Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 10:30 am  |  23 responses

The Knicks’ Latest Plan for LeBron James

According to SI’s sources, New York will try to woo James by promising to team him up with fellow star free agents, but will reportedly ask all of them to take a pay cut to play in Gotham. Riiiiight: “When the Knicks meet with LeBron James on Thursday, they’ll be offering the free agent a vision as bold as New York itself: Create your own dynasty. A league source with understanding of New York’s plans told SI.com that the Knicks will recruit the Cavaliers’ two-time MVP with a grandiose vision of surrounding him with Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson as well as an elite power forward — Chris Bosh of the Raptors or Amar’e Stoudemire of the Suns — to form a starring trio capable of contending for championships for years to come. A similar plan has been discussed this week involving a proposed move by James and Bosh to Miami to join with Heat guard Dwyane Wade. The Knicks have decided to target Johnson instead of Wade because of concerns that Wade and James are too similar in style and could clash over control of the ball, according to the source. Though 6-foot-7 Johnson is a four-time All-Star who has led Atlanta to 100 wins over the last two seasons, he is viewed as a complementary player who is capable of joining with James and other stars in a constructive way. Johnson’s importance to this three-headed plan is underlined by the Knicks’ decision to visit him first on Thursday in Los Angeles before circling back to Akron, Ohio, for their scheduled meeting with James.”

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  • Eboy Posted: Jun.30 at 10:38 am
    “Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today
    I want to be a part of it – new york, new york
    These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
    Right through the very heart of it – new york,
    new york I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn’t sleep
    And find I’m king of the hill – top of the heap These little town blues, are melting away
    I’ll make a brand new start of it – in old new
    york
    If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”

  • jumpman3224 Posted: Jun.30 at 10:47 am
    I legitmately think this is a good plan, or at least the best option they have. But, there are two many ifs and maybes involved. I do think that for LBJ the prospect of creating his own dynatsy in NY would be more appealing than going to a team that has already won a championship under its main guy. Could NY sign all three of those guys or would there have to be a sign and trade and if its a sign and trade who would the raptors, suns, or hawks want that NY would offer?

  • LDR4 Posted: Jun.30 at 10:49 am
    It will be funny when New York ends up with nothing. The curse of Isiah is strong with this team.

  • AoH Posted: Jun.30 at 10:53 am
    Joe Johnson, Dirk and Wade would be way better than Queen James, Joe Johnson and Chrissy Bosh!

  • The Philosopher Posted: Jun.30 at 11:08 am
    Unprecedented…

  • T-Money Posted: Jun.30 at 11:12 am
    Correction: The Knicks have decided to target Johnson because D-Wade said that there is no freaking way he’s gonna bolt for NYC.

  • ab_40 Posted: Jun.30 at 11:26 am
    Isiah said lebron should go to new york check SI so you already know he isn’t going. And if he’s leaving don’t blake griffin and baron davis or joakim noah and derrick rose or Dwayne Wade and being coached by the man who coached magic sound better than mike I don’t know D ‘Antoni danillo gallinari who plays the same position and eddy curry?

  • BETCATS Posted: Jun.30 at 11:45 am
    The Knicks are an epic fail waiting to happen. Their best 3 players under contract are Wilson Chandler, Gallanari, and Toney Douglass. David Lee is basically gone. With all the money they overpay Joe Johnson and 1 big man (i am guessing Amare”e’) with, they wont have much left beside a mid level and minimums. They have no plans on playing any defense. The only way they can get any other quality player is by trading the expiring of Curry at the deadline, because if they wait for him to expire they will still be over the cap. I expect the Knicks to miss the playoffs again. They should have just kept Zach Randolph.

  • ccantrell Posted: Jun.30 at 12:25 pm
    they do not have enough cap space to sign bron, bosh, and johnson.. johnson is already heading to ny and there is no way he and bosh will sign for that much less to play with bron.. jus think.. ny only has 30 million in cap space.. bron gets his 16 for sure then bosh n johnson have to split the remaining 14 million lol see this is impossible.. if they can maybe create a sign n trade involving lee going to the raptors then they might can pull this off but no other way

  • Overtime Posted: Jun.30 at 12:37 pm
    For all the ‘this guy couldnt win with this guy” stuff that is said about nearly everyone, surely even if these do win a title, its gunna just be ”man, Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Johnson/Amare could never win without Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Johnson/Amare”

  • sample Posted: Jun.30 at 1:26 pm
    needs an elite power forward? this is an insult to david lee. new york doesn’t respect him.

  • Martey Posted: Jun.30 at 1:42 pm
    gotdamn knicks

  • 2Dope Posted: Jun.30 at 2:12 pm
    The latest plan better includ roofilin cause he ain’t signing in NYC.

  • 2Dope Posted: Jun.30 at 2:12 pm
    The latest plan better include roofilin cause he ain’t signing in NYC.

  • O Posted: Jun.30 at 2:32 pm
    Man, my man David Lee is the Rodney Dangerfield of the game: he gets no respect. Lee is that dude. As a Knicks fan, I hope Lebron signs here, but that’s a pipe dream. I just hope he doesn’t sign with Chicago or Miami.

  • Sparker Posted: Jun.30 at 2:44 pm
    eboy, are u saying lbj to the knicks? i keep thinking that too, but it can’t be, can it? i mean the knicks suuuuuuck. and the only people who believe they haven’t forfeited their status as a great basketball organization are delusional/season ticket owners. and yet my instinct keeps saying this is where he’ll go. he’ll do a gretzky, basically. go to the biggest market so he can position himself as the biggest name in the game, brand #1 of the hoops world (as kobe gracefully leaves the stage in the next few years). this means next season will likely be a write-off, though; and is he really willing to risk that? while his homies vie for the title next may? i’m not sure if i can handle lbj in new york. the thought of it reeks of such opportunism that it’s actually depressing.

  • ccantrell Posted: Jun.30 at 5:32 pm
    look guys lol lebron wants to win and he wants to win now.. he is looking for the fastes way to win a ring n that is honestly all he is worried about.. so that pretty much knock nyc out of the picture dont u think?

  • Anton Posted: Jun.30 at 6:21 pm
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrPwmIVLq50&feature=player_embedded

  • kevin armenta Posted: Jun.30 at 7:50 pm
    all i got to say is they are all whack!!! this and soon is gonna be Kevin Durants league anyways!

  • Robb Posted: Jun.30 at 8:43 pm
    It’s gonna be fun when Bosh lands in L.A. and Kobe gets his 6th.

  • kevin armenta Posted: Jun.30 at 9:10 pm
    @Robb:AGREE

  • nastierthanu Posted: Jun.30 at 10:00 pm
    Being thay I get msg I really want to see a better product on the floor. I love david lee’s game. He’s a banger and been nasty since the mcdonalds game. Shame he’s not gettin the respect he deserves.

  • John K Posted: Jul.1 at 2:47 pm
    The best hope the knicks have is selling LeBron on a team consisting of: LeBron @ 15.7 mil
    Johnson @ 15.7 mil
    Stoudemire @ 15.7 mil
    (Source http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/17397/knicks-plan-lebron-amare-and-johnson) with a verbal promise that Carmello will come in 2011 when Eddy Curry’s contract expires. This would be a dynasty of all dynasties. The Knicks are the only ones who have enough money to do this (Miami could also have trio, but no 2011 addition). It is possible, however unlikely considering sports players consider the difference between 15 and 16 million a year is life or death. Projected Starting Lineup of proposed roster: 1. Whoever decides to sign and be a part of this roster (could be anyone)
    2. Joe Johnson
    3. LeBron James
    4. Carmello Anthony
    5. Amare Stoudemire

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