that led his team to victory and ultimately to a championship. That title never came, but at least Barkley never took a backseat to anyone. When he first arrived in the NBA in 1984 as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers – a team who won the NBA title the previous year and boasted Hall-of-Famers Moses Malone and Julius Erving – Barkley, in his mind, was the best player on the team. He didn’t care if Moses or Dr. J were on the same court.

“If I was 25, I’d try to win [a championship] by myself, not technically to win it by myself, but I would make sure I was The Guy on the team,” Barkley said on NBATV. “We just started giving Kobe Bryant credit the last two years. There was that stigma that he hadn’t won without Shaq. You see, we have elevated him because he won the last two as The Guy. And LeBron is never gonna be The Guy. Dwyane Wade has already won a championship, so it’s his team.

“I still think LeBron is the best player in the NBA. But there is a knock – and it is a fair knock – because the reason why I say that is if we’re gonna use the same criteria on Kobe Bryant we have to use it on LeBron James also.”

Barkley said he was disappointed James didn’t stay with the Cavaliers because winning a championship in a title-starved city like Cleveland would have been sweeter, especially for a player who grew up in nearly Akron and is all too familiar with the sad sports history of Cleveland, Ohio.

“It would have been a lot more significant to win a championship in Cleveland than piggyback on Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh,” Barkley said. “If he wins a championship in Miami, would it be a great thing ‘yeah, it would be a great thing.’ But it won’t be nearly as significant and it won’t enhance his legacy. That’s the bottom line.”

Barkley is completely miffed at the fact that James, who at 25 is very much in the prime of his professional basketball career, would choose to defer to another superstar just to win a title. In other words, LeBron took the shortcut instead of staying on the long road to the promised land. Barkley used Karl Malone and Gary Payton as examples of two basketball legends who stuck it out on bad teams, hoping to win titles as the leaders of their respective teams.

“They tried to win it by themselves. That’s why I admire and respect those guys,” Barkley said. “They did go the Lakers and Gary went to Miami to win a championship, but they didn’t try to piggyback on anybody else early in their careers. When you’re 25, you shouldn’t have to piggyback on other people.”

James said during his one-hour made-for-ESPN special Thursday night that the No. 1 reason why he decided to join the Heat was because he felt, with Wade and Bosh in the fold, Miami gave him the best chance to win a title, which is an unwarranted indictment on the Cavaliers organization, owner Dan Gilbert and former GM Danny Ferry.

“Let’s be realistic. Cleveland, to me, they were still one of the five or six best teams in the NBA. Think about that,” Barkley noted. “They lost to the Celtics, that was a tough matchup. You take away Orlando and they’re still in the mix as the best team in the East, and other than the Lakers in the West, they would have been in the mix. [Cleveland] has had the best record in the NBA [the last two years] so it wasn’t like he was playing on a bad team. So I wished he would have tried to win it by himself as The Guy.

“[LeBron's] legacy is going to take a hit.”

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Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert blasted LeBron James on the team's Web site. (CLEVELAND PLAIN-DEALER)

There is a lot of smoke emanating from northeast Ohio. Irate Cavaliers fans are burning LeBron James jerseys and T-shirts, and there is steam coming out of Dan Gilbert’s ears.

The Cavaliers owner was absolutely livid, and rightfully so, when James went on national TV Thursday night to tell the whole world that he is ditching Cleveland for Miami.

“In this fall … man, this is very tough … I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat,” James told Jim Gray during a one-hour made-for-TV event televised live on ESPN.

“That was the conclusion I work up to this morning,” James said. Then, he explained, “I feel like this is going to give me the best opportunity to win, and to win for multiple years. And not only to win in the regular season and to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I wanted to be able to win championships and I feel like I can compete down there.”

As soon as LeBron uttered the words “Miami” and “Heat,” Cavaliers Nation fell hard. It must have felt like someone had just punched them in the gut and then kicked while they were down. Or, better yet, Cavs fans now know it feels to get dumped in public, have beer poured over your head and watch your ex leave the bar with a hot-looking chick who barely speaks English. Cleveland just got bamboozled by one of their own, a guy who they have worshiped and revered since he was 16 years old.

Hours after the devastating announcement, Gilbert wrote an open letter to Cavaliers fans and posted it on the team’s Web site. Gilbert wrote:

“As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight: “I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

But Gilbert didn’t stop there. He continued to blast the self-proclaimed “King James,” telling the Associated Press that James showed his true colors Thursday night and claimed that he “quit” on the Cavaliers during Games 2, 4, 5 and 6 in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics.

“Watch the tape,” Gilbert said. “The Boston series was unlike anything in the history of sports for a superstar. People have covered up for him for way too long.”

LeBron James' pre-game powder routine will be moving to South Beach (ASSOCIATED PRESS).

Then, taking a page out of Stephen King’s made-into-movie novel “Thinner,” Gilbert slapped the “Curse of White Man from Town” on James and promised that the “Cleveland Curse” has now been lifted because James will be carrying that hex with him to South Beach.

“The good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called ‘curse’ on Cleveland, Ohio,” Gilbert said. “The self-declared former ‘King’ will be taking the ‘curse’ with him down south. And until he does ‘right’ by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma. Just watch.”

Should LeBron be concerned about a curse? Maybe not right now, but the minute the Heat start losing multiple games, James’ knees and elbows mysteriously begin to swell and his highlight-reel moves turn into an episode of “Bloopers & Practical Jokes,” then maybe he should seriously consider drawing blood from his hand and dripping it into a plate of strawberry pie. Or, he could just hire some guy named Richie “The Hammer” Ginelli to do the dirty work for him.

Growing up in nearby Cleveland, James should be well versed in the sad, sad history of professional sports teams in Ohio. Whether it’s bad luck or simply cursed, Clevelanders have endured many, many heartbreakers: The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot Over Ehlo, The Indians’ Ninth-Inning Collapse in the 1997 World Series, and now The Betrayal.

Those who are close to James say that the two-time NBA MVP painfully wrestled with this decision for months, but ultimately he simply could not pass up an opportunity to play with his good friends and Olympic teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

Wade says the Heat now have a huge bulls-eye on their back, while James has become public enemy No. 1 to 29 teams in the league.

Bulls fans despise him, Knicks fans will treat him like he’s Reggie Miller and boo him profusely when shows his face at Madison Square Garden, and his cronies may have to pay their way to watch Jay-Z’s concerts from here on out.

And then there is Cleveland. James should seriously consider moving his whole family out of Akron and into South Beach because it’s no longer safe to live in his hometown. The people of Cleveland, Ohio, have already severed ties with LeBron and vilified him as the 2.0 version of Art Modell. LeBron James has become LeBart Modell.

So, unless James wins a championship with the Heat and soon, The Curse of White Man from Town will be hovering over him like The Curse of the Bambino or The Curse of the Billy Goat.

Good luck, LeBron.

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First, it was the Bulls. Then, it was Cavaliers. Then, it was the Knicks. Now, the Heat have become the front-runners.

Predicting which team LeBron James chooses to sign with is kind of like forecasting when or where the next earthquake will hit. Amid all the speculation and so-called experts’ opinions on where James is going to play next season and for years to come, the reality of it is this: no one knows for sure what the two-time NBA MVP will do.

Actually, there are a few things we know for sure: the Los Angeles Clippers have NO SHOT at signing LeBron James. Let’s just get that out of the way. And the New Jersey Nets are only in the running because LeBron doesn’t want to embarrass his good friend Jay-Z.

So, that leaves four teams in the hunt: Miami, Chicago, New York and Cleveland.

LeBron and his management group, also known as The Four Horsemen from Akron, are keeping a very tight lid on the situation and only LeBron knows what LeBron wants. For now, LeBron is telling everyone to wait in line before he serves up his decision, which comes at 9 p.m. EST today and televised live by ESPN.

Have I mentioned that the Clippers have no shot? Just checking.

A one-hour special on the Worldwide Leader? Really? Seriously? This is utterly ridiculous. No one player in the NBA deserves this much power and this much attention.

Thanks to Team LeBron – comprised mainly of his buddies from high school and led by a guy named Maverick – ESPN’s family of networks have morphed into LeBron TV. Each time you tune in there is some news about LeBron James and his free-agency decision.

He made the jump from high school to the NBA, so he never experienced the whole college recruiting process. He’s definitely making up for it, though. No matter how sophomoric the idea is, it’s definitely LeBron’s way of reliving college without having to attend classes. It wouldn’t surprise me if James lined up baseball caps in front of him, the same drama-filled moment when a high school kid makes his college commitment.

Maybe, LeBron should do the show “Rock of Love” style with LeBron playing the role of Bret Michaels. But instead of backstage passes, LeBron should hand out headbands to the winning suitors. I’mwilling to bet the Clippers would be the first team dismissed. Just a gut feeling.

I can see it now. LeBron, while holding the last headband, asks Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert how much Cleveland loves him. Then, Bron-Bron turns to Heat owner Micky Arison and asks him if South Beach is big enough to house three basketball All-Stars.

Now that’s reality TV at its best!

But I digress. So, again, why is LeBron going on national TV to announce his intentions? He could have done so through a live press conference holding his kids, just like every other athlete who takes the podium. Hasn’t he gotten enough coverage the past month (the past two years if you’re a Knick fan)? If he has indeed already made up his mind to move to Miami, why would he subject Cleveland fans – the very people who worship the ground he walks on – to a very painful rejection and completely humiliate them publicly?

Spurning the Cavs would be like to stabbing your best friend in the heart in front of all your closest friends and family, and making your mom clean up the mess. OK, maybe that’s a bit extreme but you get the point.

Dru Joyce, James’ high school coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, once said that LeBron is an entertainer and enjoys a little drama. Joyce knows LeBron really well, and maybe he’s on to something. This certainly explains all the bells and whistles of Thursday’s one-hour made-for-TV event. It’s all about feeding LeBron’s massive ego.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh stole some of his thunder Wednesday when both announced that they would team up in Miami. But Thursday belongs to LeBron and only LeBron. If this doesn’t satisfy LBJ’s insatiable appetite for attention then nothing will.

It was bad enough that he made high-ranking representatives from the Nets, Clippers, Knicks, Heat and Bulls fly to Cleveland to meet with him and his LRMR team. Each team gave three-hour presentations on how much they would love to have LeBron. For lack of a better term, it was three hours of “ass kissing.”

This is shades of what Kobe Bryant did in 2004 when he was being courted by the Lakers, Clippers and Bulls. Bryant really had no intention of leaving the Lakers, but he somehow convinced the Clippers and Bulls that he was serious about playing elsewhere.

As much as I hate to admit it, I’ll probably end up watching the LeBron James TV special. Sadly, it will be a ratings bonanza, with special interest from audiences in New York, Chicago, Miami and Cleveland. It’s like watching a bad Ben Affleck movie. When there is nothing else good on the TV guide, you are forced to watch it because you want to see how it ends.

Whatever the end result of this long, unnecessary, dragged-out process, James will be portrayed as an egotistical superstar who is way too in love with the spotlight. He will also be vilified in a lot of cities, but nothing compares to what Cleveland will unleash on him if he doesn’t stay with the Cavaliers.

If James decides to turn his back on the Cavs, he may not be able to return to his home in Akron. It would be comparable to Art Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore.

Brace yourselves Cavs fans. There is a good chance this story may not have a happy ending.

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According to reports, Dirk Nowitzki will remain with the Mavericks.

For those keeping score, it’s 4-1 in favor of teams retaining their own free agents.

As of July 5, four big-time free agents have have decided to stay with their old teams: Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Rudy Gay and Joe Johnson.

The only free agent who has officially signed with another team is Amare Stoudemire. Yahoo! Sports and TNT’s David Aldridge have reported that Stoudemire has accepted the Knicks’ contract offer worth $100 million spread across five years. Stoudemire will be reunited with coach Mike D’Antoni, who coached him in Phoenix.

Yahoo! Sports also reported that Johnson will re-sign with the Atlanta Hawks, a six-year maximum deal that is close to $120 million.

Nowitzki recently accepted a four-year deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 million to remain with the Dallas Mavericks and Pierce agreed to a four-year, $60-million deal to stay in Boston. Gay was the first big-name free agent to agree to terms, as he reportedly received a five-year, $80-million contract from the Memphis Grizzlies last Thursday when the free-agency period officially got underway.

The return of head coach Doc Rivers certainly persuaded Pierce to stay put, and the Celtics are also in negotiations with shooting guard Ray Allen, who has also expressed his desire to stay in Boston. This means that the Celtics’ vaunted starting five are all expected to be back next season to make another run at a title (barring center Kendrick Perkins fully recovers from knee surgery).

What was supposed to be the summer of massive exodus has turned into an offseason of status quo. Of course, things could change in a heartbeat especially if that someone – ahem! LeBron James – decides to spurn his hometown team and play elsewhere next season.

But, that hasn’t happened yet and it’s not expected to happen until the end of the week, according to several reports. James is mulling over offers presented to him by NBA teams with a ton of salary cap room: New Jersey, New York, Miami, the L.A. Clippers, Chicago and Cleveland.

Wade met with the Bulls twice and has told people close to the situation that he is seriously considering playing for his hometown team. The Heat have already told Wade that they are prepared to give him the max deal and have promised him a roster upgrade.

Others who are noncommittal are Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire, although Stoudemire recently was offered the maximum contract of five years, $100 million by the Knicks. Stoudemire is reportedly meeting with Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni, his old coach in Phoenix, on Monday to hash out some past issues.

The Suns have reportedly re-signed forward Channing Frye and also acquired forward Hakim Warrick, so it is highly unlikely that Phoenix will bring back Stoudemire, who has played his entire career with the Suns.

Joe Johnson has a standing six-year max offer from the Atlanta Hawks, a deal that could be worth $120 million. Johnson remains mum about his situation, obviously waiting for LeBron and D-Wade to make their moves. Johnson has also drawn interest from the Knicks, as D’Antoni prepares to go to Plan B in case LeBron signs with Chicago or Cleveland – which is more and more apparent.

ESPN’s J.A. Adande wrote that the Toronto Raptors have not been enamored with the way Bosh has been publicly “enjoying himself” too much and using his Twitter account to tell his followers on his status. Bosh is asking for a max contract, but he can only get it if the Raptors agree to a sign-and-trade deal.

At the end of this long, drawn-out process, money will prevail. Players are taking advantage of the current labor deal because they are anticipating that the new collective bargaining agreement won’t be as player friendly.

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LeBron James watches with his family during All-Star Weekend. Home and family were highlighted during the Cavaliers' final pitch to James. (GETTY IMAGES)

Home is Cleveland and the Cavaliers are family.

Those were the points of emphasis the Cavaliers hammered home to LeBron James in their final attempt to convince their hometown hero to remain in Cleveland.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, newly hired head coach Byron Scott and general manager Chris Grant met with James and his management crew for a little over an hour Saturday and, according to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, part of the presentation included a cartoon clip that featured LeBron and his friends, made in a “Family Guy” style, one of James’ favorite TV shows.

When Grant said the meeting was “fun and very interactive” he was likely referring to the “Family Guy” part of the presentation.

“We had a very good meeting with LeBron and his group. It went well, we had a good time, we had fun, it was very interactive. Obviously we know LeBron well. I would characterized it as positive,” said Grant, who took over the GM duties when Danny Ferry left the team earlier this year.

Using “Family Guy,” as crazy as it may seem, may be the best approach to reach the two-time NBA MVP at this point. It shows that the Cavs know LeBron best. It was a personal touch that only a close family member can formulate, and it also provided some levity in an otherwise high-tension moment for all parties involved. While teams such as the Heat, Bulls and Knicks made their very serious offers and formal business proposals to James, the Cavs went with an approach that was totally out of left field.

Windhorst wrote the team had been planning on the cartoon presentation for six months.

James was drafted by Cleveland in 2003 and has never played for another NBA team. The Cavaliers are like family to him, and every home game at Quicken Loans Arena is like one big backyard barbecue.

The LeBron James free-agent saga has become such a hot-button topic that even tennis star Serena Williams was asked about where LeBron should go just moments after she had won her fourth Wimbledon title in England.

Without hesitation, Serena believes James should remain in with the Cavaliers. “I think he should stay in Cleveland because he’s from Ohio,” said Serena. “He has built such a great franchise there with the Cavaliers, so many people watch him and [the Cavs are ] such a popular team now. Obviously I like Miami, but I think he should stay in Cleveland.”

Maybe the Cavaliers should have invited Serena Williams to their scheduled meeting with James in downtown Cleveland. She certainly would have made an attractive argument.

Another point of emphasis for Grant and the Cavs was “home,” as in keep LeBron in his home state of Ohio and continue to work toward building a championship team.

Scott knows all about winning for your hometown team. The former Los Angeles (Inglewood) High School standout – who grew up just a few blocks from The Forum where the Lakers used to play – won three NBA titles as a member of the Lakers in the 1980s and he could certainly share his experiences with James, who attended high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron.

So far, the theme for the 2010 free-agent class is “stay home.”

Dirk Nowitzki has decided to re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks, Paul Pierce has agreed to remain with the Boston Celtics and Joe Johnson has 120 million reasons to stay in Atlanta. The Cavaliers are hoping James will follow suit.

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