If you look at my post from a few days ago, you can see I certainly am not in the camp that believes Lebron to Chicago or Miami is a "done deal." Who cares what other executives say? Why would they know anything more than media types? The only folks who know are the players, player managers, and teams, that's it. All this "an executive from another club, who has no intimate knowledge of the situation, said" nonsense is exactly that.
But, it got me thinking: what is the best case and worst case scenario for the Knickerbockers? To help, I wanted to use the terror alert color scheme. This, I believe, will accurately depict the feelings and emotions of the Knick fan.
Color Level Green - This is serene, wonderful, perfect. This is the ultimate. This is mana from heaven. This is Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and trading the Eddy Curry contract for another big time player, and life is good. This is exactly what the Knicks envisioned when they started heaving guys, and money, over the side of the ship two years ago. This is what Donnie Walsh imagines at night when he's having a hard time sleeping.
Color Level Light Green - Okay, this isn't a real terror color code (or maybe it is, who really knows) but this is the slightly less, but still near perfect scenario. Under this situation, Dwyane Wade leaves Miami for New York, joins with Chris Bosh, the bloated body of Eddy Curry is shipped off for some really good parts, and Knick fans spend the next three months convincing themselves that Wade was a better option than Lebron. Deep down, there would still be a little sadness that James went somewhere else, but Wade would quickly become the greatest consolation prize ever.
Color Level Blue - Here is where people start to become upset. Lebron gives the Knicks the proverbial middle finger and Wade gets all huggy-kissy with Pat Riley. With the two most exciting free agents off the market, fans will immediately go into anger/depression mode. However, all may not be lost. If the Knicks can convince Bosh that he needs no stinkin ring leader to make him a superstar and that New York is perfect for him to establish himself among the elite in the game, and then sign Joe Johnson, the team would have an elite big man and a terrific, albeit somewhat "shaky in the big game" shooting guard to build around. This is the definition of Plan B, but Bosh, who has a lot of Kevin Garnett in him, would be a great fit and is good enough to be a top dog himself. Johnson, under this scenario, would be a fine signing since he wouldn't have to carry the team and could settle comfortably into a number 2 role. Is it the ideal? Is it color green, or even light green? No way. Level Color Blue would have a lot of people tearing up the airways, but there would soon be some excitement mixed in with the disappointment.
Color Level Yellow - You know in the movies, when you begin to hear that loud monotone sound and everyone starts running as a computer dryly announces "this ship will self destruct in 10 minutes"? Well, Yellow is about when the warning alarms start going off in Knick land. This is the scenario sort of being floated right now, which is the Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire tandum. There aint no Lebron, Wade, or Bosh in this story, only two guys who have a habit of disappearing in big games; two guys who don't really inspire alot of excitement. This would anger Knicks fans in a few ways, the first, and obvious being that Lebron isn't involved, the second being that it would probably entail giving these two players max contracts when most people don't necessarily believe they are deserving, and finally that these two players are, not shockingly, the ones who played under Mike D'Antoni before. I'm sure there will be a lot of fans who smell a rat in this scenario.
The only saving grace will be that, under this scenario, the Knicks would be a much improved team. Johnson and Stoudemire both have flaws, and neither one is a transcendant player like James or Wade or, potentially, Bosh. However, they are very, very good players and, if you add in a player or two you get back from Eddy Curry, the Knicks would be a playoff team and, potentially, a few lucky breaks away from an Eastern Conference/NBA Finals appearance. It wouldn't quell the anger at first, but it would start to turn people in the middle of the season.
Color Level Orange - This is after all the attempts by are heros to stop the self-destruct countdown has failed and there doesn't seem like enough time to escape. This is when the Knicks sign one, and only one, of Johnson or Stoudemire. You know how this plays out. They get shut out of all but one of the big guns, end up overpaying for another good, but certainly not great player, introduce their second-tier star as the guy they targeted "all along" and start to leak stories to the press about how they really wanted to jump into the fray of free agency next year. They'll come out of it with a good player, be an improved team, maybe even make a run at the playoffs, but when it comes time to select a championship caliber team, no one will be throwing in with the Knicks. They'll have a piece to the puzzle, but they'll still be looking for a real star come 2011 and beyond.
Color Level Red - Red means stop. It also means "Sonofabitch" or "Oh sh*t" in a lot of languages. This is the Knicks striking out on all the major players. This is Knicks fans staring at Dwyane and Amare in Miami, Lebron and Bosh in Chicago, Joe Johnson on the Nets, and the Knicks trying to convince the world that Carlos Boozer or Rudy Gay is the answer. This is where any love affair with Donnie Walsh and Mike D ends and ends tragically. This is the nightmare scenario and I don't know how they pull themselves out of it if they end up here.
For my two cents, I think green is a much more likely color outcome than red. Someone is going to be enticed by the idea of resurrecting the Knicks in New York. Someone is going to want their likeness on a building overlooking Broadway. I think it's Lebron but, even if not, someone really good is coming, and I think the Knicks will be a player next year, a serious player.
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