No news is … no news

LeBron James offers no comment at his appearance at Skills Academy

By Brian Windhorst

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

AKRON

A shake of the head and smile is all the waiting world got from LeBron James Monday when he was asked about his future as he left his Nike camp at the University of Akron.

James made a bit of a surprise appearance for a workout on the first day of the LeBron James Skills Academy at Rhodes Arena. If he’s stressing at all about his free agency decision with six teams attempting to sign him and much of the NBA hanging on his move, it didn’t show.

He looked relaxed during the two-hour workout and after an another hour of stretching and icing he left without directly answering reporters’ questions about his decision or his timetable. As is commonplace, James wore a Yankees cap in and out of the building.

James’ manager, Maverick Carter, also declined to comment before James’ group left in a motorcade led by James in a white Bentley coupe.

It is believed James won’t make an announcement on where he plans to sign at least until after the three-day camp ends on Wednesday. He is expected to make another appearance at the camp today. Players can officially begin signing with teams on Thursday.

The Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are believed to be the most serious contenders for James’ services. But Monday the New York Knicks scored big by getting a five-year, $100 million deal with free agent forward Amare Stoudemire, who has already been recruiting James to join him in the Big Apple.

Stoudemire has spoken to James’ people and directly to Dwyane Wade last week.

Nike officials said James wasn’t going to attend the first session, which began at 3 p.m. But at 2:55, James walked in with a large group and immediately asked for the main locker room in the arena, where he often played as a high school star at St. Vincent-St. Mary, to be opened so he could get dressed.

A few minutes later, he came on the court startling some of the players warming up at four baskets. After stretching out with Cavaliers trainer Mike Mancias, who spends a lot of time with him during the off-season, James, dressed in a black, torso-hugging top, black shorts and his signature Nikes, went through some outside shooting drills.

The only drama during the afternoon came when James and close friend Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets teamed up to play in a pickup game against some of the college stars in attendance. Paul was taking it a bit easy as he recovers from ankle and knee injuries but he and James had all eyes on them when executing some fast breaks.

James did not play at full speed but looked to be in excellent condition, perhaps having lost some weight from the end of the regular season. He did not show any signs of lingering problems with a right elbow injury that bothered him off and on during the last several weeks of the season. After the workout, however, James iced the elbow and forearm.

Joining James at the workout was Cavs 2009 first-round draft pick Christian Eyenga, who is in town working out with the team and is expected to take part in summer league in Las Vegas starting next week. Eyenga made several athletic plays during the pickup game, including an alley-oop dunk off a pass from James.

Current Cavs free agent forward Jawad Williams also took part as did former team guard Damon Jones and former James high school teammate Romeo Travis.

The pickup games virtually stopped all action in the gym so the college and high school stars could watch the two All-Stars play together. James went up against several different players, including Chris Wright of Dayton and Kyle Singler of Duke.

Organizers asked TV crews and reporters to stop filming, perhaps afraid there could be a repeat of last year, when camper Jordan Crawford of Xavier dunked on James, and the video became an Internet sensation.

In the meantime, some Cleveland fans are on edge as they wait for James to announce his future plans.

“I wish I could close my eyes, go to sleep and when I wake up it’s over,” said Gail White, a bartender at a TGIF Friday’s near James’ home in Bath, Ohio. “I hope he’s not selfish enough to play somewhere else. I would hope he would want his hometown to succeed.

“Everyone wants him to stay. He means so much to the area, and people have been willing to tolerate the wait. I’ve talked to a lot of people and the consensus is that he’s going to stay. Let’s hope so.”

Information from the Associated Press was added to this report.