“…GREENBURGH, N.Y. — LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit New York on Friday, the same day the Yankees enjoy a parade through the Canyon of Heroes to celebrate their 27th world championship.
A big Bombers fan, James is happy that order has been restored to the Yankees universe
“The Yankees are back on top where they belong,” read a text message James sent to Knicks guard Larry Hughes, LeBron’s friend and former teammate with the Cavaliers.
Whether James enjoys a parade of his own someday in New York with the Knicks remains unclear.
The Knicks (1-4 after Wednesday’s loss to Indiana) have freed up salary cap space to make a run at King James in the summer of 2010, but Hughes, who touches base with LeBron a couple times a month via text, isn’t sure what James will do.
“I have no idea,” Hughes said after practice Thursday. “I don’t know. He has the opportunity to win a championship right now and I think he’ll go through the process after the season…”
Interesting that Hughes changed his tune a bit following his brief discussion with Isola last week. The idea here is that regardless of whatever anyone says, they really don’t know. Lebron could end speculation by signing and extension.
So can we get him invited to march in the parade or not? It is BY FAR the best recruiting tool we can offer. Far better than bringing him in during the offseason for a cheesy tour of the garden and having an announcer introduce him to canned applause.
we just need CC to gush to him court-side on friday night…
oo — OR we could try and play competent basketball twice a week.
sad that the CC ploy is more likely…
Tommy keeps saying “He can end speculation by signing an extension.”
Repeating that doesn’t make it more likely that he isn’t signing because he is secretly planning to coming to a losing team who can’t judge talent.
I hope LeBron isn’t as smart as I think he is and does sign here.
no shots.
Him not signing just puts pressure on the Cavs front office, and makes him the biggest story in the NBA. If he signed a contract this summer there wouldn’t be the buzz there is in every NBA city about what he is going to do in 2010. Leaving that door open makes him the center of the NBA universe. Most pro players are egocentrical and like that type of attention. Lebron plays with every market, I remember last year when he was talking to the Dallas media about possibly coming to Dallas. He does it in every city, New York isn’t the only place he does it.
LBJ is having fun and growing his net worth. The hype about Friday is sickening. Any way, I expect LBJ to go for 50.
Exactly danny. Exactly.
He changed his tune the same way Ariza did, he is playing the media and Knicks fans. Anyone can see through it. When the true off the record comments come out, they all point to him staying, then the retractions come out to refute the statements. Is everyone blind or just dumb? He is hyping himself. The 2010 talk keeps his name in papers and on TV. If he just comes out with it the anticipation subsides and he is just another great player in the NBA. Every single thing that has come out suggests this is the scenario, whther it’s what his mom says, what Ariza, Hughes and Mo Williams say, what he says to fans with no mics around…everything.
Lebron to Hughes: Please don’t steal my thunder bro, don’t let anyone know what I’m doing in 2010.
same thing he said to Ariza who one day said “Lebron called to tell me he would be resigning with the Cavs” then 2 days later he retracted the statement. Why would he just make that up? You know it happened, but he felt like an a-hole stealing Lebron’s thunder. It’s the same thing with a high school recruit- people close to a player don’t come out with his true intentions, they let the player do it so they don’t ruin his time in the spotlight. Same thing. This is like Hughes telling everyone what college Lebron is choosing which would diminish his ceremony on national signing day- making it more about Hughes than the person it involves.
td, hey i’m the guy that sat next to you at the fordham practice. for us religious and optimistic knick fans, maybe this is the miracle we have been waiting for. what are the odds that lbj would be in nyc on the day that the yankees would have a parade to honor their world championship. you know he will be there and see it live. he certainly will see first hand that there is no higher mountaintop than a championship parade for sports heroes in the canyons of nyc!!!and we definitely something of a miracle here.
Lebron not signing an extension is basically saying he’s predicating his decision based on how successful the Cavs are this season. He’s got to decide to leave before he decides to join the Knicks or any other team. But by not signing an extension, by default, NY is not out of the picture. If he decides he’s done with the Cavs then it looks like Nets are the only thing standing the Knicks way (except for themselves.)
Now I don’t think Lebron is coming as of right now, but if we get double-max room and the Cavs get trounced again in the conference finals or worse then our chances go up significantly. Donnie has a lot of work to do before the deadline.
And we could change the whole conversation if we get some talent. This is last Trade I will propose, I promise.
Rudy Gay word is he is conflicting with OJ Mayo and we all know about the Grizzlies not giving him an extension.
So lets talk how about Wilson Chandler and Nate to start it off.
We need a veteran guard who can actually set the tone and give us direction throughout the game. Duhon dribbling the ball up court and running the 3 man weave on the arc isn’t an offense with an anchor. It’s a shooting drill.
Unless of course you are talking about some supreme young talent, which we have no way of acquiring.
I’d prefer a PG, but a SG would make almost as big of a difference. Rudy gay is just another slightly talented athletic swing man, and he won’t help stabilize the flow for us, i don’t think.
I actually wish we would give Toney some more shots to run the point. He seems a little confused and a step behind the swing of things, but i think he’s smart and with some reps he will start to get the hang of it…. But when it comes to pushing the ball, he’s one of those guards that can burn a whole team with his quickness; he can get around anybody, and if he gets used to the offense and starts finding good shots for people, he will be 10 times as effective as duhon,.
Plus, you can already see that when he is confident he can be a pretty good scorer in the lane… Something duhon doesn’t even imagine doing.
In fact, i have a prediction: Douglas will start to see some more crunch-time minutes in the coming games and at some point before the new year, we will be surprised to find out that he will be taking over the starting PG roll much sooner than we thought.
I don’t think Toney a starting point guard in the NBA. I think he will be a solid backup and have a long career a la Anthony Carter, Antonio Daniels, Earl Watson etc..
this would be great if douglas were a great point guard
LeBron to the Knicks…and Hughes as his caddy!
Why wouldn’t seeing the parade for the NY Yankees motivate him even more to win it in his hometown?
Cleveland hasn’t had a championship since… oh, wait they haven’t had one. Sounds like a championship there would be a lot more important and he would be even more of a god for bringing a city that has never ever had a major sports championship in history!
http://clevelandchamps.blogspot.com/