Yankees
Nets
Projecting where LeBron James is going to play next season is a fun game unless you’re a Cleveland Cavaliers’ fan or anyone involved in the organization. They keep seeing and reading how James is going to New York or Brooklyn via Newark.
James plays his final game in East Rutherford tomorrow, so we’re going to play the game again. It won’t be the last time we do it. That's for sure.
The popular opinion is the Cavaliers are the front runners, with the Knicks second, the Nets third and Miami a dark horse candidate for James, although basketball people question whether he and Dwyane Wade could play together since they both need the ball.
Plus James would be going to join Wade instead of them going somewhere together – for instance New York. If James left the Cavaliers, it would be a dark time in Cleveland, similar to what’s happening with the Nets and yes, maybe worse.
But it’s interesting that James filed paperwork to change his uniform number from 23 to 6 next season. You only have to do that if you plan on staying with the same team. James probably did it just in case, but our job is to try and read between the lines and this kind of says something.
Also it's fair to wonder how much the Knicks have hurt their chances of getting James with the way they’ve played against him. It’s almost as if they’re showing him they need him instead of trying to get him to come join them and that could be a major turnoff.
The Knicks have laid down against James, begging him to help them. (Are the players doing it to ruin the organization’s chances of getting because they know they’re not going to be here and all they’ve been hearing for years is James, James, James and winning is secondary? Discuss.)
Anyway, three games against the Knicks and James’ team has led by 26, 24 and 49 last night. The scores at halftime of each game were 63-40; 74-54 and 74-48. That’s humiliating and has to resonate with James, you would think.
I know some people have said he might enjoy the challenge of turning a team around and what better place to do it than in New York, where he really would be treated like a King.
The Nets’ record is much worse than the Knicks, but New Jersey has done just the opposite with James. The Nets have played competitive basketball against his team all season, making him work in the fourth period to lead them to the inevitable, probably making him wonder why they’re as bad as they are.
The three meetings went this way: the Nets were down six after three in the first one, down six in the fourth in the second and down two late in the third of the last game. It almost as if the Nets are saying they could be pretty good if they had just one more piece, albeit a major one like James.
Would you rather have this team: Devin Harris and/or John Wall, Courtney Lee, Brook Lopez, Yi Jianlian or another power forward and James or Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison and James?
Sure it depends on who you plug into the power forward spot, but some of the Nets are better or could be better. Imagine how much better Lopez and Lee become playing with James.
That’s what makes playing where James will go so much fun.
Cleveland is his home and he probably feels a sense of loyalty, especially for all they have done to try and get him better players. New York has the Garden, the money to sign two free agents to max deals – and then they would have to fill the roster with minimum salaried guys – and endless marketing opportunities.
The Nets have some young, improving players, perhaps the first pick in the draft, a new owner who wants to win and will spend to win, a new arena in Newark until the new one in Brooklyn is built, and James’ buddy Jay-Z in the mix. They also have James’ other buddy, CC Sabathia, living in Alpine, a affluent New Jersey area.
Odds are James stays in Cleveland, but you can make a case that the Nets have more to offer than the Knicks.
Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)
