Espn - Ny & Lbj

Crazy⑧s

Evacuee
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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."

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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.

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"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."

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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.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Did you see the crazy extension Kobe signed with the Lakers. 90M for 3 years, that can only happen with a player signing with his old team. If Lebron
makes a decision solely based on $ he stays with the Cavs and gets a payout like Kobe.
 

Knicker23

Benchwarmer
I'd imagine it isn't the contract money that's going to sway James..he knows he'll make bank there no matter where he goes.. the difference isn't big enough to stay or go one place or another..

the money that comes in outside that contract, however, may affect his decision... it doesn't take a genius to know that taking the New York Knicks in a storied highly followed fashion, from the dumps to the finals/playoffs/winning record would bring in muchhh more than staying and even winning a championship in Clev...

yes we can all say 'he'll make money outside his contract no matter where he goes', but lets be real... the deals / media / attention he'll get in NYC will be immaculately larger than staying in Cleveland... if he wants to be the 'billionaire' athlete, it just is not going to happen keeping the 'big time guy staying true to his roots by staying in his home town his whole career' image going... he'll eventually win a championship in Clev. if he stays sure..but each yr they play so well and fall only to repeat the next is another yr wasted that could be spent, at the very least, doing the same thing in the biggest basketball city in the world..

it's not a IF it's a WHEN and HOW MANY as far as winning a championship goes w James... if he stays in Clev he'll eventually win one, of course... but will he ever have a dynasty or win back to back, with their current squad, compared to all the other teams? I don't think so... so when people say 'he wants to win a championship, why would he ever go to those Knicks with the players they have?' - they are being stupid.. first, look what team he is doing it with in Clev, would he really miss the mediocre players there? And second, wait until this off season before you compare JJ Hickson and Ilgauskas with our squad - something tells me we'll have a better supporting cast than them come summer... so if it's REALLY about championships, the obvious thing to do for him would be to go to NY... 'but he just had a 60 win season!?' - of course, he's James... he could come to NYC w the team we have now and probably come close to that... but he won't have to do that w what this off season will bring.

Which leaves us w the 'he'll stay true to his roots, Cleveland' view... to me, it just seems silly to expect a guy of James stature and dreams to be expected to stay in Ohio his whole career... Kobe is in LA, not Charlotte... While it may suck for his natives, you can't honestly expect the guy to be bound to a team because that's where he's from - no matter how much he loves his city... as James keeps saying, interestingly enough, 'it's a business'.. which it is.. just cause the guy wants to move out of where he's been his entire life for the big Apple doesn't mean he should be (and won't be) shun from ohio...

seems at this point the best case for us would be a quick loss for them
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tiger0330

Legend
yes we can all say 'he'll make money outside his contract no matter where he goes', but lets be real... the deals / media / attention he'll get in NYC will be immaculately larger than staying in Cleveland... if he wants to be the 'billionaire' athlete, it just is not going to happen keeping the 'big time guy staying true to his roots by staying in his home town his whole career' image going... he'll eventually win a championship in Clev. if he stays sure..but each yr they play so well and fall only to repeat the next is another yr wasted that could be spent, at the very least, doing the same thing in the biggest basketball city in the world..

Tell that to Tiger Woods who became the first billion $ athlete living in Orlando or Peyton Manning who makes more in endorsements playing in Indy than Eli. And when when was the last time you read an article about Arod or Jeter making mad money in endorsements because they were playing in NY. I would love for Lebron to come to play for the Knicks because he felt that the off-court money would more than make up the difference but the reality is players opt for the bigger contract. Someone enlighten me about a player that hasn't.
 
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