Adamek: It’s LeBron James or else for the Knicks
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
BY STEVE ADAMEK
The Record
STAFF WRITERWhat if LeBron doesn’t sign with the Knicks this summer?
Or Dwyane Wade? Or Chris Bosh?
What if Donnie Walsh has to choose from Joe Johnson, Amar’e Stoudemire, Rudy Gay (a restricted free agent) and the Summer of 2010’s "leftovers"?
Should he go all in then? Would his 2010 cap-clearing strategy be a failure if he doesn’t sign one (if not two) of the "big fish?"
Or should he save some coin until 2011, when Carmelo Anthony heads a less-deep free agent class?
We know what most fans think: LeBron James had better be wearing No. 23 in white when the Knicks open next season at the Garden. They didn’t deal with two seasons of misery — a whole decade of it, actually — for Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay.
They expect Wade or Bosh, too — both of them if LBJ stays in Cleveland, where it doesn’t take long for a cab driver to express his fears when he discovers his passenger flew in from New York.
He also probably wouldn’t like what one longtime NBA executive said recently, about how he’s "heard" LeBron to New York is a done deal.
Other execs say otherwise.
But if he and the others stay put (or go elsewhere), then what?
Both Walsh and Ernie Grunfeld, the former Knicks’ executive who now has cap space for one big-ticket free agent in Washington, both say there’s no reason to spend just for the sake of spending.
"Just because you have cap room doesn’t mean you have to go out and use it all," Grunfeld said.
"I’m not going to limit it to just this year," Walsh said.
But Walsh also said something that drives the Oliver Stones of Cleveland crazy thinking there’s already a tacit agreement between Walsh and LeBron (plus his chosen sidekick):
"I don’t think [it’s] a big risk if we get the players I think we can get."
Still, for the record, he’ll also have more cap room in 2011 — right before an anticipated lockout — when Eddy Curry comes off, even if Curry takes a buyout after this season.
Knicks’ fans, of course, don’t want to hear about no stinkin’ 2011.
For them, if LeBron, D-Wade or Bosh don’t come, there is no Plan B.
What if LeBron doesn’t sign with the Knicks this summer?
Or Dwyane Wade? Or Chris Bosh?
What if Donnie Walsh has to choose from Joe Johnson, Amar’e Stoudemire, Rudy Gay (a restricted free agent) and the Summer of 2010’s "leftovers"?
Should he go all in then? Would his 2010 cap-clearing strategy be a failure if he doesn’t sign one (if not two) of the "big fish?"
Or should he save some coin until 2011, when Carmelo Anthony heads a less-deep free agent class?
We know what most fans think: LeBron James had better be wearing No. 23 in white when the Knicks open next season at the Garden. They didn’t deal with two seasons of misery — a whole decade of it, actually — for Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay.
They expect Wade or Bosh, too — both of them if LBJ stays in Cleveland, where it doesn’t take long for a cab driver to express his fears when he discovers his passenger flew in from New York.
He also probably wouldn’t like what one longtime NBA executive said recently, about how he’s "heard" LeBron to New York is a done deal.
Other execs say otherwise.
But if he and the others stay put (or go elsewhere), then what?
Both Walsh and Ernie Grunfeld, the former Knicks’ executive who now has cap space for one big-ticket free agent in Washington, both say there’s no reason to spend just for the sake of spending.
"Just because you have cap room doesn’t mean you have to go out and use it all," Grunfeld said.
"I’m not going to limit it to just this year," Walsh said.
But Walsh also said something that drives the Oliver Stones of Cleveland crazy thinking there’s already a tacit agreement between Walsh and LeBron (plus his chosen sidekick):
"I don’t think [it’s] a big risk if we get the players I think we can get."
Still, for the record, he’ll also have more cap room in 2011 — right before an anticipated lockout — when Eddy Curry comes off, even if Curry takes a buyout after this season.
Knicks’ fans, of course, don’t want to hear about no stinkin’ 2011.
For them, if LeBron, D-Wade or Bosh don’t come, there is no Plan B.
3/2/2010 9:42 AM