As far as the first part, file this under “for what it’s worth.”

25 ESPN staffers of writers and editors- Henry Abbott, J.A. Adande, Kevin Arnovitz, Jon Barry, Jordan Brenner, Maurice Brooks, Chris Broussard, Ric Bucher, Chad Ford, Jemele Hill, John Hollinger, Mark Jackson, Scoop Jackson, Tim Legler, Jackie MacMullan, Chris Palmer, Chris Ramsay, Dr. Jack Ramsay, Jalen Rose, Chris Sheridan, Marc Stein, David Thorpe, Royce Webb, Brian Windhorst and Matt Wong - were posed the question where Lebron James will end up in 2010-11 and put it to a vote.

2008-09 PREDICTIONS: WHERE WILL LEBRON BE IN 2010-11?
RANK		TEAM	NOTES	VOTES
1		Cleveland Cavaliers	There’s no place like home	11
2		New Jersey Nets	Moving to Brooklyn (probably)	8
3		New York Knicks	Mecca of basketball	5
4		Detroit Pistons	Remember Game 5 in ‘07?	1

LEBRON TO NY?

“Does LeBron need New York? He is already an iconic figure with endorsements galore, and fans around the league idolize him. On the other hand, Madison Avenue and the brighter spotlights of Manhattan are beckoning.

If new president Donnie Walsh can clear the cap space and new coach Mike D’Antoni can create a LeBron-friendly style of play, the Knicks’ plan might work, writes Chris Sheridan: “The New York Knicks are all about the summer of 2010, when James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all can become unrestricted free agents. Anything good that happens between now and then is gravy. But priority No. 1 is getting into position to go after those players, and there’s an extremely viable backup plan of going after James in 2011 if he plays out the final season of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.”

Certainly, Knicks fans have to be encouraged when they see LeBron in a Yankees hat or check out his Yankee-inspired shoes. And the web site nycforlebron.com is already trying to lay the groundwork: “Show your support — fill out our petition that will be forwarded to the NYK front office on July 1, 2010.”

But the Knicks won only 23 games last season, are far from having the cap space available to sign James to a max contract, and have a murky future. So no matter how much LeBron might talk about the allure of Madison Square Garden, the LBJ-to-NYC movement might be based mostly on speculation and wishful thinking right now.

Of course it is, thanks for really adding nothing to it.

The dais also was asked to rank the NBA by conference and they named the Knicks 14th and it’s hard for me to disagree. D’Antoni’s not a miracle worker. It goes back to the simple logic of “who are they better than?”

If you believe T.J. Ford has made the Pacers a better team, and the Bobcats are better, then yes, second to last in the conference is realistic. Not sure how on earth they could rank the Nets behind us, I think the Nets have the chance to surprise some people this year, not finish dead -last.