Crazy⑧s
Evacuee
ARTICLE 1
Full article> http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/columns/story?page=LeBronNY-100402
But it isn't the whole story. There's another side to James, and this is the fraction of his personality that still unnerves the Cavs organization that has done all it can to bring James coziness and surround him with high-priced talent. And it is what scares so many Cavs fans to their very core.
It is another personality, even if it doesn't come out as often as his Akron-rooted sensibilities.
It is New York LeBron.
That's the James who gets in his jet to fly to New York to attend parties, restaurant openings or concerts on off nights during the season. It is the James who loves fashion, being on magazine covers and hanging out with Jay-Z, his mentor, who made a name for himself by conquering the New York music scene. It is the James who once said he wanted to earn a billion dollars and who has devoted his off-court time to developing business interests.
It is the James who took no shame in wearing a Yankees hat to an Indians playoff game three years ago, a move many Clevelanders took as a direct insult. It is also the James who, despite his statements about being happy at home, has also been sure to leave his options open in every statement about his future.
It is the James who keeps invoking the term "business" when discussing his future -- not the emotion Cavs fans want to hear, especially when the business capital of the country is in play as his other option. And especially when he talks in a removed, third-person manner.
"When July 1 gets here, I'm going to approach it like a businessman," James said in November before issuing a moratorium on all free-agent talk. "And I'm going to approach it for the best fit for LeBron and his family."
ARTICLE 2
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Everyone knows what Plan A is, so we won't even bother cluttering this first paragraph with the name of a certain physical freak from Cleveland who has been flirting with New Yorkers for two years.
It's when you look beyond that plan -- and whether it succeeds or fails -- that you run into the brick wall of mystery when quizzing Knicks president Donnie Walsh about the myriad possibilities.
There are so many of them, plus so many other variables still to be determined between now and July 1, that there really isn't yet a Plan B, a Plan C or a Plan D firmly in place.
What's important, Walsh insistently says, is that the options are going to be so plentiful that there could be a dozen or more scenarios that might eventually make sense -- and not all of them involve spending all of the $33 million to $34 million in salary cap space the Knicks expect to have when the free-agent market opens for business July 1.
"That's the beauty of having the ability to have two," Walsh said with a hearty laugh, referring to the option of being able, with a little more maneuvering, to sign two maximum salary free agents in what will be the most star-studded free-agent class in NBA history. "I can't answer every question as to what if this guy does this, and another guy does that. But basically we're in a position where we can go out and make offers, and we will with whoever's out there."
NBA tampering rules prohibit Walsh (and officials from other franchises) from publicly discussing players currently under contract to other teams, but Walsh was willing to speak in general terms as he sat with ESPN.com for nearly an hour on Tuesday discussing the two years that have passed, the five years that lay ahead and the anxiety and excitement that come along with looking three months down the road to when the Knicks will have the ability to be free spenders on the free-agent market for the first time since 1996.