Madison Square Garden fans can start believing LeBron James will be a Knick in 2010
Mike Lupica
Friday, December 25th 2009, 4:00 AM
LeBron James would be the ultimate Knicks stocking stuffer and there's good reason to think it will happen, writes Mike Lupica.
Jacobsohn/Getty
LeBron James would be the ultimate Knicks stocking stuffer and there's good reason to think it will happen, writes Mike Lupica.
LeBron James is averaging 29 points per game this season.
Yeater/AP
LeBron James is averaging 29 points per game this season.
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I choose to believe on this Christmas that LeBron James is going to be in New York, playing for the Knicks, next Christmas.
You can try to out-debate me on this, give me your own reasons why you think he will stay in Cleveland even though he's never going to win there. Or why you think he will go somewhere else looking for a championship.
But more and more I believe the guy is coming, which would only be the modern, hoops version of Babe Ruth coming to town.
And not just because I want this to happen, the way everybody else around here does who loves basketball and remembers what the Knicks and pro basketball were still like at Madison Square Garden. That was before James L. Dolan became the big boss of the place and turned it over to Isiah Thomas and we ended up with the lousiest decade in the whole history of the place.
So the Christmas column is a little different today. It's not what we want this year. It's what we want next year: LeBron and some other big player from the Free Agent Class of the Summer of 2010.
A guy I know from sports, a mogul-type, one who knows the NBA and knows the business side of sports even better, was talking the other day about the possibility of LeBron coming to the Knicks. He is not a New Yorker, by the way, and is not a Knicks fan. He just thinks the whole thing makes sense, and not just for the Knicks and for the league.
"I am hearing," the guy said, "that Nike wants LeBron in New York even more than ever, because of Tiger."
He was referring to Tiger Woods. Maybe you've heard about him.
The guy said: "And the reason they want it more than ever is because they know Tiger is going to continue to regress. That there's going to be a void to fill, even when he comes back and starts winning."
He went on to say that he has heard a theory floated that LeBron might even take a lot less money than he could get out of the Knicks - and a lot less than he could get out of the Cavaliers if he stayed in Cleveland - to ensure that the Knicks could sign another free agent, to be a real Scottie Pippen for him.
Or maybe even two free agents.
The guy said, "You think LeBron doesn't know how easy it would be for him to make up whatever he lost in salary in marketing? Come on. This is a smart kid."
Then he pointed out that LeBron wouldn't just be breathing life back into the Garden, and back into pro basketball in New York. He would also come to town showing that he was willing to take a bit of a haircut on the money because that's how badly he wants to win.
"I'm not saying this is going to happen," my guy said. "I'm just saying it starts to make more and more sense that it could."
LeBron James isn't going to win a championship in Cleveland. I believe he is with the wrong general manager and playing for the wrong coach. We thought he was getting close to a title when he made the Finals for the first time, against the Spurs. Only now he starts to move away from one. And who thinks Shaq is going to help him get there?
A month ago, I thought Donnie Walsh had no shot at LeBron, none, forget about it. But lately the Knicks have become a team their best and most diehard fans want to watch. In the short run, as you try to imagine LeBron in New York, you can see him actually wanting to be able to kick the ball out to the Italian kid, Danilo Gallinari, because you can see how the Italian kid might end up being the best shooter in the gym one of these days.
Or there is David Lee, who plays like a champion every night, no matter what the score. If there is a way to keep Lee. There is Wilson Chandler. In November there seemed to be no hope for this season. The year ends differently.
Michael Jordan had Chicago, Kobe has L.A., why not New York for LeBron? He clearly does have a fascination with the big bad city, and with the Yankees. Maybe that "27" on the sneakers after the Yankees won the Series really was more than an instant message.
LeBron is smart, which means he understands that as big as he has gotten, and as fast as he has gotten there, the only way he becomes as big as he wants to be is by winning it all. And maybe coming here and having at least one big player come with him is the best way.
Kobe has won four times now and has now taken dead aim at Michael's six titles. He is as much a star as he has ever been, rehabbed his image more than you thought he could, by winning. Tiger didn't become as big as he was by being some kind of immortal as a husband and father, that was just a corporate hustle and a lie. He did it by winning, by eventually being seen as more of a winner than anybody we have right now, more than Roger Federer in tennis, or his buddy Derek Jeter.
So let LeBron come to New York and the Garden and try to win here. I am going to believe this will happen until he signs with somebody else.