Lebronamania has come and gone and like the vuvuzela horns of the World Cup it has left a sour note on our senses.
New Yorkers have had to come to grips with the fact that Lebron would prefer eating crabs at Joe's Stone Crabs than steak at Peter Luger's.....
He would rather hit the surf than hail a cab.......
And he was more willing to party on South Beach than the neon lights on Broadway.
As a 24 year-old NBA superstar he earned that right. In last weeks post, I talked about how important a talent like Lebron James could be for the future of the New York Knicks franchise. Well, it didn't happen. There's no sour gripes here, really. In that aforementioned blog, I also chronicled the demise of this one proud franchise and the uphill climb it faced toward righting itself.
It was just three weeks ago, after once again being denied a lottery pick in the NBA draft because of a bad trade, the Knicks had rid themselves of the last piece of destruction known as the Isiah Thomas era. The franchise and its fans looked to the free agent signing period with hope that change was coming.
The signing of free agent Amar'e Stoudemire signaled the Knicks were ready to get back into the game and the next piece of that puzzle would be to get Lebron James. New York had two meetings with Lebron and his people and as the clock slowly ticked toward Decision Day, the Knicks decided one more face-t0-face would be necessary.
The Knick brass huddled together to think who best to act as its emissary to right the ship of the fallen franchise. Should it be General Manager Donnie Walsh ? Coach Mike DiAntoni ? Super fan Spike Lee ? You can just picture Knicks owner James Dolan, hand in chin rubbing his beard, thinking, thinking. Then, all of a sudden a light bulb pops up over his head. Lets send Isiah !!
You could almost hear the jaws dropping onto the table. Abbott has picked Costello, McCain has picked Palin and Dolan has picked Thomas. So Isiah gets on the planes and flies to Akron to meet with one of Lebron's representatives. You can only imagine how that conversation might have gone down.
Isiah says,"Draft picks, we don't need draft picks, Lebron can tell us to trade for any player in the league, injured or not....."
"Lebron can bring in any relative he wants to work in our corporate offices and if he gets in any trouble, Dolan will pay all his legal fees..."
"And if the Knick fans run him out of the Garden, he can always come back a few years later as a team recruiter."
What a sales pitch ? You think Lebron's people stopped laughing long enough to even listen to it? Isiah Thomas is the antithesis of King Midas, everything Isiah touches, turns to ----, you figure it out !!
So Knick fans don't feel bad that Lebron is not coming to New York. I'm sure it was tough turning down the offer after Isiah Thomas himself presented it. Maybe Lebron knows the same thing the fans have known for years but are unable to do anything about. The fact that Isiah is still allowed to exert any kind of authority with the franchise he has embarrassed and destroyed is as much about the owner enabling him as it is on him.
Every time I think the Wilpons are about to become the worst ownership group in New York, Jim Dolan comes along to show us why, when it comes to incompetence there is no one in the city his equal.
No comments:
Post a Comment