In the aftermath of the 2010 NBA Draft, it should be painfully clear to fans of the New York Knicks that the organization’s chances of landing LeBron James in this summer’s free agent market are virtually non-existent.
Not only were the Knick contingent forced to watch the Utah Jazz select Butler’s Gordon Hayward with the ninth overall pick in the Draft, a pick Utah acquired when New York traded for Stephon Marbury in 2004, they could only stand by helplessly as the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat finalized trades to clear enough salary cap space to potentially sign two elite free agents within the next several weeks; particularly James and Chris Bosh.
To add insult to injury, these multiple death knells for New York, as far as their plans to persuade James to ply his trade in the Big Apple, all took place in Madison Square Garden.
If that weren't enough to prompt New York to put their contingency plans into motion, the rumors that have been running rampant over the past several days should be a collective slap in the face to the Knick front office.
According to the New York Times, an unidentified NBA executive of one of the five teams (Bulls, Heat, Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets) who plan on meeting with LeBron James in his hometown of Akron, Ohio on July 1 said he gathered from fellow executives that James was strongly leaning toward signing with Chicago in tandem with Chris Bosh.
“I think it’s a done deal,” the executive said.
The executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, further added that he thought James was going ahead with the meetings in Ohio “to be respectful to all these teams who jumped through these hoops,” an obvious reference to clubs, like the Knicks, who traded reasonably talented players like Jamal Crawford the last two seasons in an effort to open up as much salary cap space as possible.
However, according to “reliable” sources in Cleveland and New York for FOX Sports Radio’s Stephen A. Smith, LeBron James and Chris Bosh are planning to head to South Beach to play with Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat.
So, depending on who you want to believe these days, it certainly appears that either Chicago or Miami will be the likely landing spots for James and Bosh when the dust finally settles.
If this is indeed the case and both James and Bosh have already made up their minds about where they’re going to sign or, at the very least, narrowed down their options to two specific teams, they should really spare organizations like New York the insult of a ‘pity meeting’.
And for their part, the Knicks should find more constructive ways to spend their time than by making impassioned pitches to players who have absolutely no intention on coming to the Big Apple; because, at this stage of the game, New York has invested enough energy, money and time on wooing LeBron James.
There are plenty of other quality fish in this year’s free agent market, including Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemire and Dirk Nowitzki; and it’s time for New York to place more of its focus on the attainable reality as opposed to the unattainable dream.
The acceptance of this ‘pity meeting’ from James is simply an opportunity for Knick brass to do more begging and groveling at the feet of a man who has been placed on much too high of a pedestal.
If New York refuses to accept this hard truth then LeBron James, and Chris Bosh, should open up their respective mouths and tell Donnie Walsh not to bother with making any recruiting excursions.
That would be the honorable thing to do; wouldn’t it?
Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and video updates on 2010 NBA free agency.
LeBron James & Chris Bosh Are A Waste of Time for the New York Knicks
