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• Rank 'Em: How do you size up this summer's NBA free agents?
• Vote: Would a Miami mega-trio be good? | Which team will sign LeBron?
• More from ESPN.com: Chad Ford breaks down likely destinations.

The long wait will be over at 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday, and we can officially, well, keep waiting at least another week. All right, so the official start of NBA free agency tonight may be a bit of a letdown, considering players can't actually sign contracts until July 8, but the wooing is what matters. Like college recruiting, only more legal and arguably less extravagant, teams will try everything short of general managers breaking out their best "Say Anything" John Cusack impersonations to win over players (and we're not putting Peter Gabriel past John Paxson).

Even now, reality appears to be setting in for some. A Nets fan once hopeful for the ultimate prize is looking at alternatives to LeBron, including a way of tweaking the Knicks that goes beyond just careful placement of billboards.

• "If the Nets miss out on LeBron and Wade and Bosh, I think it is almost definite that the Nets get David Lee. Lee gets to stay in the NY/NJ area, and the Nets finally get the strong PF they havent had since K-Mart left. After that, they would need to target SG, and they have expressed interest in Rudy Gay. He is the best SG for the money. Since Lee and Gay don't get the attention they deserve, they will probably come cheap, and the Nets could continue to be the scavengers of this free agency market." -- Read MdMaChOmAn's full post.

“

The "fact" is that nobody knows how any of this is going down. From the average fan to the highest paid journalist; it's all speculation. Anybody saying anything different is fulla ...

” -- _mongo_slade_

“

So if Bosh, Lebron, and Wade go to Miami who else can Miami afford to have on the roster? Can I play PG?

” -- danielmiller19

Frivolous spending is out. In tough economic times, there's no room in budgets for impulse buys and casual spending. Which leads to the question of whether players like Ben Gordon and Trevor Ariza are worthwhile investments or NBA free agency's version of the Snuggie?

NBA free agency is upon us, which may be more significant to many in the NBA as the one-year warning for a 2010 class that could include the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki and Travis Diener (or Steve Nash; take your pick on that last one).

At least a class headlined by Ariza, Jason Kidd and potentially Carlos Boozer is more compelling than this year's middling draft class.

• What would your NBA free-agent shopping list look like?
• If you want to know how unexciting this year's free agents are, consider that we're all hanging on a Boozer decision. With a one-year option worth $12.7 million remaining with the Jazz, Boozer must decide between safe money and the open market. Hopefully he's not as conflicted as SportsNation.
• Chat Tuesday: Chad Ford drops by at 1 p.m. ET to talk about this year's free agents
• Fan groups: Utah Jazz fans | NBA Where amazing happens | NBA Fanz Only

“

Iverson has plenty left. in the right system and in the right lineup, he's still a very productive player if not a star in the league still. the only concern that i'd even have is his health. he's got a lot of hard miles and injuries on that body of his, but I think he has it in him to go to a team and contribute a lot. I agree, however, that it's not a great time to be a free agent, and based on that, I don't know how much he'll get on his contract this summer. something tells me he's going to sign with a contender at a discount price.

” -- teniskoala

“

PLEASE BOOZER!!!!!! OPT OUT!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU RIDING OUR BENCH WITH A BRUISE NEXT SEASON.........

” -- gamenight5