Empire State of LeBron
By Josh Dhani
To start this off, LeBron James will not return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He won’t, just simply won’t. So cross them off the list.
The Nets may be fading away a bit without the number one pick, but they’re still the third best team on the list.
With a billionaire Russian owner, Jay-Z, and a good, young supporting cast; hey, why not?
And who could rule out the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers? Both great cities and have good squads.The problem may be in Miami, though, is if you look at the superstars.
This is a new NBA generation when two big superstars can sometimes not cooperate. You are not looking at those old days with Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan.
No way.
The Clippers are a good fit since they are missing an important piece at small forward. That’s where LeBron James comes in.
The city of Los Angeles is also a great city and it could bring a lot of hype for the place since Kobe plays for the Los Angeles Lakers as well. So just imagine seeing those billboards with LeBron and Kobe.
Now that would be something.
But if the list goes like this:
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Miami Heat
5. Los Angeles Clippers
6. Cleveland Cavaliers,
then who is at number one or two at the list?
It’s pretty obvious: the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls.
Both seem number ones to me but you can arrange it in any order that you want here. So you could put the Bulls at one and the Knicks at two, or the other way around.
I’ll let you decide that.
First, let’s start with how the Knicks are the best fit. I’ll get down to Chicago later.
The Knicks seem like a dream fit for LeBron. Those customized jerseys have been coming and it seems crazy. But that’s how much hype is going in New York.
If LeBron goes there, the sports franchise in New York will be locked as all their teams have potential for the championships. NBA Finals, Super Bowl, World Series, you name it.
And also, what kind of superstar would not want to play in Madison Square Garden. And here’s another thing. The Knicks haven’t been dominant for a while and haven’t won a championship for a while either.
So if LeBron gets New York a championship in the next one-to-three years, he could ultimately be the face of New York sports. Think about it.
This team has been crappy for a while. We know how dominant those 90’s Knicks were, but they never brought in a NBA Finals victory. If LeBron brings one in, he has to be face of New York sports.
New York is a basketball town. Despite how bad they’re team is, you still see so many fans supporting. That’s what I like. And bringing in LeBron? Oh my!
But let’s forget about the advertising now, for a moment. What about the talent of this squad? I would say it’s pretty decent.
They have some great players in Chris Duhon, Tracy McGrady, Bill Walker, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington, David Lee, and a contributing center in Eddy Curry (okay, he’s not that good).
But there’s a good chance David Lee may leave. But the Knicks have the cap space. They could release one or two of these guys. Why?
There’s also another reason why I said James should go NY.
Chris Bosh.
New York has enough cap space to also acquire Chris Bosh. So just imagine how crazy that line-up would be. I expect David Lee to leave, though. So here’s the line-up then:
PG – Chris Duhon/SG – Tracy McGrady/SF – LeBron James/PF – Chris Bosh/C – Al Harrington
But I’m not really confident there. Maybe New York would decide to leave Al Harrington as the sixth man or something like that to back up Chris Bosh. You never what happens, but this line-up will be stacked an easy bet for the playoffs.
I guess time will tell. But New York is a fantastic option for the King.
But wait, there’s another team. Keep reading.
Chicago Bulls
Chicago is a nice, clean city. And it’s popular, too. Hell, it almost hosted the Olympics for crying out loud. This past decade or two, the Bulls have been the
best team in the NBA, hands down.
Why would LeBron not consider Chi-Town? This also brings me to something. Why else would LeBron change his number to six? I know one is for Jordan, but if he came to the Bulls, he can’t be number 23.
So he had to change it anyways to honor MJ. Get it? James may have been planning this all along since the number change.
Plus, Chicago is a great sports town and the city of Chicago can bring back the greatness in basketball, the true greatness, if they were to acquire LeBron.
James can fit well with Derrick Rose here. Kirk Hinrich would most probably be the starting shooting guard and has proved himself well during this year’s NBA season.
James will fix small forward and power forward would most probably be Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah would be the center.
But the Bulls could also acquire Chris Bosh, too. I expect Chicago to do a sign-and-trade. Maybe do Luol Deng and Taj Gibson for Chris Bosh. It could work. So the line-up would change a bit:
PG – Derrick Rose/SG – Kirk Hinrich/SF – LeBron James/PF – Chris Bosh/C – Joakim Noah
If that isn’t a nasty starting line-up, I don’t know what is. All these guys are scorers and can make a difference to this team.
Besides being an average 39-45 win team, acquiring Bosh and James could turn them into a 55-65 win team.
This could also force John Calipari to coach the team. I also heard Phil Jackson is possibly in the mix.
Right now, the future seems bright if James picks the Knicks or Bulls. This also means that if James goes to either one of those two teams, Bosh will join him.
Bosh has already hinted that when he narrowed his teams he wants to play for a few days ago, marking the Bulls and the Knicks as one of them.
“If LeBron decides to go to either New York or Chicago, I think that’s where you’ll see Chris land,” said a source linked to ESPN. “If LeBron stays in Cleveland, I think the process is more wide open.”
I’d like to see what happens. Both teams are looking for a great future if they were to acquire James.
Just wait and see.