LeBron and Stephon

- I guess I'll start with LeBron. My first question now that a lot of teams, especially the Knicks are throwing in the towel on the next two years, is why does everyone automatically assume LeBron is going to end up with the Knicks?

The first myth is that the league needs him there for the Knicks to be competitive. The Knicks haven't won a title since the 70's and the two Finals they went to in the 90's were with boring, uninteresting teams and had low TV ratings. The two marquee teams in the NBA have always been the Celtics and the Lakers, not the Knicks. Last years Celtic revival was far more important to the league than LeBron to the Knicks.

The second myth is that LeBron needs to go to New York to become the global icon he wants to become. Michael Jordan seemed to do all right in the endorsement department without playing in NYC. Tiger (and Phil to a far lesser degree) seems to be doing OK on the global icon scale without ever having lived anywhere but California and Florida. In this day and age you do not need to live in LA or NYC to make endorsement money. To argue otherwise is false.

Now, LeBron actually wanting to go to the Knicks,which he can't come out and say, is a different scenario. If the rumours that he, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade talked openly about all going to the Knicks in '10 are true, well God help the rest of the league because they would be unbeatable for 8 years. But if that is not the case and LeBron is honest about wanting to win Championships more than anything else than the Knicks are one of the last places he should go. Adding him would obviously make them better immediately, and the thought of the 35-12-12 numbers he could put up in Mike D'Antoni's offense makes me giddy, but they would be worse than the Cavs team he would be leaving because there would be nobody else there for a couple of years.

If LeBron's main goal is to win there is only one choice - Portland. Putting him out there with Oden, Roy, Aldridge and Fernandez is an automatic 7o wins every year. And he could live next to Nike HQ.

- I'm begging to Knicks to keep Stephon Marbury all year. Pretty please. You deprived me of another year of Isiah bashing, at least give me the Stephon saga, which is turning out better than any of us ever could have hoped for, all season. And at least give it to your fans. They completely accept you giving up on the next two years for a run at LeBron, at least give them some entertainment in the interim.

- Is it good for the league that teams are tanking and trading away salary in anticipation of the most loaded free agent class ever in '10? Essentially telling their fans We'll suck for a chance at getting a huge name? It's hard to say. I tend to think it doesn't but maybe that's because I'm a Raptors fan and and realize they will never be able to attract bi time free agents in their prime.

On the other hand, with the rise of 24 hour news coverage, team chat rooms and blogs, the "Hot Stove" element of sports has sadly become just as entertaining as the actual games for most fans. People are spending as much time speculating on where LeBron and Dwayne Wade are going to end up as they are checking standings and boxscores.

- If I had to pick one of the Spurs, Suns and Mavs to miss the playoffs, which looks like it will happen, I will pick the Mavs. The Spurs Big Three are to good to miss the playoffs, even with an old and thin bench, and the Suns will eventually figure out the half court offense and run more to start having fun again. But eventually Jason Kidd is just going to be killed by the West point guards. I don't see how they win more than 45 games.