Best of the East

We will see a different Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and V.J. Edgecombe next season. Each won't be able to help it.

Nobody's bowing down, but they will peel off. LeBron James will have the ball in Philadelphia for as long as LeBron's body holds up. James' new teammates will find themselves fanning toward the wing, away from his action, far from his space. They will learn to by the regular season, after James fires high-velocity 44-foot passes from his ear toward theirs during training camp scrimmages.

Dwyane Wade changed, maybe not during his athletic peak but certainly within D-Wade's prime. Chris Bosh altered his career, Kevin Love turned into Super Channing Frye on the fly. Anthony Davis a pick-and-roll finisher instead of a triple-threat ball-stopper. Kyrie Irving did all the right stuff until he couldn't stand it any more, and something in his hot-rodder head told him to rebel. Carlos Boozer was so scared of change that he fled from the Midwest to Salt Lake City, something I can relate to.

Will Edgecombe struggle while picking his spots? Will Brown champ after losing his top-draw status thrice in five months? Maxey will play the mensch, but will he and Embiid pass on what makes them great?

Who, cares?

They signed LeBron. For the cheapest amount possible, too, like some sort of message board joke from two decades ago.

They gave up nothing, which is probably appropriate: James could be done with pro basketball by his 42nd birthday in December. There is no reason someone his age should be performing this well, let alone suiting up in the first place.

James is the all-time leader in regular season and playoff minutes, combining for nearly 7000 minutes more than his respective runner-ups (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan). If James continues apace, by midseason he will move that distance to the sum total of Jarrett Culver and Cam Reddish's career minutes, combined.